the second broth

「よつばと！」９巻
（あずまきよひこ・電撃コミックス）

This year I've been saying "I can't believe it's [insert month] already!" quite a bit. But I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling that time seems to go by faster and faster each year. We're one month short of winter, but I definitely felt its chill as of this morning. The weather eventually warmed up in the afternoon though.

Remember that weird looking cake I made last year? I decided to make something that I saw in the the same manga again. This time tonjiru, which is similar to a miso soup but heartier with some sliced pork and vegetables in it. 

I didn't follow a particular recipe and just used whatever I had at home. This time round: nibandashi, pork spareribs, reconstituted shiitake mushrooms, burdock root (gave the soup a really nice Chinese herbal aroma), Chinese cabbage, aburaage, konnyaku, carrot, spring onion, white miso and a pinch of shichimi togarashi to serve. With some steamed rice on the side, it was an easy lunch on the table.

第４５話 よつばとパチシエ

Fastest time to decorate a sponge cake. It came out unexpectedly well too.
And yes, that is an egg on top.

Check out: Chapter 45 of Yotsuba&! (Yotsuba & The Patissier)

mini strawberry pancakes

A table for two, but no one to share with :( I'll invite someone over next time :)
Since I have already established I LOVE breakfasts in a previous post, I shall refrain from repeating myself.

Two weeks ago, the food tech students in my school have just started production in regards to the design folio. As I had time to spare, I was being a busy body looking at what kind of foods other people were making. They were busy making a variety of foods; exotic mango and coconut prawns, sweet and sour pork, turkish delight, honeycomb cake, cupcakes just to name a few. The girl who uses the stove top next to mine was making pancakes!

Seeing her make pancakes reminded me of ラブソーライフ, a manga chapter featured in the April 2009 花とゆめ; a birthday gift from my friends at Chinese school last year.
Anyway the chapter was about Shiharu, a 16 year old babysitter trying to make pancakes with the two two-year-old rascals Aoi and Akane. In one scene, Akane decides to make strawberry pancakes by throwing in whole strawberries inside -_-"
Although inspired by the idea of having strawberries inside pancakes, I did not add whole strawberries to the batter :P And I think these pancakes are the best ever!!
***

mini strawberry pancakesadapted from my previous recipe
ingredients:makes 10 ~ 12 mini pancakes

• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 Tb caster sugar
• 75 ml milk
• 1 1/2 Tb unsalted butter / margarine, melted
• dash of vanilla essence
• 75 g self raising flour, sifted
• 3/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
• 4 strawberries, chopped into small pieces
• unsalted butter / oil for frying

method:

1. Using a whisk, beat the egg and sugar until frothy.
   Whisk while adding the milk, melted butter / margarine and vanilla essence.


2. Add the sifted flour, baking powder and strawberry pieces and whisk to make a smooth and runny batter.


3. Heat a non stick frying pan and add a small piece of butter / drizzle of oil.
   Wipe fat off with kitchen paper and reserve. Turn heat to a medium high*.


4. Add 2 Tb of batter and flip with a spatula when many bubbles appear on the surface.
   Cook other side until golden.


5. Wipe the frying pan with the kitchen paper and repeat step 4 until there is no more batter.


6. To serve, drizzle pancakes with honey and top with half a strawberry.

* For the heat use, I generally start of using a medium high heat and lowering it each time as the pan gets hotter.

シュークリーム

悪いなったシュークリームのシーン ・ rancid cream puffs scene

I started watching the Japanese movie ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日 (Always - Sunset on Third Street) last year and never got to finish it. I recently watched the remaining 15 minutes of it and it was an unbelivably touching movie!! The scene where Junnosuke and Chagawa reunite was very cliche, but I think it was my favourite scene in the movie!

What made this movie different to other movies was that it was set in the industrial period of Japan (construction of Tokyo Tower) which gives it a nostalgic feel to the people who grew up in that era. As for me, it's pretty obvious I didn't grow up in that era, nor was I born or brought up in Japan but I loved how everyone became satisfied with something very little.

Inspired by the rancid cream puffs scene, I set out on my assignment to make cream puffs! After the cream puff shells decided to deflate on me last time, I decided to use a different recipe and judge the baking time and temperature based on instinct. Like the first time I baked cream puffs using this method, my cream puffs did not deflate!

In my opinion, cream puffs are one of the easier bakes, but it is also one of those bakes that can fail quite easily.

Not sure if it's going to work out again though. But after the cream puff shells were golden and puffed to the maximum, I took them out and used a sharp knife to cut out a "top". I removed all the raw dough and put the cream puff shells and "tops" back in the oven to bake at a low temperature until the cream puff shells were dry.

The cream puffs shells are not completely, perfectly round yet, but I'm sure that has got to do with the way I pipe the pastry dough. More experimenting next week!

使ったレシピはこちらへどうぞ→
基本のシュー生地 by ゆきらいん