Pockypine

As I was going back through my photos
from last month, I came across something that I can't believe I
forgot about. The reason I can't believe I forgot about it is because
it is definitely the most fabulous dessert that I have ever prepared
in all my years of dessert making. Behold, the “Pockypine” cake!

While in Utah I made a Japanese dinner
for my friends Heather and Jon. The main course was Chanko Nabe (sumo
wrestler's stew) and since it's the recipe that Nico's babysitter
taught me while we were living in Japan, I'll write it down below.
While I was planning the meal, I was trying to think of what sort of
dessert I could serve with it. I wanted it to be something Japanese
but since I can't stand anything made with sweet bean paste, I was in a bit of a pickle. I finally resigned myself to just throwing a box
of Pocky on the table after we finished eating but then the vision
started to form in my head and within minutes of it's conception, I
was speeding over to Michael's to find the perfect cake mold for my
masterpiece. The perfect cake mold turned out to be a football cake
mold and as I was driving back home, I thought to myself that this
was one of those times in life where if I were to die in a fiery
crash, my friends and family would be truly mystified for the rest of
their days as to why I had a football shaped cake mold in my
backseat.

The cake (spice with caramel frosting,
and the Pocky quills (I used a combination of “Men's Pocky” and
regular chocolate dipped) was the perfect finale to my Japanese meal!

Chanko Nabe (slurped down in huge
quantities by Sumo wrestlers). Delicious when slurped down in normal
sized amounts by people who are merely normal sized.

Put in a pot-

-10 cups of water

-dashi granules- follow what it says on
the package but for the kind I used it was 1 tablespoon for 10 cups
of water.

-1/2 cup soy sauce

-1/2 cup mirin

-1/2 cup sake

-3 T white miso (optional)

-a few chopped potatoes

-half a chopped onion or some chopped
leeks

-12 shitake mushrooms (you can buy them
in a big bag at the Asian market on 900 South)

-udon noodles (don't buy the kind that
come with the seasoning)

-some chopped carrots

-one daikon radish (you can get at
Asian food store or maybe at regular grocery store too)

-one small cabbage chopped

-some meat- chicken or beef

-some cakes of aburage (fried tofu)

-salt to taste

Just simmer it all together until
everything tastes cooked and yummy!