Whole Wheat Apple Muffins :: Healthy + Homey

I'm not sure if you can tell, but I'm on a bit of a baking roll. I am seriously tearing it up in the kitchen right now. Just as I've worked in my nightly jogs around the city, I've also worked in adequate kitchen time each night to experiment with new recipes.

Lately, I've been wanting to cook/bake things that are healthy and autumn-y. This recipe for whole wheat apple muffins satisfies both those cravings. They are also an ode to the inevitable Washington victory during this weekend's Apple Cup. (Woof!) They also remind me of home, which is bittersweet, I guess. My mom is a wonderful cook. She can whip up some amazing things in the kitchen, but she's not a baker. I'm still not sure if it's because she doesn't like to do it or if she doesn't want us to eat junk - only the lady herself can answer that question. Anyways, we are lucky enough to have a home surrounded by apple trees, so we are never short on apples. My mom was constantly handing out giant grocery bags to neighbors, guests, my gymnastics coaches...basically everyone we came in contact with just to get rid of them. One summer, my mom decided to bake some apple muffins with these homegrown apples and they were delicious. Of course, the mix came out of a box, but since we added in fresh chunks of apples they tasted 100% homemade to me.

Fast forward to tonight. I may not have grown these apples myself, but I did make the batter from scratch. I hope one day, my mom and I will make a batch with her apples and my batter. That would be stupendous. 

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

1 cup (115g) whole wheat flour
1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 TB cinnamon

1. Sift the dry ingredients above in a bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 450F. 

1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (99) granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup (226g) buttermilk

2 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1/4 cup walnuts

2. Cream the butter for about 5 minutes on medium speed. Add in the sugar and beat until fluffy and light. 

3. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom. This is especially important if you are using a stand mixer. There will be a lot of unmixed butter at the bottom. 

4. Slowly pour in the buttermilk while mixing the batter with a rubber spatula. Just until incorporated. Don't over mix. 

5. Fold in the sifted dried ingredients until half mixed. Then add the apples and fold until there are no flour streaks. 

6. Fill lined muffin tins to the top. Because of the apple chunks, you'll need to tap the pan on a hard surface a few times to get rid of air bubbles. Sprinkle some brown sugar and chopped walnuts on the top of each muffin. 

7. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 400F and bake for another 10 minutes. The muffins are finished when a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffin. 

Cool and enjoy. 

Parchment Paper Cupcake/Muffin Liners

I've been seeing these around on some blogs (and of course, Martha) and I think they're pretty swell. They look rustic, kind of like a muffin bouquet. They also make eating crumbly muffins a much easier and cleaner affair. They're very easy to make if you have parchment paper lying around. I've been pretty obsessed with parchment paper ever since Jacques Torres on PBS told me it was a must have item in the kitchen. You can make sturdy pastry bags, they give cakes a smooth finish and you can make muffin liners out of them! 

What you need: 

parchment paper

2 cups about the same diameter as your muffin tin that fit into each other, or if you have 2 trays of the same sized muffin cups, that will work too. 

1. Cut out large square sheets that are about 2 inches wider than your cup. 

2. Turn one of your cups upside down and place 1 square sheet of parchment paper on top.  Slowly press the other glass over the paper, pushing the sides down against the upside down glass. Twist the glasses back and forth to give the creases a good press. 

If you can understand my instructions, then it's really easy. Just place these in your muffin tin and fill just as you would a store bought liner. Just be careful not to get too much batter on the pointy corners that stick up. The batter will burn in the oven. 

Bow...down...to Washing-ton. 

Surviving Saitama

I mentioned earlier that I went to Saitama this weekend and it was a lot of fun. People in Tokyo like to rag on Saitama. They jokingly refer to it as Dasai-tama. (Dasai means lame in Japanese) Sure, maybe you wouldn't want to live there if you're young and like to party but the area has a lot to offer in terms of weekend excursions, nature and history. I've never been to an onsen, or Japanese hot spring, so my friend offered to take me.

I started off the day taking the Shonan-Shinjuku line from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to Omiya Station, the biggest hub in Saitama. It took 30 minutes and couldn't be easier. From there, I met my two Japanese friends and headed to a rental car dealer to pick up the pink Toyota Fritz above. If you've ever wondered what the majority of people in Japan drive, it looks a lot like a Fritz.

Cute car...but it's just not that cute when you have a semi-nervous/rusty driver at the wheel. Aside from showing me how great onsens are, the other reason for this trip was for my Japanese girlfriend to dust off her driving skills. I really didn't think twice about this, but WHOA...it got dicey here and there. A few things I learned in the car:

1. Freeways are expensive in Japan. We drove for about 20 minutes on the freeway and had to pay about $20. Ouch. 
2. If you slow down on the freeway for traffic, you turn on your warning signal. Safety first! 
3. When you rent a car that cost $22 a day, don't be surprised of the rearview mirror falls off the window. 

 First stop, Nagatoro for a boat ride down the Arakawa River. This was pretty fun and an unexpected addition to the trip. It turned out to be a really nice day to float down the river. Parts of the ride were a little bumpy, but the combination of smogless air and lush green mountains put me in a state of chill.

Next up? Off to Chichibu for lunch and some hot baths. We arrived at a small ryokan tucked away in the mountains of Chichibu. At first, things looked a little grim as we walked up to a run down building, cobweb covered building. But hiding right behind it was a charming little inn that served up one of the most satisfyingly delicious meal I've had in Japan thus far. Whoa. 

Why so yummy? Everything tasted really good, but beyond that, it was the perfect snapshot of what makes Japanese food so good. It was light but filling and had balance. The meal started off with hot green tea and grilled fish caught in the local river. Then fresh soba, a local specialty, with fresh mountain veggie tempura. We got 3 kinds of sauce for the soba. The dark sauce in the bottom right is regular mentsuyu sauce. To the right is a special local sauce made from walnuts. Aove these two is ground Japanese Mountain Yam, torojiru. This was new to me. I've seen it used on TV shows, but this was my first shot at eating it. It doesn't taste like much, but the texture is unlike anything I've eaten before. It's super gooey and slides right down your throat. The way to eat it is to pour (not easy) some into the dipping sauce, then dip your noodles and eat. It was also nice to eat tempura that went beyond plain onions, green beans and yams. Half of the fried veggies were unrecognizable to me and my friends, but they all tasted great. 

See mom, I ate it all! For dessert? A piping hot bath outdoors with natural spring water. Different onsens claim that their water has a special healing power. Our bath water was supposedly good for whitening your skin. Aside from being completely naked (no bathing suits allowed) in front of my friends, it was very relaxing and I look forward to trying out other onsens in the area. A few notes about public bath houses in Japan: 

1. If you're modest about nudity, onsens may not be for you. 
2. Baths in Japan, even at home, are not about cleaning yourself. It's about relaxation and is a very big part of Japanese life. Even at home, you shower first, then get into the bath. Bath water is often shared between family members and roommates. 
3. You must strip down to your birthday suit and bath yourself thoroughly before entering the baths. Nooks, crannies, the works. The bath area is in front of the bath so everyone can see how well you cleanse. 
4. Never dunk your head below the water. 
5. A lot of guidebooks will tell you that you cannot go to bath houses if you have tattoos. That is a slightly outdated rule. This was a roundabout way for bath owners to turn away yakuza members without actually having to say it was because they were gang members. 
6. Bring a small towel with you to help wipe away sweat and cool yourself off. It can also help shield your bits from the other bathers.  

My Lunch :: January 22nd :: Sakura Shokudou

One of my goals for 2010 is to eat a little healthier. It's not really about vanity as so much health - I suspect my current diet is to blame for my low energy and overall feeling of blarg. It's silly that I live in Japan and don't eat more fish. It's more of a mental thing than anything else - I didn't like it at all as a kid but as and adult, I find that I'm more tolerant and even sometimes enthusiastic for fish and seafood. It still doesn't hold a candle up to pork in my book (NOTHING EVER WILL) but it's a whole lot healthier for me.
Today I had a classic Japanese dish, Saba Miso - mackeral in a miso sauce at Sakura Shokudou in Roppongi Hills. It was nummy especially with the many sides it came with - tsukemono (pickles), miso soup, green salad with corn and potato salad.


Sakura Shokudou

Publish Post

Roppongi Hills North Tower, B1F
Roppongi Station (Hibiya, Oedo)

My Lunch :: January 19th :: Cinagro Kitchen + Market

Omotesando (the fancier shopping street near Harajuku) isn't really known for food. I always have a hard time trying to find a good mid-shop food stop but today I stumbled upon Cinagro Kitchen + Market in the basement of the building that houses the MoMa store. It is an organic cafe and market and they offer a great lunch deal. I had a cured ham, parm and avocado sandwich on fresh baked wheat bread and it included a yummy mushroom soup and a trip to their salad bar. Awful music, but that's
to be expected in Tokyo. My lunch plus an iced coffee came out to ¥1,050 - about $12! Not bad!

Cinagro Kitchen + Market
GYRE Building, B1F, 5-10-1 Jinguame
Omotesando Station (Chiyoda, Hanzomon, Ginza) or Meiji-Jingumae Station (Chiyoda, Fukutoshin)

My Lunch :: Dec 29th :: Cafe Meal Muji

Sweet and sour karage, tofu mash and chicken broccoli from Meal Muji in Yurakucho. Finished The Wind Up Bird Chronicles in the process. Not my favorite Murakami, but good enough.

Cafe Meal Muji
Muji Yurakucho, 2F
Yurakucho Station (Mita, JR Yamanote)

My Lunch :: Oct 19 :: M Cafe de Chaya

Another bento from M Cafe. Sorry, I know it's getting little boring but I think that this will be my last macrobiotic meal for awhile. This bento has various steamed veggies, 2 kinds of rice and soy nuggets. Though the purple rice is vibrant in color, it was pretty bland. It gets its color form azuki beans, which I prefer to have in my sweets. It was fun while it lasted M Cafe!

My Lunch :: Oct 15 :: M Cafe de Chaya

I am a little obsessed with M Cafe so I got another bento today. This one consists of basil rice and soy nuggets. Soy nuggets sounds really gross, but they're pretty tasty. If you have ever had Inari, it tastes like the tofu skin around the rice. I am also obsessed with eating tiny pieces of chocolate from 7-Eleven. There are some pretty wacky flavors to choose from (sweet potato, azuki bean, vegetable) but I prefer white chocolate with chocolate cookie (i.e. cookies and cream). The juice is also a new discovery - muscat juice. You can find this juice in tiny cans in K-Town and other Asian markets in The States, but the tiny cans have chunks of muscat and jelly floating around. It's not bad, but sometimes you want to just have juice. Now I found it and I'm pretty stoked.

M Cafe de Chaya, Akasaka

Akaska Biztower B1F

Akasaka Station (Chiyoda) 

My Lunch :: Oct 14 :: M Cafe de Chaya

MmMmmmmmm! This bento was so good. I am a sucker for croquettes but they're not exactly healthy. I picked up a reasonably healthy version at M Cafe de Chaya in the Akasaka Biz Tower. M Cafe is an organic/macrobiotic cafe that would make Gwyneth Paltrow proud. This bento didn't come cheap at ¥1000 (i think that would be around $14.00) but it was very tasty and I was perfectly satiated and energized by it. It came with some mashed pumpkin, a tofu tomato salad, marinated broccoli, brown ume rice and a veggie croquette. Maybe I should start reading GOOP.com. Gwyneth is onto something...