What Is...Onigiri?

We've decided to create a "What is...?" section to answer some of our most frequently asked questions.
What exactly is Onigiri? The term "nigiru" in Japanese means to form with one's hands. Nigiri refers to sushi (because the rice is traditionally formed and molded with the sushi chef's hands). Onigiri ("beautiful nigiri") is the delicious snack made from rice usually in a triangular form. The picture above shows an Onigiri sandwiched between a piece of crisp seaweed and stuffed with pork inside.There are tons of creative ways of preparing Onigiri. This yummy Onigiri is pan-fried to give a crispy exterior, then smothered with a sweet miso paste, then sprinkled with bonito flakes.
One of our most popular Onigiri mold from Japan is this traditional three triangular shaped mold. For a whimsical take on Onigiri, check out our mold with three different shapes.

Green Tea Iced Cupcakes

Our thanks to Debbie, our resident baker, for making these yummy matcha green tea iced cupcakes from the Cupcake Blog. Below is the icing recipe, but you can see the original recipe here.

Matcha Green Tea Icing
-2 sticks butter
-8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
-3 cups powdered sugar
-2 tablespoons green tea matcha powder

1. Bring butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
3. Sift 3 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of matcha powder into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
4. Taste. Add more matcha if desired.

Upscale Washugyu Beef

Mooo-ve over Kobe Beef. The soft, butterlike "massaged" beef from Japan was once the king of the cows in the high-end luxury, meat market. The beef is from fine bred Japanese hormone-free cattle raised in "stress free" environments. The cattle are raised using "natural rearing techniques". The claim: that all this produces the finest quality beef in texture and flavour, so much so that even Nobu & Megu in New York have bought into the craze.

We bought a chunk of this famous Washugyu beef to try it for ourselves. It was a whopping $55 for a 7"x3" piece. We seared it on a hot pan, and used light Memmi sauce for dipping (see picture above). The verdict- the beef was indeed soft as ever and tasted the way beef should taste, but would I buy another $55 piece of hormone free beef?