Manju

Manju is the Japanese equivalent of a donut. Warren found a recipe on the internet and said to himself, "That looks surprisingly easy."

So he whipped up a quick batch before our weekly cocktail evening.








Thankfully Satchel's enthusiasm for this dish once again made up for my lack of it. I joked with Warren that none of our friends would eat the manju at cocktail hour, but we were both pleasantly surprised that at least half tried it and a couple seemed to actually enjoy it.

At one point I saw Satchel trying to "sell" the junior members of Team Alley on it by saying, "It's got yummy mushed up chocolate inside of it."

The red bean paste inside does have a slightly chocolatey texture. Later when I tried to sell S.A.M. with the same speech, she said, "I thought I saw some beans in there."

Warren quickly joined the conversation and said, "Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, you know."

She smiled and said something witty as she pushed the manju under her napkin.