re-vamp

I recently made a batch of Ellie Krieger's Apple Pecan Muffins.

I added some kanso okara (dry okara) in place of half of the flour amount.

I'm glad that this muffin still turned out very moist.

Though I was bummed that the adjustable element in my oven, decided to adjust itself while the batch of muffins were baking and the muffin papers got a bit scorched.

At least there wasn't a fire (though it kind of smelled like it), and the muffins didn't taste smoky.

How's your week going?

strawberry (almond) milk kanten

It's been awhile since I've made strawberry milk kanten.

This time instead of milk I used almond milk. I had omitted the condensed milk because the almond milk had some sugar in it, but after tasting the finished product, I think I could've added it.

I put them into the tiny yogurt pots and custard bottles that I have, they have covers so they are easy to store.

Strawberry season is coming to an end so I guess I'll be making these again next year.

re-do

The first time I tried this recipe, I didn't know what I did wrong. But as I surfed around the web, I had a feeling that I may not have creamed the butter well.

So, this time around, I made sure that I creamed the butter well.

But when I added the flour...it was still really dry.

Not as crumbly as my first attempt but dry.

I followed some of your tips and added some milk working it in and the dough came together.

Then chilled the dough for awhile and baked them off.

They were looking kind of pale while baking, so I baked them for quite a while longer than the directions stated.

I think these came out better than my first attempt, though I probably wouldn't make these again.

At least I know that it probably was due to the creaming step, now I can move on to something else.

Have a good week, we're supposed to have warmer temps but rain and clouds!

busy busy

Like I said, last Saturday was beautiful weather, the sun was blazing and the humidity was thick.

The Mandolin club of Satoshi's university, Meiji University, was having a concert. Since it was our first time listening to the mandolin, we decided to check it out. (They apparently have a concert every year.)

Seeing the stage reminded me of my days in intermediate and high school, playing in the concert band.

Hours of practice...getting all dressed up in fancy dresses to perform in front of friends and family, giving graduating seniors flowers.

This particular concert ran two hours and the club played Japanese songs in the first half then American songs in the second half.

We had a nice time and then were treated to a delicious sushi dinner with several older alumni of Satoshi's university baseball team. (Thank you!)

Sorry no photos, but I will tell you about a char broiled unagi (eel) that topped some sushi rice. I am not a fan of unagi but this was really tender and delicious! Talk about melt in your mouth!

And as I said in my post before, Sunday was rainy...still, we had our weekly pupu (appetizer) party style dinner.

I re-did the p.i.t.a. = shrimp walnut recipe...using the cornstarch coating method sans the szechuan pepper from the szechuan salt and pepper shrimp recipe and the maple glazed walnut recipe from Ellie Krieger.

I followed the mayonnaise sauce from the original recipe. It came out tasting good and without all the stress.

We also had some Paulaner Original Munchner Hell, 500 ml, 4.9% alcohol, 498 yen (about US$4.98). According to Satoshi, Hell means light whereas Dunkel means dark.

This beer was easy to drink and had a little kick to it.

Have a great week!

re-do

Remember the nikumaki onigiri? Well, the other day I remade them, this time adding ginger and then baking them in the oven.

By adding the ginger, it came out more Japanese tasting.

I used some leftover kodaimai rice that I had in my rice warmer, formed them into cylinder rice balls and chilled them.

Then I soaked the meat for 30 minutes. To the original sauce, I added about 1 tablespoon of grated ginger.

After the 30 minutes were up, I heated my oven to 350F (180C) and wrapped each rice ball with the pork.

Then I stuck them in for 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes were up, I drizzled the 1/2 tablespoon of honey, then put them back into the oven for another 15 minutes.

After the second round of 15 minutes were up, I sprinkled sesame seeds and sliced one in half.

Yummy! Since these tasted more Japanese-y, I recommend serving them with Japanese pickles instead of kim chee.

Enjoy!