satay ayam

well, it seems like my plan to post everyday has fallen apart. my excuse is that i have been in indonesia for a few days, and especially at first didn't have an internet connection. also have been sleeping not very much and getting up very early for the last few days. i'm actually here on a research trip, but it's aways great to be in jogja. and the food is fantastic. this is grilled chicken on skewers with peanut sauce, and rice steamed (?) in a banana leaf. super yummy.

seoul

oh, i am quite behind on posting photos from so many different things...if my life had a little more free time in it, i would so much like to properly post photos right after each event! but for now i have given up on anything like a timely chronicle...and i will just share here somewhat randomly. these are a few pictures from last month's trip to seoul, korea, with my seminar at the university. the colors of the textiles are all so lovely, bright and distinctively korean in the color combinations, gorgeous silks, including these worn ones.
and the food, super yummy! this is actually just all the little side dishes that accompany the main course, in this case yakiniku in japanese, (grilled meat) not sure what the korean name for it is. but i love the way the table is just covered with white dishes--and this was just one section of a long table.

japanese cooking at uzuki

i finally wrote about the great cooking lesson i had last month at uzuki over on felt cafe japan.
you can read the full version and see more photos here: http://www.feltcafejapan.com/japanese-cooking/

the good, the bad, and the googeous

special local soba noodles in niigata last month, served with a mushroom soup, and a rice ball made of wonderful niigata rice:good!
a bagel that i bought at the supermarket near my house: bad. it came with a little packet of a cream cheese like substance inside, and has directions for how long to heat it up in the microwave. i can't over emphasize how bad it was. and i knew, when i bought it that it was almost certainly going to be disappointing, but i went to the store hungry, and i really miss bagels. and my bagel standards are quite low, compared to, say, a new yorker.
an ice cream treat, with coffee flavored ice cream, topped with a layer of chocolate, nuts, and some kind of a praline-line bits: great! i was a little bit puzzled by the name googeous, or written underneath in phonetic japanese: goo-jya-su. perhaps a combination of the word gooey? gorgeous? delicious? i asked some of my students, and they said it probably meant good + something else. delicious, maybe. sadly, i couldn't find it at the convenience store the next time i went.

bicycle riding and ice candy

last weekend, i took my new (old) bike out for it's first ride. it was glorious. here she is, it's she a beauty? her model name is D-X Lady. it's old, and heavy, with a bell, and a light with a generator, and a basket, and i love her.

here she is coming out of her stall in my building's bike parking garage. as you can see, there are 2 levels of bike parking, and you can't see in this photo but there are two rows. and this nifty tray that pulls out and becomes a ramp. clever.

this is my street. it's wide, with a divided sidewalk and crosswalks for pedestrians and bikes. (some of my best friends are urban planners).
here are all the bikes parked illegally in front of the kyoto train station.

and my new favorite treat: the morinaga chocolate ice bar. morinaga is a brand name. and in japan, they call ice cream bars 'ice candy' which at first i thought was kind of dumb, but now i think it makes sense. anyway, this one has a chocolate center, chocolate ice cream, and then a chocolate coating. hmm, perhaps i need one now.

homemade fruit crisp

while i was at my mom's house last week, enjoying a late summer garden bounty, i made some apple-plum crisp. i started out loosely following this recipe for spiced apple crisp, from epicurious...
but i couldn't resist adding some of these plums.



i also added a cup of oat flakes, and some chopped pecans, and some cinnamon and a pinch of salt to the topping.
fruit cooking...

my adjustments made for a lot of topping, which i mixed in just a bit.

this adorable illustration is from julia rothman's guest post on design*sponge, where she shares this blackberry pie recipe from the cookbook she illustrated.

and for canning advice, check out make it do for how to can peaches. via craft.

sushi sunday

these gocco printed sushi cards are by lisa of gotamago, and available in her etsy shop!

today my fairy godparents took me out for sushi. at a kaiten (conveyer-belt) place that had really really good salmon. i feel so fortunate.

my new favorite treat

last month i was introduced to the wonderfulness that is the japanese soda flavored ice cream popsicle. 'soda' is quintessentially blue, by the way. the popsicle version reminded me of creamsicles, one of my all time favorites. there was one summer when i was living in portland when creamsicles were on sale for 3 for a dollar at the plaid pantry...that was a great summer! but i digress.

this box holds the yumminess that is soda float ice cream.
light and refreshing sherberty blue goodness swirled with ice cream. so good!

easter weekend

i dyed wool felt eggs!
using paas egg dye.
it was super easy.
and making felt eggs is pretty easy too–just make a felt ball, and then squish it while you are finishing it.
i had a wonderful last weekend in town, filled with friends and meals. this souffle was from brunch yesterday,
seen in it's entirety here.

portland recap part 1: food

first stop: broder cafe on clinton street. this wonderful scandinavian restaurant does it right, from the proper brunch (above),

to delicious hash with trout.

the menu also has swedish meatballs and aebleskiver, the tiny scandinavian pancakes. i am willing to bet they are both excellent. clinton street was an old hangout when i lived in southeast portland, and it's nice to see that dots (ohh, the late night cheesy fries and velvet paintings) and clinton street video (i spent many nights picking movies from their small but excellent collection, back when we rented VHS tapes) are still around, and also cool new places like broder.

i also had the pleasure of introducing my friends to an old favorite, nicholas lebanese restaurant. this is the food to which i compare all other lebanese and middle eastern food, and it's hard to beat. i would have photos, but we were too busy stuffing our faces with pieces of the gigantic homemade pita bread straight from the oven, with all the tasty treats that come in the mezze combination. heaven.

a lovely weekend

i took a day trip to portland on saturday, and it was truly wonderful. a full day of crafts, local shopping, and delicious food. i don't want to leave anyting thing out, so i'll tell you all about it tomorrow, when i am less sleepy. for now, here's a little bunny i saw there.
some bread rising today, which was an early preview of a perfect summer day.

parker house rolls

these are my first attempt at parker house rolls from last week. i used this recipe, multiplied by 1.5. the results were pretty tasty. the recipe is meant for a stand mixer, which i used and definitely made it easier. and then i also kneaded it by hand for 5 minutes like they said to. i think i rolled out the dough a little thinner than called for, and next time i will leave it thicker. they were super soft and puffy, perhaps because a 1.5 batch has 3 packets of yeast!

weekend breakfast

banana's foster french toast, at the new portage bay cafe in south lake union. yummy.

corned beef and cabbage

happy st. patrick's day! i had a little early luck o' the irish last weekend, when i happened be in portland for some friends' early st. patrick's day dinner. (a little head's up for vegetarians: there's a pretty meaty image at the bottom of this post). there were 2 kinds of soda bread, plain and the 'american' version with caraway seeds and raisins. both delicious.

by the way, i just saw the soda bread recipe on CRAFT, which i definitely want to try.
cabbage and potatoes, of course!and corned beef!
yum.

pie day

yesterday i had some wonderful pie from random order. it may be the best pie in portland.

road trip

i stopped for a little road trip treat.
i came into portland when the late afternoon sun was lighting up the town.
between two trips to powell's books (ahhh, wonderful powells) i had really yummy (and super healthy-organic and vegan) lunch at the blossoming lotus in portland's pearl district.

ricotta cheese recipe

someday i want to try this: homemade ricotta cheese, link via CRAFT. i haven't tried it yet; the photo is from the same source as the recipe: kat baro of a good appetite blog.

my mom went through a cheese making phase when i was little. i just remember slicing through the curd (?) midway through the process. and being fascinated by the texture, and process of slicing into even cubes both horizontally and vertically. strange, but i can't remember tasting the cheese at all.

anyway, this ricotta recipe looks very easy, and sounds yummy.

happy thanksgiving

my contribution to thanksgiving this year. on the front left burner is my new (2nd annual) thanksgiving recipe–pumpkin pie crepes. i love them because it's a good way to use the extra pumpkin pie filling that i always have left over after making the pumpkin pies, and it's the perfect easy breakfast for a house full of thanksgiving guests, or a quick snack to keep everyone going during food preparation time.

pumpkin pie crepes

start with:
3-4 cups extra pumpkin pie filling (i used the simple joy of cooking recipe: pumpkin, eggs, cream, and spices). you can keep this refrigerated until ready to use, but it's best if you use it by the next day after you mixed it.

add:
about 1 cup of flour, with 1 teaspoon of baking power mixed into the flour
about 1 cup of milk

optional:
add more vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar for a stronger flavor.

whisk together. you can let this batter sit in the fridge for a few hours if you want.
you can add more milk or flour to get the right consistency or increase the amount of batter.

cook on a well greased griddle. serve plain, with syrup or powdered sugar, or with cream cheese as a snack.

happy halloween

here's the pumpkin i carved last week. i love the crafty and creative aspects of this holiday. last year i was in japan, and i organized a pumpkin carving party for my adult english conversation students, most of whom had never carved a pumpkin. for some reason (ok, because they don't really celebrate halloween, at least not the pumpkin carving part) orange pumpkins are scarce and expensive in japan. you can buy them from foreign import food stores for 25-30 dollars! so we experimented. i carved a japanese pumpkin, or kabucha. those are HARD to cut. but they make a yummy pumpkin pie. which brings me back to the photo of jack up there, waiting in the fridge. i baked him at 350 degrees for an hour, and then made him into pie. and it was tasty.

now i must walk away from the internets, and work on my halloween costume.