FOODjimoto's Top 10 Posts for 2011 and A Giveaway!

FOODjimoto.com celebrated it's First Anniversary this month, January 4th, 2011 was the date of my first post! This blog was a Christmas gift last year from my daughter and son-in-law--I wasn't sure if blogging would be for me--but it has been a lot of fun and I'm enjoying it!

After receiving the gift, and a few days later getting the message, "Go! It's live!", I'd open up the site a few times a day, look at it--and close it up again and walk away--not knowing what to do or what to write. The first thing I did was put a counter on it, just to see if anyone would come by and look. Each time I would log on, the counter jumped ten or 15 views--it must have been my family looking to see if I had gotten started yet--so I jumped in--and 181 posts later--these are the highlights!

Just for fun, here's my top 10 posts (by page views) of 2011:

1. Grandma Kimbro's 2 Layer Cheesecake

2. Créme Brûlée

3. Cinnamon Rolls

4. Gyoza - Japanese Dumplings

5. Chashu - Chinese Barbecued Pork

 

6. Easter Eggs

7. Creamy, Cheesy Potato Leek Casserole

8. Green Chile Posole

 

9. Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

 

10. Furikake Chex Mix

A big Thank You to my family and friends--and everyone that's been so supportive with all your encouraging comments and also to those that have stumbled me on StumbleUpon, pinned me on Pinterest, etc. You have no idea how excited I have been to see such a big jump in readers because of one photo! Thanks to Foodgawker and Tastespotting--their websites were what made me strive to gain some photography skills in order to pass muster--it still tickles me to see one of my photos make it to their galleries.

To commemorate this occasion--because I am excited to have been blogging for one year, and as a small token of my appreciation for being so encouraging to me--I'm giving away 5 sets of 2 tea towels made by Cheryl Ann Okamoto of Cato Crafts.

Cheryl is a fellow crafter and does beautiful work, I absolutely love all her products and designs.

Each set will contain one "Family" tea towel--it's my favorite of the moment.

Plus a random choice of one of the next three designs--
"A Friend For All Seasons"

"May Your Tea Cup Runneth Over"

Or, "May your rice bowl always be full!"

To win one of these sets of  two towels, simply leave a comment below with your favorite post of 2011 or a shout-out of something else you like about FOODjimoto.com.

The winners will be chosen at random by my son Rick on January 23rd, the Lunar New Year.

Cheryl also makes the famous shoyu and oil bottles--if you're Japanese-American and living in California, you probably have one or more of these.

She also makes this lazy-susan.

Cheryl didn't make many of these gems, I'm happy I was able to get one!

If you would like to contact Cheryl about her crafts you can email her at catoc@pacbell.net.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

My husband loves dark chocolate and mint.

I decided to I'd do something nice for him since he's been driving me the last few weekends to craft shows--so I made him a Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake.

I got the idea of adding the mint from Laurie at Simply Scratch.

I saw her delicious-looking Dark Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies and thought to add some mint leaves to the sugar in my mochi cake.

Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

Adapted from Favorite Island Cookery, Book III 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 cups loosely packed mint leaves

1/4 cup cocoa powder

6 oz. dark chocolate

2 cups mochiko

2 cups all purpose flour

1-12 oz. can coconut milk--add a little water to make 2 cups

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Process 1-1/2 cups sugar with 2 cups loosely packed mint leaves until evenly combined, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.

Add butter and process until creamed together.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and add to the processor, pulse until evenly combined.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Transfer to a large bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Pour into greased and sugared (or floured) baking pans.

I used two smaller pans, but it will make one 9 x 13 inch pan.

Bake at 350ºF for one hour.

The center of the cake will fall a little as it cools.

I really like using 1/2 mochiko flour and 1/2 all-purpose flour.

It gives the mochi cake a little lighter chewiness.

It's still dense like mochi, but not as sticky.

Big thanks to Laura Miyake for coming over and giving me food styling tips and helping with photography!

Itadakimasu!

***

This is my husband Gary and our dog Dixie.

Whenever we take long drives--on vacations or traveling to craft shows, we've been listening to podcasts while he does all the driving, I sit and knit, and Dixie snoozes.

Gary likes cars, so I found Adam Carolla's CarCast--the first one we listened to was his interview with Jay Leno about his car collection--I actually enjoyed it.

I think it's funny how some guys love listening to the sound of a hot rod motor starting up, and smile big when they hear the sound of an engine revving.

Gary's a builder, so we also listened to Ace on the House, another podcast by Adam Carolla, who worked in construction for awhile.

That one was hit-or-miss, some of them were funny, but Gary could relate to the construction talk and said overall it was okay.

We've also been listening to NPR's Intelligence Squared podcast.

That's the one that's like a debate, there's a question asked and two people from both sides debate their responses--which we really like because both sides are represented.

I think the iPod is one of the greatest inventions--I can also put practically my whole music collection on it and play DJ while traveling--which makes for some interesting conversations and helps the driving time pass quickly.

If you're traveling with a dog, Kimpton Hotels are great--there are no extra fees which sometimes makes them about the same price as less-expensive hotels--and the rooms are super-nice!

***

Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

Adapted from Favorite Island Cookery, Book III 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 cups loosely packed mint leaves

1/4 cup cocoa powder

6 oz. dark chocolate

2 cups mochiko

2 cups all purpose flour

1-12 oz. can coconut milk--add a little water to make 2 cups

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Process 1-1/2 cups sugar with 2 cups loosely packed mint leaves until evenly combined, scraping sides as necessary. Add butter and pulse until creamed together.

Melt the 6 oz. dark chocolate in the microwave and add to the processor with cocoa powder, pulse until evenly combined. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each. Transfer to large bowl.

Add 2 cups mochiko flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour, coconut milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Pour into greased and sugared (or floured) 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for 1 hour at 350ºF.

When cake has cooled, garnish with powdered sugar and shaved chocolate.