ベーガル革命: Whole-Wheat Bagels

もちもち (mochimochi): springy (texture)

Back in my language-school days at Midd, a New-Yorker foodie friend got on my case for eating the dining-hall bagels, telling me, “That’s not a bagel. That’s a piece of bread shaped like a bagel.” It’s probably for the best that he doesn’t find out what sort of things pass for “bagels” in Japan–it’s more like “cake shaped like a bagel.” Sometimes you can get passable bagels in the chain bakeries of Kanazawa, and Kaldi Coffee sometimes has imported frozen bagels, but they’re a bit pricey. Either way, it’s not just like popping over to Espresso Royale for a fresh Barry’s Bagel during an intense paper-writing session.

Bagels are one of those foods that seem very intimidating in part because of the multi-step process of making them: using yeast, letting the dough rise, shaping, boiling, and then finally baking; and in part because you really never need to make them in the US when they’re so widely available.

It can be done!

Recipes Revisited

What’s nice about making some recipes over and over is that, not only can I make it myself, but I can make it better. I’m updating some of the articles on this blog, so I thought it might be helpful for readers if I noted these changes. Read more for updates on homemade yogurt, chocolate beer cupcakes, and Yogurtland.

Travel Checklist: Local Foods in Hida-Takayama, Part 2

   Submitted to the November 2011 J. Festa “Dining in Japan,” hosted at Japingu. Part 1 is here.

To recap– In September, a friend and I traveled to Takayama, about 3 hours from Kanazawa. Located in Gifu near the border of Nagano, the old towns of Hida (飛騨） and Takayama (高山）are a food tourist’s paradise. Since the town is quite small, most of these foods can be found in stands or restaurants near Takayama Station and nearby morning markets.