ひらがなを かきます

こんにちわ・　わたしは　ベクです・　パソコンで　ひらがなを　かきます・　むずかしです・　きょうは　もくようびです・　こんばん　わたしは　とても　いそがしです・　たくさん　しゆくだいが　あります・　こんばん　ぜんぜん　ねません・　あした　じゅうじから　いちじまで　はたらきます・　そして　おねと　sohoへ　いきます・　そして　やきとりで　たべます・　やきとりの　たべものは　とても　おいしいです・　それから　べんきょうします・　らいしゅうの　すいようひ゛に　すこし　ひまです・
さようなら・

Kayobi's

Kayobi watashiwa totemo isogashi desu. Kyo watashiwa jyujihan kara shichijihan made classde benjyoshimashita. Ima niji yonjyuppundesu. Nihongono shukudaio shimashita. I was falling asleep through number 4 but thankfully watashiwa owarimashita. Raishu watashiwa totemo isogashidesu. So to kickback, I'm posting on my blog ahead of time with something I truly enjoy...recipes :).

I absolutely love green tea. (The Starbucks' green tea latte is amazing and I would drink them every chance I had if they weren't so fattening! :T) I always keep a stash of matcha in my pantry. Not only does it serve as instant ocha, but also I can use it for baking! Incase someone is interested...here are couple of the green tea recipes I've collected...

Green Tea Gelato
Servings: Makes about fourteen 1/2-cup servings

3-1/4 cups whole milk
8 green tea bags
1/4 cup powdered fat-free milk
8 large egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat to a simmer. Pour half over the tea bags in a medium bowl and let steep for 30 minutes; strain, pressing all the liquid from the tea bags. Stir powdered milk into remaining milk and keep warm over low heat. Place egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl. Using a hand mixer or whisk, beat until thick and pale yellow (the consistency of mayonnaise). While mixing, slowly add the hot milk and whisk until blended. Stir the egg mixture back into the saucepan and add the tea-infused milk; increase heat to medium. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thickened like a custard sauce and registers 180 °F when checked with an instant-read thermometer. Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Stir in cream, cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours before continuing.
2. Turn the machine on; pour mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. The gelato will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the gelato to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Green Tea Shortbread Leaves
Makes 3 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
2 tablespoons Chinese green-tea powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ or granulated sugar

1. Sift flour, tea powder, and salt into a small bowl; set aside. Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar; continue to beat until very light in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes more. Add flour mixture; combine on low, scraping sides of bowl with a spatula if necessary, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
2. Place a piece of parchment on a clean surface; dust with flour. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness; chill in refrigerator or freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 325°. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Cut chilled dough with 2-inch leaf cutters. Using a wide spatula, transfer to baking sheets. Chill until firm. Gather scraps together, reroll, chill, and cut shapes. Bake until firm and barely starting to color, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating halfway through. Cool completely on wire rack; store in an airtight container for up to 3 to 4 weeks.

Green Tearamisu
3 egg yolks
1/3 c white caster sugar
8oz mascarpone cheese
1 c heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
cointreau, or any orange flavoured liqueur
powdered green tea, mm-mm-matcha
1-2 c brewed green tea, cooled
3 egg whites
ladyfingers

1. beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl set over pan of simmering water, until the mixture is pale yellow. add the mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth and creamy.
2. in a separate bowl, whip the cream. add vanilla and orange liqueur.
4. fold the mascarpone mixture into the cream until blended.
3. in yet another bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
5. add egg whites and fold gently until blended.
6. dip ladyfingers into the brewed green tea, then layer them on the bottom of a serving dish. spread the creamy stuff on top, and repeat layers.
7. refrigerate at least a couple of hours; 24 is nice.
8. dust with powdered matcha just before serving.

Green Tea Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp powdered Japanese green tea (matcha)
1/2 cup milk
1 stick of butter, softened
2 eggs

Instructions:

Oven 350F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and green tea powder and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter until light. Add the sugar and beat some more until light and fluffy. Add the dry mixture and the milk. Stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are just incorporated (don't overmix). The batter will be somewhat lumpy. Divide the batter among the muffin tins (I used those foil liners. If you don't have any liners, grease the tins), about 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Minus the gelato, I haven't tried any of the recipes yet and I sadly don't have time to bake for a while. However, I'm definitely going to try out the shortbread recipe when I get the chance. Also, since my roomate's sister's boyfriend also loves green tea, we're going to make the green tearamisu for his birthday. How ingenious is that recipe? :) I'm falling asleep as I write this entry but I'm still smiling at the thought. haha. Baking brings out the kid in me.

itsu watashiwa tsukuri(?) green tea shortbread, Fukai senseiwa tabemasenka.

Much Motivation Needed

I am a Butler veteran. I used to study in the fourth floor undergraduate reading room daily as if it were my own room. People even facebook-ed me asking if I was the “cubicle girl”. Tragic, really. But this year, I have only been to Butler three times for merely a couple of hours each visit. Maybe it’s because I now live on 110^th or maybe I just lost the inspiration to be a disciplined student. It’s odd because this semester is by far the busiest for me. I am taking three language courses, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, along with an introductory drawing class. If you ask me, that’s a whole lot of busy work. I am an economics major, though my schedule causes everyone to assume I am an EALAC major, and deadlines for my business paper are starting to roll in.

If I came to my room, sat at my desk like a good student and studied, I would have no problem with my workload. But I have a problem. Okay fine, more like an obsession. I am completely obsessed with baking. It has been my favorite pastime for years, but this semester is different. There is no mother nagging me to stop heating up her kitchen and this semester my dorm room is conveniently equipped with an oven. Though it obviously isn’t the greatest, I’m starting to get used to it’s quirks and have located it’s hotspots. Anyway, I usually bake every chance I get, but I recently realized that I was starting to schedule my studies around baking. I think it was the night before when I had to memorize 180 Chinese characters for my Hanja quiz in Korean. Instead of pulling out my thick packet of characters right then and there, I decided to hold off the studying until 6 am the next morning. Why? Because I suddenly had the urge to bake an extremely time consuming batch of rich brioche. It was when I started to pull out a block of butter from my refrigerator that I realized I wasn’t a student if I was willing to forego my books for an oiled bowl and spatula.

I’m hoping that my realization lasts long. I’m not doing horribly in my language classes and I am getting all my work done, but learning a new language is a constant effort. Is there anything I could do to motivate myself to really start studying? I think I’ll have to start living at Butler again starting this week. If anyone sees me ogling the melon pans at Jasumato or lugging sacks of flour, please do drag me to the library.

Memoirs

One of my favorite books is Memoirs of a Geisha. When the movie came out, I was delighted and rushed to the theater – something I never do. Though I loved the scenery and costume, I knew very little about Japanese culture. But after taking the class, Art in China, Japan, and Korea last year, I learned that the Japanese had an affinity for imperfection. Instead of the dauntingly idealistic white ceramics of China, the Japanese far more appreciated the slightly crooked and hand-painted Korean celadons. So what was the whole geisha phenomenon about? As I see it, geisha were figures from a separate realm. Their white faces, red lips, and fragile bodies wrapped in layers of expensive silk made them seem like representations of perfection. Perhaps they were to represent a foreign world where men would whimsically submerge themselves to escape from the reality of everyday life. But then again, how accurately did Spielberg capture contemporary Japanese culture?

I am especially fond of Sayuri’s dance scene right before her misuage bidding. The entire scene is just so exotic and mesmerizing. The nearly fluorescent lighting brings out the contrast between her white kimono and her insanely high and blocky slippers. What does the height mean? Are they equivalent to modern-day western high heels and does the height also add to the whole concept of feigned perfection? And what about her dance movements? Sayuri nearly glides onto stage with her platform slippers, teasing the crowd with smooth, gentle movements and slight displays of the naked skin on her hands and wrists. But then she is suddenly swooped up into a frenzied yet passionate whirl of movement that seemingly represents the north wind. She waves her arms like a windmill and throws her body into a rushed motion before coming to a pit stop. She collapses onto the ground before again taking up soft and calculated movements. Then, of course, the crowd goes wild.

I think this is one of my more favorite scenes because I still haven’t figured it out yet. I’ve watched the movie countless times but every time I watch Sayuri dance I still wonder who choreographed the steps and whether the dance is genuine to Japanese culture. What is the meaning of the slow to frenzied and back to slow movements? Perhaps the chaotic part of the dance is a climax that shows people a figment of a hidden world of passion and overwhelming emotion. And the conclusion is a toned down step that slowly drags people bag to reality – like a ticket to and from the clandestine world of a geisha.

Until I can better grasp the meaning to Sayuri’s complex dance, I’m just going to have to watch the movie again and again…not that I mind really.

Nichiyobi's

There is a Japanese marketplace called Mitsuwa near my hometown back in Jersey. When I was younger, my extended family would agree to meet up there on certain Sundays to catch up and simply enjoy each other's company. It was soothing - a respite before the adults had to go back to work and the children, back to their Kumon. Maybe it was the warm feeling I got from seeing my whole family, just laughing together between hot slurps of shrimp tempura udon, but I really came to love Japanese culture. Well, at that age I didn't really know what Japanese culture was but it didn't matter. To me the Japanese were a group of soft spoken people who offered an unexplainable comfort through their frothy green teas and delicate cuisine.

Now I am much older but I still experience a child-like pleasure every time I step into Mitsuwa. I'd go with my mother, arm tightly clutched around hers, Asian-style, and we'd peruse through the aisles of endless ramyun and sweet mochi's. An hour prior to closing, the prepared foods are marked down in hopes of selling the day's bento specials before they must go to waste. Though we've had much better chirashi and dragon rolls, the thrill from purchasing something just one dollar cheaper is enough to keep us going back for more. Call us Asian. And now I miss those idle walks. I just wish I had the leisure to go back to New Jersey and stroll through that marketplace with my mom again. I wonder, is everyone homesick? It's always those soothing, nearly ritualistic memories that keep us reminiscing about home.