Working up the Matcha crave
After seeing two different Japanese gardens this year, the taste of Matcha was calling me, the calling of the crave. My tongue was craving subtle matcha.
There are three Japanese Gardens in or near Seattle
There is a small Japanese Garden in Olympia. It’s a quick stroll, like a ten-minute stroll. We went there when it was raining, hard. We still did the cover the entire garden. There is nothing like the sound of rain on your parka hood, or on an umbrella in the fall.
There is also Kubota Garden, which is a good size walk. The smartphone recorded me in the health App that I only walked 1. 3 miles. Hmm, thought it was much a longer walk. I think it was just me standing around admiring the fall colors. It just seemed like I was walking longer, but I was standing. They have a good variety of trees and plants and a Koi Pond.
Then there is the Seattle Japanese Garden, which I had written about in another blog.
After learning and strolling through Japanese gardens, I was inspired to have a dish of Matcha. Since I have never cooked with matcha, I was shying away from cooking with it. I thought I would leave it to the expert right at this minute; to learn a little bit more about Matcha before I start mixing it in with dishes.
Giving into the Matcha crave for Green Tea Tiramisu
A better thought, how about going to a Japanese Specialty Pastry, which would fill my crave and allow me to see what else can I do with Matcha?
Yep, wonderful idea.
The specialty bakery is a small place in Wallingford. I got introduced to this place by a friend of a friend. She bought the Green Tea tiramisu to a party one time, and half of that cake was gone as soon as she brought it. No, I didn’t eat half of the cake, although I could have. Thank goodness at the time I was learning about sugar and was keeping an eye on that. Now that I allow myself to have one good cake, I can only still have up to one good slice.
At Hiroki, two of their specialties are making this subtle Green Tea Tiramisu and Matcha Tea. I love places that specializes in sweets. I went with a friend, and we split the cake, and every bite of it was subtly delicious.
The vanilla part of the cake consisted of an angel cake texture. Pale lime green frosting with sprinkles of Matcha powder topped the cake nicely with another green layer in the middle. The whipped cream on the cake tasted fresh.
What to have with cake: they have a pretty good selection of loose teas. My friend had the Darjeeling tea. They also serve specialty coffees and variety of cookies and other cakes. I keep meaning to try their other goods, but the times I go, my crave gravitates towards the green stuff.
Extra tidbits: if you are going out that way, they do have a parking lot right outside their store. Sometimes, the lot gets full, and there is street parking (free for now) with two-hour parking limit.
Cost: specialty stores are slightly pricier than a regular coffee shop. Celebrate an occasion.
Also, their hours are different than a coffee shop. They don’t open until noon.
Enjoy your occasion and the desert and the tea or the latte.
Green Tea Cake