Otaku Café – Yama no Susume
Learn how to make french toast and pound cake…or just stare at pictures of food.
I’m always looking for ways to combine my hobbies with aniblogging to make new combinations of posts. This isn’t the first time I’ve went for the cooking x anime combo either. Instead of Sword Art Online, I found my inspiration from the adorable Yama no Susume. This is a heart-warming show about cute girls climbing mountains together and learning about overcoming obstacles. Not just physical obstacles like boulders, but real life responsibilities and hardships. It’s a slice of life show with beautiful scenery that falls under the iyashikei category for me, and I’d recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat. It just ended a few days ago, so it’s perfect for marathoning! Another great thing about this show is that it features a range of mouth-watering dishes…and their recipes. That’s right, they flash full-blown recipes with ingredients and measurements on the screen. I took it as a genuine invitation and made a few of the dishes featured in both season 1 and season 2 of the show. Enjoy!
Chocolate Swirl Pound Cake
Who doesn’t love cake? When Aoi decided to work part-time at a cake shop to earn money for mountain climbing, I just knew we’d get to see some wonderful desserts. And we did! This pound cake has a buttery sweetness complemented with the bold taste of chocolate. No wonder this is the staple recipe for the shop.
Unfortunately…there are no instructions. None at all. There’s just a list of ingredients. But don’t worry, I did all the recipe cross-checking research so you don’t have to. Note that everything is measured by weight in the original recipe and has been converted to cups for the revamped one (I don’t have a kitchen scale). My instructions should give you a wonderful poundcake that tastes best after it cools. One confession: I followed the recipe ratio and unlike the upcoming french toast recipe, I ended up with too little batter. My mom and I ate the whole mini loaf in a day. So here’s the doubled version of what I did to give you a normal-sized one for sharing!
Old Recipe: Show ▼
Revamped Recipe:Show ▼
Morning Glory French Toast
Okay, so this is actually just regular french toast but I wanted it to sound good. I’m actually not sure why anyone thought french toast would be a good thing to take up a mountain for a snack (won’t it get soggy?) so I suggest just eating it right after it comes out of your frying pan. You don’t need to climb a mountain to deserve this breakfast of champions.
Now, about the recipe they give you: it’s not that good. I followed it to a T the first time and wasn’t happy. There’s enough eggs in it to make an entire loaf of bread into French toast, and it’s so sweet that you’d end up maxing your daily carb intake before lunchtime. So I tweaked it a bit. I used less of everything because I’m not feeding an army, no sugar, and babka instead of plain white bread. Listen….good french toast uses white bread. Great french toast uses challah. MIND-BLOWING french toast uses babka. Babka is a jewish bread (kinda like brioche) with chocolate in it, and it makes the most decadent and amazing french toast imaginable. Really, any egg bread is an A+ choice because it really soaks up the batter and you don’t have to add any sugar because it’s already sweet.
Old Recipe: Show ▼
Revamped Recipe:Show ▼
About the Café
Hopefully this becomes a longer series of cooking posts, because it’s fun to do (why would I complain about getting to eat cake and french toast???). Of course, it’s hard to know when and where I’ll come across anime with delicious food that actually inspires me to get cooking. But this is really fun for me and hopefully you guys get something out it too – be it pictures of food to look at, an anime recommendation, or a recipe to actually try out in your spare time. If you try the recipes, please let me know how it goes. Take photos, even! And if you have some ideas for dishes to try out, let me know as well! I’m a total amateur home cook so I’m always looking for new things to try to make me just a little bit better. Thanks for dropping by Otaku Café~
Moe moe kyun~
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’ll take some of that pound cake and French toast, thank you. And don’t mind if I do. 😀 I’m still not over my amazement on how anime style foods can be applied in the real world. The creators really go that extra mile for realism and authenticity.
I’ve never met anyone alive who says they don’t like cake. I think I’d find it blasphemous if they do. 😉
Nice inspiration for your food choices. Yama no Susume has been on my backlog for a long time but I never take the time to check it out. I say this yet I find myself downloading the episodes (currently the second season but already have all episodes of the first) and storing them on my external hard drive. I’ve got to get myself out of this rut.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Uh. I don’t like layer cake and frosting…I really don’t. There’s something about the lack of diversity or texture to it. But the less “cakey” it is, and the more “poundy” the better.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Delicious Fruit Cake. That should satisfy you.
*mumbles why didn’t suggest that earlier…*
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Actually, fresh Fruit Cake is quite Delicious if made right. FTW one would say…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Nothing is as nutty as a fruitcake.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I was so surprised they actually included recipes…and this isn’t even a cooking show!
Yama no Susume is an easy watch because each episode is so short. It would take no time at all to marathon the whole thing.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, there’s an anime revolving around cooking food coming up. “Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma” Maybe that will increase you input.
Hopefully, in time, I’ll marathon both seasons.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Mmm, I don’t dislike cake, but I don’t particularly like cake either. I think I’ve eaten cake only once (this Christmas because the person hosting the party is an excellent baker of all things sweet and tasty) in the past 10 years.
So my birthdays are usually filled with pie! Because pie is full of win. Mmm, apple pie with Häagen-Dazs.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Cute… heartful… rori…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Hey, I said to drool over food, not lolis!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
crossdressing shotas then. >_>
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m calling the police!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Here’s the number…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You were waiting for this, weren’t you?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Who…me…?
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
The Shotafier!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
SWAT is on standby with a muzzle and straight jacket.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
The Shota Want Action Team!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
How could you manipulate that?!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
When you have been watching animu as long as I have and reach the root of Akasha… nothing is impossible. Anime is like a drug… you develop tolerance after a while and need to move to harder stuff…
*whispers Boku no pico*
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s a psychological disease. A lot of rehab is needed.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Damn fine show. And it reminds me….I would love to do an Otaku Cafe myself…and we should do a series end review for Yama no Susume…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
HELL YES TO BOTH IDEAS
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Yes for an end review of Yama no Susume! I loved this show. It got me to buy some hiking gear and climb a local mountain 3 times this last summer and looking forward to climbing it again next summer. At 7242 feet it’s not exactly Mt. Fuju, but it is the highest point in North America east of the Rockies.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I actually went hiking because of this show too! However, mine wasn’t even close to being a mountain that high. But wow, it sounds so big! That’s really impressive! Did you take pictures?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Several pictures. Is there a way to post one or two here? It’s not quite as impressive as it sounds since the trailhead I used starts at an elevation of 6200 feet. But it’s about 3-3.5 miles one way and with the up and down along the way you’re probably climbing about 1500 feet and it’s rated moderately strenuous. I also took a different trail one time which was about 1/4 mile longer. Next summer I plan to start at a different trailhead which is about 5 miles one way, involves more climbing and is rated strenuous.
I did also climb another nearby peak that wasn’t as high and the trail to it was shorter. However, it did involve some rock climbing at the end, which I didn’t know about until I got there. Made it to the top anyway.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Errr…I have no idea how to do so unless you’re linking to another page where you’ve uploaded the image :/
Anyways, this just goes to show how inspiring Yama no Susume is. Sounds like you really enjoyed it the climb too. Good luck on your next one!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I did enjoy it. And surprisingly, my knees held up pretty well. The last time I had climbed Harney Peak was in 1999 and I thought then it’d be my last time because of my knees. I guess they aged better than I thought they would. Sure, they ached, but not very much and they didn’t force me to turn back like I feared.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
DAT BREAD! Speaking of food posts I wonder if you will re-create any dishes from Koufuku Graffiti and Shokugeki no Souma whenever that airs, but good work OC <3
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
You know, that is not a bad idea. I’m not a bad hand in the kitchen…and I have a professional one at my disposal….
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah, I’m really excited for those two because I just know it’s going to make me want to up my cooking game. Thanks Fosh!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Sounds like you’ll have a notebook ready when they start.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Maybe we should start a recipe swap thread. I have a recipe for a seafood chowder that works great for lobster, crab or shrimp. Should work for clams or fish as well and I suppose you could adapt it for chicken. I also have a great recipe for gumbo.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ahhhhhhh I loveeeee chowder. I’m getting hungry again…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Here’s my chowder recipe:
1/3-1/2 cup of olive oil
2 Tbs flour
2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning or more depending upon taste
1/4 tsp diced Bay leaf or 1 whole Bay leaf crumbled
1/2 cup diced green onion
1 can cream of potato soup
1 pint to 1 quart cream or half & half (amount depends upon how thick you like it)
1 lb of lobster meat, crab or shrimp
In a slow cooker, crock pot or large sauce pan combine olive oil, flour and Bay leaf. Heat and stir occasionally until mixture turns golden brown. Add diced green onion and continue cooking until onion is sautéed. Add cream or half & half and cream of potato soup. Cook and stir until soup is thoroughly mixed. Add lobster or crap or shrimp (or fish or combination of two or more). Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until heated through and meat is done. Stir thoroughly before serving so olive oil is well mixed into chowder–it can tend to rise to the top.
This amount should be sufficient for two people or two meals for one. You can easily double or triple, etc. this recipe. However, one cup of olive oil should probably be the maximum used unless making a very large batch. The amount of olive oil, Old Bay Seasoning and cream or half & half can be tweaked until you find the combination you prefer for your chowder.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Thanks!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
You’re welcome.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Jeez, I forgot to say that you add the Old Bay seasoning at the same time as the flour and bay leaf.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
The more I look at the two characters in the picture, the more I think they are crossdressing shotas. :O