kapocha

Jan.23, 2005

This is カボチャの煮物 I made today.

There are several kinds of pumpkins you can buy here in Canada. The one we are most familiar with is a minority kind here. I got this Asian pumpkin at a Chinese market. The price tug showed its name as "Kapocha". Sounds cute, isn't it?

You can buy another pumpkin more easily at any supermarkets. I have bought it once. It was totally different, though. I think this pumpkin is for Jack 'o Lantern, the pumpkin lamp for Halloween. It's a lot more soft that you can dig and cut to make a hollow and eyes and mouth. I had been wondering how Western people work with the hard pumpkin on Halloween, but now I know how! Heh, heh.
Its texture is also different. It feels more like watermelon or something. I cooked it Japanese style but ....it tasted just awful... too watery, too much fiber and seemed impossible to eat up...

トロントで買えるカボチャには、種類がありますょ。
日本で使うフツーのカボチャは、チャイニーズマーケットに行かないと手に入りません。
そこらへんのスーパーだと、どでかくてオレンジ色の、すかすかしたカボチャが沢山売ってます。多分、ハロウィンのジャック・オ・ランタンに使うカボチャだと思われます。
…全然、煮物には適してないんですょー。。一回試しに作ってみて、死にました。。多分、すいかで煮物を作ったらあんな感じになるかなぁ？

麻婆豆腐

Jan.22, 2005

I made 麻婆豆腐 for dinner.
This is very special that you cannot season like this in Japan! You wanna know why? Because I used special 豆板醤 which my Chinese friend gave me the other day.

Some of you may know that Toronto is one of the world's biggest multicultural cities. Especially, Chinese culture is dominating Western culture these days. There are huge Chinese communities here and so is a massive numbers of Chinese immigrants. Their momentum is just breathtaking. I mean, they have been immigrating on a household basis and creating Chinese communities very quickly.
Which is good for me, you know, when it comes to going grocery shopping. There are many Chinese super markets too that carry a variety of Asian produce. Isn't it amazing that you can buy sounds-familiar veggies in Canada. Such as Gobo, Daikon, Shiitake, Yamaimo, Hakusai and you name it.
Anyway,
Toronto is the best place to taste genuine Chinese food other than in China itself!!

The Chinese girlfriend of mine is very good at Sichuan (四川) style cooking. The 豆板醤 paste was what the good cook chose. I can't screw it up, can I??

麻婆豆腐を作りました。
チャイニーズの友達から貰った麻婆豆腐の素（中国ブランド！）で作ったので、かな～り本格派な味？！
…んー。
でもやっぱり見た目、“日本人が作りました”風なんちゃって麻婆豆腐の域を出ないのであった。。何がイカンのだぁ～！
以前、同じペーストで作った、友達の麻婆豆腐を食した事があるんだけど、
なんか全然違いましたょ。

strawberry short cake

Jan.20, 2005

Do you remember that I baked sponge cake the other day?
I got it out of the freezer and finally decorated it.

.... Messy!
I didn't mean like this. I have poor taste in decorating.

It tastes OK.
This is an ordinary layman-made short cake... Heh, heh.
I just wanted to make something extraordinary though.
I think I will go some bakeries or pastry shops and check beautifully decorated cakes.

pumpkin bars and chewy currant bars

Jan.19, 2005

It was the second class of Bars and Squares at George Brown College this evening.
What we made were Pumpkin Bars and Chewy Currant Bars.

Holly.. ! There were too many ingredients that we had to prepare!
I got to the class room 30 minutes earlier and started to scale stuffs.
The ingredients we need are always prepared in bulk at the side of the class room, by the way. We need to scale them individually.
By the time the instructor Pat called the students to come up, I was done only with the ingredients for Pumpkin Bars... Oh, Gosh, Time was up... Oh, you might be wondering where was Sam, my partner. It would be quicker to prepare together, right? But he came right before the class started. He couldn't help it because he was working in the afternoon.

So the baking started.
It was quite easy. Basically, you mix the ingredients together and bake it. While letting the bar cool, you make frosting or glaze. Once the bar is completely cool, you spread the frosting evenly on top. After let it cool again in fridge, it's done. You cut it into small bars.

Oh, my... I was in a super rush when I was preparing the ingredients. What happened was ... you are guessing it, eh? I messed up the ingredients. I always mix up tablespoon and teaspoon and I did it again!
"tbsp" stands for tablespoon, "tsp" stands for teaspoon. Isn't it confusing?? The tiny bit alphabet of "b" makes a huge difference!
It was so obvious that the amount was too much. I should have noticed that... but because I was hasty and focused fully on the next ingredient to weigh, nothing rang a bell.
After all, I found the mistake after put some ingredients together in a bowl... Shoot!!

Anyway, Both bars anyhow came out well... phew..
They are tasty, .......... but ........., too sweet... Just a tiny piece make me feel stuffed. It feels like Yoshi and I will never eat them up even a month passes.
I gave nearly half of them to Jerry, the party animal guy. (heh, heh)
... Now what?? I still have 24 pieces of them...

バーアンドスクエアというお菓子のコース、２日目でした。
バー、スクエア。つまり、北米チックなごっさり甘くどっしり重い、食べ甲斐のありまくりなお菓子のことですょ。
今回のお題は、パンプキンバーとチュゥイーカラントバー。
カボチャバーと、ちっちゃいレーズンのバーでした。
…スパイス計り間違えてたのに気づかず、あやうく大失敗するところでしたが、
なんとか（なぜか；）上手くできた（笑；
…やっぱり甘すぎる～！！食べきれない～！！
なのにお持ち帰りの量は半端ではない～。。
あと４回もクラスあるのに、もう行きたくない気分だ！
いや、作るのは楽しいんだけど、持って帰りたくな～ぁい。。

sponge cake

Jan.16, 2005

I am baking a sponge cake right now.
It's right in the oven almost ready to freshly come out.

I was going to bake one for myself two days ago but I couldn't.
Kaori, one of my friends from Yoshi's school came over last Friday. She wanted to bake cakes for two of her school friends. They had their birthday on Friday and Saturday.
She had asked me to teach how to bake cake but I knew she knows a lot better than me. What I could do were only to lend her my oven and some utensils and to be an assistant of hers. (giggle!)

What we made were a regular sponge cake and an easy-to-bake chocolate cake. I never tried that kind of cake mix before. I was amazed. How easy it was! ... But I don't think I will use it. I mean, who knows what it contains? Maybe some artificial colours, preservatives or transfat. I am not insanely health-conscious but I don't want to eat it when I have healthier choices. Anyway,

I was going to bake my own sponge cake along with Kaori's but we ran out of time.
Better gave it up this time because we were invited to Jerry's party that evening. He is such a party animal that he throws a party once a month average, by the way.

We decorated one of the cakes. Decorating was quite fun but I was a bit nervous because .... well, I hope no offense will be taken... Kaori was super meticulous !! I am sorry but I was like "COME ON!" .... that was what I said "in my mind." I know it's unfair not saying something out loud. I am such a kiss-ass.
.... But wait. It is good for me to have her. I am too easygoing. I don't care the shape of topping collapses a little. I wouldn't make it perfectly without her.
I think I need learn from her...

ANYWAY.
Both cakes went very well. Kaori may have decorated the other cake at home yesterday. Oh, the choc cake didn't surprise the birthday guy because he didn't make it to the party on Friday!! People were quite sure that he was dating. Anything goes when one has a special day, eh?

......... Oh, my sponge cake is done!
I have to take it out of the oven!!
After all, it's better that I ran out of time for my own sponge on Friday. We used the Japanese standard recipe. The ingredients are simpler than what my recipe from school has. And what I made this morning is the one from school. I will see which taste and texture I like better.

金曜に、友達とケーキを焼きました。
誕生日の友達に作ってあげたいとのことだったので、お手伝いをv　
その夜は、私たち2人ともパーティに呼ばれてたので、ちょっと時間が押してしまいました。ほんとは自分の分も作ってデコレーションの練習したかったんだけど、仕方なくあきらめた。。

という訳で、今朝またスポンジケーキを焼きましたょ。
今日のは、ケーキ教室で習ったレシピ。でも砂糖がめちゃ多かったので、かなり減らしました。
金曜に友達と、日本のレシピでスポンジケーキを作ったので、どうしても比べてみたくなったのです。。今日のはまだ、端をつまんで食べただけだけど、ミルクが入ってるだけあってちょっとしっとり？
デコレーションはまた今度。冷凍庫にしまいました。

: Ingredients :

bread flour ...........100g
baking powder ... 5g
whole eggs(L) ..... 2
sugar ..................... 100g
salt ......................... 1g
milk ........................100ml
butter ................... 25g
vanilla ................... 1/2tsp