Shrove Tuesday ideas

I just had a big birthday, the exact number of which shall remain private. In the spirit of self-care, I decided to gift myself a much longed for trip to Japan.

What inspiration! Japanese food is exquisite, everything is done beautifully, from the simplest cup of tea to jewel-cut sushi, artful bowl of noodles or the diverse and intriguing breakfast including rice, soup, fish, pickles and slimy natto beans.

It is less well known that the Japanese are also brilliant at European baking, imbuing it with an oriental twist. A sponge cake will be as light as air. Pancakes are tall, fluffy soufflés: you feel as if you are scoffing a cloud. I had my actual birthday cake (s) at a Tokyo patisserie, Hidemi Sugino, eating pillowy chestnut and yuzu gateaux.

I spent an afternoon on an old wooden ‘cake train’ where I was served the equivalent of afternoon tea while swishing past snowy temples and frosty rice paddies. Despite several cakes, the baking was so feather-like, I didn’t feel stuffed at all. Even the sandwiches, canary yellow egg salad or the popular fruit sandwiches with pink strawberries and pale cream cheese, are weightless and dainty.

This coming Shrove Tuesday is about using up rich foods before Lent, hence the name Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Virtually every culture possesses some kind of pancake, sweet or savoury, within their cuisine; think of Sri Lankan hoppers, French crepes, Indian masala dosas, Italian farinata, Polish latkes, Venezuelan arepas, Russian blinis. Here is some Japanese influenced recipes which are not too difficult to make. North London has a thriving Japanese community; you can buy ingredients and ready-made foods at shops like Natural Natural in Finchley Rd and Atari-ya with branches in Golders Green, Finchley and Acton.