Japan - Dessert - Green Tea Crêpe Cake

In all honesty, I've never really liked green tea at all. I tried my friend's green tea latté once and fought the desire to spit it out. For me, the green tea flavor was way too strong and having it iced made it even worse. That's why I was so hesitant to try out this green tea crêpe cake. Matcha powder (which is flipping expensive from Whole Foods) is present in both the pastry creme filling and the actual crêpe, so I was scared to have that overwhelming green tea flavor. Boy was I wrong. I found myself slabbing the pastry creme onto the flopped crêpes and having them as a mini dessert. The texture is so light and airy, as is the green tea flavor, so you get the essence and not a punch of matcha powder to the face. This recipe made the process super easy, and I've adapted it below to how I worked it out.

Japan - Dessert - Japanese Cheesecake

I have a lot of friends and family who are gluten free, whether by necessity or by choice, and I always make sure to find gluten free recipes that are also delicious. Gluten free creations are often seen as flat, tough and sometimes inedible. In my experience, if you do a little research and buy the right ingredients, gluten free can be just as good or even better as recipes that use gluten products. This gluten free recipe that I followed is for Japanese cheesecake. Japanese cheesecake is a combination of the classic New York style cheesecake and sponge cake, using a meringue base to create a fluffy yet creamy cake. I hope this satisfies your tastebuds, whether you're gluten free or not!

Japan - Dinner - Sushi

When I was in third grade in Connecticut, we did a project on Japan, and my mom came in and made sushi for our whole class. I don't think I had any then because I immediately wrote off sushi as disgusting since it was made out of seaweed, but I really should have had it. I had sushi for the first time in the fall, and I fell in love and now crave it weekly. Homemade sushi, I think, can be so much better than restaurant made, and it's a lot cheaper. We made about eight rolls with all our ingredients, which added up to maybe $40. At a restaurant like Takara, eight rolls could cost you $80! Here is how I made my sushi. I didn't follow a recipe, so I will try and explain how to make it the best that I can!

Japan - Breakfast - Japanese Pancakes

Before researching recipes for this project, I had never heard of Japanese pancakes before in my life. I was skeptical at first, but was blown away by how good they taste. Japanese pancakes are very different from traditional American pancakes. They are taller, sweeter and have a texture very similar to a crumpet. Even without the egg rings the recipe calls for, the pancakes are still very thick and need to be cooked all the way through, but I highly recommend the egg rings, or cookie cutters in my case, they make the pancakes so cute and stackable!