Sakura Mushipan and Matcha Swirl Bread

Sakura Mushipan and Matcha Swirl Bread (?) These two kinds of bread caught my eyes at the nearby bakery today. I knew the pink one was “Sakura (cherry blossom) mushipan (steamed cakebread),” which is my favorite. Usually they sell sakura mushipan in the cherry-blossom season only, so I don’t hesitate to buy one when I find them on the shelf. I had no idea what this one with many green stripes inside was... When I read the tag, I found that the green stripes were matcha cream. Boy, it must be some work to make the matcha cream look this way. The bread was soft and not too sweet, which I liked, but I didn’t taste matcha very much… And this Sakura mushipan ! The mushipan is very soft, and the anko (sweet azuki -bean paste) at the bottom adds some, not too much sweetness, which is wonderful! What I like the best is, however, the salted cherry leaf at the bottom. It has a very distinctive flavor, and to tell the truth, I hated it when I was a kid. At that time I never saw Sakura mushipan around, but Sakuramochi was already very popular. I still remembet the first time I tried a salt-preserved cherry leaf. When I was eating a sakuramochi, my grandma told me to eat the leaf, too. I thought she was kidding, but she insisted and promised me it would taste good, so I gave it a try. And I hated it. I just spitted it out and was mad at her for the rest of the day. Well, my preference changed as I grew up and now I love the combination of lightly sweetened mushipan (or mochi or whatever), sweet bean paste and the salty cherry leaf so much. The taste of the cherry leaf always reminds me of my grandma’s gnarled fingers (because after that incident I made her remove cherry leaf from sakuramochi every time I ate one). *** OH! I'm terribly sorry !!! I forgot to save the comments from 3 people given to the picture of Sakura mushipan!! Forgive me please....