We love mochi (pronounced MO-chee), an Asian-American sweet with roots in ancient Japan.

For more than a millennia in Japan, mounds of pillowy rice dough have been stuffed with adzuki beans and other sweet fillings (photo #1, ice cream mochi, look similar).

A dough of pounded, glutinous (but gluten-free) sweet rice flour is steamed and kneaded until it becomes delightfully chewy and supple, with a velvety texture.

Fourteen centuries later, the sweet fillings were replaced by ice cream at Mikawaya, a Japanese confectionary in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

Mochi found their way to California-based Trader Joe’s, Albertsons, Ralphs and Safeway, and are now in their stores nationwide.

Here’s the history of mochi, from 794 C.E. to now.

For decades, most consumers encountered mochi largely as a dessert item at Japanese restaurants. Now, it’s expanding into the wider consumer marketplace.
 
 
GREAT NEWS: NON-DAIRY (VEGAN) ICE CREAM MOCHI

My/Mo, a leader in ice cream mochi, has a line of delicious flavors made with conventional ice cream (here’s our review).

But with trends to nondairy milks and sustainability, an addition to the line is Mochi Cashew Cream Frozen Dessert.

The ice cream is made from cashew milk. The line is certified gluten free and kosher (dairy) by OK, as well as non-dairy vegan and soy free. The flavors:

 
Mochi are versatile:

 
Here’s a store locator.

For more information, visit MyMoMochi.com.
 
 
MOCHI TIP: Before eating, let mochi soften until you can press them gently like a ripe pear. Gnawing on frozen-hard mochi doesn’t give you the real experience.

[1] Versatile mochi can be served casually or glamorized (all photos courtesy My Mochi).

[2] Four flavors made with cashew milk are dairy-free, gluten-free, kosher and vegan.

[3] Serve ice cream mochi whole or halved.

[1] That’s one big cookie! Here’s the recipe from A Cozy Kitchen.

Hey Cookie Monster, and the cookie monsters within us:

May 15th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.

We’re going for this jumbo chocolate chip cookie, from A Cozy Kitchen.

It’s baked in a 12-inch skillet.

That makes it a family-size chocolate chip cookie. Bake one to celebrate today; perhaps you’ll have some left over for tomorrow (although not in our house!).

If you don’t have a 12-inch cast-iron skillet (or a nonstick pan that specifies “oven safe”), here are some of our favorite normal-size chocolate chip cookies:

 
Where would we be without them?

Here are four ways to enjoy creamy iced coffee, from Pampered Chef.

Pampered Chef prepares it family-size, in their one-gallon Quick-Stir Pitcher (photo #1).

The pitcher, which has a plunger in the lid, mixes everything from infused water and sangria to powdered drinks. We use it to brew iced tea as well, and bring the pitcher to the table.

The pitcher fits in a refrigerator door.
 
 
RECIPES: REGULAR & FLAVORED ICED COFFEE

Ingredients For 8 Eight-Ounce Glasses

These recipes blend the half-and-half into the coffee, and include sugar. Ingredients may be cut in half for 4 servings, and you can omit the sugar to allow people to sweeten as they wish (or not).

Dark roast coffees work best for iced coffee.

You can substitute milk or nondairy milk for the half-and-half.

Make coffee ice cubes by pouring extra iced coffee into an ice cube tray. When you put the frozen cubes into a glass of iced coffee, it not only makes it colder; it prevents the ice from diluting the coffee.
 
 
EASY ICED COFFEE

 
 
CARAMEL ICED COFFEE

 
 
COCONUT ICED COFFEE

 
 
CHOCOLATE-COCONUT ICED COFFEE

 
Preparation

*1. PLACE the ingredients in a pitcher and blend. Use hot coffee for the coconut flavors so the cream of coconut will dissolve.

2. CHILL as desired and/or serve with ice cubes.

[1] Iced coffee in Pampered Chef’s Quick-Stir Pitcher.

[2] Coconut iced coffee (photo courtesy Peet’s).

[3] Caramel iced coffee (photo courtesy Pots And Pans).

Check out the different terms and types in our Coffee Glossary.

[1] Sablefish on a bed of rice, with baby bok choy, garnished with microgreens. At Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle.

[2] Sablefish on rice with crisped kalettes at Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Oregon.

[3] Sauteed sablefish atop a bowl of greens (photo courtesy Vital Choice).

[4] Smoked sablefish from Russ & Daughters in New York City.

Have you had sablefish? What about black cod? Alaska cod? Butterfish?

Many fans of black cod or Alaska cod (and other names) don’t know that it isn’t cod. It’s sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria), a member of a completely separate fish family (the cod family is Gadidae).

Sablefish belong to the Anoplopomatidae family, a group of deepwater fish which are only found in the North Pacific, from the U.S. west to Japan.

So why call it black cod? It’s marketing: Make it sound more mouth-watering and the fishing industry will sell more of it. The same was done with:

 
Renamed, they quickly developed a market and now sell at premium prices. Under their original names, would you buy them? (“What’s for dinner tonight?” “Slimehead and mud crabs.”)
 
 
WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?

A premium-quality whitefish, domestic sablefish come largely from the Gulf Of Alaska, which boasts the world’s largest sablefish population. The Bering Sea, on the other side of the Alaska peninsula, is another great fishing ground.

In addition to delicious fish, you’ll get high-quality protein plus all your omega 3’s*, and lots of minerals: calcium, copper, iron, iodine, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.

The white flesh has a soft textured and mild, buttery, sweet flavor. When cooked, its flaky texture is similar to Chilean sea bass (i.e., Patagonian toothfish).

And surprise: Chilean sea bass isn’t even a type of bass: It’s a member of the cod family!
 
 
HOW TO SERVE SABLEFISH

Most of the sablefish consumed in the U.S. is smoked, a technique used for centuries (more likely, millennia) by the indigenous tribes of the Pacific Northwest.

Rich in oil, they are exceptionally flavorful no matter how they are prepared. (For cholesterol counters: The fats in sablefish are highly polyunsaturated and well-suited to low-cholesterol diets.)

As you can see from the photos, fresh or frozen catch can be cooked like conventional fillets.

 
However, just because it’s called black cod doesn’t mean it’s suitable for most codfish recipes. Cod is a particularly dense fish.

Next time you see “black cod” or “sablefish” at the fish counter, don’t hesitate to give it a try.

Like smoked salmon, it’s delicious with a bagel and cream cheese.
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*Because it lives in deep, icy waters, sablefish accumulates far more omega-3 fatty acids than most other white fish.

†The difference between a sauté and a pan fry is that for a sauté, the food is cut into small pieces, e.g. diced chicken. In a pan fry, it is left in larger pieces, like a breast of chicken or a fillet of fish.

We love having fun with food.

Whether we enjoy it at fine restaurants or make it ourselves, we relish food presented with wit, as works of art, or tongue-in-cheek.

Of the latter, we made a literal version not too long ago, layering sliced tongue with beef cheeks.

The famed dish Oysters and Pearls at The French Laundry in Napa and Per Se in Manhattan, is a sabayon of pearl tapioca topped with malpeque oysters and osetra caviar (more “pearls”), is one of Chef Thomas Keller’s tongue-in-cheek preparations

When you dine at L’Atelier Joel Robuchon in New York City, you may have all three experiences.

Every dish presented by the team representing the world-acclaimed chef is a work of art, for sure. Some are turned into beauty or wit by clever plating, including by creating custom plates (photo #1).

Here, “La Carotte,” is witty, artistic and tongue-in-cheek.

[1] The custom plates were designed by L’Atelier Joel Robuchon in New York City, which uses them to present different foods (photo courtesy L’Atelier Joel Robuchon).

In La Carotte, an oblong of carrot cake is iced with orange-tinted cream cheese frosting.

 
If you, too, enjoy fun food, look at your own cooking for inspiration. Our tongue-in-cheek dish is a concept that didn’t require any more effort than regular cooking of the two meats.

We added plate garnishes like pickled mustard seeds and a purée of beets for color, and everybody loved it.