Daifuku Mochi Obsession

I recently went to Japan with a bunch of friends, and tried the Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Daifuku) for the first time. It was REALLY yummy! Ever since then, I've been having cravings for Daifukus everyday!

Daifuku (also named as 大福 meaning "great luck") is a Japanese confection. It is a small round ball of mochi (made with glutionous rice four) stuffed with sweet fillings. The most common filling in a Daifuku is Anko (sweetened red bean made from Azuki beans). Daifuku comes in many different varieties. Generally white, pale green or pale pink stuffed with anko. They sometimes versions of Daifuku may contain whole pieces of fruit, mixtures of fruit and anko or crushd melon paste. Nearly all Daifuku are covered in a fine layer of corn or taro starch to keep them from sticking to each other or to the fingers.

1 Ichigo Daifuku in Japan cost around 263 Yen. It's not cheap, but it's very very yummy! I like all Daifukus, but I like the Ichogo ones the most.

I googled YouTube and found an excellent recipe for making Ichigo Daifukus. I personally find that the Daifuku is more yummy if it is made small, with a small ball of Anko. The first time I made this, the Daifukus looked really pretty, but it was way to filling!

How to make Ichigo Daifuku:

Eating and Drinking here and there in London

One of the absolute best places for food in London is The Borough Markets. I went there the first weekend I was in London. It totally amazed me by the top quality food that's sold there. Seriously, it's not the usual markets you'd find in Hong Kong. It's like the best produce you can find around London (well in my opinion anyway!). There's oysters, cold crabs, a variety of seafood, burgers, cheese, brownies, smoothies, chorizo sandwiches, olives, truffle oils, vinegars... etc etc etc basically any type of yummy food - you name it!

Things that I go for normally are:

> Oysters (a definite MUST). There is an asian guy there opening the oysters for you. If you are friendly to him and chat to him in Chinese he might even give you a discount!

> Chorizo + Rocket Sandwich (it is definitely worth the wait!). I;ve only had this twice because there is always a massively long cue there. It is worth the wait.. but I'm normally in a hurry back home to eat my cold crabs! Hee Hee

> Smoothies (it's made with PURE fruit). Unlike the smoothies in Australia, this is made with 100% fruit, with NO ice cream or milk! VERY healthy! It's not cheap though - about 3.50-4.50 pounds

> Creme Caramel (1 pound can buy you happiness for a day). This is a small jar of creme caramel that I have to have every time I'm at the market.

> Cold Crabs (really worth the price given the amount of crab roe there is inside). I buy a few of these cold crabs everytime I'm at the market. It's already cooked and it's been in the fridge. You eat it cold.. and you scoop up the crab roe with your spoon endlessly!

> Burgers. When I'm at the market, we normally buy the food back home to eat. But we normally fill ourself up with a Burger before heading home! There is no way you can resist a burger at the markets because you'll smell it from a mile!

> Cheese. The one they have on the sampling tray is the yummiest! I try not to get it all the time though, because it's heavy on the waist line.

Favourite Brunch Place in London

One of the best places for brunch in London is definitely Bistroteque (http://www.bistrotheque.com/).

It's just a 15 minute bus ride from where I lived in London and you'll see artsy, stylish, preppy looking people going in and out of the restaurant. My friend once saw Kiera Knightly there, and there was a time when Cheryl Cole was there and I was there (but I didn't see her because I went to the loo when she was in the loo - damn it!).

I always always order the same thing, which is a Bloody Mary, Steak Tartare, Eggs Florentine OR the Pancakes with Strawberry OR Scrambled Egg with Chorizos and Maple Syrup. I've taken a lot friends there and they were all surprised by how good the restaurant is.

Fresh Start

I've attempted to start a blog many many times in the past, but I've always just ended up making them all private because there are times when I just wanted to pour all my feelings out and it just didn't seem appropriate to make it pubic at the time. But for the past few weeks, I've had a lot of spare time, and I've been reading a lot of food and fashion blogs and it inspired me to start one again.

I've been working in an advertising agency for 3 years in Hong Kong and I took a 1 year working holiday to London. During my time there, I worked and traveled. It's been a wonderful and memorable experience and I wish that I had stayed there for longer.

After I left London, I spent several months back in Sydney to visit home and to visit my sister who at the time just had her first child, Elise.

I'm now back in Hong Kong looking for my ideal job, hence I have a lot of spare time reading other people's blogs and doing the things I've always wanted to do but never had the time - such as learning Chinese and starting a blog.

I'll be sharing with you the highlights of my trip in London, Europe and Sydney in this blog. Hope you'll enjoy it! Feel free to give me any comments!