Gorgonzola Pancakes with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

I sometimes put chocolate chips in my pancakes or blueberries, or nuts and bananas.... but I never cooked pancakes that are not sweet.  But I was feeling experimental.  So I deicide to make something different with the ingredients that I'm comfortable with.   I love gorgonzola.  It's my favorite cheese!  Gorgonzola and red wine makes me as happy as sashimi and Sake.  I know I don't need to pick but I sometimes like torture myself by asking which would I take if I can only have one for rest of my life....  It's difficult decision. 

Anyway, that afternoon, even though I spent all the afternoon making Father's day cake for my father in law the day before, I was ready to work again!

*Gorgonzola Pancakes*

1/2 cup Flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg yellow

Salt to taste

1/3 cup Milk 

1/4 ~1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese

2 egg white

3 tablespoon butter

< 1 > Mix flour, baking powder, egg yellow, salt together.

< 2 > Dissolve the cheese  with milk and mix into the batter.

< 3 > Whisk egg whites until it forms a peak and mix it into the batter carefully.

< 4 > Melt the butter in a heated pan.  Swirl the pan to coat the bottom and pour excessive butter into the batter and mix.

< 5 > Cook pancakes as you would cook normal pancakes.

I roasted halved cherry tomatoes with olive oil and dried oregano to accompany the pancakes.  It was very nice to have sweetness and tartness of the tomatoes to balance out the bitterness and richness of the cheese.  The pancake is very fluffy with the whipped egg whites.   I think fig preserves will accompany this pancake very nicely, too.

I guess I was in the cooking mood this weekend.  I do bake every Sunday to bring to my father in law's house as desserts.  But I wanted to make something special for Father's day, so I opened the book of Pierre Herme even though it is a huge challenge for me.

It took hours to make, but it was tasty.  And my father in law loved it.  So I was very happy.

Visiting St. Petersburg

When we visit my mother in law in North Florida, we sometimes drive to Orlando for theme parks.  But this time, we went to St. Petersburg.  I've wanted to visit St. Petersburg for long time to go to Dali Museum.  I found out that Busch Garden is in Tampa which is on the way to St. Petersburg so my daughter might be able to have a fun there also.

It turned out that the rides there were too much for both of us.... and after going to very relaxing and not crowded Jacksonville zoo, it was difficult to enjoy the zoo part at the park.  But I definitely enjoyed Dali Museum!!

I was so lucky to visit the newly opened museum.  The building itself was amazing.  Dali's art was a little too much for my daughter but she enjoyed the little garden outside and his film. 

We also went on a cruise to see dolphins in Tampa Bay.  It was so much fun!  They followed the boat that we were on and jumped right next to us.  Of course we tried to take pictures of them, but it was very difficult.

One night, we went to eat oysters on shells.  We love oysters.  We had a favorite oyster bar back in Connecticut, but in East Tennessee, it is not easy to find a place to eat them.  After having great dinner, we suddenly decided to go to the beach.  It was too early for the sunset but the beach was surrounded by the beautiful colors.

We looked for pretty shells in the air that was tinted with pink and blue.  It was such a nice moment.  We usually don't do things spontaneously.  So coming to the beach after dinner was fun. We decided to spend next afternoon at the beach.

Before going to the beach in the next afternoon, we went to a tropical garden named Sunken Garden.  It was full of the plants and flowers that we weren't used to seeing.  I enjoyed it much more than Bronx Botanical Garden.  

We spent all the afternoon at the beach.  Reading Françoise Sagan.  Taking a nap.  Building sand statues.  Playing with baby horseshoe Crabs.  Finding more shells.

This time, I couldn't miss the sunset.  So I planned to go back to the beach right on time for it.  When you think about it, you can't see Sun setting on the ocean in East coast unless you are in Florida on the side of Gulf of Mexico.  So it's special.

It was beautiful.  That's all I can say.  I loved the little trip we took.  

From Florida

It's still beginning of June but the summer vacation has started in East Tennessee.  So has the remodeling for bedrooms and bathrooms.  So I am away from home to my mother in law's house.  We drove for 8 hours to get to North Florida.  It used to take us 16 hours from Connecticut, so 8 hours is nothing comparing to that!

What a nice place to be.  She lives in a beautiful house decorated really comfortably.  I always loved visiting her here, but coming to North Florida was not as exciting to us when we lived in North East, but now that we live in Appalachian, it became really exciting.

The size of the sky is significantly larger.  I've developed love for the beautiful mountains surrounding us in TN, but the large sky makes me feel free.  

Coming from the city 1 hour away from NYC, I didn't need to shop at all when I came here before except for outlet malls near by.  But now that I don't have Anthropologie, William Sonoma, Apple Store, Sephora and Wholefoods in driving distance, there are a lot to look forward to.  

Moreover, we had beaches in CT and Jones beach in Long Island was an hour and half away from where we lived.  But of course there is no beach we can go as a day trip in the mountains.  So being able to pack light to just play for a few hours at the beach has become luxury.   We did that yesterday and the ocean was so warm. 

The biggest thing we miss about North East is the diversity of food.  Although the lots of different kinds of food have become available comparing to even 5 years ago in East Tennessee, it's not like NYC that has so many people from different cultures bringing their authentic cooking and ingredients.  Not many place in US can compete with NYC on that, I'm sure.  But Jacksonville has a lot more to offer comparing to East TN.  So we are taking advantage on that.  We found a nice Korean restaurant run by Korean people.  I just love Kimchee!!  I feel right at home when I eat really good Japanese.  (I must say that doesn't happen often in the States....  once a while in NYC)  Korean food makes me feel very similar to that.  I don't know why. I didn't grow up eating Korean food.  It is also spicy and the Japanese food is not.  But there is some similarities in use of vegetables, fermented products, how the rice is eaten with meat or fish, and broth that they use for soup, etc....  So I felt so happy, almost home sick eating tofu and seafood soup, kimchee and white rice.

We always enjoy eating great fruits when we visited FL.  I had berry salad for breakfast for last 3 days with greek yogurt.  It's so simple and nice.  I put 2 cups of different berries and 1 table spoon of tupelo honey and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  

I love eating fruits for breakfast.  The colors of red berries opens my eyes.  The tartness of them stimulates my mind.  The sweetness of them makes me happy.  I'm ready for the day.

Last night we had a dinner here.  I made a crab salad with mango and avocado, and my sister-in-law (J's brother's wife) brought a home made herb quiche.  My mother-in-law was very happy to have 2 daughters in law cooking for her.  I guess next thing she should look forward to is her grand daughter preparing a nice meal for her.  I need to get busy teaching my daughter how to cook.

There were a lot of berries so I made a rolled cake for desert.

I don't have a standing mixer at home.  I don't even have a hand held mixer either.  So when I bake roll cakes, I usually use a whisk.  I don't mind spending 20 minutes trying to make the egg white stiff....  But it was so much easier to use my mother-in-law's standing mixer!!  I hate to give in to modern technology too much, but this is tempting.  

It's so beautiful to be here.  So relaxing.  Drinking tea in the air-conditioned room with plenty of sun with the cooking book that I wanted to read.  Chasing my mother-in-law's cat.  Going out with a hand weaved basket.  Watching my daughter swimming like a mermaid.  It's so peaceful.

Ricotta vs. Béchamel Sauce for Lasagna

I didn't have an oven when I was in Japan.  It doesn't come with a stove like in USA.  So I was so excited to have one in the tiny tiny studio apartment in NYC.  I had a good recipe for meat sauce so I knew that would make great lasagna.  Since all the lasagna I had in the States were layered with ricotta cheese, I started to make it with ricotta.  I liked it, and J liked it.  I vaguely remembered that lasagna I had in Italian restaurants in Tokyo were usually made with béchamel sauce, but I thought that it was because it's hard to get ricotta cheese in Japan.  But as I lived in USA, I found that Italian cooking books suggest béchamel sauce for lasagna.  But using ricotta is so much easier.  You just have to go to store for it whereas you have to MAKE béchamel sauce.  So once a while I made lasagna with béchamel sauce when I feel like working hard.  J said it tasted different.  Not bad, but not same.  I didn't quite like the reaction, so I continued cooking with ricotta.

But One day, I realized that the milk gravy that is used for southern fried chicken is basically béchamel sauce.  I am not sure why fried food has to be smothered with butter, milk and flour, but it tastes good and J likes food like that, so I made fried chicken with milk gravy.  

And there was left over milk gravy a.k.a. béchamel sauce in the pan.  I had all the ingredients to make Lasagna next day.  So I decide to make 2 kinds of lasagna to compare the taste.

We definitely preferred the one with béchamel sauce.  It brings the taste of meat forward whereas the ricotta is watering down (or ricottaing down?) the taste of the meat.  I was wondering béchamel sauce will be too rich, but, no, it compliments the tanginess of tomato sauce and evens out the complexity of vegetables while the taste of ground beef and liver is brought to spotlights.  It was perfect.

I guess I will make lasagna with béchamel sauce now on.  

I finally started to sew something other than curtains.  It is so nice to sew in my own sewing room.  I'm making a dress for my daughter to wear for wedding next month.  

12 years old is not easy to make a dress for.  It can't be too cute, but it can't be too adult.  Such a complex  age.... The last bit of childhood is still there.  As much as I hope her to grow up, I will probably miss it when it is gone.

Spring is here and so are the Farmers Markets

The farmer's markets in my area are finally opened.  I am so happy!  Even though the scale of the markets are much smaller compared to Union Square Farmer's Market, there are lots of nice local produces.  And each town has their own market, so I can visit different ones easily and that's fun, too.

Tomatoes are very reasonable at the market and the wether is getting warm, so I decided to make fresh tomato pasta one day.  This recipe is adapted form the cook book written by Sophia Loren, the Italian actress, which was translated to Japanese and published in 74.  My parents must have bought it when it came out.  It is really a precious cooking book for me.  Same version translated in English is published in 98 as " Sophia Loren's Recipes and Memories".  The English version has more pictures of the actress and nicely styled food photos, but the Japanese one has more recipes.  

* Fresh Tomato Pasta (For 4)*

2 large tomatoes

10 green olives

3 teaspoon capers

1/2 small onion

A bunch of parsley

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 table spoon oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

1 box of your favorite pasta 

< 1 > Chop tomatoes to bite size.  Chop olives and capers to small pieces.  Mince onion and parsley.  Crash garlic with the blade of large knife so the extract will seep out. 

< 2 > Put everything together and keep it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.  (It will keep 1-2 days).

< 3 > Just boil the pasta to al dente and pour the tomato sauce over and serve.  Don't forget to take out the garlic cloves.

I always feel like that I should put fresh squeezed lemon juice in when I'm putting all the ingredients together, but it is not called for.  The tartness from olive and caper is enough, yet more gentle than lemon juice so the sweetness of the tomato stands out more.

Don't press garlic through a garlic press.  The juice comes out from the crashed cloves is just right amount of garlic taste.  More than that will be overbearing.  A slight garlic taste is more suited for this dish.  I have to admit that even though I'm a garlic lover.

This pasta makes me feel like it is finally spring.  It was nice weekend lunch.  Although we had a cold spell this week.  

The strawberries are in season right now, too.  I found a gallon of them for $10.  That is a lot of strawberries and we ate them in many ways.

Strawberries with pancakes, strawberry mojito, strawberry and grapefruits sorbet, strawberry roll cake, strawberry and rhubarb pie.....  They were all very enjoyable.  Simple strawberry sorbet is in my freezer right now.

Other thing that I must write is these donuts at the Farmer's Market.  These donuts are very famous in this area.  Mennonites fry them and glaze them right in front of your eyes.  I am not a big donut fan.  Not a even small fan either.   I only eat them every 3 to 5 years.  I love sweets like tarts and cakes, but I was never attracted to donuts. 

There is always a long line of people trying to buy these donuts.  The first time I saw it, I though: they are probably good, but I definitely wouldn't stay in the line for 20 minutes to get something like donuts!  But J sent me for them one day because he ate it at his office and it was very good.  The day, the market was not too crowded because it was early and drizzling a little, so I stayed in line for 5 minutes.

These donuts are not donuts that I knew.  It's fluffy, light, not greasy, not too sweet, has nice aroma of vanilla, so simple.  They are the best donuts I've ever eaten.

Now that I know that they are the donuts form heaven, I must fight the urge to stay in the line every time I go get fresh vegetables....  It is spring now and summer is around the corner.   I can't put on weight right now.

Financiers

I became addicted to come up with ideas for Financiers.  I guess I had never thought of using powder made of nuts until I started to making Financiers.  I love varying the nuts and adding different flavor to it.  

From left top to right bottom : Walnut and brown sugar with tiny bit of soy sauce .... tribute to Japanese sweets, Kurumi-Yubeshi.

Green tea Financier and basic financiers with chocolate shavings.

Basic financiers with chocolate chips.

Hazel nut and chocolate financiers.

Earl Grey Financiers with rose pedals.

Pecan financiers with chocolate swirl.

Strawberry financiers.

Pecan financiers with chocolate shavings.

Chocolate financiers with raspberries.

I love using walnuts and pecans!  Hazel nut is great with chocolate.  Cashew and coconut flake make financier more tropical.  There are so many ingredients to experiment with...  It's sometimes far from financiers.  Shall I call them nut cakes?  

My Room

I didn't have my own room until 18 since my parents and I lived in a small apartment in Tokyo.  I finally got a room all to myself when we moved to bigger apartment.  But I left the apartment 3 years after to a even smaller studio apartment in NYC with J.  After that, we moved to lots of places but I never had a room to myself.  I had a work space.... but it was shared with a bed room, office or dinning.  So this is so nice to have my own room even it's a tiny little space.  I can't make this room anything other than sewing room because of its size, but to be able to make the room to my taste is wonderful!

After putting the room together, I realized how much I missed sewing.  I couldn't open the boxes full of my things because of the renovations.  So I practically didn't have them around for over 6 months after we moved in.  I am not sure if I could work as a designer or seamstress like when I was in CT, but I do really hope to use this room a lot.

I loved making something pretty....  and I will do that again!