My daily caffeine fix usually consists of the following on rotation: Darjeeling, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Chai or Matcha. If you haven’t already figured out, they’re all names of tea. Despite America being a predominantly coffee drinking country, I am well rooted in the tea camp.

Lately, I’ve got matcha on the brain. Matcha is finely grounded green tea leaves that are milled to the point that they become powder. It’s a bright green powder that becomes equally green when you add hot water and turn into a drink or mix it into batter to turn into cake. The reason why matcha is so pigmented is due to how they prepare matcha for harvest. A couple of weeks before harvest, the tea leaves are covered to prevent direct sunlight. This increases the chlorophyll levels and turn the leaves a richer shade of green.

TOP 6 Reasons to Try Matcha

1. You get more caffeine in matcha than your typical green tea because you’re consuming the entire leaf instead of steeping the leaves.
2. It’s versatile. You see it in drinks, cakes, desserts, shaved ice, ice cream and even POCKY.
3. The taste of matcha can be described as sweet, but also grassy. It’s very mild compared to other teas. And if it’s bitter, that means it may be a bad grade.
4. Matcha is traditionally used in a formal tea ceremony in Japan. And there are different grades for matcha. But you can find it in most Asian supermarkets or Amazon. My go-to markets are Mitsuwa, Nijiya or the local 99 Ranch. I was approached by Tenzo Tea to try out their matcha that’s grown in Japan and a product of California. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES!
5. 

   It has a naturally calming effect, thanks to the higher levels of L-Theanine that is boosted from shading the leaves prior to harvest. If you’re a scatterbrain like me in the morning and naturally tethers from groggy and spastic, this is a fantastic morning booster.
6. It’s instagram-worthy. Don’t let that color scare you because it’s au-naturel~

How I Prepare My Matcha

1. Use a small spoon and eyeball an amount. I fill it about ⅓ of the spoon. Sometimes ½ if I feel like making a thicker tea.

2. Just grabbed it from the office kitchen

   Take your favorite cup. I like something clear so that I can really work out the tea powder clumps. Pour the matcha into your cup.
3. Add hot water. You don’t need much. Just enough to cover the surface of your cup. About 2-3 oz.
4. Take your spoon and whisk vigorously to combine. You want to work out the powder pockets. If you have a matcha whisk, this is where you bust it out. A spoon is good substitute, but you want to take your time to avoid choking on matcha powder.
5. At this point, you can add more hot water to dilute your matcha mixture and drink. You can drink it cold by adding cold water and ice cubes. Or turn it into a latte by adding milk. I don’t sweeten my matcha, but that’s definitely an option. A little agave syrup goes a long way.
6. And that’s it! I would keep the spoon or a straw on hand to stir before you drink. Because matcha has a tendency to pool at the bottom.

What kind of tea do you drink? And how do you usually take it? My coworkers and I constantly joke around saying how I need a milk tea IV.

Senpai, Notice Me!

So, if you want to stay up-to-date with my food adventures, add me on Instagram!

Now, let’s get into the good stuff.

Umami Works is a Meetup Group dedicated to Japanese Cooking. It’s put on by these two lovely ladies: Natsumi and Maiki who organizes different cooking classes centered around a theme. They’ve had past classes centered around New Year’s Food, Cafe Food, Sushi, Japanese Home Cooking and more.

Always wanted my mom to make me something like this for school.

In this particular class, we focused around the concept of Bento. And if you don’t know what a Bento is, it’s essentially a packed lunch, but with a Japanese flair.

Don’t think pasta in a bowl. Or a sandwich wrapped in foil. We’re talking about something that’s usually rice based with a main dish and a couple of side dishes, all assembled into a box-- and color coordinated. Because presentation is IMPORTANT.

The class costs $48 to join and they buy all the ingredients and as the student, we will show up to the location to learn how to cook inside their kitchen. This particular class is a REPEAT of a class back in January (?) or February (?) that never happened because one of the instructors, Natsumi went into labor. There’s a lot of things you can predict, but you can’t tell a baby that wants to come out to stop coming out.

So fast forward to May, we met last weekend at Natsumi’s apartment for the get together. The menu for the day was onigiri (3 ways: takana, niku miso, and grilled salmon), pork shogayaki, tamagoyaki and nori asparagus. Cook. Assemble. Eat.

Scroll through the photos and can you say we did a good job?

(Left to Right) Sake, Mirin, Soy Sauce, Light Soy Sauce, Nori (seaweed), Umeboshi (salted plum)

Measure out the rice (they use a short grain). They have a snazzy Japanese rice cooker. #want

Leave the rice to sit for 30 mins. It helps develop the texture.

Dice up the gobo for the niku miso filling in the onigiri.

Red miso (tastes almost like black bean paste that we use in Chinese cooking) + Awase miso (a mix of white & red miso)

No eyeballing here. We're talking surgical precision.

Separated the egg yolk and whites. Used the yolk for the niku miso mixture.

Whisk together the two miso, sugar, sake & egg yolk before adding to the pan with ground chicken, minced gobo & shiitake.

This was ground chicken, but you can easily substitute with ground pork as well.

Combine and cook down the miso mixture until you have a concentrated meat paste. If it's too runny, it won't hold well with the rice.

The consistency you're looking for.

Salt both sides. Let sit for 10 mins and pat dry before grilling.

Trick I learned today: line your pan with parchment paper and it'll make clean up a cinch. And guarantee no fishy smell left on your pan either. You'll still have the same crispy skin using this method.

Shred and use as stuffing for your onigiri

Slice up onions for the Pork Shogayaki (Ginger Pork).

Flash boil your pork to skim off the foam. As soon as it's semi-cooked, take it out and throw it in chilled water to stop the cooking process.

Snap off the stems of the asparagus before slicing.

Spread onto a baking sheet and stick it into the oven for 12-15 mins. Mix with salt, sesame oil & nori for taste.

You want to initially cook the onions & meat together. But remove the meat and further cook down the onions & sauce before adding the pork back in. Add the grated ginger last for a punch!

The finished product. I have to say I didn't do too bad~

And suprise! They also prepared a sweet dessert for us to cool down! It was 90 degrees that day. Shaved ice sweetened with a matcha sauce and condensed milk. Hit the spot even though I was rolling in a food coma by that point.

I didn't take any photos of the tamagoyaki making, but I feel like that wouldn't have captured the glory. Instead, I have video! Bear with me because these were from my Instagram. Hence the 15 seconds clip.

As my first meet up, I think it was a great success. I had a lot of fun, learned how to cook, ate a great meal and it was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. I’m looking forward to see what else Umami Works has up their sleeves for the rest of this year. Be sure to follow them on Facebook or Meetup to join the fun. Who knows? You might run into me there. 

Much like Dandelions, a Relic from my Childhood

Countdown-- 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1

Ice Box: Macaron Ice Creams

Boiling Point.

Kiraku

Spuds: Build your own baked potato