blatant random silliness

kinako chicken stirfry

One of my favorite asian-type food is Peanut Chicken. Unfortunately, peanut butter is full of lots of things that aren't necessarily good...like saturated fat. At the rice-pounding party, we had mochi rolled in "kinako" which is a soybean powder (otherwise known as roasted soy flour, unfatted) and it tasted a lot like peanut butter. So I thought I could try and make peanut sauce without the peanut butter. It turned out really really delicious. And using kinako instead of peanut butter cut the fat for the meal from 39 grams down to 23 grams, and the calories from 775 to 585. I've found a great new recipe program that calculates nutrional information for you (such an eye opener). It's called A Cook's Book.

Chicken Stir Fry with Kinako Sauce - Serves 4
Recipe By: Jennifer Pack

1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Ginger Root, chopped
1 tsp Red Pepper Flake -- or more depending on how hot you like it
12 oz Chicken -- about 8 tenders, chopped into bite size pieces
1 ½ cup Carrots -- sliced thinly
1 ½ cup Broccoli -- about one head, chopped

For the sauce:
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Ginger Root, chopped
1 tsp Red Pepper Flake -- or more depending on how hot you like it
2 tbsp Flour, White, Unbleached
1 tbsp Butter
1 cup Stock, Chicken -- depending on thickness of sauce
¼ cup Soy Sauce
5 tbsp Soy Flour, Roasted, Full-Fat -- soybean powder (kinako)
1 tbsp soybean paste
1 tbsp Vinegar, Rice
1 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Oil, Olive -- split

3 cups of Sticky Rice, cooked

In a saute pan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil, and one teaspoon of sesame oil over medium to medium-high heat. Add chopped garlic and ginger and saute for a minute or two (be careful not to burn the garlic). Add the chopped chicken. Season with a little salt, pepper and red pepper flake. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add chopped carrots, and a tablespoon or so of water. Cover the pan and let steam for a 4-5 minutes. Add the broccoli, and let steam for 2 minutes more.

While that cooks, work on the sauce. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and a tsp of sesame oil to a saucepan. Add the garlic and ginger and red pepper flake and saute. Add the butter. After the butter melts, whisk in the flour. Cook for a minute. Then whisk in the chicken stock, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Add the sugar, soybean powder, and soybean paste. Whisk out any lumps. Add more chicken stock if necessary for consistency.

Pour sauce over the chicken and vegetable mixture and stir. Let simmer on low heat for 5-6 minutes or longer. Serve over rice.
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I think next time, I will leave out the flour and butter and see if the kinako thickens the sauce on its own. All in all, a really good meal. I served it with cold cucumber salad and bean sprout salad. Both very easy to do. Peel and chop the cucumbers. Lay them out on a paper towel and sprinkle them with kosher salt. Let sit for a few minutes. Then lay another paper towel on top and press some of the moisture out. Put the cucumber in a bowl and dress with a couple of teaspoons of sesame oil. Sprinkle with red pepper flake.

For the bean sprouts, simply dress them with a little sesame oil and a little rice wine vinegar. Toss.

best rice pudding

Sometimes, the oldies can be the best. In my search for the perfect rice pudding, I hit the jackpot last night. My husband requested it for dessert, and the last time I made it, I wasn't thrilled with the results (too al dente for my tastes). So, I reached for my Mom's old 1965 Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. Their "Old-time Rice Pudding" may take a little longer to make, but boy is it worth the wait. I modified it a bit using the Chocolate Soymilk that I had in the fridge to make a bit of choclatey rice pudding goodness.

Here's the original and my take on the original

Old-time Rice Pudding - Serves 6
from 1965 edition of Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients

1/2 cup rice
4 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup seedless raisins

Instructions

Combine rice, milk, sugar, and salt; pour into buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish and add the cinnamon stick. Bake in slow oven (300º) 1 hour; stir occasionally.

Add lemon peel, nutmeg, and raisins; continue baking 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. (Two thirds cup brown sugar may be used in place of granulated sugar.) Makes 6 servings.

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Chocolate Soy Rice Pudding - Serves 6

Ingredients

½ cup Rice, (I use Risotto)
4 cups Chocolate Soymilk
½ tsp Salt
1 stick Cinnamon
½ cup Sugar

Instructions

Combine rice, milk, sugar, and salt; pour into buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish and add the cinnamon stick. Bake in slow oven (300º) 2 to 2 1/2 hours; stir occasionally (every 15 minutes or so). When mixture thickens and rice is tender take it out of the oven and serve warm.

This turned out really yummy, but I think next time I'll cut the sugar back to 1/3 cup....since I've been in Japan I've gotten to like things a little less sweet.

pottery workshop

Yesterday, I went to a pottery workshop with Jen Sauceda and Cassey. The workshop was held at Sacred Heart School in Tokyo and was led by Wali Hawes. Wali is an internationally acclaimed potter who runs fabulous kiln building and raku workshops here in Japan. I am a beginning potter, and am always looking for new creative outlets.

We started off with introductions and then a slideshow of some of Wali's works and inspirations. Check out his website for some examples. Make sure to look at the fire trees....they are kilns built out of unfired clay bricks....When they are heated up, it becomes an event.

Then Wali demonstrated wheel techniques. He really made it look so easy (and believe me, it's not as easy as it looks). He threw 8 pieces in a very short amount of time.

Wali shapes the body of a teapot.

He demonstrated some painting techniques, and then it was our turn. He asked us to make small groups and come up with a list of 10 pairs of items that could go on the inside and outside of a bowl. I painted a tree with a birds nest full of eggs on the outside, and on the inside, the baby birds hatching out of the eggs and the mother bird with a worm. Not my best drawing, but not too bad for a first attempt. Cassey painted chopsticks on the outside of her bowl and little grains of rice on the inside. Jen painted grass and sky on the outside of hers, and seeds on the inside.

And, it was time for lunch. We had indian food from a restaurant called Samrat...lots of curry and naan. Delicious.

After lunch, we went back in for more painting. Wali showed us some color blocking techniques to play with. This time, we got to use a big square plate as our canvas. I had a lot of fun with this one. I did some color blocking, some string painting, and experimented with some other types of brushes (like twigs). Then I added a wax resist so that when it's glazed, that portion will be matte finished. Of course, being a novice at all of the glazes and paints, I don't quite know how the colors will look after glazing. I'll find out in a couple of weeks.

My unglazed "abstract" plate.

Our last piece was to be black and white. I decided to do a bit of wax resist to make a reversed shodo image. Having not praticed shodo in awhile (and noticing the brush for the wax wouldn't be able to do intricate things anyway), I went with a relatively simple symbol for life. Then I etched in little circles to create a pattern around the edge.

After a demonstration on transferring techniques, we were done. The transferring techniques involve a bit of screen printing...I think I will have to explore that further. The workshop left me feeling very inspired and ready to create some more.

We went to Akihabara and shopped and had dinner, and when I finally made it home it was late. But, I stayed up and downloaded pictures and played with iWeb a bit. I really think they've improved a lot on what used to be homepage...the tempates are much much better. Here are my photos from the workshop on a site created with iWeb. Also, a video that was taken of the workshop by Steve Tootell from Sacred Heart.

zucchini crepes

The other night I made a batch of zucchini crepes (recipe is at the bottom of the post) from an old recipe I found of my mother's. She was featured in the Recipes of Charlton County Cooks section of the local newspaper in 1980 and this recipe was listed as a favorite of my dads. So I wanted to give it a shot. The recipe makes a truckload of crepes and they freeze really well...just slip a piece of waxed paper between each one. To reheat just put them on a heated skillet and flip when warm. The filling Mom used was just simply a couple of tablespoons of sour cream topped with parmesan cheese. I decided to change the filling a bit and have worked on other fillings this week as well.

The first I tried was a mixture of sour cream and ricotta with parmesan cheese mixed in as well as some fresh thyme. I put this filling in the crepe and topped it with a piece of smoked salmon and a sprinkling of more fresh thyme and parmesan. This was a very nice filling and next time I hope I can find some fresh dill to go with the salmon.

The second filling I tried was the same mixture of sour cream and ricotta cheese. To this I added salt and pepper, garlic powder, fresh thyme, and a canned crab meat. I also stirred in some parmesan and romano cheese. This was also yummy.

But today, I made the best filling so far...broccolli in a blue cheese sauce with golden raisins (pictured above, and the filling below). This will make enough for two crepes filled: First, I steam some broccolli in the microwave (really easy, chop up your broccolli, put in a dish, add a little bit of water, cover, and microwave for 3 minutes). Then, melt two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Then whisk in two tablespoons of flour and cook for a minute or two. After the mixture has cooked for a minute, whisk in about 3/4 to 1 cup of chicken broth. Make sure to whisk out all of the lumps. Bring this mixture to a boil and whisk in a couple tablespoons of milk. Lower the temperature and crumble in blue cheese to taste....I used about an 1/8 of a cup or so. Add a little bit of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the steamed broccoli to coat (drain the broccoli first or your mixture will get too runny) and a handful of golden raisins. Spoon into your crepe, roll it up and eat.

It's funny where inspiration comes from. I was inpsired to make this filling because I like blue cheese and golden raisins on my salad. So I thought it would make a good combination with the broccolli.

The crepe filling I made today.

Zucchini Crepes
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Recipe By: Lynda Shermer
Serving Size: 16

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
5 eggs
2/3 cup milk
5-6 zucchini, (finely grated to make two cups)
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
To prepare: Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, garlic powder, and pepper. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add milk until blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients and blend. Add grated zucchini. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a griddle or in skillet. Use 1/4 cup batter for each crepe spreading into six inch circels. Fry till golden brown on both sides turning once. Use more oil as needed. Keep cooked crepes warm until all have been prepared. Makes 16.

rice pounding party

Yesterday was the rice pounding party at Joy English (the school I teach at once a week). There was a kids party first, then the adult party. When we arrived, everyone was scattered, some outside, some inside. A couple of people were cutting wood for the outdoor stove that was being used to steam the rice.

The outdoor stove with stacking bins of rice.

Joy English School

Once the rice is finished cooking, it is dumped into a large bowl....kind of like a large mortar and pestle.
The rice is first kind of mushed with the mallet, then the pounding begins. It's a community event, everyone gets a turn pounding the rice. Even the kids (they have a smaller lighter mallet for them to use).

Teddy-san gets the rice pounding started.

While the pounding is going on, everyone watches and waits their turn. Meanwhile, inside, the dishes for the mochi to be put into are being prepared. As well as a New Year's pork soup. While the rice is being pounded, a chant starts..."rai she! rai she!" Teddy-san helps each child lift the mallet and pound the rice. Once the pounding is complete, the rice resembles a white sticky dough. Then, everyone gathers round and starts rolling little balls of dough to put into various dishes. There is a dish of anko, a sweet red bean paste; a dish of grated daikon, nori (seaweed) and shoyu (soy sauce); and a dish of kinako, a soybean powder mixed with sugar.

Mochi and kinako, this was my favorite as it tasted like peanut butter.

Mochi and a mixture of grated daikon, nori (seaweed) and soy sauce. This was my least favorite combination.

Mochi and anko (sweet red bean paste)...also a yummy combination.

The kids all chipped into help and discovered just how sticky mochi can be.

And some looked like they were helping, but then ate their creations.

After there is plenty of mochi for the different concoctions, then the making of the daifuku commences. Daifuku literally means "big happy" and refers to mochi with anko in the middle. This is the kind of mochi you can buy in the grocery store. A big board is placed on top of the rice bowl. Anko is rolled into small balls. Then the mochi is streched out, the anko is tucked in, with a roll, and a nip off of the end...the mochi is rolled in flour and then complete. Another method i saw was to stretch out a piece of mochi, tear it off, then tuck the anko in the middle and pinch the ends.

Making daifuku.

The kids ate their food, and took the daifuku home with them. The adults started to gather for the adult party...which was basically repeat of the kids party....with a lot more food...oh..and sake and beer of course. So, after munching a bit, we took our turns at the rice pounding. The mallet was heavy, which i guess can make the work easier, you don't have to try as hard to hit the rice hard....just let the mallet drop.

Denny took this shot of me pounding the rice. (Doesn't my hair look good?)

Denny and Teddy were very funny....each making their own noise as they pounded the rice.

We left the party with daifuku and kinako covered mochi, and little dishes of the japanese appetizers. We had a fun time learning all about making (and eating) mochi. Happy New Year!

snow!

Yay! I woke up yesterday morning and it was snowing. And it snowed pretty heavily all day. There was such a lovely blanket of snow over everything. And one of the happiest sounds to me is the crunch of my snowboot in the snow.

Yesterday was also "hair day". Kelly from Mikami Hair came to do my hair along with several friends. We spent most of the day at my friend Bethany's house (she has a garden apartment with a bigger open kitchen than I have). And when we picked up Kelly from the train station, she was just as excited about the snow as I was. So, we planned on a snow break later in the day. We walked over to the japanese garden behind the Enlisted Club and made a little snow person (Abby-sized). Twas a fun day.

cold

So, it's been really really cold here this week. I don't have much to tell about, just realized it's been to long since my last posting and I should tell you all what we've been up to. Which is watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. We had planned on doing something this past weekend, Denny had Friday and Monday off so we would have had the time. Instead, we took a little "mini" vacation and didn't do much of anything. We did manage to leave the house on Saturday to go and see Memoirs of a Geisha (called "Sayuri" here in Japan). And we did move around a bit by playing Dance Dance Revolution on our PS2. But mostly, we watched Buffy.

Memoirs of a Geisha was a beautifully done movie. The acting was excellent and the sets and costumes and cinematography really transported you back to pre-WWII Japan (the city they are in is called Miyako, which is another name for Kyoto). If you get a chance to see it, I say go. One thing I couldn't help but notice is a lot of the movie (over the years of a girls life) takes place in the springtime......during cherry blossom season...so that narrows it down to two weeks in the spring. And we only missed a little of the beginning dialogue because it was in japanese and then it switched to english (which my japanese friends in Culture Group think is a bit odd).

It's supposed to snow this weekend, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Should have some new photos posted after the weekend. The english school I teach at is having a New Years party complete with rice-pounding to make traditional new year's mochi.

sun-dried tomato and basil hummus

To start with, make basic hummus--1 can of chick peas (garbanzo beans), 2-4 cloves of garlic (depending on your tastes), juice of a lemon, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Then add in some sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Grind it all up in the food processor and serve with pita bread or chopped veggies. Yum.

gingerbread house

Sue and I made a gingerbread house. We did have some help from Denny and Alex too. It was a very fun experience. Especially the making of the dough. Sue forgot to sift the flour for the dough, so it was too dry. we had to add water and knead it in....we used ziploc bags so that we wouldn't get our hands too messy. The dough ended up looking something like this:

I held up my ziploc and asked Denny what it looked like.....we all laughed til we cried as we all made poopy jokes. This was a very memorable Gingerbread House indeed.

Here are the stages of the gingerbread house:

getting excess water off of the gingerbread dough........to make a very yucky looking rorsach test

The sides of the house after baking. The windows are made from liquefied sugar (put in after the sides bake).

Gluing the house together with the liquid sugar glue.

The house, almost all together.

Sue made a nifty roof and chimney out of a manilla folder. Note: Use posterboard or thicker paper instead of a manilla folder or you will have roof problems after adding the snow.

On Christmas evening, Ward made a base for the light to go through, Sue padded it to look like snow, and Denny and I decorated the house (Sue hurt her foot earlier in the day and had to keep it elevated). Luckily, I photographed it immediately before the roof started caving in.

saturday and samurai

Saturday was my friend Jen's birthday, and she planned a day of activites in Tokyo. We had lunch, got manicures and/or pedicures (I opted for a pedicure myself....twas very nice), and then there was drinking. I came home on the 9:30 bus from the New Sanno hotel and most everyone else stayed for the dancing. It was a fun day. I had forgotten, however, what it's like to be in a large group of Americans outside of the gate. Japan is typically not a loud place, and I was uber-aware of how much louder we were as a group wherever we went. And can you believe I actually forgot my camera? I couldn't believe it. So no pictures of my pedicure. Sorry.

Last night we watched Seven Samurai, a classic movie by Akira Kurosawa. We weren't sure what to expect...for us...some so-called classics end up being boring. This one wasn't. The movie was very well done, and a very revealing look at what life may have been like in sixteenth century Japan. If you haven't seen it, you should.

Part of what made me so interested was that I finished reading Shogun finally. A very long book, but definitely worth the read. Shogun starts in the late 1500s, just after the time of the Seven Samurai. I've added the Shogun miniseries to our Netflix queue, so I'll let you know how it is.