Saturday, April 12, 2008

Photogenic, But... (2)

Strawberry Tarts (which turned out rather disappointing...)

Here's another one which looks pretty nice in these photos but didn't taste so great. The biggest mistake was the tart shell. I used my oil crust recipe, but for some reason that I still cannot understand, I thought that the baking time was 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes. And I didn't bother to check my recipe. It was an easy mistake to fix -- if I had noticed it in time -- but when I found out what was wrong, the shells were already filled with the cream and strawberries. :P

So the shells were done but not crunchy and had a little "raw" taste of the whole wheat, the instant pastry cream was too light, and the strawberries were not impressively sweet.



But they do please my eyes in these photos, at least, so I guess I didn't make these for nothing, after all. Haha...




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9 comments:

Peter said...

and the strawberries are sooooo delicious at the moment in Japan. Although judging by the ones I had recently, the season is ending. I love the fact that the food in Japan is still seasonal, and not like back home, where everything is available all the time. Gives a special meaning to the months, and means that things have a lot of flavour when available! I hope Japan stays that way!
Hanami finished? I am hoping to have a 花見じゃない party!

Anonymous said...

that was from Lucas, not peter! Oops - my producer's/co-host's (for Brasscast) account!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Your pictures are great! At least, those disappointing tartlets had a use ;-P...

Cheers,

Rosa

Anonymous said...

Never mind, Obachan. I do this kind of thing all the time, except I usually leave things in the oven too long. A little bit raw is better than burned black! The pictures turned out well - the strawberries LOOK good, even if they didn't taste nice, and I love the little cherry blossom garnish. So lovely.

Mama Mia said...

obacha~n! Oishisou dane! :) too bad they didn't taste as good as they look.

K and S said...

too bad they didn't taste good, they look fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Your strawberry tarts look so mouth wateringly good! Beautiful photos! Its hard to believe they were didn't taste as good as they look.
Rei

obachan said...

Lucas
Well, I don't know when the real strawberry season is any more. I used to think that garden grown ones were available until late May, but not sure.

Part of me agrees with you about appreciating food being "seasonal," but part of me -- maybe the baking fairy inside of me -- wants all kinds of berries throughout the year...

I would say hanami season is finished in Kochi. Maybe in Osaka, still some cherry blossoms left at zoheikyoku? But sounds like you had more than enough hanami parties this year. ;)

Rosa
Yep, definitely! :)

Tonstant_weader
Oh, it's always nice to know that I'm not the only one. :D Thanks for the encouragement.
BTW, the garnish was not cherry blossom, but plum blossom. But it does look like cherry blossom, doesn't it?

Lina
Arigato! It's OK. The memory of the taste fades pretty soon, but the beauty captured in the photos last much, much longer...

K & S
Thank you :)

Rei
Yeah, what a disguise? But that's OK. I'll never forget the proper baking time for the tart shells, and next time my tarts should be much better.

Anonymous said...

tart fruits can always be countered with a light brushing of glaze, made with some jam and water :)

now i'm motivated to do some tarts

masa