Bread

I'm off for an early start to the next town. Yesterday on my way home I made a stop at one of the bread shops that I favor. I picture little bakeries like this in Europe but I don't think I've ever seen one in Southern California. The shelves are filled with freshly baked breads and the whole shop has a wonderful aroma. These bakeries are very popular in Japan and the assortment of breads made during the course of the day is amazing.

I tend to pick out one for my main lunch and then a sweet one for dessert. Let's see. Some of my favorites are the chicken and sesame sandwiches, the sesame and cheese toast, the roll stuffed with curry and then deep fried. Other types that I think you can only find in Japan are the burdock root french bread, the fried noodle sandwiches, the sweet bean pastries and spicy cod roe toast.

There are normal breads and sandwiches too. Chocolate eclairs, tuna and egg sandwiches, pizzas of all varieties. And there are these cute breads that are made in all sorts of shapes and are take offs from animation characters in Japan. Just in this picture I see Doraemon (a traditionally favorite cartoon character that long ago my kids watched every Friday night) Anpan-man (a super hero) and Totoro (a famous Japanese animator created a movie about Totoro and this character has been popular this last generation). I don't know who these bunny breads are supposed to be but all the cutie breads are filled with cream or chocolate or sweet bean paste.

YUM!