I was back in Hirafu a fortnight ago for the Hokkaido Lake Toya swim. The Saturday was spent eating up a storm. First was brunch at Sekka. Brunch has taken over as my favourite meal of the day. It’s actually a bit of toss-up for me to say whether I like brunch or high tea better. A nice pot of tea to wash down bacon, eggs, sausages, mushrooms and pancakes well – it was breakfast and lunch together. Hence they call it brunch. You’re eating two meals in one! As if all that wasn’t enough (well, maybe I wasn’t quite full), Fi and I decided to have a bake-off. Basically kinda like a mini quick-challenge in Top Chef lingo. The key ingredient was ‘chocolate’. We headed off to the supermarket to load up on ingredients. We each spent a bit over 3500yen on ingredients alone! Who knew baking was so expensive. The bake-off was off, but not before we made some cocktails – Pimms Punch, apparently a British favourite consisting of lemonade, Pimms, orange slices, pineapple slices, mint, and strawberries and cucumber slices (optional). Cocktails and Cooking – a great combo for a Saturday arvo. The final culinary delights were: chocolate and green tea muffins, a chocolate cake, and rocky road – all made by me. Fi made a yoghurt chocolate mousse and a chocolate cheesecake. According to the panel of taste-testers, Fi’s chocolate cheesecake won. I still maintain that I make the best rocky road ever. The best translation of rocky road into Japanese is “deko boko choco”! In the evening we hit the pub where I hosted the local trivia night. More alcohol units consumed to wash down a meat pie and mashed potato. All that indulgence certainly took its toll the next day in the Toya swim with some rather slow swim times. Check out the culinary cake creations below. I can bake as well as I eat.

Brunch at Sekka

Pimms Punch

chocolate bake-off

chocolate cake with white chocolate icing

dekoboko choco = rocky road