Cooking Class

Recently, a lady in my office invited me to join a cooking class with her. Normally that isn't something I'd be interested in, but I'm trying to be open to new things while in Japan, so I said sure, and it's been a lot of fun. Our first class was last month, and we made chox a la creme, a French pastry that's popular over here. Yesterday was our second class, and we made a more traditional Japanese dessert.

This is mizuyoukan. I had always seen it at grocery and convenience stores, but never knew what it was called. This is a pretty common occurrence for me in Japan; I eat a lot of things without knowing what they're called or what they're made of.

Mizuyoukan, as it turns out, is made mostly of water, sugar, and red bean paste. You boil it all in a pan, ice it down, and then freeze it like jello. It's a nice summer sweet, and the red bean paste makes a very unique flavor--at least, I'd never eaten anything like it before coming to Japan.

The sensei owns a bakery in town, and we'll be going there next month to make ice cream.