bread pudding

Used the last package that I received from Val.

First off, the recipe calls for 4 eggs! that is like almost my whole container...there are only 10 eggs per container here.

On top of that, my eggs were not large, in fact I think they were small.

It also called for 9 slices of bread...had to guesstimate because most loaves in Japan are small...instead I used 1 boule.

Instead of melted butter I used melted coconut oil.

And I had 100% chocolate which I received from a friend awhile back, but didn't know how to use, so I added it to this.

I figured this bread pudding might be super sweet, so using the 100% chocolate would cut the sweetness...semi-bad idea, 100% was kinda too bitter.

I prepped this the night before, so the bread could soak.

Then I woke up super early since the instructions says it takes an hour to bake and an hour to cool, so that we could eat this at 6:30-ish...naps are so important, yeah?!

Love the top, it got all crispy after baking.

I froze the rest of this so we'll be eating this in the coming weeks…gonna add some kind of protein when we do.

Thanks Val for all these packets to try they were a little too much for just the two of us but I think these are great to make for parties or pot luck.

nuchi gusui part 2

After coming back from our vacation, I was kind of eager to get back into the kitchen to use the produce we got from Mirai Ginoza. Mirai Ginoza is a roadside farmer's market (there are actually a lot of these roadside markets here and there, each showcasing fruits and veggies from their area). Farmers from the area bring their veggies and fruits to sell. The prices were so reasonable, I wished I could shop here everyday!

Dragonfruit was going for about 200 yen each (about US$2), mangoes depended on the size, one was 900 yen (about US$9..okay that wasn't too reasonable...but the aroma was so sweet)!

Okra were longer than my fingers and were 100 yen a package (about US$1). The okra we get on mainland Japan are stubby and cost a little more, plus there are only 10 in a package, the one in Okinawa looked to have more.

Kabocha pumpkins were going for 300 yen a piece (about US$3), I've never seen a whole pumpkin in our markets.

Togan (winter melon) for about 300 yen a piece (about US$3)...for the whole thing! you'll never see this price in the markets on mainland Japan, especially for togan this big and fresh.

After oohing and aahing at everything that they had to sell, I bought some beni-imo (purple sweet potato), 2 for 200 yen (about US$2...not as reasonable as the roadside for 300 yen, but carryable on the flight home) and a pack with 22 shiquasa (I counted), a lime found in Okinawa, for 157 yen (about US$1.57)

With 10 shiquasa, I was able to squeeze 1/4 cup of juice and diluted that with water and added some blueberry honey to make a shiquasa drink for breakfast. (did this two times for two breakfasts, very refreshing.)

Also with some shiquasa (2 to be exact), I used it to make some fig jam (post on that a little later).

With the beni-imo (purple sweet potato), I steamed it. We ate part of it as is and it was really sweet. With the rest, I made a creamy dill dressing and we had beni-imo salad. 1 tablespoon mayo (Best Foods if possible), 2 tablespoons plain yogurt, several dashes of dill...delicious.

With the rest of the King's sweetbread that we got from Nate, I made some french toast for a breakfast and a bread pudding for another breakfast...delicious (thanks again, Nate!)

Did you know that Ginoza has a sister city in Italy? Thought that was pretty cool.

This little guy said it all "watashi wa shiawase" (I'm happy).

funny foodie wednesday

Today Satoshi had the day off. Our day started off with leftover chocolate bread made into a bread pudding. I put fresh blueberries onto the bottom of the ramekin then layered bits of chocolate bread in. Then I added a scrambled egg, some milk and cinnamon and baked the whole thing for 30 minutes. It was nice way to start the day.

Then we were out and about. I wanted to go to the DIY store but we weren't in the mood to walk, so we rode the train to Nakayama. (We actually have a DIY store nearby but we would need to walk at least 15 minutes to get there and the sun was blazing today.)

The DIY store is about 5 minutes walking from the Nakayama train station, so we quickly got out of the heat and walked around the DIY store. They didn't have what I was looking for, but did have an 18 roll pack of TP (toilet paper) at a really reasonable price, so we ended up buying this instead.

As we walked out of the DIY store, we noticed a Western-style restaurant, Oazo. Since it was almost lunchtime, we decided to check out this place. Satoshi ordered the B Lunch (1200 yen about US$12) this came with a hamburger, fried fish and fried shrimp, salad and potato salad. It also came with a little plate of rice.

I ordered the Fried Shrimp curry (900 yen about US$9). I also added a salad and drink for 450 yen (about US$4.50). The curry was really spicy, but I was disappointed. Fried shrimp curry by their standards means 1 fried shrimp cut in half to look like 2...sigh.

After lunch we decided to walk the aisles of the supermarket next door. We were surprised at how big the market was and how empty it was. We decided to have dessert and picked up some ice cream from their frozen section.

I had the crunchy mac nut brittle ice cream bar from Haagen-Dazs. The vanilla ice cream had bits of caramel mixed in. The outside was milk chocolate with mashed brittle. It was delicious.

The funny part of this foodie day happened at dinner.

I had a lesson so I met Satoshi in Umeda afterwards. We went into a restaurant that we've never been to before.

The menu was mainly appetizers so we ordered several off the menu.

While we were waiting for our food, I began to "really" look at the english that was written on the menu.

After I pointed out all the mistakes to Satoshi, we were laughing out loud. Like the first photo says, "combustion eggplant and egg-tofu salad of shrimp". Be careful, it may explode...actually it should read, Roasted eggplant with tiny shrimp egg tofu salad.

"Grilled mix seafood--Italian Basil source"...should be sauce instead of source.

"Oven ware of the scallop Kirkpatrick style"... now "yaki" can mean ware as in "chinaware" but in this case it should be baked... "Oven baked scallops Kirkpatrick style"

"shrimp and the ethnic dust in oil saute of the mushroom" we didn't know how to really translate this but "ethnic dust"??...yipes.

"Seafood Paeria (It takes 30 minutes a little in time)"---Paella....does it really take 30 minutes?

"Spicy Grass Bread Crumb Burning condition Province style of a lamb"....first of all Province is way different from Provence and if you are burning it, we don't want it. We didn't know what to make of this.

Anyway, I could go on and on, so take a look for yourself...we did order a few things from the menu but were disappointed with the sparse amounts of food that were served for the prices they were charging. We'll never go back to this place, we did leave a bit hungry, but we did have a good laugh.

Oazo (which means Oasis in Esperanto)
5-10-25 Nakasuji
Takarazuka, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.82.1401
Open 10:00-22:00

kaka'ako kitchen, palama market

Friday, I met my friend Gaye and we went window shopping. Since she had some errands to run, we didn't get to eat lunch together.

So, on my way home, I picked up some of Kaka'ako Kitchen's bread pudding, which I've heard about from here and here.

A 3-inch by 3-inch hunk of goodness, at (US $3.95 + tax) it is HUGE and worth every penny! I loved the thick pudding and the rich vanilla bean sauce that comes with it--not too sweet, but just enough to settle your sweet tooth.

Since we don't microwave our food, I heated everything in a toaster oven....to die for!

I also picked up some kimbap from Palama Supermarket in Kalihi. I wrote about it previously here. Today's roll was only US $3.00! What a bargain!

On a side note, I must say that I am so happy that the Aloha Spirit isn't dead here! The other day at Costco while I was going to put my cart in the cart area, someone who was going to put his cart away, took mine also! And, people actually hold the door open for you and thank you when you do the same...I love my hometown, I love Hawaii.

warming up

Yesterday was raining off and on. It was brrr...cold. The condensation would come out from your mouth when you talked.

Though I made this dessert for Sunday's dinner, I wanted to share it with you on this cold day.

I love apple crisp. It is even better with fresh blueberries in it. I've made it before and posted about it here.

We recently received a box of apples from Satoshi's friend (Thank you!). What would you do with 36 apples? Well, I gave half of it away. We've been eating some for breakfast and I also made an apple crisp with blueberries.

1 apple, sliced into bite sized pieces
1 handful of blueberries

Topping adapted from Ellie Krieger
1/4 cup flour
2/3 cup muesli
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
20 grinds fresh cinnamon
1/4 cup EVOO

Mix the fruits with the topping mixture. Bake in a oven-safe dish at 350F (180C) for 40 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Though the ice cream is cold, the warm crisp is definitely a nice way to warm up.

This morning, I made some bread pudding using a chocolate orange french bread, blueberries and a sprinkle of vanilla sugar on top. Out of the oven it was bubbly and hit the spot on a cold morning.

Hope you are staying warm where you are.

making my own sunshine

I had several unfinished drafts, so I put them together for this post.

The weather has been sunny then turning cloudy or just plain cloudy and cold. I was feeling blue with the dreary weather, I guess people from Hawaii do need sun...so I made some sunshine.

Last week, I tried the recipe for Creme de Chocolat on the side of the Spicy Mariebelle cocoa can. It was really easy to make, just measure the cocoa and add the amount of water and follow the rest of the instructions on the side of the can. After the two hours, I made some whipped cream using what little cream that I had in the fridge. The creme de chocolat was quite stiff and reminded me of ganache. It was just enough to soothe my sweet tooth. Plus, the chili in the chocolate gave it a kick--coffee went nicely with this.

Yesterday, I made my own bark with some chocolate and trail mix. I tempered the chocolate then stirred in the trail mix. The chocolate was dark but not a very high percentage, so it was a little sweet. And the trail mix was a little salty, so it matched nicely with the chocolate.

Take a bite and you get powdered sugar all around your mouth.

Put the whole thing in your mouth and a little powdered sugar goes down the wrong pipe. You let out a little cough and powdered sugar goes everywhere.

Flaky, buttery with the crunch from the nuts paired with a glass of ice-cold milk...the ultimate treat.

These are my memories of this cookie. My mom uses toasted macadamia nuts in her version.

Melting moments, Russian tea cookies, Snowballs...whatever you call these cookies, I call them delicious.

I cut up some yomogi (mugwort) bread and added some dried figs to make a warm and fuzzy treat. (We actually had this for breakfast.)

Whew, that was a lot of sunshine...I'm feeling better, how about you?

odds & ends

I had some leftover cranberry walnut campagne bread (though it was labeled as campagne it was softer and in the shape of a baguette), so for our breakfast the other day I made bread pudding. Besides the cranberry and walnuts, the bread also had orange peel, raisins and blueberries in it too. I cut up the 6 slices I had left, added 1 scrambled egg, 1 cup milk, a couple dashes of cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of sugar to the bread. Then I oiled 2- 8oz. ramekins with olive oil and put the mixture in. I then sprinkled the top with vanilla sugar and pre-heated the oven to 375F (190C). I baked it for 30 minutes and voila! breakfast was served....it reminded me of a warm and fuzzy french toast.

Can someone help me? My strawberries have started to form. It is a nice red color, but a bit too tiny. It is my first time with strawberry plants. How do you know when it is time to pick them? And how do I get them to grow bigger? (surfed the internet and it said I need to feed it more water to get them bigger)

Update: we picked them (weren't they cute??), they were a deep red color and the sweetest tasting berries we've eaten!

Awhile back as I closed our door, I looked up and saw these two mounds of cement which weren't there before. The other day, I scared myself because when I looked up to "check" on them, I saw that one of the bumps was cracked open. Gosh, I wonder what was in it? Well, Satoshi has since smashed the remaining bump with an umbrella and we have no idea what was in it because the bump disintergrated and whatever might have been in there was blown away with the wind. Anyone have any ideas what it could have been?

The other day in the supermarket I found these huge Asian pears (you have to open your hand like a glove to hold it). They are called Nansui (literally south water). They were very juicy sweet and juicy, which was almost kind of wine-y.

I also bought these mini chingensai (pak choy). The Japanese love to shorten the names of products, people's names, just about everything. Most of the words that they shorten are words that they take from other languages like air conditioner is air-con and personal computer is paso-con. So what do they call these? chibichin (chibi means tiny or small) and (chin is short for chingensai), cute huh?

Have a nice weekend!