Mashiro no ha dejado el dibujo de forma definitiva, y durante las clases, se dedica a dibujar en su cuaderno a la chica que le gusta Azuki Miho. Pero, un día Mashiro olvida el cuaderno en clase, y decide volver a por él. Allí le espera Takagi Akito, el mejor estudiante de la escuela y del país, un chico que en opinión de Mashiro puede conseguir lo que quiera; pero Takagi tiene una proposición que hacerle a Mashiro, además de revelarle el mayor secreto de Azuki...

Esta es la nueva historia que nos traen los autores de Death Note; la verdad es que me ha llamado mucho la atención el argumento. Espero que siga con una línea tan interesante como la de hasta ahora.

P.D.: Gracias al portal de NarutoUchiha por la traducción.

Art: My, my how Mihara has changed. I didn’t even realize that The Embalmer was done by the same mangaka as Doll until the two series were sitting side by side on my shelves. Now, Mihara’s overall style hasn’t changed much; if I compare a page from Doll to a page from The Embalmer, I can tell it is done by the same artist. However, this series has a certain something about it that just makes the art so much more appealing. The art is softer, there’s a more diverse use of tone, the inking is better, there are detailed backgrounds, and the people are drawn better. Unlike with Doll, the quality of illustration on the cover is what you get in the book and there are some pages that the reader will enjoy studying for a few moments more than it takes just to read the page.

Story: Mihara has presented another wonderful story to her readers with The Embalmer. The plot focuses on Shinjyurou Mamiya, an embalmer. Because it is more traditional to cremate the dead in Japan, society frowns upon Mamiya’s profession and sees him as a bit of a freak and an outcast. Mamiya ignores the obvious scorn the people feel for him because he knows that his work is important, not just for the dead, but also for those they have left behind...

Again, Mihara has written a story ripe with emotion. The characters are sympathetic and sincere. The story is so believable, it just might have happened. IGN.com was quoted on the back of the book as having said that this book would “really tug at your heartstrings,” a statement which holds true.

Characters: Most of the characters in The Embalmer only appear in one chapter. The two central protagonists are Azuki Natsui and, of course, Shinjyurou Mamiya. They are youthful characters and their behavior reflects this on occasion, but they usually conduct themselves in a mature manner, especially Mamiya who sometimes seems wise beyond his years. Azuki is a cheerful, kindhearted girl, but she’s also not afraid to put her foot down. She gets aggravated by Shinjyurou frequently, but she cares for him. Shinjyurou is a bit strange, and sometimes sleazy, but he is well-meaning and a good guy deep down. He’s a womanizer, ok, I won’t lie, he’s pretty much a nympho but the reason behind it is... read volume three to find out!

The secondary characters are interesting: one is a narcissist, another is a compulsive liar, there is a gothic lolita ball joint doll maker, Azuki’s brother works for a candy company (but his name is neither Willy nor Wonka), there’s even a transvestite! Every person is unique, and their troubles and motivations can be inspiring, terrifying, or heartbreaking and sometimes all three.

Apparently, there's a live action film. That guy looks nothing like what I imagined a real Shinjyurou would look like.

Miscellaneous: The end is really beautiful and The Embalmer has a positive message, but some of the themes in certain chapters are disturbing. This series is definitely not for the squeamish and those easily upset by the thought of touching a corpse. With all those cadavers, I was totally expecting a zombie or two on more than one occasion; but then again, I do have a secret zombie film obsession. Also, I commend the folks down at Tokyopop who did the cover designs. Kudos.

By the way, I apologize for the pictures. It's hard to find good images for this series. I found a few nice ones, but it was hard to determine whether or not they were fan works, so I decided not to post them.

The Bottom Line: I enjoyed reading The Embalmer, even though I was apprehensive about it at first. It seemed like the kind of story that could either be really good or really bad. The art in the Embalmer is good, the story is mature, psychological and deeply emotional; and I think most serious manga readers would enjoy it. If you’re mostly a fan of hack and slash shounen or shoujo love stories perhaps the Embalmer is not for you. Even if it doesn’t seem like something you’d generally read, pick up the first volume and give it a whirl. Remember, you can always flip through the first few pages the next time you’re at the bookstore... unless the book’s wrapped in plastic.

Hisyou se la merita.

Finalmente anche Vicenza ha il suo ristorante giappo. Dal mio ritorno non faccio che sognare soba e udon. Ma che delusione:  in veneto ci sono pochissimi ristoranti giapponesi. Di quelli veri, intendo.

Poi la rivelazione: domenica sera sono andata da Hisyou in piazza delle Erbe, dietro la Basilica e di fronte alla Torre del Tormento.  L’atmosfera è molto elegante e romantica e all’entrata ci sono tutti i cuochi che ti salutano da dietro il bancone . Il ristorante è buonissimo e cento per cento giapponese( cuochi, camerieri, tutto!)Non solo sushi e sashimi ma anche agemono, yakimono,  teppanyaki, riso,  onigiri, maki, udon,  soba, e i dolci tipici come il  il tortino di riso e l’azuki, la marmellata di fagioli rossi. E poi sakè e birre giapponesi!

Kampai!

Mobile Monday Los Angeles is the key presenter, and a must-join organization for mobile cognoscenti in the Los Angeles area.

On another note, MobilizedTV has been a tad quiet over the last week, but there are some great stories cooking including one on WheelsTV, a partnership between Azuki's MashMedia platform and WheelsTV, which provides premium auto-related content.

We're also hot on the trail of an inside scoop of Filmaka series "Starlet," with Internet filmmaker Noah Harald.

And, lastly, MobilizedTV is going to Beijing on August 8 to cover the Olympics.

So stay tuned for some great stories and our first international coverage.

Uma amiga nikkey me mandou esta imagem com o textinho: "olha que lindos, pena que são ruins!" Realmente achei lindos, só que adoro doce de feijão!- será que no caso da minha amiga nikkey, santo de casa não faz milagre?...

O fato é que gosto tanto que tô quase tomando coragem pra tentar um by myself. Alguém se arrisca comigo?

A receita e as dicas já separei, do site da cultura japonesa. Alguém se arrisca comigo?

Anko – doce de feijão azuki
Colaboração de Célia Sayuri Yano

Ingredientes:

500 g de feijão azuki

500 g de açúcar

Modo de preparo:

Deixar o feijão azuki de molho e cozinhar como o feijão comum. Bater no liquidificador até virar uma pasta, colocando água o quanto for necessário.

Em seguida, colocar a pasta num saco e espremer para tirar toda a água. Levar essa pasta ao fogo numa panela grande, acrescentando o açúcar. Cozinhar por 20 minutos ou até aparecer o fundo da panela, mexendo sempre com uma colher de pau.

Quando esfriar, faça os bolinhos (do tamanho de brigadeiros).

Rende aproximadamente 70 unidades médias ou 90 pequenas. Pode ser congelado.

Além de servir como recheio de moti ou mandiu, o anko pode ser usado em outras receitas ou consumidos como doces.

Dicas:

- O saco pode ser feito com o mesmo tecido de pano de prato.

- Cuidado com queimaduras durante o cozimento, a pasta costuma espirrar.

- Utilize sempre uma colher de pau em separado para doces ou salgados, assim evita-se doces com aroma de cebola, por exemplo.

O-mandiu

Massa de trigo recheada com doce de feijão azuki.

Recomendamos preparar o recheio (anko – doce de feijão azuki) antes da massa.

Ingredientes:

500 g de trigo (sem adição de fermento)

02 copos americanos de açúcar

02 ovos

02 colheres de sobremesa de fermento em pó

1/3 copo americano de óleo

01 copo de água (se preferir mais doce, aumente 03 colheres de sopa de açúcar e diminua a quantidade de água para 4/5 copo). O ideal é que a massa fique lisa, mas consistente o suficiente para manusear com facilidade.

Modo de preparo da massa:

Misturar açúcar e ovos, mexendo bem. Colocar óleo e misturar; acrescentar trigo e fermento peneirados, misturando água aos poucos e mexendo sempre. Descansar a massa por 30 min.

Numa superfície coberta de trigo, divida a massa em várias partes, alongue cada uma delas e corte em pedaços pequenos, suficientes para cobrir o recheio.

Fazer os mandius, colocando o recheio e fechando a massa, tomando cuidado para deixar a parte fechada para baixo quando colocar na forma ou na panela à vapor.

Rende aproximadamente 40 a 50 mandius, dependendo do tamanho dos recheios.

Pode-se escolher entre assar e cozer ao vapor:

Fukashi-mandiu (mandiu cozido ao vapor)

- Prepare um tecido fino e limpo dentro da armação da panela e coloque os mandius sobre esse tecido (ele evitará que o vapor encharque os mandius).

- O tempo de cozimento é de aproximadamente 40 minutos.

Yaki-mandiu (mandiu assado)

- Untar a forma com óleo;

- Use um molde com forma de flor e pressione levemente sobre os mandius, já na forma;

- Para dourar, passe uma mistura de 01 gema com 02 colheres de sopa de açúcar e 02 colheres de água, com ajuda de um pincel de cerdas longas e macias.

- Leve ao forno por aproximadamente 20 minutos. Ao final desse tempo, pode-se espetar um palito de dente em um dos mandius para verificar se a massa está assada. Se necessário, deixar mais 10 minutos no forno, já com o fogo desligado.

Dicas:

- Deixe os mandius separados entre si, pois eles aumentam de tamanho.

- No prato, evite colocar um sobre o outro enquanto estiverem quentes.

- Retire os mandius ainda quentes com a ajuda de uma espátula ou colher.

- Ao vapor, se os mandius não puderem ser cozidos todos de uma só vez, lembre-se de acrescentar mais água à panela na próxima vez.

- Podem ser congelados.

AO USAR INFORMAÇÕES DESTE SITE, NÃO DEIXE DE MENCIONAR A FONTE www.culturajaponesa.com.br

Oltre al buon gusto devono essere anche di bell'aspetto, importanti sono anche i colori, perchè rappresentano le stagioni. Per esempio, un dolce rosa, richiama i fiori di ciliegio e la loro bella fioritura all'inizio della primavera.

Principalmente sono fatti con farina di riso e marmellata di azuki, un fagiolino rosso. Si mangiano con il tè verde per smorzare il loro sapore molto dolce. Esistono diverse varianti a seconda degli ingredienti, colori e forme dei dolci,ma in ogni caso sono considerati un regalo di lusso.

Ecco delle piccole opere d'arte!

http://foodforgreathealth.blogspot.com/2007_04_15_archive.html

http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/visitkyoto/en/theme/dining/wagashi/

http://www.jtbgmt.com/japannow/zoom/index65_2.asp

http://www.tokyocube.com/lifestyle.php?subnav=food&feature=cuisines&article=Wagashi,%20Japanese%20Sweet

One thing I regret to this day is not visiting Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki when I was in Paris a few years ago, to experience his famous Matcha Opera Cake, or any of his world-renowned green-tea inspired desserts for that matter. Ever since I read about him about five years ago in a Japanese fashion magazine, I’ve been smitten by his creativity and the ability to incorporate traditional Japanese ingredients such as matcha (green tea) and yuzu (citrus fruit) into authentic French pastries, and I've been inspired to include something similar to my own baking repertoire.
The thing that kept me from making any matcha desserts until now, however, was my inability to locate green tea powder, which is the key component of these desserts. I had tried several Japanese grocery stores in the past but all I could find were “green ice tea mix,” which already included sugar. And when I finally did find them, they were too expensive for me to afford. Then, when I was making my regular rounds to Teavana the other day, I ran into one that was reasonably priced at $16 an once so I snatched up a couple for my pantry. Now fully equipped, I was eagerly ready to enter the Franco-Japanese culinary melting pot.
While visiting Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit a few months back, I encountered this amazing recipe for Green Tea, Lavender, and Honey Cupcake Bombe. I had since filed it away in my baking “to do” folder hoping to someday bring it to life, and I was able to finally wipe off the dust and put this recipe to work! I thought about making the full-blown version of the bombe at first, but after contemplating I decided to just try the green tea cake recipe for more simple dessert.

Would you like a cake to go with my butter?

I recommend this recipe to anyone who is interested in making a dense, moist, oh-so-heavenly matcha cupcake or a sheet cake as I did here. I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of butter and sugar that went into this beautiful pistachio-colored batter but you will realize when you take a first bite that all the fat and calories are worth it.  And because it is rich, a small slice will satisfy your sweet tooth. One mistake I made was mixing the matcha power with the dry ingredients when the recipe called to dissolve the powder with milk and incorporate it into the wet ingredients.  Oops (but the end result still came out perfect, thank goodness).

Look how beautiful the batter looks!

My initial plan was to sandwich the sweet red bean (azuki) paste between two heart-shaped cake, but the cake was already pretty thick so I settled on placing azuki on the side, and finished off by sprinkling powered sugar on top. I matched the cake with steaming Japanese green tea, of course!

I really like the simplicity of this dessert. Keeping everything beautiful yet clean and simple allow the flavors to take center stage, which is what makes Japanese and French desserts truly timeless.

• 1 taza harina de arroz
• 1/4 taza azúcar
• 1 taza agua (o un poco más)
• Pasta alubia roja (azuki) para rellenar o fresas
• Almidón (de arroz, patata o mandioca) para espolvorear

Elaboración:

Pon agua y azúcar en un bol y mezcla bien. Añade la harina de arroz y mezcla. Pon la mezcla en un microondas y calienta durante 2 minutos, tapado con papel film. Saca y remueve. Calienta dos minutos más. Al sacar, remueve rápido. Pon un poco de almidon de arroz en una superficie plana, y espolvorea las manos con lo mismo. Saca la masa caliente del bol con las manos. Divide la masa en 12 mochi. Haz 12 piezas planas y redondas. Pon un poco de azuki o fresa en el centro de cada uno (o los dos), y rodealo con la masa haciendo un mochi.

Following the entry on the Brown Sugar (or Maple) Kinokos, what could be more appropriate than waxing lyrical about the Hokkaido Azuki Takenoko no Sato.

Just like the kinoko counterpart, the boxes are beautifully decorated and the interior packaging very pretty.

These little bamboo shoots are coated with red bean flavored cream and the flavors are not too heavy. Azuki is a flavor I adore aside from Green Tea, so these were in fact the ones which caught my eye at the store. If you're a fan of Azuki, you have to give these a shot. I must say however, the flavors kinda linger for awhile even after you've finished eating. But that's not an issue is it? After all azuki is sweet-smelling :).

Even though I'm glad I have another option other than strawberry since I'm no fan of chocolate, I don't think this flavor will replace my favorites though. Because azuki is primarily sweet, it lacks the tanginess that can come with some fruit flavors. However, I wouldn't say this is all that bad, so it gets the 'this-is-pretty-good' from me. PS: I like the color pretty much too haha :D

Rating: 8 out of 10
After Taste: Lingering azuki flavors but it's not all that bad.
Website:http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/chocolate/kinotake/kinako_azuki/index.html