Frutta Fresca

Well, what do you do with 8lbs of strawberries when you have a freezer full of homemade fresh frozen strawberry jam? Apparently, I tried my hand at strawberry juice or as the Mexicans would have it Fresa Fresca...something like that, how would I know?

Blend up a bunch of strawberries...that's already yum! I blended about 6 or 8 cups...I still have 5lbs of strawberries left!

Then you're gonna have to strain it, to get all the seeds out. You don't have to do that if you like seeds. I don't, so I strained it.

Mix it up with simple syrup and water or sugar and water, I don't think it matters that much. Add juice from a couple of limes. Taste it and see if you like it.

I've been to a couple of Farmer's Markets where they sell this. It's so delicious! It also brings back the memory of reading "A Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton-Porter. There is a part of the book where she offers her guests a drink compounded of different types of berries mixed with cold spring water...it sounded so delicious, I've always wanted to try it! We didn't get too many berries is Hawaii..but I ain't in Hawaii now. So now I have finally tried it out :) All I have to do now is figure out how to make dandelions with bacon!

Making Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone has their favorite recipe, some like them crispy, some like them soft...I like them somewhere in between. But there are basic rules in cookie making.

1-Cream together a mixture of butter/margarine and crisco with the sugar. Why a mix of fats? It makes the cookies softer. Butter doesn't hold up that well under heat, so you get a way crispy cookie. If you want a nice buttery flavor but also a soft cookie, you need something that has better heat resistance. Why cream? It also makes a softer cookie and allows the flour to evenly hold onto the fats and sugars.

2- Add your eggs and flavoring (I use vanilla). Mix, mix, mix. After mixing, DO NOT scrape down the sides, if you do that it will take a longer mixing time when you add the flour and that is the last thing you want, unless you like hard almost non-chewable cookies.

3- Sift in your flour, baking soda and salt, then dump on your chocolate chips...actually you could use almost anything here except oatmeal - white chocolate with mac nuts, chocolate chips and raisins, M&Ms, Andes Mints, Reeses Pieces, toffee...whatevers.

4- When I mix in the flour I cover my mixer with a damp kitchen towel, to keep the puff of flour contained. I mix in the flour between 10-15 seconds, anymore than that, you risk forming complex strands of gluten which is great for bread, but makes a cookie tough.

5- Here it is all mixed up. This is really the time to eat it...it's easier for me to take out the chocolate chips, which I don't like.

6- I use a 1" ice cream scoop to scoop up my dough. Because the recipe I use makes a lot of cookies, I keep a damp kitchen towel over the bowl to keep the dough moist.

7- Space your cookies nicely and put into pre-heated oven. I use 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, just until I see that they are getting firmed, but the middle is still a tad raw. I bring them out of the oven and let them sit on the cookie tray for another couple of minutes, while the pan is cooling, it is still slowly cooking the cookie but not to the point that it would get over-done.

8- Eat your warm, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies with a nice tall glass of cold milk!

And yes, you're right, when my life is boring I blog about food.

My First Real Tart

I think that it's very important to try new things. As you know I've had issue with the making of pie crust, so making this tart for friends was a little nerve racking. But, it was (even if I do say so myself) quite good. Although it's not that difficult to follow a recipe...now.

Make the pastry cream with real vanilla and vanilla bean the day before. Most people add cognac for the flavor in addition to the vanilla, I added lemon. Also, make the crust the day before, so it will be nice and cool. This crust was more of a cookie crust.

Start layering your berries from the outside inwards. I like the two berry effect - blackberries yum! Although, I should have put golden raspberries on here also, but I opted for lemon zest, since it was also in the filling.

I then made it all shiny with melted guava jelly. Some people use apple or apricot jelly. I had guava on hand, so that is what I used. The recipe said to leave it out on the counter until time to serve (up to three hours). But I think I might have liked it a little better if it had been chilled. Next time!

Enjoy the pictures, while I enjoy the real thing :)

Williams-Sonoma Double Handled Bowls!

Paul bought me these wonderful bowls, for my birthday. Kind man! I've wanted these since the 2007 Holiday catalog! I tried to figure out what type of soup I wanted to be the first food served in these bowls. I thought and thought.

Saturday night the missionaries came over and Paul mentioned that he wanted something chocolatey. I mentioned brownie sundaes. And I remembered that my fabulous bowls can go into the oven! Hoorah! I had such fun making individual brownie sundaes! And the missionaries enjoyed eating them, as well as Paul. Yum!

All gooey and warm brownie, with smooth vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream, caramel and a cherry on top. It was very delicious and way better than serving soup in the bowl!

Happy Birthday to me! Great gift Paul! Love you!

New Year's Eve Party

Our New Year's Eve party consisted of four people. Paul, me, Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. I love Anderson Cooper, he's a Vanderbilt you know...very stuffy and then there's Kathy Griffin, the most abrasive red head in the whole world (beside Carrot Top). Paul and I prefer watching the CNN coverage to the Ryan Seacrest guy - his unnaturally white teeth freak me out :) Even though CNN has more technical difficulties than General Conference.


Of course we had good food! Chow Mein, rice balls, teriyaki yakitori (with rib-eye instead of the traditional chicken), orange chicken and pork won ton.

Can I just say, that yakitori is simply divine! Using rib-eye is definitely the way to go, it's just melt in your mouth deliciousness. I just have to make sure the skewers get marinated also, so they don't burn, lol!

Here are the won ton... gau gee... whatevers all finished up with two of the sauces; Sweet Chili and Sweet Sesame. *Sigh* YUM!

To drink we had the usual over-load of beverages...Panna Acqua from Italy (tastes better in glass than plastic), cran-raspberry mixed with ginger-ale, cream soda and a bottle of Apple-Grape Martinelli's (it was disgusting).

For dessert we had creamy/fluffy tapioca pudding - apparently Paul's new found love.

Paul and I had a great time; eating, chatting, watching Anderson and Kathy. We also started a new tradition. I picked up some Chinese fortune cookies and whatever it says in them, we have to work on or do for the New Year. This is what they said...lol!

Paul's: Be assertive and you will win.
He's already trying this out on me. I keep reminding him, that assertiveness comes at a cost :)

Mine: Kindness makes for happiness.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL :)

HAUOLI MAKAHIKI HOU!!!!!

Won Ton...Gau Gee...whatever....How To

1 # - 1 1/2# of ground pork, 1 whole egg and pepper...just pepper.

Finely minced: 1/4 medium onion (I ALWAYS cook with sweet onions); 1 Tbl fresh garlic; 1/3 cup each, cilantro and basil. Sliced 1/2 cup green onion.

Funny thing about the cilantro and basil, you may not think that it goes with Chinesey things, but if you've ever wondered what that different flavor in shu mai (pork hash) is - it's Chinese parsley aka cilantro.

1 - 8 oz can whole water chestnuts, grated.

Water chestnuts don't add any type of flavor, just a crispier texture on the inside. It also breaks up the ground pork better, like cabbage in an egg roll.

Add all veggies to the meat. Then add 1/4 cup sesame oil and 3 - 4 Tbl shoyu (this is why I don't add salt...use the shoyu as salt and flavoring). Mix, mix, mix! With your hands of course!

A word on soy sauce. In Hawaii we use Aloha Shoyu, not that Kikkoman crap everyone in the Mainland uses. And yes I do know that Aloha Shoyu is relatively synthetic compared to Kikkoman, but Aloha Shoyu is just the way to go, better flavor.

Sometimes people use Patis instead of the sesame oil, I don't recommend it...fish sauce is not something I would ever recommend.

Because you can't really taste the pork in this state, after it is mixed...smell it. The won ton filling should smell exactly how you think it should taste. At the forefront I like an even blend of sesame oil, basil and cilantro, with just a hint of shoyu (salt), and right at the end the bite of garlic and onion. You should always hone your olfactory skills when cooking!

NOTE: All my measurements for the recipe are approximates...I go by look and smell, not measurements.

1 - package (about 50 - 60 skins) of square won ton wrappers. (I couldn't find square ones at the store, so I used the round ones that you usually use for potstickers - if using round skins, buy double - these hold less pork mixture).

Egg wash - Mix: One large egg and 3/4 cup milk.

Use a regular teaspoon to dollop the pork mixture in the center of the won ton skin. Fold in half and use egg wash to seal them up. Don't be excessive on the egg wash - don't want everything to get sticky.

Place on baking sheet lined with waxed paper. If your kitchen is warm, you should keep this in the freezer. Actually these can be made a couple days in advance and freezed. (I freeze them anyways until I deep fry them.) Make 5 - 10 at a time and add them to the stack in the freezer. If the won ton wrappers get to room temperature, they get sticky and it will be a mess when you try to pull them apart when you fry them...sad and laughable memories.

Fry won ton in canola or vegetable oil. Do not use safflower oil...trust me. The won ton should take 3 - 4 minutes to cook, anything under that the pork won't be cooked. So heat your oil accordingly.

Enjoy with a sauce:

Plum
Sweet and Sour
Sweet Chili (my personal favorite)
Hot mustard mixed with Aloha Shoyu
Sweet Sesame: 1/4 cup shoyu; 1 Tbl sesame oil; 1 heaping tsp white sugar; sliced green onion; dash of sesame seed; dash of red pepper flakes - mix... don't expect the sesame oil to mix in...obviously.

Overcoming My Waterloo

Since the beginning of my cooking career (very loosely defined) I have had a few Waterloos and have conquered some of them. I however have been too afraid to try pie crust on any serious level. Anytime I made pie crust, I just didn't give it a chance - never did any research into it, no practice trials, nothing. My crust was not flaky and had no real flavor. Seriously, I have had nightmares about it. I can make a souffle, I can de-bone a chicken without quartering it first...but pie crust...no.

This time I read up on it. This time I processed it in my mind. This time it was flaky, buttery and flavorful! Now I just have to work on making it look nice. Anyways, yahoo! This does not mean that I will be making pies all the time. It just means, that when Paul says, "Hun, I feel like apple pie." I won't dread the making of it, and there will be no trip to the grocery store for frozen pie crust. Now onto phyllo dough... maybe in 5 years or so. Don't want to rush it.