taiyaki/たいやき

I had my fish-shaped pancake with sweet red bean stuffing this morning.

When I first found the “Taiyaki” stand in the food court area of the Sunday market, I was skeptical. Is it any good? Is it just another Japanese-confectionery-wanna-be? They have different kinds of filling – chocolate and banana, cream cheese, ham and cheese, apple cinnamon, peanut butter and jelly, sweet potato. I chose red bean, the one you usually get in Japan. And, I was pleasantly surprised. It was good. Perfectly textured, delicately sweetened paste sandwiched between delectable pancake batter. It is fluffy outside and moist inside. It reminded me of Japan.

In Japan, it is customary to serve tea and some munchies when someone visits you, and if they didn’t finish the munchies, you offer them to take with them. My grandfather used to bring sweets back to me from his outings. I would be waiting with my grandmother at their house. When he came back from his visit to his clients or friends, he would pull sweets that were wrapped in a paper out of his kimono sleeve, with his usually stern face beaming. No wonder I love sweets and am pre-diabetic!

It has become my routine on Sunday. I walk to the market and get vegetables, fruits and a red bean filled fish. Once I get home and put all the vegetables and fruits away, I sit down and have the pancake with green tea. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Yep, life is good.

 

毎週一回の楽しみ。
日曜日は近くのマーケットで野菜や果物を買って、最後にあんこのたくさん詰まったたいやきを一つ買って帰り、家でゆっくりとお茶といただきます。
贅沢、贅沢。