Japan is not predominantly known as a Christian nation so most Christian holidays are not celebrated. However, the Christmas bug has caught on quickly. Christmas is the time of the year that lifts spirits and it truly is something to look forward to. Christmas is celebrated more like Valentine’s Day where couples opt to go out and have a fancy dinner. Others with bigger families like to celebrate it with Western influenced food. As a Westerner living in Asia, it helps make the holidays a lot more festive and easier to celebrate when being so far away from family and friends. Though I am used to an extravagant spread for a Christmas feast that can rival a Thanksgiving dinner, in Japan, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has become a popular and favorite Christmas banquet of sorts. In fact, KFC is so popular during the holiday season that there is even a... Read the Rest →
Japan is not predominantly known as a Christian nation so most Christian holidays are not celebrated. However, the Christmas bug has caught on quickly. Christmas is the time of the year that lifts spirits and it truly is something to look forward to. Christmas is celebrated more like Valentine’s Day where couples opt to go out and have a fancy dinner. Others with bigger families like to celebrate it with Western influenced food. As a Westerner living in Asia, it helps make the holidays a lot more festive and easier to celebrate when being so far away from family and friends. Though I am used to an extravagant spread for a Christmas feast that can rival a Thanksgiving dinner, in Japan, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has become a popular and favorite Christmas banquet of sorts. In fact, KFC is so popular during the holiday season that there is even a... Read the Rest →
These light, flaky, buttery cookies look like they’ve taken a lot of effort to prepare and will have your family and friends singing your praise. But, they are amazingly simple and only require five simple ingredients. The key to these cookies is keeping the dough chilled as you work. In our house we have a very thorough system. The dough is prepared a day in advance to allow for thorough chilling in the refrigerator. Once we begin working the dough the kitchen turns into an efficient assembly line. The first ball of dough is rolled out and cut by the “roller”. These circle cut outs are put onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Another helper, “the jammer”, spoons the strawberry jam into the center of the cookie. This person places the cookie sheet into the oven when they are finished. In the mean time the “roller” gets another ball of... Read the Rest →
These light, flaky, buttery cookies look like they’ve taken a lot of effort to prepare and will have your family and friends singing your praise. But, they are amazingly simple and only require five simple ingredients. The key to these cookies is keeping the dough chilled as you work. In our house we have a very thorough system. The dough is prepared a day in advance to allow for thorough chilling in the refrigerator. Once we begin working the dough the kitchen turns into an efficient assembly line. The first ball of dough is rolled out and cut by the “roller”. These circle cut outs are put onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Another helper, “the jammer”, spoons the strawberry jam into the center of the cookie. This person places the cookie sheet into the oven when they are finished. In the mean time the “roller” gets another ball of... Read the Rest →
