Sakura... Sakura... *Clap Clap*

I have been yearning for the past couple of days for the taste of Sakura. Not so much that I even knew what the taste was, but more like I wanted to know what it really tasted like.

So I was meandering around yet another Japanese Supermarket when I came across a Japanese Snack Counter. Springing from the escalator to the snack counter, I spotted pinkish concoctions and hoped fervently that these were the Sakura Mochi / Daifuku I had heard so much about. True enough, "Christmas" came early this year!

To be frank, ever since I came across the holy grail of a Japanese flog (Food Blogging) called Obachan's Kitchen and Balcony Garden written by a true blue Japanese lady with Western influences, I was awe-struck.

My salivation was dripping onto the floors whilst I read her flog on Sakura Mushipan and Matcha Swirl Bread, especially the entry where she described the taste of the salted distinct taste of the Sakura leaf she was tricked into eating by her nana.

Anyways, perhaps it is my age now, but after trying the Sakura leaf, I think I understand what she meant when she said she hated it as a child, but has now grown to savour the sharp contrast of the salty taste leaves, against the sweetness of the mochi. I loved the taste of the salty contrast against the sweetness that was rolling around on my tongue, so much so that I even contemplated eating the little nobby stem of the Sakura leave.

In retrospect, I didn't taste the Sakura as much as smelled the slightly cloying sweet scent of the flower. I didn't taste much of Sakura in the mochi either, but I guess since I smoke, subtle taste may sometimes be lost on my tastebuds (almost same thing with tasting Osmanthus flowers for the first time, it was more of a non-distinct honeyed taste and no smell kinda experience).

Nevertheless, I am thankful to Obachan's flog, for allowing me to have at least tasted what Sakura is all about. I know now I am more of a Sakura leaf cruncher than a flower eater.