Food that I Made in the Last Year

Haven't posted here for a while, so I'm going to spam the blog with the whole lot of food that I made in the last year or so. Of course, I'm neither a food stylist or a photographer by profession, so please excuse the unprofessional presentation and picture taking skills. :)

Challah

Plum Clafoutis, recipe courtesy of Bea at La Tartine Gourmande.

Strawberry Tartelette

Apple Cinnamon Tartlette

Mango Cardamom Tartelette

Creme Renversee, recipe courtesy of Bea again.

Chocolate Macarons, recipe courtesy of David Lebovitz. First try. Terribly ugly and overfolded but the taste is ok. Hopefully one day I can post a picture of a successful try.

Coconut Panna Cotta with Blackberry Stew, recipe courtesy of La Tartine Gourmarnde.

Curry Chicken with rice.

Anniversary Dinner
Bread - Brioche

Anniversary Dinner
Amuse - Avocado and Grapefruit Millefeuille, recipe courtesy of Bea

Anniversary Dinner
Appetizer1 - Seared Scallops and Green Apples, recipe courtesy of Bea

Anniversary Dinner
Appetizer2 - Coconut Milk Mussel Soup, recipe courtesy of Bea again

Anniversary Dinner
Main1-Sauteed Duck Foie Gras

Anniversary Dinner
Main2 - Provençal Rack of Lamb

Anniversary Dinner
Dessert- Poached Pear Tart with Tapioca Pudding and Peach Jam

Sausage Casserole

Double chocolate biscotti with coffee made from french press

Rosemary Focaccia with a poolish

Shrimp, chicken, and sausage Jumbalaya! Long-grained rice probably would have turned out better than Japanese rice, but still good ^^

Curry Beef Samosas, made with phyllo pastry

Creme of Onion soup

Eggs Benedict. English muffin topped with crispy bacon and poached egg with Hollandaise sauce.

Creme of Broccoli Soup with Blue Cheese Fritters, courtesy of Chef John at Foodwishes.com. He claimed it was the best soup he ever made, and I don't disagree! It really is a marvelous soup! I felt a little wasteful as I used my black Roquefort Papillion for it ($6USD per 100grams!!!!), since I had no other blue cheese on hand :(..... But the taste is amazing!

Tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork tenderloin) with rice and Worcestershire sauce, recipe courtesy of the Shizuoka Gourmet!

Teavana Giveaway by Make Life Delicious blog

I stumbled on this Teavana giveawya on the following blog. Feel free!

Make life delicious.

BBQ Ribs

My mom makes these very well with baked potatoes. So now I've made some the way she does it.

Ribs

Potatoes

Ingredients:

Pork side ribs

BBQ Sauce

Potatoes

Procedures:

Brush both sides of ribs with BBQ sauce, put potatoes underneath, cover potatoes with water.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 80 minutes, flip ribs every 20 minutes and brush with BBQ sauce again.

Drained and baked Potatoes alone for another 40 minutes.

YUM!

Ratatouille

First try at making ratatouille. It was amazing.

Ingredients:

Equal amount of tomatoes, orange bell peppers, zuchini, and eggplant

Mixed herbs

Salt

Chicken stock

Topped with cornmeal-marinated goat cheese

Procedures:

Cut veggies into chunks.

Layer them in the pot: eggplant, zuchini, bell peppers, tomatoes.

Add some chicken stock.

Cook on low heat for 90 minutes.

Serve.

Teavana's Peach Tranquility

A fruit tisane. Sadly enough, I'm a sucker for fruiTea things like this that pretend to be tea but isn't. It's just so yummy! :)

Vendor Description:

A delightfully harmonious blend of candied peach pieces, pineapple, lemon myrtle, Roman chamomile, sunflower petals and rosehips create a most peaceful blend. Use 1.5 teaspoons of tea per 8oz of water. Heat water to 208 degrees and steep for 5-6 minutes. 2oz of tea equals 25-30 teaspoons. Apples, candied pineapple, candied peach pieces, sunflower petals, lemon myrtle leaves, roman chamomile, and rosehips.

Fruit bits.

One of my friends gave me this teacup and saucer set as a belated holiday present! It's from Teaopia. So cute!~

Parameters: 1 tsp of dried up fruits and stuff, 6 oz boiling water, steeped forever!

Really yummy, probably a little bit artificially sweetened, but owell, still yum! :) Smells like peaches, taste like peaches! I can't say much about Teaopia's business tactics, as I've notices it's quite lacking in proper administration, but this tea is pretty yum! (A bit overpriced though, as it is only 2oz of dried fruits....)

Teavana's Assam Gold Rain

Vendor description:

Comes from one of the finest estates of the Assam region of India. Famous for its fruity yet malty flavor with a tannic red-wine aftertaste. (FTGFOP-1)(Special)

FTGFOP-1. So imressive.... My first exposure to a higher class assam. Far Too Good For Ordinary People, indeed.

The leaves are full, and in good condition it seems.

The music note tea stainer is cute, no? I got it from DealExtreme.com. :) Either the top or bottom half is a perfect teaspoon!

Teacups were supposed to be part of a set from Teavana, but many items of the set broke, so they gave me a refund, and I managed to salvage these :)

First and second infusions.

Spent leaves.

1tsp tea, 5oz boiling water, 35 seconds, 50 seconds.

The instructions are:

Use 1 teaspoon tea per 8oz of water. Heat water to 195-205 degrees and steep for 2-3 minutes. 2oz of tea equals 25-30 teaspoons.

Maybe I'll try that again next time.....

I really enjoyed this tea. The Maltiness is delish! Quite complex a flavour with mostly heavy fruit and some floral notes. Not sure about the red wine aftertaste though, as I know almost nothing about red wine.... :|

First and second infusions are very consistent, but I can tell that the temperature is too high and leaf/water ratio is too high as well. Great tea! But perhaps even better next time.

Love it!

Ippodo's Matcha: Wakamatsu-no-Mukashi

It's been a while since I received this matcha, and now's as good a time to post a review as any.

Vendor description:

Ground from shade-cultivated tea leaves, matcha is rich in theanine - an amino acid responsible for matcha's full-bodied mellow sweetness. In Japan, there is a special name for this taste: umami. Generally, the higher the grade, the richer the umami taste.

Characterized by its rich aroma, full-bodied mellow sweetness, and vivid green color, matcha is a favorite among tea lovers in Japan. Invigorating and full of nutrients, matcha is the perfect drink to rejuvenate your mind and body. It tastes best when served with sweets.

For the matcha connoisseur with a discerning taste, Wakamatsu-no-mukashi is an excellent choice. Rich in umami, it has a distinct fragrance and aftertaste that linger pleasantly in the throat. Wakamatsu-no-mukashi is also an excellent choice as a koicha.

This matcha was named by Jimyosai-sosho XIV, the grand master of the Omote-Senke family of tea masters.

This grade of matcha is the same as that used for Seiun, which was named by the Ura-Senke family of tea masters.

Size of Package: H46mm x D53mm
Net Weight: 20 grams
Per Serving: 2 grams (usucha) 4 grams (koicha)
Shelf Life: 120 days

Sifted matcha.

Et, voila!

The parameters are: 4 chashaku, 20ml water at 70 degrees Celcius.

I have to say, the koicha of Wakamatsu-no-Mukashi is the best koicha I have ever had, even better than my beloved Matcha Pinnacle from Teaopia (which now all finished, by the way :( ...). The umami taste is so bold and fresh it really kicks in and grabs your attention from everything. No astringency or bitterness whatsoever, even if you try to nitpick at it. All in all, SO WONDERFUL, it makes me afraid to try the other ones which are supposedly even better than this. E.g. the Ummon-no-Mukashi and Seiun from Ippodo, and of course, the Matcha Manten from O-cha.

One unfortunate thing about the Wakamatsu, compared to my Matcha Pinnacle, is that it would be a sacriledge to make it as an usucha. Since it has no astringency or other characteristic tastes, when made into an usucha, it tastes extremely bland and dissappointing, whereas Matcha Pinnacle is great as either usucha or koicha with a balanced taste.

At 1500 yen for 20gs, I have to say, this is the best koicha at the best value I have ever tried. Absolutely marvelous. <3

First exposure to Pu-er

Haven't posted in a while because of busyness from school and everything else. But now I'm back!

I did a little tea swap with one of my friends, I gave her some matcha, and she gave me some pu-er. Not sure about the terroir and vintage, but I was told that this is a very high quality shu bingcha.

Very very densely stuck together :|

Rinsed 10s, dumped out. Then first infusion on the left, second on the right.

Third infusion on left, fourth on right.

The teacups are lovely, no? :) They are doublewalled cups I got from Teavana. They called it Petite Fleur Suspendus, and are now completely sold out I think. :|

Feeling lazy, so just gonna write this way, still understandable.

3.5g, 5oz boiling water, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 63 seconds, 76 seconds. Can probably make more infusions as the taste has not waned at all.......

Spent leaves.

I'm actually pretty amazed. This is my very first exposure to pu-er, and the first time I made it, I was actually a little grossed out by the fungus-y scent and the metalicky strange taste. But after that, I'm actually starting to truly appreciate it for its complexity. Each infusion is more complex and multifaceted than the one before it. It makes me really want to get into learning more about the marvelous world of pu-er..... But I'm poor now, need to finish all my shincha before I dwelve into all that....

Reviews to come

Things I need to review next:

> Hashiri Shincha from Den's (and shincha tokoname kyusu)

> Gyokuro Suimei from Den's

> Pom-a-Berry Rooibos from Sweet Dreams

> Boysenberry Black Tea from Sweet Dreams (Assam-based, I think)

> Fuji the Ultimate, a Fukamushi Shincha from Zencha

> The rest of the matcha from Ippodo

(and more.... as they get here)

People tell me I'm crazy :(..... I'm just a LEETLE fanatic, is all.

Sweet Dream's Belgian Choclate Rooibos

I shouldn't have, but I couldn't resist. They looked so cute (to be honest, its the cute little glass jars and the packaging that got to me), so here it is. Belgian chocolate rooibos, pom-a-berry rooibos, and boysenberry black tea (Assam based, I believe).

This post will just be about the chocolate rooibos. But before that I wanna say, I've never been the biggest fan of rooibos, some thing about the flavour and the smell turns me off. And the fact that there's the lack of caffeine punch.

Typical rooibos leaves. Apparently it contains rooibos, calendula petals, cacao bean pieces and natural chocolate flavour.

It has a very distinct rooibos scent with a pungent chocolatey smell, a bit sweet as well, in the rooibos sort of way.

First Infusion:

Tea: 1.5 tsps

Water: 1 cup

Water Temperature: boiling.

Brew Time: 3.5 minutes

Review. It has a fairly rich chocolate aroma, that's for sure. But can't say much about the taste. Just bland rooibos, I guess, nothing special. It does have a full, rich mouth feel, but I can't tell if that's from the cocao beans or the flavouring. Nyeh.

SecondInfusion:

Water Temperature: boiling.

Brew Time: 5 minutes

Review. EVERYTHING IS GONE! =_= Bland Yucky Gross. EW. Pretty color though, but that's all the good I can say about it.

Overall, I still don't like rooibos, and this tea hasn't turned me around yet. I will try it with milk next time, and just one infusion. After all, I can still store cute little teas in that cute little tea jar, so my money's not that wasted after all! :)