black edamame & oyster chowder

Edamame beans were very common at the mart in summer,

so when i spotted these at the farmers mart, i was so excited!

i love edamame beans though it takes me a long time to finish picking them up with my chopsticks when i sprinkle them in our salads.

On careful look at the pack, they were black edamame beans!!! ??
blanched them, popped them out of the pods, and...
hoho! they are indeed black!
but when the thin skins over the beans are removed, its the usual edamame green. =) pretty eh?

J had to leave early this morning for a workshop.

well, early means 8am which is not usual for us. so i woke up too, had breakfast, did what i had to do around the house, then decided to bake lots of nuts to fill the empty roasted nuts bottle.

but with still more time before my morning cooking programs lineup, i wanted to bake a cake.

J requested his next tea cake to be something chocolatery & nutty, something moist, yet fluffy.

i decided to experiment with this.

using a butter cake recipe, yet reducing the butter and fluffing the eggs like when i make chiffon cakes.

chocolate hazelnut fluffy & moist cake with cranberries

made use of both ground hazelnuts and chopped hazelnuts in this cake.

the combination of hazelnuts & chocolate was just perfect. the smell reminded me of nutella!

the texture was like what i expected, between chiffon and butter cake.

good for home tea time, but not for when guests are around. hehe, the crumbs came off too easily.

when winter comes, oysters come into season too.

i made oyster cream chowder this evening.

oyster cream chowder with kabu (mini daikon like turnips)

yam & dried anchovies takikomi rice

topped with fried shallots (hmm this was good!)

kinpira

kinpira is a kind of sweet pan fried root vegetable dish.

usually made with burdock and carrot strips, pan fried with wine, shoyu & sugar.

but this was made with daikon skins and carrots.

daikon skins are usually stripped off and thrown away, but when i was introduced to this dish making use of the crunchy daikon skins, i was impressed with how tasty the skins taste! so each time i use daikons, i keep the skins, and make kinpira with them. =)

just when i put on my winter jacket and scarf to go to the mart this morning, i found myself having to take them off when the noon sun came out shining bright. the vegetable lady agreed that she overdressed this morning too. but somehow when i dont wear enough, the wind gets chilly. and when i put on the jacket, it gets too warm. i shall not complain, i think its really getting colder.