“What do we all love about Spring?
It’s the season that makes us sing!
The colors are back,
No more grey or black,
Just do it, y’all–take a big swing!”
There are certain things I miss dearly about living in Japan, and others that I don’t miss at all. There is something to be said about having 4 seasons every year. We don’t get that in SoCal, which don’t get me wrong–I firmly believe has the best weather in the world, but I do miss the changing of the seasons when it happens.
Springtime in Japan was palpable. The air literally smelled different. People start dressing lighter so they also start moving quicker; and the mood changes too. I always knew what “spring fever” meant, but I never realized that it’s for real. Spring really is a time to start over fresh and forget about the heaviness of winter.
April 23rd is National Picnic Day. Get your food jars out and start packing for a day trip. Have you seen the Dense Bean Salad making the viral rounds on social media? Of course you have. All I know is, I’m not a great fan of beans, but with the right dressing this is actually really good.
The best thing about the Zojirushi Food Jars is the stainless steel nonstick interior. Non-toxic, easy to clean, and odorless.
Since it’s still chilly out sometimes, prepare some hot food. You can use the “Porridge” setting on your rice cooker to make perfect, foolproof congee (aka okayu in Japan).
Put whatever toppings you want to dress them up and you have a very satisfying meal that keeps super-hot in the jar.
If it’s warmer outside and you want something chilled for your picnic, try a quinoa salad by making quinoa in your rice cooker. If your cooker doesn’t have a quinoa setting (like ours), just look up your model number on the Zojirushi site and they’ll tell you exactly how to make it.
Just like the congee will stay hot, this quinoa salad will stay chilled.
Want to see my collection of Zojiushi Food Jars? We use the larger ones for green salads and for larger portions or when we want to share. The smaller one is better for kids and side dishes. The ones on the right have wider mouths that make it easier to eat and load.
Now let’s get to the fun stuff for Spring. The crazy bread you see at the top of this post is a traditional Australian snack called Fairy Bread that most Aussies know from their childhood. It’s been around for over a hundred years, and it’s ingenious. You may scoff, but try it first, please.
I baked my own shokupan with the bread machine which helped to add another level to it, and I used high grade salted butter. Get some decorating sprinkles that you like (Aussies call their sprinkles “100s and 1000s”) and spread a bed of it on a plate.
- Spread the butter fairly thickly so the sprinkles can stick, but not to the edges.
- Position the slice over the sprinkles.
- Face plant the slice on the sprinkles and press lightly.
- And there it is, Fairy bread, Australian style!
Seriously, you cannot knock this until you try it. The salted butter plays so well with the crunch of the sweet sprinkles as you bite into the milky fluffy texture of the bread–this silly snack was so habit forming, we were all impressed!
I also baked a sweet Funfetti Bread since I had the breadmaker out, also using the white bread setting. I used the ingredients dispenser to dump the sprinkles automatically during the “add” cycle and it came out pretty good. Mind you, not quite as wonderful as the Fairy Bread.
What does Spring mean to you? You may not have a change of seasons where you live either, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start fresh.
Products used in this post: Home Bakery Maestro® Breadmaker BB-SSC10, Rice Cooker & Warmer NP-HCC 10, Food Jars
Please note that these recipes were not tested by Zojirushi America
All images by Bert Tanimoto ©2026
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