reminiscing

Gonna do these "reminiscing" posts, when I don't have anything to write about...

Four years ago Guru Guru Bagel still bummed they closed

Fourteen years ago Vanilla (Week 1) I have quite a stash now

Fifteen years ago Bagels (Part 4) I should try making bagels again

banh xeo

1st time making banh xeo and I think even 1st time eating it.

It is a fun word to say...ban-say-oh!

Somehow I thought it was made with eggs, but looking online, this is only made with rice flour, coconut milk, turmeric and some water.

I used this recipe and cut it down to make 2 crepes.

Adapted from the internet, makes 2 crepes

42 grams mochiko

14 grams flour

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

water

66 milliliter milk

coconut oil

Mix and let the batter sit in the refridge for at least 3 hours.

Heat oil in a pan and swirl in 1 ladle of batter to make 1 thin crepe

Add your filling, and cover to steam, fold the crepe in half, repeat to make another crepe, serve.

NOTES: Originally this is supposed to be gluten and dairy free, but I didn't have rice flour and used mochiko. 

Not sure, but I think using rice flour might make a difference as to how light the crepe comes out.

Also, I didn't have coconut milk and used regular milk.

When I cooked the crepe I used coconut oil so it would have a slight coconut fragrance.

I had some leftover gapao filling, so that is what I put into our banh xeo.

I know Thai filling, Vietnamese crepe, still it was delicious.

You are supposed to cut off pieces of the crepe and wrap it in some lettuce, but we just ate it with wilted spinach.

I think I need to thin out the batter a little more, but we thought it was delicious.

I'll make this again and make sure we have lettuce to wrap it in.

tofu "cheese"

Tried a new (to me) recipe that turns tofu into "cheese"

Recipe from Asajikan

200 grams firm tofu

2 chili peppers

2 cups olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

dried herbs: parsley, oregano, basil, rosemary

Set the tofu onto a paper towel with a weight on top to drain (at least 2 hours)

Cut into 1 centimeter squares and put into a 500 milliliter glass jar.

Add the chili peppers

Add the oil, salt and herbs.

Soak in refrigerator for at least 2 days.

Keeps for 5 days.

NOTES: I have a tofu container that has a removable strainer basket within the container, (which I bought at the 100 yen store many moons ago), so I put my tofu into this with some paper towel and a weight on top and had it in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Then I cut the tofu into cubes and put it into jars.

I filled each one using only a total of 3/4 cup olive oil.

Then I added 3 shakes of this herb mix into each jar and used a total of 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

It is not as firm as the marinated feta I have bought in the past and doesn’t taste like cheese, but it is a very inexpensive way to make this salad 

Also, if you cannot have dairy I think this is a nice substitute.

With the leftover oil, I will mix it with vinegar to make dressing and/or use the oil whenever I cook.

Next time, I would mix the salt, herbs and oil before adding to the tofu.

I would definitely make this again.

this and that

The sunset last Friday.

Do you listen to the lyrics of songs playing in the supermarket?

I do, especially if they are in English.

So I was kinda shocked to hear the lyrics of this song by Lou Reed.

Huge kara mandarins...super sweet!

Tokyo people...Caught this man sitting on his ladder in deep thought.

First time catching these electricians changing two transformers at the same time.

Tokyo's numbers are going up, but the government is also considering not having to wear masks outside.

To be honest at the beginning of the pandemic I was kinda anti-mask, but now I don't think I could go without it.

Some of the Southern areas of Japan have started their rainy season, it will be a matter of time when we start ours.

Have a safe weekend.

tuesday

Tuesday, I saw a crow on the electric pole pecking away at something.

I thought he might be bullying the sparrows that live in the electric pole, but I saw something that looked "wet" and that was kinda swaying...it kinda looked like a bone of sorts...

And then with my phone's camera this is as close as I could get.

The thing that is hanging down does look like bones, maybe of a frog?! ew

But the dark thingy that is smushed into the metal shaft above kinda looks like a bird or as Satoshi said, looks like "doo doo".

Whatever it is, I hope it won't fall on me when I pass under it...

or you will be able to hear me scream where you are if it does....ha!

UPDATE: Wednesday afternoon, it is gone...eep! at least it won't fall on me or anyone else...

I guess I should also be thankful that the crow didn't leave it on my lanai....

reminiscing

There used to be a gadget that I had on this blog that would bring up posts on the same date but different years...

Eventually, blogger stopped allowing us to use it, or the people who created the gadget stopped updating it…I can’t remember which.

Anyway, I didn’t have anything to post, so I manually looked up these, and thought you might enjoy reminiscing...

One year ago...we were checking out Bakurry

Eight years ago, it was the first Mother's Day without mom.

Fourteen years ago we shared this article.

noriten

Have you eaten noriten before?

Pieces of nori that have a fried crunchy batter on one side.

Most times there is a sweet salty sauce on it too.

I was surprised to see it in the pre-made food (sozai/okazu) area of the supermarket.

We had this as part of our pupu party during Golden Week.