MMM-FRUIT!

For my birthday and Christmas gifts last year, my sister gave me two wonderful cookbooks as gifts: the first, I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita (ISBN 978-0811868716) and All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray (ISBN 978-0811867818).

I’ve flipped through I Love Macarons a few times and have come to the conclusion that I am not yet ready to make the attempt. I don’t have all of the equipment necessary, and since I am moving to Japan in just a couple of weeks, it doesn’t make sense for me to buy anything new for my kitchen. I’ve read that baking macarons can be quite difficult, with the first few attempts resulting in disaster. I’ll have to save my macaron attempt for another day.

Cake, on the other hand, is something I’ve successfully baked before.

My friend recently told me that most apartment kitchens in Japan do not come with an oven. My unit is no exception, so this means (sadly) I won’t be doing much baking (or any at all!) over the next year or two. There is a small microwave/oven that we will be inheriting but I imagine it’s about as powerful as an Easy Bake Oven.

I’ve been trying to get the baking out of my system before I go. I baked some cookies a few weeks ago, and froze enough cookie dough to make another two dozen cookies. This morning, I baked a Key Lime Cake (recipe from All Cakes Considered) to bring to a Fourth of July BBQ tomorrow. (Yes, that’s right, Key Lime Cake, not pie.) I substituted cake flour instead of all-purpose flour, which my aunt suggested I try next time I bake a cake. It looks and smells delicious! You can see for yourself…

Oh, how I’m going to miss baking! But luckily, our kitchen isn’t totally bare. We have a gas stove, and I hope to improve my cooking skills drastically using it.

A wedding gift from a good friend… various flavors of Kit-Kat from Japan. I am excited to try all these interesting flavors. While I was on vacation in Tokyo two years ago, I was able to try azuki-bean flavored Kit-Kats. In the Philippines, I also had mango flavor. In the photograph, I have:

1. 紅いも = Sweet Potato flavor from Okinawa
2. 夕張メロン = Yuubari Melon flavor (sweet orange melon grown in Yuubari City, Hokkaido)
3. Royal Milk Tea flavor
4. Ginger Ale flavor
5. Sparkling Strawberry flavor
6. Milk Coffee flavor
7. Green Tea flavor

How many of you have ever heard of or seen Coco’s? Now, how many of you have eaten at Coco’s?

I, personally, have not.

I’ve seen Coco’s locations in various towns, including one just down the street from where I’m currently living, but I have never been tempted to eat one. If you ask me why, my answer is that it looks like a mediocre Denny’s, and since everyone eats at Denny’s (and no one I know eats at Coco’s), I might as well eat at Denny’s too. After all, Denny’s is the place to be when it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and you’re done with dancing but not quite done hanging out with your friends. My small hometown has three Denny’s, two of which are right across the street from each other! And both of them are always packed.

(Although… that might just mean there’s nowhere better than Denny’s to eat in my hometown.)

But, I need to stop talking about Denny’s. Because this is a blog about Coco’s. And according to Wikipedia, Coco’s isn’t even anything like Denny’s! Apparently, the restaurant competes with Marie Callender’s and Bakers Square — two restaurants which I don’t think of as restaurants, but rather, places to get really delicious pie. Especially French Silk chocolate pie. Mmm…

Now, I can’t rely on Wikipedia to teach me about all there is to know about Coco’s, because all it tells me about its locations is that there are over 115 restaurants (as of 2002) operating in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado. But what about locations in Japan?

This is where you say, “What? Coco’s? In Japan?”

And I say to you, Yes! Coco’s! In Japan!

When I visited Tokyo in the summer of 2008, Coco’s was everywhere. As of April 2010, there are 566 operating within the country. That’s a whole lot of Coco’s — and it’s the reason why I am suddenly so intrigued.

A quick menu comparison:

A sample of items available from Coco’s in Japan.

Coco’s USA offers baked pastries, American cuisine (breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, etc.), and various flavored pies.

Coco’s Japan offers hamburger and chicken steak, spaghetti, pizza, rice road (?), and a limited selection of Japanese dishes.

I think the restaurant serves to bring American food to Japan, catered for Japanese taste. The menus are significantly different though. I’d like to do a comparison between the two chain restaurants, but there are two obstacles which I must overcome:

1) Finding equivalent items on the two menus to compare, and
2) Finding a Coco’s nearby that doesn’t rate less than 2 stars on Yelp.

If I succeed, look out for Coco’s blog posts part 2 and 3. Wish me luck! がんばります！

I have a working list of things I want to do before I leave for Japan. One of the things that I get to cross off today, is eating ice cream at Leatherby’s. Leatherby’s is a family-run ice cream parlor and one of Sacramento’s must-eat stops. I lived in Sacramento for nearly 3 years while I went to school, and never ate here once! It’s not that I didn’t want to – those who know me well know that I am an ice cream fiend. But the times when my friends ate at Leatherby’s were usually inconvenient for me, and the one other time I tried to go, the place was booked for a birthday event and there were no tables.

What you are seeing in the photo above is Rich’s Banana Split – 3 scoops of ice cream (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry), topped with chocolate, strawberry and pineapple sauces, whipped cream, nuts and cherries over a whole banana. It was delicious! The size wasn’t anything shocking – after all, I’ve already had my share of sundaes from The Old San Francisco Creamery Co. in Walnut Creek and Fenton’s Creamery in Vacaville. But, the flavor was satisfyingly delicious – especially on a hot almost-summer day in Sacramento. It really hit the spot.

In the coming weeks before my departure to Japan, I plan on crossing a few more things off my list… and all of these should be blog-worthy, so look out blog-followers! More blogs to come! :)