white-day

in japan, women give chocolate to men on valentine’s day. and men return gifts a month later on white day (march 14th). on white day, men can give anything in white: underwear, handkerchiefs, jewelry, etc.

in canada, men give roses to women on valentine’s day. i have the luxury of receiving a gift, but there is no official day to return the favor. so i decided to return the tradition and give something white on white day. last year, i made white mochi filled with raspberries and white chocolate. this year, i made mille-feuille.

for valentine’s, paul and i went to moose jaw, about two hours drive south from saskatoon. moose jaw has a spa with a natural hot spring outdoor bath. i didn’t realize there was a hot spring in saskatchewan — i thought they were only in british columbia and alberta. so it was a nice surprise when paul found out about the spa in moose jaw.

the room we stayed in had a jet bath right next to the bed — no door involved. it reminded me of love hotels in japan, but it was surprisingly less tacky. maybe because there was no neon, or mirrors over the bed.

there’s an indoor pool on the top floor of the hotel that extends outside, where there’s a balcony surrounding the hot pool with the open sky above. in japan, this kind of thing is called “rotenburo” (literally, “bath under the skies”). people like to go to rotenburo especially in winter, when you can take a bath surrounded by snow.

this is canada, so the “rotenburo” was a pool, not a bath. everyone wears swimsuits, unlike in japan.

after dinner, we went to the outdoor pool. it was nearly midnight - around closing time, so there was only one other couple there. they were making out in the middle of the indoor pool, so we headed outside. the bath was surrounded by thousands of tiny christmas lights wrapped around the winter trees and we could see stars overhead. clouds of steam softened the effect. it was very beautiful. when the steam wrapped around the bare trees and fell down to us, it was as if we had thousands of leaves wrapped around us.

here’s the recipe i used for mille-feuille, from the joy of cooking. i cheated and bought frozen puff pastry, instead of making my own.

recipe

you need puff pastry. i bought it, cut it with a cookie cutter, and baked it according to the instructions. you can make your original pastry, if you know how. good luck…

the trick with the pastry is to press it down while baking so it doesn’t rise too much. i didn’t have anything to press it down with, so my mille-feuille is way too puffy.

pastry cream

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolk

beat in a medium bowl on high speed until thick and pale yellow (about two minutes).

meanwhile, in a medium saucepan:

• 1 1/3 cups milk

bring to a simmer.

gradually pour about one-third of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine. scrape the egg mixture back into the pan and cook over low to medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the custard is thickened and beginning to bubble. then continue to cook, whisking, for 45 to 60 seconds. using a clean spatula, scrape the custard into a clean bowl.

stir in:

• 3/4 tsp vanilla

cover the surface of the custard with a piece of wax or parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming. let cool, then refrigerate before using. this keeps, refrigerated, for up to two days.

raspberry sauce

combine and bring to a boil over low heat:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water

add:

• 1 cup fresh or unthawed frozen raspberries

stir until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

add:

• 1/2 tsp grated orange zest, vanilla

blend it with a hand blender and strain and discard seeds and pulp. pour the sauce back into a saucepan and reduce sauce by half.

layer the puff pastry circles with custard and raspberry sauce. serve with a glass of milk and a kiss.

in japan, women give chocolate to men on valentine’s day. you can give chocolate to someone you love (”honmei” = true love) or to your colleagues at work as an obligation gift (”giri choco“).

since this one-sidedness is obviously unfair, white day was invented for men to return gifts to women. white day (march 14th, one month after valentine’s day) was created by a marshmallow company in 1965. they urged men to give soft, fluffy marshmallows to the women who had given them chocolate on valentine’s day. it was called “white day” because marshmallows are white.

thankfully, men don’t only give marshmallows nowadays (i hate marshmallows — too sweet!). they can give anything white: underwear, handkerchiefs, stockings, jewelry, etc.

in canada, most men give roses or chocolates for valentine’s day. i worked at a florist in kingston last year on valentine’s day, and i remember the store being packed that afternoon with boys ordering dozens of roses. so many of them showed up in the last few minutes before we closed, when we’d already run out of roses. they were so cute to be so worried when they found out we didn’t have any roses, but i told them it was okay and helped them pick out some other flowers. they were all so sincere — i had a good time helping them choose. i told them it was more romantic and powerful to give just one flower than a whole bouquet.

in canada, i have the luxury of receiving presents on valentine’s day. so i decided to reverse the tradition and give something white on white day. this year, i made mochi!

mochi are cakes made of glutinous rice. you’re supposed to steam the rice and then pound it with a hammer until it’s very sticky. traditionally, we use a long wooden hammer and a large wooden pestle, called “kine” and “usu”. but i don’t have those tools, so instead of using glutinous rice i used glutinous rice flour (it’s called “mochiko”, which is available at asian super markets). and i just put the flour, sugar and water in a bowl and heat it up in the microwave. it works fine!

traditionally, mochi are filled with sweet red bean paste, called “anko”. it’s tasty, but too old-fashioned. in japan, you can buy mochi with a big strawberry inside, along with the anko. that inspired me to get rid of anko (and strawberry) and use raspberries and white chocolate (perfect for white day). i melt the white chocolate and dip the raspberries in it, then wrap the whole thing up in mochi. the hard part is not eating them before they’re done.

recipe

• 454g glutinous rice flour (”mochiko“)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 660mL water
• 1 225g bag white chocolate chips
• 1 8oz package fresh raspberries
• cornstarch

1. combine flour, water, and sugar in a mixing bowl. mix well.
2. cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
3. take it out and stir (watch out for steam!) well with a wet wooden spoon. keep a glass of water next to you to dip the spoon in, so nothing sticks to it.
4. cover again and microwave for another 4-5 minutes on high.
5. sprinkle cornstarch on the countertop, then dump out the hot mochi mix on it. sprinkle more cornstarch on top.
6. let it cool.
7. meanwhile, melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler. you can add cream, but i don’t.
8. when the chocolate is melted, dip the raspberries in it, one by one. place them on parchment paper and move them to the fridge to set. you need parchment paper so the chocolate covered raspberries don’t stick to your dish.
9. wait until the mochi mix is cool and the raspberries are set.
10. cut chunks (size of a golf ball) off the mochi mix and stretch them out to the size of your palm.
11. put one chocolate-covered raspberry in the middle and fold it together, pinching the edges closed. roll it into a smooth ball.

bon appetit!

(you can wrap each mochi in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer)