I enjoy reading Elizabeth Andoh’s Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen, which includes a very useful collection of ingredient tips. She provides nearly two dozen sauce and broth recipes, which are fun to improvise on, such as the dashi I wrote about a while back. So today I present my trusty miso marinade, along with some miso-based sauces.
The method for all these, except for the basic marinade and lemon miso one, is to plop all ingredients into a container tall enough to avoid splatters, then whiz with a handheld immersion blender. The amount of dashi or water will vary depending on your desired thickness. I prefer the sauces on the smoother side — and adding more liquid helps with the blending.
Oh, yeah: You can store leftovers in the freezer.
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Okay, I think this is an improvement over version 1.0 of my chai recipe. While the spices still need optimization (i.e., to attain southern Indian resto quality), it is better. Part of what greatly helps is the use of evaporated milk (but not sweetened condensed). You might ask, “Why not use fresh whole milk, rather than that?” I rarely have other uses for whole milk, so I rarely purchase it. But cans of evaporated milk, ah, those can sit around for a long time! O:-) And, yes, I do enjoy its creamy flavor.
Another major change is to no longer boil the tea leaves, which often resulted in something unpleasantly astringent. It might look pale, but make no mistake, the tea really does not need more time to steep! Yet another tip is to avoid powdered spices, especially ginger, since those tend to yield a cuppa that’s either too flat or too bitter.
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If I had to quickly summarize 2008 in books, I’d name my favorite fiction and non-fiction: Solitaire by Kelly Eskridge and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, respectively.
Of course, jump down to see what I did read last year.
In addition to the books by Dawkins and Eskridge, I’ve marked recommended titles with the lightbulb icon, 💡 .
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As usual, the WordPress upgrade to v2.7.1 went well. But (and should I not get too surprised?) there were a couple hitches with plugins. One of the issues is similar to last time, involving Comments Preview and (somehow) OpenID. But now it keeps insisting on entering something for the Name and Email fields. Even when they’re already filled in.
So it is with a heavy heart that I must disable comment previewing for the time being. However, I’m awaiting feedback from the Comments Preview developer, so perhaps there’ll be a fix in the near future.
The second problem deals with OpenID delegation, i.e., using my site’s URL via an OpenID provider. OpenID v3.2 now includes delegation, which is great: WP-Yadis should become obsolete, one less plugin to keep track of. But unfortunately, delegation through the OpenID doesn’t seem to work. I use delegation on other sites, especially for leaving comments, so I need to keep WP-Yadis around. :-/
Update (17 Feb 2009): Version 3.2.1 of the OpenID plugin was just released, and fixed the delegation issue. Yay!
My first memory of lemon curd is a recent one — that is, from adulthood rather than childhood. My friends and I used to frequent Lisa’s Tea Treasures, to satisfy our hunger for afternoon tea. Ultimately, I found the tea, food and atmosphere, too expensive, not fresh enough, and too damn twee. But they served something which we all could agree to love: lemon curd with ginger cookies. Perhaps those two items succeeded because they were not made at that tea house.
For many years I’ve lived with a Meyer lemon tree in the backyard. For many years, friends have told me how easy it is to make lemon curd. The tree remains outdoors, providing a generous source of juice, zest and bird watching opportunities.
Why the delay? Because there’s such an wild range of ingredient proportions in lemon curd recipes. Many use 3 to 4 whole eggs, but some use up to 8, and some use only yolks. Butter amounts go from less than a cube to more than 4 cubes. What?! And even the amounts of sugar, lemon juice and zest run the gamut. Sheez!
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Why limit yourself to latkes during Hanukkah? Potato pancakes are for anyone, anytime! After all, they do look like little FSMs, albeit somewhat flattened. I’m sure His Noodliness would still approve.
Moreover, savory pancakes can be made from many different root vegetables, in my case baking potatoes and sweet potatoes, with a kick of scallions and onions. The floury Russets, and the yellow, dry style of sweet potatoes work well.
Savory pancakes from New Year’s Eve 2008, served on New Year’s Day 2009. Topped with horseradish-garlic mustard cream.
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Dealing with the productivity iPhone apps sure makes me look like a wet blanket. But, as much fun complaining can be, I have had fun with the iPhone software. To keep my enthusiasm in check, I’m limiting this entry to the apps I had found in 2008, and continue to use.
But a couple of things before I start. First, to find out when applications go on sale, as well as when they get updated, check out App Shopper. This site is particularly helpful because you can watch applications without having to purchase or download them. Find an app you’re curious about, then subscribe to its RSS feed. ¡Simplemente!
And second, the iTunes Link Maker is a handy site for creating links to email or embed in your website. You can make links to applications, music, shows, and so forth.
Application categories to jump to:
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I went to this year’s Macworld Expo in San Francisco with low expectations. None of the Apple hardware or software announcements were things I had been waiting for. Not to downplay them, of course. I’m simply not a large laptop user, for example. While I do use applications from iLife and iWork, I do not use them as heavily as other software.
However, I was pleasantly satisfied with several tools and goodies I managed to find.
I had written up a list of Things to Look For in Evernote, even tagged the note as an offline favorite — because one shouldn’t depend on any network access in an underground convention. Unfortunately, a hitch arose that prevented me from initially viewing offline data in Evernote; luckily, the free conference WiFi helped out with note access. Dear Evernote: Isn’t the point of offline favorites to allow access without network connectivity? A forum thread shows how others also experience this issue, which currently remains unsolved.
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Chicken, seafood and vegetable stocks are liquid gold. Not only are they essential for soups, but for a wide variety of sauces, they’re indispensable. I’m somewhat surprised I never managed to post a recipe for chicken stock, so here it is.
For an added roasty flavor, I bake the chicken carcass beforehand in a 375ºF degree oven until, well, browned a bit. Usually for about 20 to 30 minutes, until you smell roasted chicken in the air. This extra step also eases the removal of skin and meat, which shouldn’t go into the broth anyhow.
In addition, a tip from one of my favorite television chef-teachers, Jacques Pépin: Initially simmer the chicken with the water, without the other ingredients added (yet). This helps out with skimming away rendered fat and scum before adding the other goodies — without accidentally removing small aromatic floatables like herbs and spices.
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Happy New Year, and welcome to 2009!
Viral videos are a never-ending source of distraction on the ‘Net. But here are links to ones I found the most amusing. (Yes, some may have come out before 2008, but in my usual tardiness I stumbled upon them in 2008.)
Enjoy!
An Engineer’s Guide to Cats (YouTube link). Because it is important that you understand the hardware and software requirements for such feline-oriented development projects.
Art student Christian Simmons’s movie about a giant, maniacally smiling pencil and a young, wishful lady. (QuickTime movie | Live Leak link) A tale about greed set in a beautifully ominous landscape.
OWLS (Flash video at Weebl’s Stuff). You can’t fool them. By the creators who brought us Badgers and Carrots, Handbags and Cheese. Maddening, yet catchy.
Still on the subject of birds: Flying penguins, brought to you by the BBC. (QuickTime movie | YouTube link) No, really.
Lastly, something true: The world’s smartest cephalopod, the Indonesian octopus. (YouTube link)