Homemade Pizza!

Homemade Pizza Gee, I'm totally, completely stuffed! No more food, please... Yep, this was my very first time making pizza crust from scratch. This weekend I had both Saturday and Sunday off (which was almost like a miracle), and I wanted to make something tasty and photogenic but not too difficult or time-consuming to make. It was hard to pick one; I couldn't decide whether I should go for homemade gyoza (Chinese dumplings or potstickers) or pizza. So I ended up making both. :D Last night I enjoyed juicy, plump homemade gyoza with ice cold beer, and knew it was a right choice. And today, around 10:30 am, I started making pizza crust based on this recipe. Now, I guess I made a mistake when I measured the water... My pizza dough turned out really soft. I kept adding more and more flour but the dough kept absorbing it until I added almost twice as much as the amount called for in the recipe. But finally the dough came together, and after letting it rest as instructed in the recipe, I had fun topping it. These basil leaves survived the terrible summer heat. Black olive is not my favorite topping, but I added some because I thought the dark color would look nice on my pizza. One good thing about pizza is that I can rely on store-bought stuff for seasoning it. I used Heinz pizza sauce (can) and very affordable shredded mozzarella cheese. Tata～! :D This is how my very first homemade pizza turned out! I know. I should have used bigger basil leaves or should have added them later. The small leaves burned and shrunk pretty soon, so I needed to add more leaves when the cheese started turning golden brown. The crust was really fluffy. I don't know if it is the way this pizza crust should be or it was because of my mistake, but this crust was the fluffiest one I've ever had. (Next time I want to make it a little heavier and chewier. ) Maybe because the dough was fluffy and light, and the topping was not too greasy, I ate so much of this pizza before I knew. I was going to leave half of it for dinner, but now I see only a quarter piece left in the pan. Hahaha... Now it's time for peach sorbet! :D Categories: Western-inspired

TLA #4 - Finally! Fresh Catch Sashimi -

Kasumi Aji (Young Bluefin Trevally) Sashimi As a beginner angler, I have several short-term goals, and "catching a fish that is good for sashimi (sliced raw fish)" was one of them. When you say a fish is good for sashimi, it means that the fish is fresh, decent size and tastes good with not-too-many tiny bones and with no disturbing smell/fishiness. Oh, wait! Let me take back the remark about the size, because we Japanese are meticulous sashimi freaks and make sashimi out of tiny fish like sardines or even silver-stripe round herrings (and believe me, those small-fish sashimi are often so good that it is worth the trouble). But in general, "a fish good for sashimi" sounds much more prestigious than some bony, smelly ones. Now I can hear some angler readers going, "What?! Bluefin trevally sashimi?! Give me a break. You Japanese make sashimi out of anything, don't you?" Well, live and learn. ;) Over here, we can catch young trevallies including Giant Trevally (GT), and some people are crazy about them because they pull hard for their size and taste good. They have a good reputation as sashimi fish. Yeah, I heard that those trevallies grow really big and some of the big ones could cause ciguatera poisoning, so I can imagine how strange this idea of making sashimi out of them may look/sound to some anglers outside Japan. But the young trevallies caught here are not poisonous. Don't worry. :) Anyway, I went fishing last weekend and caught one young bluefin trevally. It was like a joke... I threw in the bait and caught this one right away. Then no more catch... :( I managed to catch just one more fish before going home and that was it. But I achieved one of my short-term goals, so it was worth going fishing that day, after all. BTW, you might have heard that only fresh fish is good for sashimi, and the fresher the better. But if asked if this is true, I would say "Well... yes and no." I've read that the "good taste" of fish is caused by inosinic acid contained in the flesh of the fish, which needs some time to increase after the fish died. So some (not all) fish taste much better as sashimi after they were filleted and left in the fridge for several hours to develop more inosinic acid. That sounds pretty convincing. So I let the fillet rest in my fridge for apx. 10 hours. But I was not too crazy about this sashimi, to tell you the truth. It tasted very good in the beginning, but for some reason, I felt "enough" when I ate about half of it. I don't know why... Maybe I was still worried (unconsciously) about the poison?? Categories: Fishing

Sweet Seasons / August 2008 - Morning Glory -

Asagao (Morning Glory) by Nishigawaya I chose the same theme two years ago. Yes, the same plate, the same background photo but a different wagashi and different presentation. First I thought that those incisions of this morning glory were made by wringing the nerikiri dough with something like cheesecloth. But how did they wring the top of the dough, making a well in the center at the same time? And they didn't forget to put tiny stamens in the center. (Click the photo to enlarge.) I like that. Good work. Categories: Wagashi

Onion Zucchini Bread

Savory Onion Zucchini Bread with Nutritional Yeast Baking zucchini bread (at least once) has been one of my summer rituals for years. And ever since a nice reader mentioned it in her (his?) comment, I had been thinking about using buttermilk for this quick bread. Of course I cannot buy real buttermilk at regular supermarkets around here, but I can try a substitute idea of mixing vinegar with milk or soy milk. So, I thought it was worth trying, and I actually gave it a go the other day. At first I was going to make a sweet version, because the advice of using buttermilk was given to help my strive for a sweet zucchini bread like the one I first had in the U.S. But while I was googling with the key words: "zucchini bread" and "buttermilk," I bumped into this onion zucchini bread recipe, and a crazy idea (again!) popped into my mind -- "What if I make this bread with some nutritional yeast to add a cheese-like flavor?" Then, as usual, the curiosity drove me into an experiment. The result was not bad. Maybe I can say "satisfactory," though I didn't notice any zucchini taste almost at all. Maybe that's the way zucchini bread usually is, either savory or sweet? The funny thing was that the moment I took a bite, I thought, "Gosh I've got to eat some sausage with this!" ... Sausage, or bacon, or ham. So the next time I make this savory quick bread, I'd probably mix in chopped sausages or bacon. And I still need to do another experiment of using buttermilk (substitute) for sweet zucchini bread. ;P ------ Actually I baked this bread a couple of weeks ago... before Yosakoi festival. I took these photos then, but before I finished a write-up, I got busy with the festival, then visited my parents, and a terrible work shift was waiting for me when I got back... And as if it was not terrible enough -- or could be because things got so stressful -- I developed hives last Saturday night. Boy I was scared! I'd never had hives before, and you know how terrible the wheals (welts) look? When they spread all over my legs and back, I thought I was going to die. :O Fortunately it wasn't anything serious and the itchy wheals were gone a few hours after I went to the hospital on Monday and took antihistamine pills. Just like that. So today, since I don't have to work in the daytime, I thought about going to a nearby park or cook/baking something special so that I can post about it. But I guess I'm going to take it easy in front of my laptop, nibbling on something. Categories: Western-inspired

Weekend at My Parents' House and Mom's Fig Jam

Mom's Fig Jam (2008 Version) I was at my parents' house from Friday night till this afternoon and I just came back to my place. Maybe some of you remember that I posted about my mom's fig jam last year? (Actually it was my younger sister who made the jam last year.) Well, the same old thing again this year. More than enough Plenty of figs, mom's shiso (perilla) drink and fresh sashimi were waiting for me there just like the previous year. Mom's Fig Tree ----- Some more pics from the weekend. :) * I posted some photos from Yosakoi Festival here, if you're interested. ;) Categories: Miscellaneous

I've Been Living on Fair Junk Food...

Yakitori (Skewered Teriyaki Chicken) Stand Or maybe I should call it "outdoor festival junk food?" It's time for our crazy outdoor dance festival again, and I've been taking photos like all other crazy photographers. Why crazy? Oh, think about being a spectator of outdoor dance performances from around 12:30 to 21:30, either standing or sitting on the sidewalk and occasionally walking from one venue to another, when the temperature is somewhere around 35 - 36 degrees C in the daytime (could be higher on the blacktop), taking shots of the dancers. Well, actually not all amateur photographers stay that long... but I did yesterday. I know. I'm the craziest. Hahaha... Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) Okonomiyaki (Savory pancakes) Stand Drink Stand To be honest, I felt kind of embarrassed to take shots of the fair food at these stands, because at this festival, everyone is interested in the dance and dancers, not the fair junk staples (and they have nothing but "the staples" in this festival). I noticed a vendor looking at me like "Is this her first time to see food stands at a Japanese festival?" Oh well. Anyway, I'll post the festival photos on my another blog when ready. :) P.S. I take vitamin pills every day, so don't worry too much about my nutrition. ;) O.K. Here let me add one more shot which best conveys the true spirit of this festival. Now how about that? ;) * I posted some photos from Yosakoi Festival here, if you're interested. ;) Categories: Miscellaneous

Blueberry Ice Cream Parfait?

Blueberry Ice Cream Parfait - Obachan's version - It was amazing how fast the ice cream melted in my room... Anyway, for the record -- I got 32 berries from my small blueberry plant (sunshine blue) this year, and they turned into this yummy purple ice cream. The white swirl is store-bought vanilla ice cream which was really sweet. I'm glad that I didn't use too much of it for this dessert. One unfortunate fact is that now some leaves of this sunshine blue plant are gradually turning brown because of the crazy summer heat here. I placed a shading net over the plant about a week ago. Hope it helps. Categories: Sweets

Sweet Seasons / July 2008 - Floating Leaves -

Floating Leaves by Nishigawaya It is no surprise that cool stream is a popular wagashi motif in hot and humid Japanese summer. Especially for the tea ceremony in olden days when there was no air conditioner, wagashi confectioners must have done their best to bring in a touch of coolness with their wagashi which usually accompanies hot (or at least warm) green tea. And the summer motif has been passed down for more than a hundred years and is still favored today. For this type of wagashi, azuki bean paste is often used for the river bottom and kanten jelly for the water. And confectioners often add something of their choice -- such as leaves, small fish, pebbles, bubbles, etc. -- as an accent. I wasn't sure what these leaves in the above wagashi photos were made of, but I did love the color gradation. :) BTW, they usually try not to leave tiny bubbles in kanten jelly wagashi, but I suppose they included the bubbles on purpose in this case. It looks like that the leaves are in a real water, and thus looks more refreshing. Categories: Wagashi

Suntanned Nectarine Cobbler?

Nectarine Cobbler -- believe it or not... No, it's not suntan or cocoa powder added to the batter. What I actually did was that I ran out of flour the other day but forgot to buy some, so for this cobbler I used the whole wheat flour I managed to find in my kitchen. Don't you think this looks terribly brown and gooey? But it tasted better than it looks, and even quite nice with ice cream on top. And more than anything, the color contrast of this brown cobbler and white vanilla ice cream was really nice and appetizing. (Too bad I didn't take a photo of the one with ice cream topping...) Oh, for those who may be wondering: It's my summer ritual to make nectarine cobbler at least once a summer. As I wrote before, nectarines are usually available only for a couple of weeks in late July or early August around here, and in those weeks, making nectarine cobbler has more priority than other projects. ;) Categories: Sweets

Blueberry Ice Cream - Test Batch -

Prototype #1 It wasn't my day off yesterday, but I went for the experiment. Yes, I tried out a blueberry ice cream recipe. I got the basic idea from the recipe Kat gave me, and combined it with another recipe(Japanese) which I found on the net. The latter was actually a "blueberry cream cheese ice cream" recipe, and I was so curious about how cream cheese would work. The result: It was good. But the cream cheese was a bit overpowering, I would say. To bring out the best flavor of my precious and scarce blueberries, I would rather not use cream cheese. Categories: Sweets

Talking about Tempura...

Guess what. My tempura photo from my kaiseki post (2006 Autumn) is now used in a splash screen of a free software. Check this out! To me this was a kind of flattering experience. According to this guy -- a Man in the TERRA as he calls himself-- he had been wanting to use a tempura photo for the software he made recently. He did some net search, found my tempura photo and liked it. Maybe fate played a part in this? Anyway, when I got his email asking for permission to use the photo as a splash image, first I thought it was some kind of joke. But he was very polite, considerate and copyright-conscious all the way through, and I liked the idea of my photo being used for something useful (it's not that my photos are not useful as they are posted on this foodblog, but you know what I mean...), I finally said to myself, "Oh, why not!" :D From now, even those who have no interest in tempura per se would have to be forced to see my tempura photo for several seconds every time they load this free software. Ha-ha-ha. (There seems to be something that flatters my ego here... ) ;) Categories: Miscellaneous

TLA #3 - First Kiss?? -

Kisu (Sillago) Tempura Hahaha... Come on. I’m over 40 y.o., not a teenager. You didn't think that I had my true “first kiss” today, did you? Nope. It’s a fish called “kisu (sillago or smelt-whiting?)” and the name is pronounced the same as “kiss” in Japanese (with a little different accent). What I did today was that I made tempura with the very first kisu I caught in my life! :D Kisu is not terribly big or prestigious, but so many people are crazy about them here because catching them is fun (they pull pretty hard for their size) and they taste so good. The fresh ones are great when sliced raw as sashimi and wonderful when used for sushi, but they are simply EXCELLENT when batter-fried with shiso(perilla) leaves! So, ever since I took up fishing a few months back, I had dreamed about making tempura with the fresh kisu I caught. Yes, I had made tempura with store-bought kisu several times before and I knew its taste. But making it with my own catch is the special part, you know. I really want to experience the “pull” that so many anglers talk/write about. And catching kisu is not like catching sardines in a dirty port. You go to a clean beach and will be surrounded by the sound of the wave. And you throw weight and bait towards the beautiful horizon where the blue ocean and the sky meet. When you do catch some, they are fresh from the Pacific Ocean -- hence, no worry about the pollution. Mmmmm… I like that. I like that very much. That’s the kind of fun I want to have in summer -- or in any season, if possible! Around 5 AM, near Katsurahama beach But in this summer heat, I can never fish around and after noon. So my fishing trip has to be early in the morning on my day off, and to be at the beach in time, I have to leave home TERRIBLY early in the morning. Hahaha… BTW, I had my bicycle repaired so it doesn't wake up the whole neighborhood with its squeak any more. ;) The shot above is the one I took this morning when I came near the beach. And this shot is for those who missed the sunrise today. It was gorgeous. I guess it is an early-bird angler’s privilege to be able to enjoy a view like this. To be honest, this photo above is from my last fishing trip. This blue rod is the one I broke a week ago before it caught any kisu. Now I have an orange-colored fishing rod which is a little longer than this blue one. Finally!! (The fish is not floating in the air. Kinda surrealistic photo, isn't it?) Oh how I wanted to take a shot like this! (I mean, taking a shot of kisu still hanging from the line. So many people took photos of their kisu this way and posted on their websites, and I wanted to do the same so badly.) I caught but released several fish that I didn’t want to keep, and these were the only two I brought back home after all. I know. What a meager catch for all the efforts and preparations and crazy, long bicycle ride! But the important thing is -- I enjoyed all the craziness and my small dream actually came true! And that is much, MUCH better than spending the whole day off in my messy room, thinking that I'm too old to have any fun. OK. The next step is catching enough kisu to make both kisu sashimi and tempura, and posting about them to add to my long-forgotten “sake to sakana” series. There is a sake I have in mind to try with those dishes. :) ... And my blueberry ice cream project is postponed till my next day off. :P Categories: Japanese, Fishing

Ginger Pineapple Sorbet

Ginger Pineapple Sorbet adapted from Sam Choy's Sampler I tried out the ice cream recipe that Kat kindly shared in her comment to my blueberry post. Yeah, like she said, it was more like ice cream than sorbet. I loved it! :D (But if the ginger flavor was stronger than this, I would have preferred more sorbet-like texture.) So, the next step is adapting this recipe for my blueberries. Mmmm... it'll probably be a major project for this weekend. Oh boy! The number of my precious blueberries is limited. I can't afford to fail. Maybe I should buy some frozen blueberries and make test batches beforehand? P.S. Thank you so much, Kat. Categories: Sweets

Homemade Popcorn with Nutritional Yeast!

Yes. Nothing is impossible. I thought that, living in this rural place, I would never be able to get nutritional yeast. But thanks to Carolie who sent me two jars of it -- as well as many other goodies --, now I'm enjoying the afternoon munching on homemade popcorn sprinkled with generous amount of nutritional yeast (and salt, of course ;)) Yeah, this does taste like cheese. Yum! Ah... Homemade popcorn. It reminds me of the fun times I had when I was younger... like my first slumber party(?) in the U.S., winter vacation at my dorm-mate's house, and "video and popcorn nights" (in those days there was no such thing as DVDs. Ahem!) at a friend's place on campus... I had a real love-and-hate relationship with salty and buttery homemade popcorn then. Now I'm older more health-conscious and my choice this time was homemade popcorn with canola, nutritional yeast and a little less salt than I used to use. But I have to admit that munching on popcorn still makes me feel younger ;) Categories: Western-inspired

Garden Report - July 2008 -

My blueberries Yes, the fertilizer worked. The number of berries is not so impressive this year, but the size of each berry is! I hope the fertilizer improved the taste, too. So what should I make with twenty to thirty big, ripe and sweet blueberries? Blueberry tart again, maybe? Sad news. My chervil was looking great in May, but now it's gone -- the heat and plant louses killed it. I'm glad that at least I had a chance to put it on a piece of cake and take some photos (see previous post) . Categories: Garden

Mango Mousse Cake

Store-bought Mango Mousse Cake No, I didn't make this cake. (Again!) That's why it looks so nice. :P I came back from work around 3 pm, and felt like a relaxing tea time at home. My choice was this light, fluffy mousse cake with a chervil leaf from my balcony garden on top ... ... and this refreshing iced tea with a mint leaf from my balcony garden. Though not raining, it is depressingly cloudy outside. It's another humid and gloomy day in the rainy season here. This tea time was really a good idea. I'm glad that I took this shot of iced tea. .. It looks refreshing and makes me feel better on a day like this. Categories: Sweets

TLA #2 - Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!! -

Tanezaki Beach, near Urado bridge Today I didn't have to work in the morning, so I was there (see above photo) all morning. Sorry the photo is not very good... it was taken with my cell phone camera. As you can see, the weather was pretty good, considering that this area is still in the rainy season. And sorry! I forgot to blur this photo to hide the fish eyes. Hope you don't get put off too much. Anyway, I HAD TO take this photo for the record. ;) Yep, I'm happy. These are much better fish than the sardines I caught the other day, and with much, much less worry about the pollution. Yeah, great result! -- if only they were adult fish. :P Hahaha... Right. These were babies and could have been as small as the bait other anglers were using there this morning to catch big fish. I didn't return these babies to their parents but brought them home and ate them for lunch. See? The author of this blog is such a cold-blooded woman. But in my defence, it is well known -- at least around here -- that deep-fried baby horse mackerels are such a delicacy. Just sprinkle with salt and pepper, then flour and deep-fry. Twice. Yes, you deep-fry them until slightly golden brown, take them out and drain the oil, and then put them back into the oil to deep-fry again until nicely golden brown. Oh, can you imagine how nice and crunchy they turn out to be? Even the bones and tails turn so crunchy and tasty! And -- So SORRY! I forgot to take a photo of my deep-fried baby mackerels this time! I mean, ... there were only four of them and I didn't want them to turn cold and soggy, and from the first bite they tasted so good that I couldn't stop... :O Categories: Fishing

A Pinch of Salt Needed

Yogurt Banana Muffins When I make a "healthier" version of muffins, using yogurt and vegetable oil instead of butter, I always add a pinch of salt even if the recipe does not call for it. Well, not always... because this time I didn't. I totally forgot about it. It was a big mistake... :( Categories: Sweets

Chinese Takeout

Chinese Takeout (With Special Discount around 6:30 pm) I've been really bad this weekend. I didn't cook, clean or do the dishes. The only chore I did was doing the laundry, just because I got soaked wet in the rain on Saturday evening. :P What was I up to this weekend, neglecting the housework? Well, I worked Saturday morning and was just lazy for the rest of the day. Today I slept in, and spent the whole afternoon and evening being an extra in a movie. (Details here.) It was a great experience, but certainly exhausting. Hence, this Chinese takeout. I had absolutely no energy left when the filming for the day was over. Categories: Asian-inspired

TLA #1 - Breaded and Deep-fried Sardines -

Breaded and Deep-fried Sardines I went fishing today and caught 16 sardines. Yes, I love fishing, though I haven't been fishing for YEARS... since childhood. My dad used to fish a lot and he took me with him several times when I was an elementary school kid, and that was about all my fishing career. But I had been secretly dreaming about buying my own fishing rod and going fishing whenever I feel like it. And last month, I finally bought myself a fishing rod -- as a reward for going through a hard time. I blurred this photo for those who do not think that sardines have cute eyes... Because I don't live close to the beach now, going fishing always means 30 to 40 minutes bicycle-riding. Actually I'm not too crazy about that part, especially when I have to carry my fishing rod on my shoulder, but still that doesn't keep me from my new hobby. ;) So some residents of Kochi city have witnessed, in the past few weeks, a middle-aged woman coming to some popular fishing points in Kochi city by a squeaky old bicycle and feeding fish. Hahaha Today I had a better luck and caught enough for my dinner. :D Categories: Japanese, Fishing