Strawberries and Cabbage

Cold Fruity Soup?

Wow! That is something you don’t see everyday… The unique/strange recipe I spied on internet. Is it soup, smoothies or dessert? My curiosity was so great that I sent my skeptical husband out to hunt for strawberries. 

However, to my dismay, it looks as if our backyard strawberry season is almost over. We didn’t have the chance to share many with neighbors or friends yet, but the strawberries are getting moldy and some are quite bitter. I suspect that it has something to do with the rain…we have plenty up here…or…are we watering too much? .He managed to find edible strawberry just a small bowlful. 

Ingredients and Instruction for 2 servings (Print Recipe Here)

• 200g of strawberries Cleaned, stems removed and roughly chopped
• 4g* of salt  *2% of strawberry weight
• 4-5 large cabbage leaves

1. Place all the chopped strawberry in a medium bowl sprinkle in salt. Mix well and wait until the strawberries render the liquid.
2. Cook cabbage leaves in a boiling water about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and cool on colander.
   
3. Put cooled cabbage in a blender or food processor to puree. Add small amount of water if necessary to make a nice puree.
4. Scoop out cabbage puree into an individual bowl and top with the prepared strawberry. I like it chilled!

It looks pretty…but the question still lingers… is this…hummm… what is it?. Definitely interesting…unexpected sweetness! Where else can you find sugar free, vegan, gluten free and guilt free mysterious… dessert? My husband kept his opinion to himself but I can tell he was not impressed. Forget pureed cabbage, he poured some sweetened condensed milk on top of salted strawberries. Now that’s more like it!

Making gumi jam is not easy task… Its striped seed is large and so little fruit. My husband put so much effort and produced just one jar of jam.On the other hand, making strawberry jam is nearly effortless.

Both jams are really good on soft White Heidi Rolls (ハイジの白いパン), in a Johanna Spyri story, the kind hearted girl Heidi brought white bread to Peter’s grandmother who had a hard time eating crusty bread because of her bad teeth…

I loved the animation based on the book when I was young and loved the song.

Do you think we had too much carbohydrate and not much else this week? Don’t you worry, we had 6 servings of fruits and vegetables from the …whatchamacallit? quipped  my husband.

Gift

Birthday Present Cake A.K.A.Strawberry Short Cake

My daughter‘s birthday is this Friday. We haven’t celebrated her birthday together since she left for college, when she was 17. I don’t feel all that sorry for her as she probably will have some grand time in paradise, instead of in the gloomy Oregon weather-we had unusually dry weather early July to last Friday, now we’re seeing the familiar raining scene. 

What kind of cake am I making for her If we’re having a birthday party here? Good ol’ strawberry cake perhaps? Why yes, if you insist!  I happened to have a new sponge cake recipe I wanted to try-Genoise Aux Miel. I think miel means honey. The recipe is similar to the one on my previous Strawberry Shortcake post but this key ingredient, the honey our daughter sent to my husband plays the more moist role. One drawback is that it is quite sticky. It seems like a lot of steps but actually is not that difficult (but tiresome). In Japan, you could buy this sponge cake kit via the internet. Imagine that! I linked to the site just in case you want to order.

My daughter sent me this cake stand for my birthday. Gorgeous! and it’s a great addition to my ‘Blue Danube’ collection.I have a matching plate.

Ingredient and direction- Makes 1 15-1/2 x10-1/2 sheet cake.

Necessary equipment-candy thermometer

• 6 Eggs
• Fine Baker’s sugar 1-1/4 cup ( I used only 1 cup)
• Weak power flower or cake flour 1-1/2 cup sifted
• Honey 1/4 cup
• Butter 3 Tablespoons
• Milk 1/3 cup

1. Prepare pan by laying out the parchment paper, slit the corners so the paper fits better then lightly spray with Pam.
2. Boil water (about 1 cup) in a smaller pan than your stand-mixer bowl. Put all the eggs and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer and hand beat with whisk.
3. Stick the bowl over the pan to make a double boiler. Continue to stir as you warm the egg mixture to 90 – 95 degrees. Temperature should not exceed 95F. If it does then let it cool down.
4. After it reaches the correct temperature, set the bowl in the stand mixer with whisk attachment and beat at high speed (speed #8 of my mixer) for 6 minutes. The egg mixture will get light in color and double in volume.
5. Lower the speed (speed #2) and whisk for 4 minutes. The egg mixture will develop a shiny sheen.
6. Add honey and mix at low speed for 1 minute. Pre-heat the oven to 355F
7. Sprinkle in the flour. Fold in with a rubber spatula to combine.
8. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter in milk at low heat. Temperature should not exceed 120F – you just need to melt the butter.
9. Take one ladleful of the egg mixture and combine it with the butter/milk mixture. This will make it easier to mix it all in the next step.
10. Combine mixture #9 in with the rest of egg mixture in the stand mixer bowl with a rubber spatula. Do not over mix.
11. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes.
12. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer. When done, flip over onto a cooling rack and remove the paper gently. Cool completely before decorating.

Decorating the cake My cake decorating skill is not all that great and I was really exhausted at this point. I tried to make it looks like a present with confetti. You’re free to decorate however. This cake is fabulous for roll cake too - change the name of the cake accordingly.

Chantilly cream In a clean bowl of a stand-mixer with whisk attachment, pour in 2 cups of heavy cream (that seems like a lot of cream but you want to have extra in case you mess it up) and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Mix at high speed until the peak is almost straight up when you lift your mixer. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla if you like toward the end of mixing. Some use liquor for flavoring but I don’t and I don’t have it.

I cut the cake  into four 5 inch x 5 inch squares.There is lots of left over for tasting, yay! I then brushed with sugary syrup (1/3 cup warm water and 4 Tablespoons of sugar), add 1/2 teaspoon of rum flavoring (optional) on the top side of the squares. Spread about 1/4 cup of Chantilly cream on. Sprinkle small cut strawberry I used 7-8, plus 2-3 strawberries for decoration. Brush with syrup on another square and spread cream. Place the new square on top with the cream side down. Repeat.

Frost all over the cake with cream. The ribbon part I used a huge basket weave tip. Decorate with fruits. I hope my daughter loves virtual birthday cake as there are no calories whatsoever. Happy Birthday! You’re a precious gift.Her second Halloween. I made this costume. It was hard.

Her third Halloween. Because it took me so long to make this costume I made her wear it again.She inventoried her harvest before she went into the house. I took some anyway after she went to bed. Too much candies is not good for a kid.

I got some freebies from the nearby mall for my birthday this year again.

(Herb) Tea time and time to write thank-you notes for all my gifts.

This glass dish is made by a local artist-Neat!

Those made in Italy tea bag rest are sooo cute! Isn’t the runner underneath elegant?

Slime Factor

Field Potato Gelato

Homey looking field potato (里芋) belongs to the taro clan. This starchy corm definitely has the same family trait of viscous texture. Although it is used in a variety of Japanese dishes, I don’t think dessert is this vegetable’s forte. 

Peeling a field potato used to be a nuisance. The slimy, sticky residue causes irritation on skin until I found the way to minimize the risk (Googling is a great tool) - just drop the whole thing in boiling water and cook till soft then rinse under cold running water - the skin should come off easily.

Now that problem is solved yet still some obstacles to overcome. Field potato is like tofu, no distinct flavor…ah…maybe that’s an advantage! It could blend in any flavor. How about the texture? No problemo! for the Japanese who found a way to use this gooey characteristic to make Gelato Magic!  Brilliant! Yeah? My husband didn’t think so but I had to try.

Strawberry Gelato

• Boiled peeled field potato 200g
• Strawberries 100g
• Sugar 6 Tablespoons
• Lemon juice 1 teaspoon
• Heavy cream 4 Tablespoons (optional)

1. Put everything in a food processer and make smoothie (about 1 minute on high).
2. Pour in a metal pan and freeze for 1- 1/2 hours – I used a pie-pan. If it’s too solid, leave at room temperature for 2 or 3 minutes.

Anti-poi husband gave this healthy gelato half thumb up. I understand that he likes traditional gelato without the magic. My son likes it though, I’m not sure he feels the same way if I told him, this involve vegetable.

Julia Child

August 15th was her could-have-been 100th birthday. I read a great article about her life and cooking in the Oregonian FOODDAY.

 

Lunch date

My husband’s company has Fridays off in August. Isn’t it nice? He works in downtown Portland. Last Friday, we drove to - guess where? - Portland and had lunch at our favorite restaurant Higgins. Then we stopped at Ruby Jewel Scoops for ice cream. Love the chairs!

Also love the lamps.I bought their post card for 50 cent. It came with 32 cent stamp on it so it was actually18 cent. A pink mail box is available right there inside of store.

 

First Congregational ChurchWhen I looked up I saw this tiny church building on the top of the roof. Neat! 

Utah peaches It was a wonderful surprise to receive peaches from a friend who brought them back from a Utah trip. They are juicy and sweet. I should  have given some to neighbors before most of them get too ripe.

First thing we had was them on waffles.

 

My husband and I attended a lovely wedding last Saturday. Here was the stunning bride! and the lucky groom.