#chocolate

Organic and outrageously delicious, Kippy's  Ice Cream may soon be cornering the world's dessert market.

オガニック、超美味しいキッピズアイスクリームは世界市場のデザート女王かもしりません。

Note: Kippy’s is expanding domestically and internationally.
Kippy's may be moving from Venice, CA  to Santa Monica or Mar Vista.
The first stop in global dessert domination for the queen of organic, non-dairy ice cream is Tokyo, Japan!
Consult KippysIceCream.com or telephone the shop to ensure you get your Kippy’s ice cream treat.

Kippy’sは進出しておりますのでオガニックアイスクリームをぜったい食べるように行く前にウェブサイト又は電話をした方が良いかもしりません。

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What makes life happy? Cherry blossoms, chocolate, friends and family. Okay, not all family 100% of the time! Still, family systems can provide tremendous love and support.

Isabel Laessig is the CEO of the expanding Sunday Supper empire. Isabel’s #SundaySupper Twitter chat is designed to entice families to gather around the dinner table. Everyone is encouraged to share family recipes and stories. Isabel’s blog, Family Foodie, focuses on food filled with love. Every recipe is accompanied by an anecdote about family. Meet Isabel in person and the love of family is palpable. Sampling treats at Isabel’s Food & Wine Conference in Florida is fantastic fun. But so is meeting Isabel!

The Big Easy is the birthplace of beignet donuts, bluesy jazz and Bananas Foster. New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter, is home to Brennan’s Restaurant; the spot where the first rum-soaked banana sizzled and smoked in the 1950s.  After a tumble in an alcoholic flame, the bananas were enjoyed over vanilla ice cream. Bananas Foster was so delectable that word of the dessert spread like wildfire through the states. Bananas Flambéed rummy bananas accompanied by ice cream brought many smiles to citizens of the USA in the 1950s.

1950s Japan saw its citizens enjoying caramels, ice cream and cookies courtesy of Ezaki-Glico. (One of Japan’s oldest candy manufacturers.) Pocky – a chocolate covered biscuit stick - popped up a decade later. Once again, dessert deliciousness could not be contained. Japanese Pocky was exported abroad. Although pockets of the USA are not aware of Pocky yet, all who have tasted the chocolate coated biscuit Pocky are fans.

Some things like chocolate and Hello Kitty are worth the price tag, don’t you think? Seriously, after a visit today to the Japanese American National Museum, I am in awe of how the universe rewards those who strive to bring goodness into our world. 

Shintaro Tsuji, the man responsible for the worldwide explosion of Hello Kitty, drew me to his photo with his kind smile.  His expression was one of sweet contentment. (Of course, life would be wonderful as a billionaire!)
 

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Celebrations call for cakes, right? To celebrate my third Glutino Giveaway, I created 3 Gluten-Free and Divinely Decadent Cakes. The recipes are simple and the results are splendid. While friends admire your cakes, you may even find yourself saying, “It was nothing.” You will be telling the truth! For a minimum of effort, you’ll get maximum dessert excellence. Warning: Be prepared to assure your friends and family, “Yes! The cakes are really gluten-free!”

Plump, pretty strawberries sway me to their side every time. Japan, my home country, is the world’s biggest consumer of dessert strawberries. This Ninja Baker couldn’t fathom saying no to those gorgeous fruit gems. (Childhood influences are indelible, aren’t they?) So, I plucked the Strawberry Mousse Cake option for this month’s Cake Slice Bakers presentation. Time, however, slipped through my hands. Resigned to my fate, I chose the Chocolate Marble Cake recipe. However, I stole the fresh strawberry frosting from the Strawberry Mousse Cake to top off my Pink Chocolate Marble Cake.

I’ve created 3 Easy Gluten-Free On The Go Kid-Friendly Breakfasts so your schedule can be freed up to cuddle those close to you. And, yes, to free up a bit of time for that pampering you’ve been putting off. So, no more excuses. Make the 3 Easy Gluten-Free On The Go Kid-Friendly Breakfasts and skip off guilt-free to the day spa or to that mani-pedi or to the time-out on the couch to watch the Days of our Lives!  

Japanese yuzu citrus pucker passion commenced in 710 AD Japan. The Chinese import looks and tastes like a cross between a lemon and a lime. The pungent yuzu fruit remains popular today in Japan.  (Yuzu brightens, and punches up the flavors of both Japanese desserts and dishes.)

Chocolate – often affectionately called “choco” in Japan – is also wildly popular. Compared to yuzu, however, chocolate is a fairy new commodity in Japan. Milk chocolate made its debut with the Japanese audience in the early 1900s. From my Google Japan and Google USA research, it looks like white chocolate won over the hearts of Japanese girls as White Day was introduced in the 1970s. White Day is an attempt at equal affection expression.  Translation: In Japan...

Banana flambé is flamboyant, dramatic and wonderful. Equally magnificent is a petite version of the dessert with half the fuss and mess. Enter Chocolate Péjoy Banana Rum Cake Pops. What is a chocolate Pejoy? A slim biscuit stick filled with chocolate cream. Basically a chocolate Pocky turned inside out.

So, using a baking mix (Bisquick), I whipped up a grownups only banana rum cake batter popping with bits of Pejoy chocolate biscuits. I skipped the milk (used in most banana cake recipes) and poured in rum! The booze is, quite frankly, not prominent. Rather, the rum tempers the banana flavor, which leaves a fruity tickle on the tongue. Of course, the coatings of melted dark chocolate and chocolaty crumbled Péjoy crunch are a double whammy of deliciousness!

Dorothy clicks her ruby red slippers and declares three-times: “There’s no place like home.” Magically, the little girl and her dog, Toto are transported back to safety and comfort. Do you ever wish you could click your heels and go back in time?  When challenged with the unfamiliar, foods singing of childhood memories do seem to beckon this Ninja Baker.

Japanese Pocky is one of those foods for me. You know the skinny cookie/biscuit stick dipped in classic chocolate or strawberry cream or green tea matcha? In my hometown of Tokyo, Pocky is the perfect snack for transporting on the train. The chocolate topping melts in your mouth, not on your hands. (Yes, Pocky could be the M & Ms of the cookie family.) Plus, who can beat the combo of chocolate and cookies in one bite?