childhood memories

japanese jello!
Originally uploaded by itslynzee.

i've been wanting to post this up for awhile but, well, i'm a blogging slacker. a little while back a friend and i were reminiscing about the the 'good ole days'. just sitting around talking about all the gatherings that we remembered and all of the good food that was at them. because, of course, every conversation comes back around to food!

one thing that we seemed to get stuck on was the layered jello that always seemed to pop up at the japanese potlucks. it went like this...

lo: remember that rainbow jello? with that white stuff in between? what the heck was that white stuff anyway?
lf: ohyea! with the layers! peel apart the layers and eat it one layer at a time. fun!
lo(shuddering): what IS that white stuff?! **
lf: we should totally make it! it'd be fun!
lo: EW...

i'm lucky enough to have an auntie that could provide me with a very detailed recipe for what i now call 'japanese jello'. her directions were SO good that i was able to put it all together in the first try! the only thing missing from my pantry was lemon jello, so that's why there are two layers of red.

JAPANESE JELLO

Ingredients
4 - 3 ounce jello boxes one of each flavor
(lime, lemon, orange, cherry)
6 - 0.25 ounce envelopes of unsweetened gelatin
1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
6 cups water (5 cups hot, 1 cup room temperature)

Equipment
9X13 inch pan
7 bowls
Nonstick cooking spray

Spray pan lightly with nonstick cooking spray. In four of the bowls, combine one package of flavored jello, one envelope of unsweetened gelatin and one cup hot water. In another bowl, combine one cup hot water, two envelopes gelatin, condensed milk and one cup tap water (if you combine the ingredients in that order it will be a little easier). Divide milk mixture evenly into three bowls. You will have about 1 to 1-1/4 cups of liquid in each bowl. Pour lime gelatin in pan and place in a level part of fridge for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Alternate layers of milk and flavored jello mixtures, always letting each layer set for approximately 20 minutes before pouring the next layer. If the jello mixtures harden too much while you are waiting for your other layers to harden in the fridge, put the bowls in the microwave for 25 seconds and mix. After all of the layers have hardened, turn the pan upsidedown on top of a large cutting board and slice into squares.
VOILA!

**lo has a fear of white and creamy foods**