mille cafe

Mille cafe is a Denmark coffee filter made of polypropylene.

Supposedly you can use it for 1000 times, so it is supposed to be good for the environment.

Before using, you need to "season" it by pouring hot water onto it for at least a minute.

Then after brewing the coffee, you pour more hot water down the filter to wash out the coffee grains.

I also washed it with a little detergent after using it the first time because the coffee tasted a little "plastic-y".

I wonder if it will really last about 1000 times?!

UPDATE: 4/2014--it doesn't filter cold-brewed coffee
1/2015: it is quite a p.i.t.a. to clean, very messy as you need to pour hot water over the filter to "drain" the coffee grains into a container (garbage bin)....

c-h-e-e-s-e

It's Winter which means it is perfect weather for cheese...melty, oozy goodness.

I thought I had talked about this cheese but figured out I hadn't. We actually had this Rosso di Langa back in October.

It is made from sheep & cow's milk. This cheese was a bit pricey...880 yen for that piece in the photo.

After trying it, I thought this one wasn't as creamy as the carboncino we tried, but still delicious.

Then, when I had lunch with my host brother's wife, she mentioned Kannonya's cheesecake.

She said, "if you go into trying it thinking it is "cheesecake", you'll be disappointed"...

Actually, I've been meaning to try this for many many years, but hadn't gotten around to until recently.

From the directions, you'll know off the bat it is different.

You'll need to heat it up before eating...

The cheese needs to get melty (but not burnt--said the directions)...

Spongecake topped with Denmark cheese (I think it is similar to the type of cheese used in fondue).

Pop it into the micro and nuke for a couple of seconds...until melty.

Yup, it is really "cheese" cake.

Sweet-Salty. Nothing like the cheesecakes I have ever tasted.

Super delicious with wine.

I'm glad we finally got to try this. I think these would be a great gift for wine lovers.

What foods are you eating this winter?

ratatouille & samsoe gratin

The other day our supermarket had their 10% off coupon on all veggies. I bought quite a bit and made ratatouille it was really easy and tasted great.

The ratatouille that I made was adapted from "The French Kitchen"
Serves 4
1/2 onion, chopped
garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 eggplant, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
5 okra, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
dried oregano
dried marjoram
salt
pepper
flat leaf parsley, chopped

In a pan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic and onion
When the onion starts to turn transparent, add zucchini, eggplant, carrot and red bell pepper, salt and pepper to taste.
Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and herbs.
Simmer until all veggies are soft.
Serve and garnish with flat leaf parsley.

Remember last week when my student gave me a little tub of cream cheese? Well, she also gave me an interesting cheese called Samsoe (Thank you again!). I had never heard of this cheese. It is a semi-soft Swiss-style cheese and is apparently named for an island near Denmark where it is made. I think this cheese might also be nice in fondue.

Since I still had veggies leftover from making ratatouille, I decided to make a gratin using potatoes, eggplant, red bell pepper, okra, onion, carrots and bacon. The weather hasn't been too hot so I figured this is one of my last chances to make a baked entree. I used this recipe for the bechamel sauce.

I can't give you a temperature at which I baked this gratin at because my oven has a pre-set button for gratin, but I will tell you that after the pre-set time, I cooked it in a 150C oven for 20 more minutes since the potatoes were a bit hard.

The gratin was spicy from the cayenne and the cheese matched nicely. With the addition of okra, the slimey consistency added to the gooey-ness of the cheese. The gratin was very delicious (and HOT (spicy & temperature wise)) and went well with a glass of red wine!