In Search of The Crunchy

Apricot Tart

2011-07-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I traveled to Chikuma City. Chikuma is well-known for its apricot orchards. Myself, and a couple of friends visited an orchard and picked apricots together. We had apricot soft cream. It was the most delicious soft cream I have tasted while in Japan!

The apricots we picked were not quite ripe yet. However, in a couple of days, they will be good for jam! I wanted to find some apricots that were ripe for baking and eating soon, so we stopped at a small farm stand run by an old couple. They let us try each of the varieties of apricots that they were selling. The apricots were so juicy and sweet. It was a flavor from my childhood. In Japanese there is a word for something that takes you back to a place of nostalgia. Natsukashii. That aroma was it. I planned to but a kilogram, but instead I bought two. It was also one of those moments that I was aware that my Japanese is not nearly as bad as I make it out to be. I can communicate easily.

I made a apricot tart today. Ripe apricots tossed in sugar and arranged in pate brisee.

My hands are so warm, I forgot how much easier it is to work with chilled dough. A few minutes in the freezer and the dough was ready to work with again!

The apricots I bought at the farm stand were ripe and ready to be eaten. I cut them and tossed them a quarter cup of sugar and a pinch of salt before arranging them in the tart crust. I baked the tart for 40 minutes at 180C (400F)

The finished tart was delicious. Something magical happened in the oven. The apricots became the best they could be. Summer is a delicious time of year.

The Mulberry Tree in My Front Yard

2011-06-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

It`s been a long time since I have written anything here, but I have been feeling the inspiration again lately. It might be all the sunshine!

A very short update: I have been an English teacher on the JET Program in a lovely village in Nagano prefecture since August of last year. I plan on being here another year or two. I live a very "Inaka" lifestyle. However, I have the great luck of living within half an hour of

Matsumoto City. Being a teacher is rewarding and having the chance to live in Japan again has been wonderful! My house is sizable with an enormous yard. Nagano is a wonderful place full of natural beauty and fascinating history. As far as the gastronomic

al world goes, living in Nagano has afforded me the chance to try many new foods and relish in a veritable cornucopia of local fruits and vegetables. This year has seen me planting my first garden. I have eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, bell peppers, bush beans, zuchinni and kabocha. Every day brings an entertaining adventure or experience.

The mulberry tree in my front yard

A week ago, black berries began falling from the tree in my front yard. They looked delicious,but my better senses warned me about eating anything wild that I was unfamiliar with. What if they were poison berries! I sure k

new that the birds were eating them by the blueish splatters all over my driveway and house! Until

a couple of days ago, I resisted the temptation to give them a try. That is, until one of my young neighbors asked if she could pick a couple! "What are they," I asked. "Kuwazumi," she replied. A quick look on Jim Breen`s WWWJDIC (the holy grail of Japanese dictionaries), revealed that there was a mulberry tree growing in my front yard!

The berries are plump and juicy. Their flavor is sometimes sweet and sometimes sour, but always delicious. If I forget to pick them with the most gentle of touches, sticky purple juice drips down my arms. My nail-beds, and garden boots are stained blue. But this is the mark of enjoying my surroundings.

The mulberry tree is fertile and full. There are enough berries for me to eat my fill, bake a new dish every night, freeze berries for future use and leave some for the birds!

Last night I baked a cobbler with freshly picked mulberries.

Recipe for Mulberry Cobbler

Needed

2 cups mulberries, de-stemmed

1/4 cup melted butter (or 1/8th cup, if you are trying to lay off the butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

2tsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1/8 cup sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (~180C)

2. Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and milk

3. Pour melted butter into a baking pan ( even better, melt the butter in the pan while preheating the oven)

4. pour batter into the pan. do not mix with the butter.

5. pour the berries over the batter. If the berries are very tart, sprinkle more sugar over the top.

6. bake for half an hour, or until the batter has risen and has formed a nice crust.

This batter works well for any fruit. One of my favorite cobblers is peach and blueberry. The only difference is that you adjust the amount of sugar based on the sweetness of your fruit!

Quiche

2009-09-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Quiche

キシュ

Lately, my family has been frequenting our local farmer's market. The fruits and vegetables we've picked up at the famer's market have gone into all kinds of dishes. Chili rellanos, pizzas, roasted potatoes, calabacitas, peach cobblers, the list goes on! This Sunday I made a tomato, feta and spinach quiche. My family had leftover quiche for dinner yesterday and I packed the last slice in my lunch today. Sitting in the sun while eating a slice of cold quiche was one of the high points of my day!

日曜日にトマトとフェタチーズとほうれん草のキシュを作りました。とても美味しかった！昨日家族は日曜日のキシュの余りを食べました。

No Knead Bread

2009-09-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

No Knead Bread

自家製パン

My first attempts at making yeast bread without the aid of a bread maker were, well, a bit of a disaster. My crusty white bread usually turned out to be a dense flavorless mess. The positive overwhelmingly positive response to the No Knead Bread recipe printed in the NY Times a couple of years ago prompted me to lift my self imposed white bread ban and once again try my hand a baking bread. The results were brilliant. Four ingredients and 16 hours of waiting yielded crusty, chewy and flavorful bread. Now it's five months later and I'm on my 10th loaf. My family can't get enough!

美味しくってさくさくなパン。

The end result.

Karaage at the Flat

2009-05-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

Karaage

唐揚げ

The first time i had karaage was a truly memorable experience. I was riding through the streets of downtown Okayama, got hungry, went to a Happy's and decided on the crunchy looking chicken nuggets on a stick at the ready made food counter. However, those were no ordinary chicken nuggets. They were crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. It was love at first crunch. From that point on karaage became one of my favorite snacks when out and about in Japan.

Today's dinner was quite a treat! My boyfriend and I made karaage, chahan (fried rice) and boiled cabage for dinner. I made simpe chahan with brown rice, eggs, salt, pepper, soy sauce and garam masala. But the real standout was the karaage--better than the best karaage I had during my year in Japan!

We marinated pieces of chicken in sake, soy sauce and grated ginger for half an hour, then we coated the pieces in cornstarch and fried them until they were crispy and brown in oil.

始めに，鶏肉を醤油と酒とおろした生姜に三十分漬けました。それから、コーンスターチを加えて，十分衣で包まれるようによく混ぜました。そして、黄金色でさくさくになるまで揚げました。

Crunchy and delicious karaage served with boiled peppers and cabage and chahan.
美味しくてさくさくな唐揚げ（ゆでたキャベツとピ−マンとチャーハンと一緒に食べました！)

Okonomiyaki in Japan

2009-05-07T12:14:00.001-07:00

Okonomiyaki

お好み焼き

I was introduced to okonomiyaki just a few days after my arrival in Japan. When I tasted it, I was speechless. The first place I tried Okonomiyaki still remains my favorite.
TAKU's Hirsohima-style okonomiyaki
TAKUの島風お好み焼き

I only ate at their shop five times, but the owners of TAKU in Kurashiki are two of my favorite people in Japan. Every single time I visited Taku I was greated by smiling faces. I took this picture on my last visit to TAKU The smell of the shop was mouthwatering and the flavors of various types of Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and Japanese curry clearly reflected the cooks' love of food, kindness and pride in what they make. I hope to go again someday.

Name/名前：広島お好み焼・手作りカレーＴＡＫＵ

Address/住所：岡山県倉敷市船倉町1253-1

The Crunchy in Japan

2009-05-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Japan

I spent my year abroad in Japan. While in Japan, I had many delicious and crunchy things. I might not have learned the amount of kanji I should have...but I did learn to navigate the farmer's markets, read Japanese recipes, and find the best places to grab a bite in town from locals!

A street on the Okayama University campus covered with crunchy leaves during autumn.
紅葉に包んでいる岡山大学の津島キャンパス

First Post

2009-05-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well, what can I say? I love crunchy and delicious things. I've traveled and had many delightful culinary experiences around the United States, Japan, and Europe. I plan on recording my food and travel related experiences in this blog--everything from Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki in Japan to BBQ ribs in Alabama!