Baking Time

If you lived in Japan, you know that ovens are basically absent in Japanese households unless you live in a house. For those living in apartments, family sized ones sometimes have an oven but for single-person units, having an oven in the kitchen is close to zero. Japanese microwaves on the other hand are hugely useful and they also perform the function of a toaster, oven toaster, and mini oven all in one. But as you can imagine there's not much room in the microwave which made it hard for me to cook.

 It's been about 10 years since I last properly cooked something in the oven. Hence when I decided to make brownies to bring to the Christmas party, I was worried. But surprisingly it came out well and did quite well at the potluck. It's a really simple and very rich brownie recipe so I highly recommend it! Do note that these brownies are rather on the bitter side compared to other overly sweet brownies. Also it doesn't use any baking powder so it's very decadent and delicious!

Some things I've noticed while I was cooking. Do the Swiss not measure when they cook? I went around a few supermarkets but was unable to find measuring spoons and cups. Also I put in too many packages of vanilla sugar to give it flavor but gave the brownies a grainy aftertaste. Eek, must've not been the correct ingredient. I'm still getting used to finding the right products in French - must take note to grab a few baking tools when I visit the US!

The recipe is here ;)