When kaki (persimmons) were in the height of their short season, I ate them like they were going out of style. And now that I can buy them dried and on a stick, I'm in persimmon nirvana once again. Hubby doesn't care for kaki, fresh or dried, so that leaves more for little old moi. Lucky me!
One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year! My new apron came all the way from Florida (thanks, Holly!!!) and is ready for action. I keep calling it my "bib" by accident, but I think that gets to the heart of the matter pretty well, actually.
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas "holyday" (as a college friend on Facebook called it) and I know you're all looking forward to special New Year's times with friends and family as well. We're far far away from our kinfolk, but it's amazing to me how we're gifted with such good friends here in Japan who have become our loved ones away from home. We had a beautiful Christmas time and feast with another family who went all out to make us feel welcome and to prepare a HUGE gorgeous meal. My tummy was in ecstasy. We were all stuffed and had to wait a few hours before even contemplating dessert. But of course we did. (That's my cheesecake in the photo above hanging out with my friend Chisa's luscious chocolate cake and whipped cream. We all managed to find space (a betsubara) for some of both.)
My cheesecake wrapped in a furoshiki, ready to take to our friends' home
Don't you love that checked napkin? I was supposed to be a bridesmaid in my very dear friend Teresa's wedding, but at eight months pregnant, I couldn't make the journey to the U.S. She sent me these napkins from the reception and I love the cranberry and mint colors.
For the cheesecake, you'll need:
Our homemade plum wine, 1.5 years on...at 35% proof, make sure you don't use this cheesecake and cranberry sauce as a birthday cake with candles anywhere nearby (especially if it's a celebration for someone who's been ripening in the fridge of life for a while)...
Rummy chocolate is one of those "kisetsu gentei" that comes and goes with the seasons, and when it's gone after winter is over, man, oh man, do I crave it.
What better way to celebrate the birthday of someone born 2,008 years ago than with cranberry brownies? I'm sure he approves. (I even served them on a "Happy Birthday!" plate that was a present to my son from his godmother--thanks, Holly!)
As you may recall, we celebrated Thanksgiving over here in Japan on December 6. No, it wasn't the traditional day, but this cheesecake sure made the wait worth it. I originally got the recipe many years ago from All Recipes, but I upgraded it this year to Pumpkin Cheesecake Version 5.7 with the addition of some Meiji Black chocolate (and some other tweakings). Mmmmmmm. Give thanks for pumpkin and dark chocolate together. It works, baby! (And when I was growing up in the U.S. I didn't even like chocolate! It was pretty sweet and not very flavorful, the stuff I had then, and it wasn't until I went to Europe and Japan that I really got into it. Now you can't get me out.)
Matthew helped me smooshilate the coconut sable cookies for the crust (those are the best cookies for this cheesecake, in my opinion, and they're only 100 yen for a packet - about $1). I didn't want to get out my food processor because Joel's room is right next to the kitchen and he was napping. And when they're napping, you want nothing to disrupt that beautiful slumber.
First with the rolling pin and then with his hands...
Inspecting his (OK, our) handiwork...
I don't add the sugar to the crust as the recipe calls for because cookies are already plenty sweet in my book, and I use HALF the sugar it calls for in the filling. I add cinnamon to the crust for some extra kick. My springform pan is only 8 inches (20 cm), so I have to halve all the ingredients, or make up all of it, save some in the fridge, and use it again for a second cheesecake within a few days. That's not too terrible, actually.
Don't forget the sour-cream topping. That takes the cake.
Everybody asked for seconds, so I must've done OK with this one!
Oh, wait, but I've gotten ahead of myself. First I was really really cold in some kind of big square box in Costco in Amagasaki. In between the kidnapping and that freezing place I don't remember much. In psychology they call that blocking. If you're in my position, blocking is pretty much your only option if you want to stay sane enough to write your autobiography.
That lady cooked me breast-side down for the first hour (because this website said to) and then flipped me over for the next however gosh-awful long it was in that burning place. She had to use aluminum foil because my top got really done really fast, and when the little red popper thingy popped up, apparently I was done. My legs were still pink, though, so the lady froze them and cooked them in soup later. Much later. Like a week after.
They all said my breast meat was really moist, and I'm glad I could bring some happiness to this world (on December 6, of all days). It turns out I was shipped to Japan, and they don't celebrate Turkey Day there, so these people ate me later than all my friends got devoured back in the good old US of A.
That lady I was telling you about was so busy putting me in that hot box that she didn't even have time to wash her hair, can you believe it! I think for my sake she really should've worn one of those net thingies on her head, you know, to keep me clean.
Even though I looked darn gorgeous in the above photo, that was not to be my final incarnation. Remember I told you I couldn't swim? Well, that fact is not helping me considering I'm being tossed back and forth out in the ocean somewhere now.
It's only been very recently in Japan that I've been able to find decaf coffee, and since I've either been pregnant or nursing since the summer of 2005 (no joke), this has been a major concern of mine. Yes, if I want to spend about $4 on a cup of freshly brewed decaf at Starbucks, that's an option, but it only comes in one flavor: coffee. No adornments. No special spices. No whipped cream. No syrups. No chocolate-chip-whizbangs. Nada. Just coffee. Which is fine, if I won the lottery and was in the mood for that sort of thing anyway. (I do indulge every few months just for a mama-treat. I cannot tell a lie. But I do have a Starbucks insulated cup and that saves me a whopping 20 yen - approx. 20 cents.)
You'll need:
First rule of thumb: You've got two kids two and under, so of course you're not going to measure anything! You don't have the time or the energy to faff around with that kind of minutiae. At least two diapers are waiting to be changed and you're trying to overpower that smelly mess with the beauty of Sun Fuji apples and Vietnamese cinnamon (though I ended up using some regular powdered cinnamon, too, because I was too poopilated to grind the real stuff for very long).
I used six apples, plus some water (I have no idea how much--2 cups maybe? hmmm...), then boiled it all till softish. Sometimes I like my applesauce a bit chunky, in which case I smoosh it with a potato masher, but you know that mama hens have to sacrifice a lot for their chicks. My toddler-chickpea likes sludgy applesauce with no bits, so there you go. In that case, use your hand blender, right in the pot.
Add some cinnamon, and Bob's your uncle. DON'T, I repeat, DON'T add any sweetener. This stuff is perfect as is. And perfection is hard to come by, so grab it while you can.
I buy this stuff by the case and we all drink it like it's going out of style. OK, all except our seven-month-old, but he gets it secondhand anyway. Easier that way.
Because we're boring people of habit, the hubster and I have this very non-boring snack almost every night! It's so easy: Just grab some plain yogurt (heaps), sprinkle in about a tablespoon of toasted wheat germ (don't measure, though, that's the beauty of it--doesn't take any brain power or any extra washing up), and drizzle on some of your favorite honey. Stir, eat, and start singing your favorite aria.
I've had two dates in the last two days--how's that for a busy mama? The first one involved adding chopped dates to a leftover-turkey salad, and the second one was all about trying to use up some pureed pumpkin I had lying around. I had made a pumpkin chocolate cheesecake for our late Thanksgiving celebration (recipe to come soon, so stay tuned!) and didn't need a whole can of pumpkin, so I had about 3/4 c. leftover, waiting to be reinvented into something else special. My 10th-edition paperback pain-in-the-you-know-what-to-keep-open Better Homes and Gardens cookbook has a recipe for pumpkin muffins that I've made a few times before, but I wanted to take it up a couple of notches. Costco should never have started stocking dried dates because now I'm always thinking of new ways to use them! I chopped some up, added them to the batter, and then boom! That stick of Vietnamese cinnamon I won from Diane and Todd at White on Rice Couple (yes, they mailed it all the way to Japan from California for me!) was begging to be added as well, so I used my trusty mortar and pestle and ground up a little chunk of it. Talk about YUMMY! I've never had cinnamon like that! It's powerful stuff. And you can even chew on a little bit of it and it tastes like a red-hot (all natural, of course). (By the way, I wasn't "officially" a winner of the cinnamon contest, but D and T liked my comment on the post and sent me some anyway! Fun! I've hardly ever won anything in my life, so that made my day. Mine was comment #38 if you want to know what I said. I know you're dying to.) Man, that stick smells luscious. Just taking it out of the packaging and before I had even turned any of it into powder, it turned my whole (baby) kitchen into fragrance heaven.
Pumpkin Date Walnut Muffins (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)
If you've got a well-insulated home and you don't mind a cold meal in the winter, then this is the one for you! I wanted to do something creative with our turkey leftovers (though still have some in a bag in the freezer and will probably make a traditional soup with it later). Recently at Costco they started selling dates, my friend Kim sent me some of her homemade candied ginger just the other day, I have mint growing on my balcony, and I had plenty of fresh fruit in the fridge that I needed to use, so it all worked together really well. The Mariani dates bag had a recipe for Palm Springs Fruit Salad (made with chicken, but I just used turkey breast meat instead) with Orange Mint Yogurt Dressing, and here it is, for your delectation!
You'll need:
Okazu is basically anything that goes with rice, and this recipe is another one from Oshaberi Kukkingu, my favorite Japanese cooking show (actually, the only one I have time to watch because it's only about 15 minutes long!). The show that featured this particular dish aired on November 20, so feel free to check out their website to see it in nihongo (Japanese).
Miso paste
Bonito flakes (katsuobushi) and kelp (konbu) to make the dashi
Close-up of the konbu
I used 4 small turnips...
Smaller than my fist (and much tastier than a knuckle sandwich)!