Rice Cakes

The most basic and easiest to create in Sakura In Bloom's pastry shop is rice cakes. Simple, plain rice cakes can be many meanings in the eyes of many.

Yu Ling is very skilled in the creation of rice cakes. From molding the hot sticky rice into a nice pasty dough to be cooked are the many procedures of creating delicious rice cake, whether sweet or tasteful, both have their magical value.

"Yu-Chan, have you finished making the strawberry mochi skins?" called a voice. Yu Ling jumped, startled. She was immersed in her thoughts of narrating to herself about the potentials of sweetsmaking.

"Uhhhh..."

"Don't tell me you accidentally made the skins too soft! Soft skins should only be used for green grass kusa mochi, and certainly not mochi ice cream! The skins were supposed to be thick and chewy, did you made it too spongy and soft!"

"Ummm, you should prepare the skins next time and let me grind the anko paste, Big Sis."

A huge sigh of annoyance rang from downstairs as a girl wearing a beautiful green kimono dotted with pink flowers came upstairs (the upstairs has a small sweets kitchen).

"As expected, you're daydreaming and you put too much pressure and made the skins too delicate and fragile. Even if we were making green grass kusa mochi, these skins would be too thin. You pulverized all the magic values of the strawberry mochi skin," explained Yu Yan.

"How are you ever going to live up to Mom and Dad's legacy if you can't even perfect the simplest recipes correctly...?" muttered Yu Yan as she overtook Yu Ling's work and started to clear away the mochi skins.

You see, Yu Ling's parents were legendary charm chefs who had a huge legacy in creating the best magical pastries. They were also rumored to be from a another world, although that theory was very far-fetched.

Yu Ling sighed.

"Will I never improve...?"

"You'll improve...if you can perfect mochi skins. Why don't you go cook some rice to make rice cakes while I handle the mochi skins?"

"Yu Yan, I swear I will surpass you in the art of culinary and sweetsmaking, just watch me!" declared Yu Ling with determination. Yu Yan plastered a smile, a smile so fake as of disbelieving her words or joking.

"Sure you will. The Yu clan will need you," she responded, a lace of sarcasm and mockery in her tone.

Yu Ling left immediately.

...

There are many rice cakes and each are unique and radiate different magical values. The most common is anko rice cake, which is consisted of rice dough, sweetened by dried hawthorn fruits. The rice dough is spread out to a small circle where a dollop of anko paste is served inside.Carefully meld it into a small dumpling-shaped ball and chill in the icebox for a bit. Then carefully season (or for decoration) it with a sakura leaf or use Szechuan spice leaves for the flavors to sink in nicely for a seasonal spicy taste.

Using sakura leaves gives a light flowery taste to the rice cake, giving off the medicinal benefit of relaxation and treats headaches, migraines, or any sort of discomfort within the mind. It is highly you take medicinal pills if your symptons are severe.

The Szechuan rice cake gives off a sense of youth, or vigor and it is said it may clear away light cases of depression or anxiety. Perfect for an afternoon snack and delicious with a tangy spice notes.

There are many suitable methods to make delicious rice cake but the most common would be the simple and delicious sweet anko rice cake.

(NOTE: Everything is fictional and stems from author's imagination, not in reality. Sorry for confusion.)

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