Just finished a small batch of hanami dango, japanese three-coloured dumplings. I got the recipe from the Manga Cookbook, which my boyfriend gave to me for my birthday. It’s a really nice book, would recommend it to anyone as an introduction to making Japanese food.

I’ve spent ages looking for the right type of flour. Both mochiko and shiratamako are extremely hard to find in Norway unless you live in Oslo, and you MUST use these types of rice flour to get it right. Regular rice flour is just used to get the dango more firm. I managed to find some in Sweden, but used food colouring instead of matcha powder, since I didn’t find that.

Sticky stuff, but very delicious!

Yes, I admit it. I have become a drama addict. Honestly, if I can’t catch Hot Shot every sunday afternoon, I get this weird feeling that I’ve missed something important. The worst part is, I have dragged my friend down with me and got her addicted too. Recently, I urged her to see Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu, the Taiwanese version of Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. She had already seen the Japanese version. Just to put the record straight, I absolutely LOVE both series. My general impression is that people tend to prefer one series over the other. The plot is slightly different, the characters are interpreted in different ways… Although both series are based on the same manga, they might be seen as two separate dramas. However, altough I like both series, I tend to prefer certain actors. This caused a discussion between me and my drama-loving friend, thus giving birth to this list. Which Hana-Kimi actor do we prefer?

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