My First Ever "Homemade Mont Blanc"

My parents loved chestnuts.

When autumn came, I watched the scene of boiled chestnut shells scattered on the dining table almost every day since I was a child.

Just ordinary, plain boiled chestnuts. They looked dull, were a hassle to eat, and were just plain boiled chestnuts. I had eaten them until I was sick of them, so as a child, I eventually replaced them in my memory with the label "dislike".

By the time I became an adult and could buy my own sweets, I always reached for simple "baked goods," and I rarely ordered cakes decorated with lots of whipped cream. I spent many days ignoring "Mont Blanc," which features the very chestnut I had convinced myself I "disliked."

One day, I was drawn in by a Mont Blanc feature in a magazine, and I became determined to try the Mont Blanc from Salon de Thé Angelina in particular, so I headed over to their location in the now-defunct Printemps Ginza.

I, who had long held the synonym "chestnut = dislike," whispered that to myself in my heart. But if I said "chestnuts are delicious" here, a certain "belief" I had maintained by calling them "disliked" would crumble.

Besides, part of the reason I pretended to dislike chestnuts for so many years was that I enjoyed the back-and-forth with my mother, who would tease me by saying, "But chestnuts are delicious," while I would reply, "No, I'm good (I don't want any)."

I've grown older and reached today while still dragging that strange "belief" along with me.

In the past few months, as my updates on note have slowed down, I have been engaging more closely with my Instagram posts and my interactions with followers.

One day, while exchanging comments with a local dog-owner friend, I saw a message saying, "I want to eat chestnut sweets," and it hit me. Even though I have lived (and still live) for making sweets, I had never once tried a recipe using chestnuts.

I felt like I had been missing out on something, so the day after I stopped by the supermarket, I put chestnuts in my basket for the first time in my life.

I remembered my fellow noter Mimi-san posting on Instagram that "you can steam sweet potatoes in a rice cooker," and since chestnuts are similar, I thought it might work, so I rummaged through the back of the cupboard for my rice cooker, which had been hibernating in my house (where I never cook rice).

When I tried it, I was able to steam-boil them easily with just the flick of a switch.

Unlike the chestnuts of my childhood memories, they were fluffy and delicious even just eaten as they were. To think that I had been turning a blind eye to this fact for years, no, decades...

I had never once imagined I would make a Mont Blanc myself, but thanks to my dog-owner friend's comment, I decided to "give it a try."

Peeling the chestnuts is a hassle (it really is a pain), but the paste turned out quite tasty.

I used a chocolate cake I had made with a different recipe (which I will introduce on note soon) as the base, topped it with drained soy yogurt, and squeezed out the chestnut paste with a piping bag to make it look the part.

I made my own version of Mont Blanc.

My first ever homemade Mont Blanc. It was a deeply moving experience.

I wish I could have had my chestnut-loving parents try it.