refreshing

Hankyu Department Store in Umeda is having an Asian Fair.

All sorts of foods and knick-knacks from countries like Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam.

I recently tried this...called Ku-lon in Japanese, the kanji (chinese characters) translated to English is Kowloon.

The dessert is made by a shop called Hong Kong Sweets Ka Ka, apparently a Japanese company with shops in Tokyo.

Kanten (agar) orbs hold tiny pieces of fruits...blueberry, kiwi, mango, watermelon, as well as many others (in some photos online I spotted raspberries, strawberries) floating in a simple syrup.

I'm glad I tried this, I don't know if they actually have a dessert like this in Hong Kong but it was so refreshing and hit the spot on such a hot and humid day....540 yen (tax included).

odds & ends

It is the end of the month, so let's clear out some photos.

There was an assorted fish (maguro, ika, salmon), shrimp salad maki for lunch one day...mmm.

We've been eating carrot and cucumber sticks with a teaspoon of olive tapenade with our dinners.

My generous blog friend, Abigail of Mamatouille sent me some Jasmine tea and Espresso flavored Kit Kats, along with some Cadbury milk chocolate and a cup of 60% Ghiradelli chips...thank you again!

The Jasmine tea flavored Kit Kat was my favorite, the tea flavor really shines through. The Espresso flavored was good also but a little on the bitter side. The Cadbury Dairy Milk was creamy.

I received these Japanese sweets, which I think are called kangori from my friend Kazumi when we went to Nose.

Kan is the chinese character for cold but also because they use kanten (agar-agar), gori is ice. These aren't cold treats but they resemble pieces of ice. Biting into them, they have slight crunch to them but the inside is gelatinous.

For another lunch, I had some inarizushi stuffed with okowa (mochi rice). These were delicious because they have assorted savory flavored mochi rice.

I made some walnut covered chicken for a dinner. I actually had made this before when I was in Hawaii, but used mac nuts then. These came out just as delicious.

I tried Ellie Krieger's Ranch dressing, it was easy and delicious. We've also been eating carrot and cucumber sticks with this dressing too.

This photo of the dog and his owner was taken in January (I think), I totally had forgotten about this photo. The owner can barely walk and uses this cart to steady herself while the dog just sits calmly as it rolls along.

My goya (bittermelon) before I "killed" it. There were aphids on my bell pepper plants and I got crazy...sprayed everything with a soapy solution and the goya plant (and bell pepper plant) dried...I am hoping for a revival.

Lastly, a bento I bought from Daiei for lunch...they had kodaimai (short wild rice), salmon, some assorted tempura and some nishime..only 498 yen (about US$4.98).

Yet another delicious month....goochisoosama!

sudachi marmalade

I received this jar of marmalade awhile back from my friend, Kazumi.(Thank you!) Actually the expiration date has come and gone already on it.

I think the expiration dates on most food items here are a bit too strict. Some are only 2 weeks after being manufactured. Though I do understand if something is "raw", it would need a short expiration period. But for the most part, most food things like canned or bottled items can go "years" without spoiling.

Sometimes I think the Japanese are controlled by the dates on their food. Me, I use my nose, if it doesn't smell bad, we eat it. As long as there isn't anything fuzzy growing on it or it isn't slimy, we eat it.

Anyway, after receiving this marmalade, I didn't know what to do with it. I thought it would be sour. But after reading the ingredients on the label, I realized, it may not be so sour after all.

There was honey, as well as kanten (agar-agar) in there. I opened the jar the other day and put some onto our toast with some cream cheese....delicious. Not sour at all. The lime is sliced so thinly that you don't even notice it.

p.s. there is something wrong with blogger...I can't upload photos how I've normally done so. Hopefully you can see this photo, I uploaded through Flickr. I'll try to re-do the photo after blogger fixes their server---fixed now, thanks blogger!

coffee azuki gelatin

There was a dessert, coffee azuki gelatin, that I used to make in Hawaii for office parties and kind of forgot about. Then, last month, when we were going to entertain Satoshi's friends and I was trying to plan a menu, I remembered about the dessert. I asked my mom for the recipe since the books that I have, didn't have it.

By the time I got everything together it was too late for the dinner party, but I still wanted to try it. The recipe called for gelatin, but I wanted to try it with kanten (agar). The only thing with kanten is that it has to be heated for it to start to congeal and once it sets, you can't re-heat it again to get it soft.

I used the kanten, koshian (smooth sweet bean paste), condensed milk and instant espresso and regular coffee. I cut the recipe drastically, because I didn't have much koshian, I also don't have a 9x9 inch pan and it was only for Satoshi and I.

It came out so hard that the spoon could barely pierce it! Plus, there wasn't that nice layered look that it is supposed to have. See, when you mix everything together, the an (sweet bean paste), sinks to the bottom and the milk and coffee tend to make layers too. Oh, well, so much for trying to use kanten...guess I'll have to tweak the recipe more if I want to use kanten.

I hated the fact that I failed, so I decided to try it again with gelatin and cut the recipe in half....success! I used a coffee that is made on Miyako Island (Okinawa)--Banbo(previously Ruka Coffee), they have interesting flavors, like Pineapple, Hibiscus and Sugar cane flavors, and they also have a very nice flavored coffee called U-ji Caramel. If I remember correctly, u-ji means sugar cane. The aroma of this flavored coffee is very sweet and paired nicely with the condensed milk and tsubuan (chunky sweet bean paste).

This is what the coffee azuki gelatin is supposed to look like--a nice gradation of colors.

The consistency came out nicely too--not hard as rock! This dessert reminds me of the times I used to ask my father to drink some of his coffee. Of course, he would say that coffee is only for adults and then he would save the last sip of his coffee, pour in LOTS of milk and sugar in it and then give it to me.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a try yourself.
Coffee Azuki Gelatin from Favorite Island Cookery Book IV (Hongwanji)
3 packages unflavored gelatin (1 packet of gelatin that is about 7g)
1/2 cup cool coffee
2 cups hot strong coffee
1 (14 oz) can condensed milk (about 414 ml)
1 (12 oz) can tsubu or koshi an (chunky or smooth sweet bean paste) (about 355 ml)

Dissolve the gelatin in cool coffee. Add hot coffee and stir well. Add milk, an and stir well. Pour into a 9 x 9 inch pan. Chill.

NOTES: Follow the directions for your gelatin, the one I had said to dissolve it into hot water, so dissolved the gelatin in the hot coffee instead of the cooled coffee. Also, I didn't have enough condensed milk so I poured out what I had and added regular milk to it to make up the rest. I mixed the milk and an together to soften up the an, then added the coffee with gelatin and then poured into different dessert cups.

Enjoy!

the rainy season

The rainy season (tsuyu) started in mid-May for Okinawa and started last Friday for Kyushu, it's just a matter of time before we get our share here in Osaka, as it is slowly making its way up the chain of islands.

One way to tell that the rainy season is coming are with these flowers called tachiaoi. The weatherman once said that when you see this flower start to bloom, the rainy season has started and by the time the top flowers bloom, the rainy season will be in full-swing.

Tachiaoi is also called hollyhock. Archeologists thought that this flower is one of the oldest, since it was found about 60,000 years ago in the Neanderthal's graves, apparently as an offering to the dead in the Northern part of Iraq. This flower travelled the Silk Road to the Shisen Province of China, where it was propagated and before the Tang Dynasty it was called shokuki--the name which it is well-known by. In the Heian period in Japan, it was called karaaoi and then in the Edo period the name was changed to tachiaoi.

Changing the subject, there is a fruit called, amanatsu literally means "sweet summer", this citrus fruit is a yellowish-orange and thought to be derived from the pomelo (zabon). This fruit is mainly grown in Kumamoto (Kyushu) and Ehime (Shikoku).

I thought it would be sweeter, but it was quite sour, more like zabon...so I took the zest and put it aside for something I have planned (probably a new scone recipe...)--and decided to add sugar to the juice and make it into a sweet dessert.

Here's the recipe: (translated and adapted from the Japanese version)--original recipe by Kosuge Yoko

1 orange (1/2 cup juiced)
1/2 kiwi fruit (about 50g)
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp powdered kanten (agar-agar)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp grand marnier

1. squeeze juice from orange
2. peel kiwi and cut fruit into thirds lengthwise
3. in a pot, put the water and powdered kanten in and heat, when it starts bubbling, turn heat down and let simmer for 2 minutes, add sugar.
4. add lemon juice, orange juice, and grand marnier to the pot.
5. put everything into a long, narrow measuring cup and when the mixture has cooled a bit, add the kiwi vertically, put into the refrig.
6. take out from the cup and slice into 3.
7. Enjoy!

Note: I didn't add the kiwi or the grand marnier. Also, since this recipe only serves 3, I doubled it and put the mixture into 6 little ramekins.

Extra stuff to ramble about: as I went to the grocery store today, I went past a construction area. About a month ago, they had built two houses, side-by-side. As I went past today, I realized that they were building ANOTHER house right in front of the two that were already there! Although this type of construction is really common here in Japan, I still haven't gotten used to the idea and cannot understand how these people buying the houses stand for it. I mean, if my houseplans show a window in the front of the house, I would think it should be functional, right? The big blue sheet is to protect the surrounding from dust and noise (how thoughtful), and the little driveway, is also the parking area for the house that is pictured at the end of the driveway!

As I was making my way home, I was crossing over a bridge and saw a couple of men looking down into the river. I also heard a very LOUD, ruu-mmuu, ruu-mmuu sound. I stopped to see what they were looking at and lo and behold! Huge frogs! Okay, my lens isn't that strong, so decided to draw in an arrow so you could see him. In Japan, these big boys are called ushigaeru--literally bullfrogs.

Hope you are keeping cool where you are, it is 30C (87F) here and HUMID here!

autumn chocolate, kanten & (-_-)zzz

Meiji Chocolate just came out with a new dark chocolate called "Noir" (which I think means black or dark in French). It has 63% of cacao and is also a Venezuela Blend. Delish!

I've tried a new kanten recipe, you're supposed to use cappellini (angel hair pasta), but I used soba (buckwheat) fusilli pasta with tomato sauce using tomato kanten. Satoshi liked it and he didn't even notice it had kanten in it!

Satoshi apparently has a crooked nasal passage, so this causes him to snore (LOUD!!) It doesn't help when he also has had a couple of drinks (even LOUDER!!)...To solve this problem, we got this pillow for him because it is supposed to cut down on snoring, by propping up your head and neck...I don't think anything except a nose operation will help...

We also bought these Tempur futon overlays. You put them on top of the shikibuton (bottom comforter). The Tempur mattress and pillow mold to your body - giving you a feeling of weightlessness. When you first lie down on it, it feels quite firm.

However, with your body temperature and weight, the material softens and molds to the exact contours of your body. Tempur is a high-tech material originally developed by NASA for the U.S. Space Program.

It's great...now if I can only stop the snoring...

kanten

Agar (also known as agar-agar and kanten depending on the source) is a type of gelatin made from seaweed. It's whitish in color, and comes in either sticks, flakes, granules or powder-usually in a little packet. It's healthier than regular gelatin which is made from animal products.

This past summer, the kanten diet took off! Every store was sold out. The makers of kanten were frazzled because it apparently takes some time to make and everyone wanted some. The reason kanten was so popular was that its gel like properties helps cut down on snacking. Also, the way the body absorbs foods is different--it's good for diabetics.

Since the wave seems to have died down a bit, I recently started to add kanten to our diet. You may only know of kanten in the form of a sweet gelatin with fruits, but there are recipes in which you add it to tomato juice, sauces, and soups. I've even added it to our rice before cooking (the calories are the same, but absorption is better). By adding it to meals, you can cut back on the portion of meat--you'll be filled up with the kanten, while taking in less calories.

Our breakfast this morning was ham sandwich with a slice of tomato kanten. And orange juice kanten with mandarin oranges.

We'll see how long we can keep this up and if we can lose some weight. :)