Turning Japanese

I’ve been watching a lot of anime and finding various Asian dramas on Hulu recently, and I realized I was recognizing some Japanese words. Not big ones, or important ones, but still: Japanese!

So I decided to learn Japanese. I’ve been told that once I learn Japanese Max will go on a trip to Japan with me, so I have an clear end goal that should help keep me on track, but I also got this sweet folder to inspire me as well as to store my papers. Kawaii, no?

Nouvelle Vague

I had the pleasant experience of hearing Nouvelle Vague for the first time yesterday, with their sweet cover of Public Image Limited’s “This is Not a Love Song.” So far I’ve listened to a bunch of their stuff (available on youtube, with a limited selection of free mp3s on their site). But it’s this cover of Depeche Mode’s “Master and Servant” that’s blown me away. Amazing!

The Zhivago

I found some Stoli Blueberi Vodka for a great price at the grocery store today, and loving to try new liquors and new drinks, I bought it. The best part is that I just did a search for drinks using blueberry vodka and found this:

Marco Pasanella’s The Zhivago

• 1 large snowdrift
  1 crackling fire
  1 girl named Lara
  2 shots Stoli Blueberi, chilled
• Pre-freeze elegant shot glasses and carafe.
  Present two blueberries in each glass and serve on a silver tray.
  Caress gently.

Blueberry Corn Pancakes

I’ve been trying to use the corn we grew in the garden, but I’ve had a slight setback in that, what with one thing and another, we forgot to harvest it at its peak and it’s a little drier and tougher than it should be. Since those aren’t the best qualities for eating corn on the cob, I’ve been exploring other recipes, such as this one for Blueberry Corn Pancakes.

Scrumptious!

I combined two recipes I found on Tastespotting – one for pancakes with fresh corn and one for pancakes with fresh blueberries and cornmeal. I figured that the blueberries would add a little more moisture to the pancakes and help balance out the dryness of the corn. I also halved the recipe because there aren’t enough mouths for a full batch!

On the griddle, blueberry side down

They turned out absolutely delightful – a great taste and a great texture. One thing I wasn’t expecting is that they don’t stay together quite the same way as regular pancakes because of the corn, but they were pretty perfect regardless.

Blueberry Corn Pancakes
Adapted from The Bitten Word and Foodo Del Mundo

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 ears of fresh corn
• 1/2 scant cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• fresh blueberries (about 30, 5-6 for each pancake)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt in a medium bowl.

Cut enough kernels from cobs to measure 1 cup. Using back of a knife, scrape pulp from cobs and transfer to a blender with milk and 1/4 cup corn. Getting the pulp off is difficult, but do the best you can. Purée until smooth, then strain through a sieve into another medium bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Whisk in egg, oil, and butter.

Add to flour mixture with remaining 3/4 cups corn and whisk until just combined. Batter will be thick!

Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat until hot, then spray with oil. Working in batches, pour 1/3 cup batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden-brown, about 2 minutes. Just before flipping push 5-6 blueberries into the top of each pancake. Flip with a spatula and cook until undersides are golden-brown, about 1 minute more. (Reduce heat if pancakes brown too quickly.) Lightly oil griddle between batches if necessary.

Makes 6 pancakes.

In the middle of the zoo, there is so much to do….

I went to the San Francisco Zoo last week with Max, after wanting to go for over a year. I had planned on getting a membership, but it turns out the individual membership was more expensive than I thought ($75) and didn’t let you bring a friend. You’d have to go at least five times by yourself to make it worthwhile, plus if you wanted company you’d have to convince someone to come five times. Sounds hard, right? Especially compared to the individual membership at the California Academy of Sciences, which is $99 and includes a plus one. So it pays for itself if you go four times by yourself, or twice if you toss in the free friend.

As it turns out, I’m pretty glad I didn’t get a membership and just bought the $15 day ticket. It was depressing. I thought it would be more akin to the Academy or the Monterey Bay Aquarium – their missions are education and preservation of the earth’s creatures and environment, and they accomplish their goals through the display of some of those creatures. The zoo, however….

At least the giraffes look happy!

The zoo seems to be designed to simply exhibit animals. It was long on chain link fences and sad looking animals, including a tiger who just paced and paced and paced, and pretty short on information about the animals and how we can help them in the wild. Admittedly a lot of the zoo was under construction, so maybe they’re trying to fix it, but I felt like they could be doing a lot more in the meantime.

They did manage to have some signs about the history of locations and exhibits, including what’s currently known as Penguin Island. It’s a long reflecting pool with an island in the middle that houses a bunch of penguins who splash around, swim, and even just chill in the pool when they’re not on the island. Of interest though was the fact that the island used to house monkeys. The zookeepers at the time, in their wisdom, thought that they should install a working stove on the island to keep the monkeys warm. The monkeys, in their monkeyness, decided to knock the stove over and set fire to the island. Crazy monkeys!

Grilling Feast

So, I bought a box of red beans and rice a few weeks ago thinking that it would be tasty some time. And then I brought it home, and it just kept sitting on the shelf, because I couldn’t figure out what to eat with it!

Finally, I had the idea of grilling Creole Spiced Tofu and serving it with the red beans and rice. A pineapple on the counter slowly going to waste was a later addition to the grill that added a delicious juiciness to the meal that it would have suffered from a lack of. Coupled with a couple of cocktails from the latest Real Simple, it was a perfect meal.

A delicious summer meal

Creole Tofu

• 1 lb. extra firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons Creole Seasoning Rub (see below)

Cut 1lb. block of tofu into 1/2 in. slabs (about 5). Mix two tablespoons of seasoning rub with about 1/2 cup of olive oil in a medium sized casserole dish and place the tofu in the dish in a single layer. Use a brush and flip the tofu around so the marinade is on all sides of the tofu. Refrigerate while the grill is getting ready.

Clean and preheat the grill to a medium-low heat. Cover and grill the tofu for about 30 minutes, flipping and rebrushing it with the seasoned oil from the casserole dish every 5 to 10 minutes. (To flip the tofu without it disintegrating, I put a large spatula right next to the tofu, used tongs to flip the tofu up and onto the spatula, and then slid the tofu off the spatula. A little more effort, but the tofu broke when I tried to just slide the spatula underneath.)

Use extra seasoned oil on pineapple slices for a tasty, grilled side dish.

Creole Seasoning Rub

• 3 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Combine all ingredients. Makes about 2 tablespoons.

Garden update, stardate 08012009

There’s good news and bad news, and thankfully the good news outweighs the bad. But let’s start with the bad.

Bad news

I had to pick (and toss) the watermelon today, because the rind split and bugs were chomping like mad on its tasty insides. At least they got to enjoy it.

Also, something’s been munching on the only cantaloupe too, but it’s in much better shape. Shaking out rolly-pollies when I see them….

I’ve been overwatering the Black Prince. Unfortunately, the effects of overwatering and underwatering look very similar. Read somewhere today that I should water tomatoes deeply every five to seven days when they’re setting fruit, so I’m going to try not watering him and the rest of my tomatoes for a few days. It makes me cringe inside, but I’m going to do it.

Neutral news

The peas continue to live, despite the heat, but I don’t think they’re going to make peas. Oh well. They look pretty. Sort of. An interesting experiment in the new raised bed?

Good news

The tomatoes are ready! The tomatoes are ready! And I’ve been eating them like mad on tomato and cheese sandwiches (on fresh bread from A Sweet Affair) and they’re sooo good. Salads with one of the many cucumbers (see below) are also fantastic.

One of the tasty first tomatoes

One of the tomatoes was so huge it snapped the vine it was on. I guess I’ll have to make fried green tomatoes….

Om nom nom nom!!

The lemon cucumbers are still going crazy! I give them away on all occasions. I gave Max and Christopher one the size of a softball about a week ago, I kid you not. I’ve decided to make these fresh lemon cucumber pickles in an attempt to use the bounty.

Lastly, I’m happy to report that the eggplant is finally on its way to propagating the species.

Flower, flower little eggplant!!

Anyway. That’s the garden. Used some mint in a watermelon-mint cooler drink today. I’ll have to post a food update soon.