Wednesday, July 22, 2015

LEMON CURD ICE CREAM WITH MERINGUE SWIRLS

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SPRING ON VACATION

It was a sweltering day in May when I found this recipe. May, I repeat, for those of you who missed that word. This year, it seemed that spring had decided to take an extra long vacation and leave the climate duties to her companion summer. It was still May when we had our first over 30℃ (which is 86  degrees in fahrenheit) day in Tokyo, and it's been like this ever since. Although I love summer and I would say without hesitation that it is my favourite season, I also do enjoy the mild and beautiful days of spring and autumn — the best time of year to wear trench coats and other fashion items that are harder to incorporate during the harsher seasons. And though I shamelessly play favourites, the best part of living in Tokyo is that you are able to experience the change of seasons fully; the pale pink cherry blossoms when the earth comes back to life and everything starts to turn green again, the rainy season when you see hydrangeas and the pops of colourful umbrellas everywhere, the sweltering summer days when people enjoy the fireworks wearing "yukatas", the crisp autumn days when the leaves turn red and golden and there are no clouds against the bright blue skies, the cool evenings when you hear crickets chirping, the cold days when people all bundled up walk briskly and the fairy lights glimmer in the city, and finally the freezing and bleak days when people gather and have "nabe parties" and there are a few days of snow. I wanted the full experience this year too, and I wanted those pleasant spring days back, even if just to have a few more weeks to look forward to summer. But we are getting a little off track.


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Thursday, January 15, 2015

GALETTE DES ROIS AUX POMMES

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A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

For the past two years that I have tentatively been blogging, there is something that I have really wanted to do. That is, to enjoy the events and festivities that appear on the calendar, and to bake and blog accordingly. If you are thinking that that sounds like a basic thing for any food blogger to do, you are probably right. So why not me?
"Because you are a worrier", says the voice in my head. "Because having a bake schedule will drive you crazy being the perfectionist you are. Do you want to be miserable throughout the whole year?"
The voice is persistent, trying to talk me out of following a schedule.
"It would be better for you to bake and cook as you please; to be spontaneous. Who wants to feature chocolate during Valentine's and bake cookies during Christmas? Bo-ring!"
And to be honest, I have given in to this voice for the past two years, skipping seasonal events and going against the majority of the food blogging world. No Valentine's or Christmas for this blog, no Easter, Mother's Day, Halloween or birthdays either. This blog would be spontaneous and free, giving no thought at all to all the festivities I was actually enjoying in real life, away from the blog. So spontaneous was I being that there were times when I did not blog at all for weeks.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

NEW YEAR'S WISHES & FETTUCCINE WITH JAPANESE MUSHROOMS

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Wishing you all a bright & beautiful 2015, filled with love, peace, happiness and dreams!



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I feel it is best to leave things from the past year in the past year, but I couldn't resist bringing a recipe for fettuccine with Japanese mushrooms into the new one. Some of the mushrooms may be difficult to find, but there is no need to follow the recipe precisely — I highly recommend playing around a bit with the ingredients. Best served with a chilled glass of wine, or sparkling water if you are looking forward to taking a break from all the holiday drinking like me.