2011-03-11

Japan massive earthquake and Tsunami





Deep sympathy to people in Japan who are struggling from the massive destruction. 
Prayers to the many victims of this earthquake and tsunami.          
被災された方々には、心よりお見舞い申し上げます。
地震と津波でお亡くなりになられた方々には、ご冥福をお祈りいたします。


There are still many aftershocks and Tsunami warnings across the Pacific, please be safe and keep aware of evacuation announcements.
未だに余震、そして太平洋岸各地で津波の警報が出されております。どうか避難勧告をお聞きになって、皆さま御無事でいらしてください。


Thank you very much for people who asked after my family. They are all safe and luckily my friend in Sendai  servived the quake. However, the country is facing the hardest time of long term recovery, I hope those people in Japan receive all the support possible.
家族の安否を気にかけてくださった皆様、ありがとうございました。家族は皆無事で、幸運なことに仙台の友人の安否も確認ができました。しかしながら、日本広域では復興までこれから大変な時期を迎えることになります。どうか、被災された皆様へのあたたかい支援をお願いいたします。




If you need information or help:

Please help the people in Japan

2011-03-10

French cooking lesson 3

Lesson 3:
Pates and terrines, foie gras, and pasta (nouilles)



We got a treat before starting cooking. Yes, foie gras! 


Lobster about to take a bath in boiling water...just hold its tail tightly




Lobster incident  (story follows)


When I first saw the table with all of the ingredients for shellfish pasta sauce, I thought there must just be shrimp or clams under the tea towel. However,it turned out there were two beautiful live lobsters hiding under there.
Of course, this is a French cooking course, so you must go through cooking a lobster. (Scary to think of killing the lobster... although It wasn't my first time) 
Laila volunteered to throw it into the boiling water. She managed to put one in very calmly and quickly. However, when Pat (my teacher) was bringing the next one toward her, while petting tne lobster and saying 'thank you, you did a great job, beautiful lobster...' 
she accidently dropped the lobster onto the floor making a tremendously loud 'crack' sound! 
It was big surprise for both the lobster and us... although for the lobster it was a very final and deadly surprise....
I'm pretty sure this definitely killed it quicker than the boiling bath..









Terrine of eel


home made pasta, shellfish sauce and grilled razor clams



Terrine of eel, toasted brioche and salad


Marble of foie gras with a game meat centre


spice-rub crusted quail with frothy sauce and puy lentils


rich chocolate tarte, crepe filled with orange cream and almonds, goat cheese ice cream



2011-03-09

French cooking lesson 2

Lesson 2
Cold dressings, poaching techniques & choux pastry. We also learned how to fillet poultry



Mischa showing how to poach an egg



Trimming a duck breast


making choux pastry


brandade of salted cod with croutons


oeuf meurette aux cepes


Salad of sweetbread with poached quail


Macaron with confit of fennel and white chocolate sorbet (©chef Michael Rispe)


beautiful golden choux!



best part of the day, pouring chocolate


profiteroles aux chocolat


We also had for starters:
  • Wild oysters with leek and champagne sabayon
  • Crudite with aioli
  • Chinese crepes with confit of duck
But we learned from the first class that it takes too much time to cook then eat, so we started eating starters while working on other dishes. It's too bad I didn't take photos of the duck, it was beautiful and so yummy. Pat made the recipe influenced by Peking duck. We used magret breasts, so there was no need to blow up a whole duck. I love duck and was very hungry, I only realised that I forgot to take photos after I'd finished eating, so sorry to those who prepared this amazing duck and waited to see the photos...

French cooking lesson 1

Last night, I finished my last class of French cooking courses at Le Cordon Bleu - La Cuisine Francaise. I'd been studying French cooking as well as, of course, eating French cuisine every Tuesday night for the past while.
It was truly a fun experience and it was great to meet all the other food loving students and lovely teachers. It was pretty much my only time to chat with people in Amsterdam, and I will miss it so much... even though I did suffer from an over consumption of cholesterol and eating so much that I was almost not able to sleep after the class.

Our class started from 7pm and we finished cooking around 10:30, then usually didn't finish eating until about midnight. For the first class, I got home way passed midnight, so stuffed and overwelmed with the magic of butter and cream!


I'd like to upload some photos from the class for my own record and to share with my classmates.


Lesson 1:
Preparation of basic stocks & vegetables. Preparing and filleting flat fish


Just like the kitchen in the movie 'Sabrina', rows of ovens



Szechwan pepper cured salmon



roasted tomato gazpacho and blini's




Jellied beetroot consomme with fennel cream (or could be just called a beetroot cappuchino)



Cream of celeriac and chestnut soup




Cream of jerusalem artichoke soup with scallops, and ginger and apple salsa




stuffed rolls of brill en papillote in banana leaves with scallops and tomato beurre blanc




Prune tart with armagnac, macadamia nuts and buttermilk ice cream, figs on top
















Le Cordon Bleu - La Cuisine Française 
Herengracht 314 1016CD Amsterdam
tel: +31(0)20-627.87.25
www.lacuisinefrancaise.nl 
(website under construction)


View La cuisine francaise in a larger map



2011-03-03

Happy Girl's day!

"Aaaarg, I'm sinking in quicksand... delicious, delicious cake flavoured quicksand."
- Rowan impersonating cake doll



March 3rd is girls' festival, 雛祭: Hinamatsuri in Japan. 
This is a festival to wish for girls' healthy growth and t a "happy marriage in the future". Parents with girls buy fancy Japanese doll sets (usually 7 shelves with over 12 dolls which cost a fortune) and set them up before March 3rd every year until they get married. They also eat lovely spring flower sweets like Cherry blossom mochi and drink sweetened sake. I remember singing a cute traditional song when I was a kid. Also, right after the celebration, you must put thebeautiful doll sets away, otherwise it is bad luck for the girls and they will be suffer the fate of a late marriage (which is considered a horrible thing in Japan in the past... may be still the same, haha).

I don't agree with this old fashioned idea (this ceremony started in 5th century!) that a happy marriage is the only happiness for girls and their parents, but I do miss the dolls, songs and sweets...My grand parents bought  me the dolls when I was born, but I haven't seen them for many years since I left my parents house.

This year, since Rowan's been sick and I'm also tired and lazy, I don't think I'm going to do anything special. 

I took these photos a few days ago..
These ridiculous (and pretty yucky looking) Barbie doll cakes reminded me of girls' day and the happy starting of spring...(?) and really wish I had one for myself today!!






We found them when we were walking in Haarlem. I couldn't help myself but take photos of them. They were cakes with a real barbie doll stuck in the middle (standing). A sign says,  you can bring your own Barbie and they will make a cake for it. Each cakes cost around 40 euro. Must be so much fun making these absurd (stupid?) cakes!



Oh... dear...


Those cakes also reminded me the best cake book ever, Cake Wrecks. They also have a website that can keep you entertained with amazing photos of horrible cakes.
   This is the book
      ↓




2011-03-02

Mama Mimi from Javastraat



Where I live now is right next to a very immigrant neighborhood. Javastraat is the main shopping area with lots of Turkish, Moroccan and Suriname stores. Since I am also an immigrant (from Japan to Canada to the Netherlands), I feel very confortable in this kind of colourful neighborhood in any country. 


I really love Javastraat for grocery shopping. Here are the reason:

  •  Most vegetables are cheaper than at dutch supermarkets
  • My favorite dried fruits and nuts are always there
  • you can find freshly baked Turkish/Moroccan bread
  •  There's yummy Baclava shops and you can buy fresh pastry dough
  • Good butchers where you can buy rabbit, goat meat and lambs
  • you can buy many different kinds of pickles and olives
  • You can find any kind of spices there
  • You can practice Arabic

And of course it's the closest shopping street for me, but if you love food and cooking, I think Java straat is one of the top places to shop. You can experience Arabic culture in Amsterdam.


Oh, can you guess what's in this 'Mama Mimi' package?....








It's Arabic alphabet pasta! woo hoo!

Can you see each character? I first couldn't believe someone made pasta in the shape of arabic characters because they just look like broken pasta bits or worm shapes to me.






Arabic pasta in minestrone. Ummmm kind of looks like letters? Still more like worms, to me...


The street names in the Javastraat neighbourhood are all named after places in Indonesia (an ex-colony of the Netherlands) like Java, Sumatra, Bali, Madura etc..Blue mark on the map below is the Super market YAKHLAF where I bought Mama Mimi pasta. 
Here is the web site for this street → Javastraat




View Java Straat in a larger map


Haarlem

Cathedral of Saint Bavo 



I liked the size of the town and the big square in the center where it's completely car free.
It's feels great to walk around not worring about bikes or cars hitting you from behind 



17th century building at the church square


Inside of St.Bavo. world famous Christiaan Mülle pipe organ which was played by Händel in 1740 and Mozart in 1755 (when he was only 10 years old)





Gravestones make up the entire floor.. Spooky.. They have been there since the 14th century. We walked on them



Ship models donated by ship guild in 15th century



ceiling impressively adorned in wood panelling








buildings infront of the Frans Hals Museum
great architecture centre (for planning) at the end of the row of buildings