Coronation Chicken Salad
New lunch offering from this week:
Coronation Chicken Salad Plate, 1200 yen
A Festival of Tales
Just finished reading A Festival of Tales, a collection of three short stories all featuring Ormskirk, the place that our very own Ormskirk (style) Gingerbread biscuits are inspired by.
The three authors, Claire Dean, James Rice and Rodge Glass have written a blend of the folklore and history centered on Ormskirk, it made me a little homesick!
The book will make a great addition to the englishpool school library.
(A big thanks to my mum for sending me a signed copy!)
Postcard
A photo of our new postcards. Out with the Union Jack design and in with a collage of our speciallities; scones, Darville's teas, baked chessecake, gateaux chocolat, cafe latte, tacos rice, pound cakes, bottled beer, sandwiches etc.
You get the general idea...like.
Red Bush Latte
NEW from today, Red Bush Latte (ルイボスラテ)
The perfect blend of Red Bush, a.k.a. Rooibos, and steamed milk.
Naturally caffine free.
Enjoy!
Thank You for the Scones
Further to my scone 'masterclass' at the local Junior High School, I was touched to receive this book of thank you messages from the students and their teachers.
I really wasn't expecting anything like this, so it was all the more surprising! Thank you class.
If you go to the schools website Ushigome Daini Junior High School, there are a few pictures taken while we were making the scones.
Back to School
Towards the end of last year, the home economics teacher at my children's Junior High school asked if we, as owners of The Three Little Pigs, would be willing to lead a cooking class. Naturally we said yes.
For the class we decided that scones would tick all the right boxes; relatively simple, short preparation & cooking time, and classically British!
So it was that I found myself on Monday afternoon, in the local Junior High School, leading a class of fourteen first and second graders in the basics of preparing scones.
Needless to say, a lot of fun was had...flour up to their elbows, hands covered in sticky scone dough, and original scone art!
Despite a small problem with trying to use multiple ovens and tripping the breaker, the scones came out great.
The teacher had even readied a choice of strawberry or apricot jam, clotted cream and cups of tea; So the students were able to create their own taste of Britain 'afternoon tea' experience.
Sorry no pictures of the actual class...didn't want to take my phone out...school rules etc. but I did prepare a recipe sheet for the students to take home.
The class is one of a series of classes she is hoping to organise, showcasing food from around the globe and linked to the forthcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Chocolate and Marmalade Muffins
NEW! After watching Paddington, the movie, our muffin lady was determined to make something using marmalade.
Voila! Chocolate chip and marmalade muffins. Delicious.
Frozen!
Frozen pipes were something I thought we'd left behind in the 1970s, along with tinned potatoes, cheese fondues and Babycham.
So it was a bit of a shock to turn yesterday at The Three Little Pigs and discover we had no water!
Facing the prospect on not opening (try running a cafe with no water) I turned to google. A bit of pipe and stop-cock checking located the likely culprit as being the section of pipe around the water meter.
With visions of bursting what in effect was a water main, and flooding Okubo-dori, I tenatively applied the hair-dryer's heat to the area around the pipe. After a minute or two of seemingly futile heating, there was the sound of running water in the kitchen.
Who would have thought such a simple solution could work? Not me.
Now I'm keeping a hair-dryer in the cafe as part of my emergency toolbox!
Christmas / New Year Holiday
Please note we'll be closed over the Christmas/New Year period from December 25th to January 8th.
We'll be open again as usual from January 9th.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!
Paul & Ai
Christmas Wreath
This year's Christmas Wreath, supplied as always by Country Farm ANDY of Wakamatsu-cho.
More...
Cottage Pie
New from last week (but we didn't have time to blog it,) a revamped Cottage Pie offering.
It's surprising that even in Japan many people know this as Shepherds Pie... but there is a difference between Cottage and Shepherd's Pie.
Do you know what it is?
Shortbread Fingers
Back on the menu, after a very long pause.
We've finally secured a steady supply of butter and I've tweaked the recipe a little to produce the finest shortbread time after time.
Cake Signboard
Not content with refreshing our Cafe Signboard the other week, we cracked open the marker pens again and had a go at the Cake Signboard.
I think it looks much more appealing than the previous effort!
Handless Tea Pouring
As seen on the ever popular Japanese TV programme Sekai No Hate Made ItteQ!
"No hands Tea Pouring!"
DON'T TRY THIS IN THE THREE LITTLE PIGS!!!!