Original matcha from Fukuoka

My Japanese friend Kimio gave me today original matcha from his hometown, Fukuoka:

Do you know matcha? It's a traditionally made green tea powder made from the only few top young leaves of the green tea plants, hand-picked after a specific seasoning (mainly covering the leaves to protect them from the sun), then hand-removed veins and imperfections, to be ground in a stone mill. It's one of the things that is to this day made traditionally by people, and is by now not mechanized! :-)

To drink matcha, you need a special drinking bowl, a bamboo scoop and traditionally carved bamboo whisk (which I have ordered today :P). The whisk is something of a pinnacle of Japanese engineering — it's hand-carved from a single piece of bamboo, making it both beautiful and functional! Stay tuned for the matcha set showcase soon.

Vanilla-butterscotch cupcakes sneak peek

Oh my, look at these irresistible cupcakes! They look like they are just vanilla, but there's some butterscotch in there for a seriously amazing sweetness ending... So perfect!

Pink meringue poopies

I had some leftover meringue after making meringue hearts, and decided to make something cheeky — if you're brave, you can give your crush these cute, little blobs, or as I call them poopies. You can even make small hats for your cupcakes out of them, or place a cute little flag saying "Love me" or "Date?" for a cute, funny, little ice breaker! :-)