Washism

NAMA CARAMEL SUCCESS!!!

finally perfected the texture for nama caramel!!!

ingredients were simply

milk 600ml

cream 300ml

sugar 200g

honey20g

1/2 a pod worth of vanilla beans

Bring the ingredients to boil on low heat, then lift the pot away from the fire, stir each 1/3 of the pot in parallel lines towards you and end with a large peripheric circle around the pot. Do this for 20min, all the while keeping the heat at constant. the point is, not to adjust the heat knob at all. lift the pot away from the heat if you need to reduce the temperature of the pot.

When you get the desired texture, top over ice cream and enjoy the fusion =)

Heat for another minute to increase the viscosity of the caramel sauce, cool it, and the solid caramel keeps for quite some time in the frdige. great as little treats. looks rock solid, but melts nicely in your mouth.

Ok, so yesterday was childrens day (kodomo no hi) here. traditional sweets for this day would be kashiwa mochi (oak leaf wrapped mochi with a sweet red bean paste centre) and chimaki (plain mochi wrapped in some leaf). Since i already tried kashiwa mochi last week, decided to go for chimaki at the wagashi (traditional japanese cake) shop this time.

normally eaten wtih anko (sweet red bean paste), but we decided to try it with my favourite kaya (pandan leaf egg jam from singapore)

we did have anko though, but in the form of oshiruko (red bean paste dessert soup)

with hand made mochi.

warmed us up on a cold rainy yesterday.

and since i had so much time on hands hanging around the house, made anko from azuki beans, and froze them in little portions for my secret little treats. =P

Lunch on a rainy day was something new

tofu ankake(sticky sauce) on hot ramen

hanged out at a friends place last night for dinner, so no dinner pics yday.

sadly, today was a rather rainy day too, so thought the last day of our golden week, we just lazed around the house.

made muffins to cheer J up.
I call this frappuccino breafkast muffins.
Though full of chocolate and coffee bits, i filled them up with cereal biscuit bits and cheese centres for a good nutritious start...

Dinner was something new to me

homemade shumai

added our favourite prawns and scallops =)

and here is whats inside the little bird

called furikake, its actually a blend of freeze dried scrambled egg bits, toasted sesame seeds and nori. we shake them onto rice pretty often.

and inside the jar of black stuff is nori tsukudani, sweet simmered nori.

chawan mushi is extra comforting too on a rainy day.

this time, filled with mentaiko, tofu and shimeji.

sunshine sunshine where are you?