As promised, the duck and I proudly share a photo celebrating a snack we ate outside our home:
Our friend T had wanted to visit Plants and Cakes, a cafe in Frankfurt that offers plant-based, gluten- and (refined) sugar-free treats, for a while. Almost two years later, we finally had our cake and ate it too. After a quick examination of the display case, the duck and I predictably ordered the one matcha treat we could find: A raw Mango Matcha Brownie. Its flavor was a bit too mild for our tastes – the hint of matcha, mixed with the fruitiness of the mango, couldn’t satisfy our matcha cravings. We also got a Peanut Choc Raw Cake Pod with oats to share with T and her travel friend, which was divine! Our considerate cake companions kindly let us try their raw mini cakes too. So we also got to taste passionfruit with berries, I think, and something with white chocolate and peanut, maybe? All told, we had a lovely, flavorful afternoon. 4/5 tea leaves for our culinary satisfaction (as matcha snobs), 5/5 plants and cakes for the convivial company, and an appealing ambiance. ・🪴♡🍰・
This was also the perfect opportunity to test the photographic abilities of our compact new camera friend before we went on a cinematographic adventure the next day. More on that some other time.
Today, the duck and I want to share the visual result of one of our past baking adventures. Truth be told, even though we usually improvise our own meals, when we bake, we don’t dare go without a recipe (our knowledge of the chemistry of baking is practically non-existent). Last summer, we wanted to eat bake a dairy-free cheesecake. This recipe from the fantastic Vegan Heaven blog looked simple enough for us to try out. Since the duck loves to experiment, we agreed that, as long as we stuck to the measurements, we might be able to create the exact cake we were craving: a lemon and blueberry cheesecake. The local grocery stores didn’t carry any lemon-flavored soy yogurt. So we added a pack of sweetened lemon peel and a few drops of lemon juice to our vanilla yogurt. We also used cream-flavored pudding powder instead of vanilla and swapped the raspberries in the original recipe for blueberries. The result was a surprisingly delicious (and omnivore-approved) German-style lemon and blueberry cheesecake, worthy of being shared alongside our images of some of the fancier outside foods we’ve eaten. 5/5 blueberries for the experience of baking a vegan cake that (in our opinion as dairy-skeptics) tastes even better than its dairy counterpart and for being able to share it with some of our favorite people ♡♥♡♥♡
At this point, the duck and I would like to thank nope, not Pam for encouraging us to share more photos of our at-home meals! And, if you’re wondering what makes a cheesecake German, here’s the duck and my take on it: There are numerous varieties of German cheesecake. Most of them sport a shortcrust base and rely on quark, rather than cream cheese, for the filling.
It’s that time of year again when the duck and I like to reminisce about all the lovely cakes we’ve eaten. Last year we shared a photo of the first set of beautiful cake slices we ordered with our fabulous friend C over pizza and water at Pizzeria Mar de Napoli at Tokyo Dome City – four years ago! Those chocolate cakes will forever be the first thing that comes to mind when the duck and I think about our Tokyo pizza dinners. This (what I believe is a) mille crepe fruit cake, however, was pretty nice, too. Especially because fruit was a rare treat for a chronically poor duck and me in Tokyo. This might have been the last time we went to our favorite Tokyo pizza place before leaving Japan. We also had to share this cake with one additional person, which is never fun when precious fruit is involved… 3/5 ducks for a bittersweet memory ・✧ 🍰 ✧・
Maybe the duck and I should eat out more. It’s getting predictable just how many photos from our glamorous life as poor Tokyo (suburb) dwellers the duck and I share on here these days. Maybe we shouldn’t eat out more and instead share photos of at-home snacks exclusively? Either way, there’s no shame. My cow shall remain honorable.
When we were living in Tokyo the duck and I loved to spend evenings with C, one of our favorite Tokyo people and the initiator of the sugar-appreciation-pals, having vivid conversations over some pizza and water at Pizzeria Mar de Napoli at Tokyo Dome City. We mainly had pizza because we wanted to consider ourselves as grown-ups who eat real food before ordering cake. But, really, the cake usually was the nutritive highlight of our late dinners. This photo is from the first time we ordered some. The duck and I got a dense chocolate cake while our friend went with a light chocolate cake with chocolate cream that she let us try. 5/5 Ducks for glorious cake and conversations ♥
The duck and I love looking back at our time in Tokyo. We had a lot of fun there and the opportunity to hang out with friends without worrying about getting anyone sick. We can’t wait to go back to eating overpriced restaurant food and meeting up with all the people we haven’t seen in way too long!
The Duck in... side 