Cinnamon Sugar Bread

Sometimes, you just need some sweetness in your life.

Every once in a while, throw caution to the wind. 

I have been doing so well lately eating well and living an active lifestyle.  (I have lost twenty pounds over the past eight months!)  I feel amazing. 

But here’s the thing-I love baking sweets.  LOVE it.

But I refuse to gain weight and eat an unbalanced diet.  Again.  (I am soooo over that phase.)

So, I have come up with the perfect solution for still occasionally getting away with eating not so healthy (but incredibly delicious) food:  Host parties.

Karl and I live in “the inaka” (Japanese countryside)  and most of our friends have a ways to travel when they visit.  Because of this, we usually end up with overnight guests.  I have no problem with this.  When I have a bunch of friends over to share with, I can get away with baking a pie, or cookies, or…

…this delicious bread.  Ever since I saw this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Joy the Baker, I have been mentally drooling. 

Finally, last month, I tried it.  Three weekends in a row.  It really makes for a perfect weekend breakfast.  Especially the morning after a party when you have friends with whom to share it.  

Delicious! 

Party for a Cause

What do you want for your birthday?

The question that, when asked of my husband, never yields a simple answer.   He is one of those people that is just difficult to buy for…he never wants anything. 

But why should I complain about that?  I will instead count my blessings and tell you about what I did for him as a birthday gift. 

Remember back a few months when I was talking a whole lot about our trip to India?  Well that trip left a huge impression on us.  We often think about the people we helped and want to continue helping them.

So, I threw a party.  For Karl.  It was an Indian themed extravaganza.  All of the donations we collected are being sent over to Chevuru to help buy materials so that they may continue building homes.

I threw a similar party last December before leaving as a fundraiser.  It was extremely successful.  So why not do it again, and make it a birthday party?  

Here is what I made:

1)    Saag Paneer-This was a first for me-making cheese!  I was puzzled though, because the finished paneer had virtually no flavor.  It also completely fell apart and basically became a very thick cream when I stirred it into the saag.  But every cloud has it’s silver lining-even though this dish (my ‘experiment’ dish) turned out nothing like I thought it would, it was the favorite!

Find the paneer recipe here, and the saag recipe here.

2)    Butter Chicken-Butter chicken is delicious because, well, it has an obscene amount of butter in it.  I made this for the last Indian themed party I threw and it was a major hit. 

Find the Butter Chicken recipe here.

3)    Dahl Mahkhani-The world of dahl in Indian cuisine is positively daunting.  When we were at a restuarant in Agra, India, I took a chance ordering something I had never heard of before on the menu.  It happened to be dahl makhani, now one of my all-time favorite Indian foods.

Find the Dahl Mahkani recipe here.

4)    Chicken Tikka- If only I had a big enough grill on which to cook these!  I opted for the baking method this time, which turned out well.

Find the Chicken Tikka recipe here.

5)    Saffron Biryani Rice- There is nothing particularly special about the preparation method for this rice.  I used some spices we bought in India, stirred them around in the rice and water before cooking them.  Unfortunately I do not have basmati or jasmine rice, but sushi rice works in a pinch.

6)    Naan-By far one of my most favorite things to make, regardless of the cuisine.  Who doesn’t like bread fried in butter?

I have used this recipe multiple times and it hasn’t failed me yet!  Find the recipe here. 

To bring the whole Indian theme together, Karl, a friend who also went to India on our trip, and I all dressed in our traditional Indian outfits.  Our friend was also kind enough to offer her services drawing henna onto peoples feet and hands.  

In India on New Year's Day.

Our friends who came to the party donated generously.  We will be donating $500 USD to Chevuru as a result of the party.  This was the only present Karl wanted…to help those less fortunate then us.  (This is partly why I love him so much!)

Happy Birthday, Karl!

Note: If you would also like to help the small village of Chevuru, India build sound homes.  Please visit this website.  Go Longitude is an organization that partners with Ravie Kumar and his team the Association ofRelief Volunteers (ARV).  They do amazing things.  Check them out!

White Plum Blossoms-白梅

First stop: coffee and bagel sandwiches.  

Japan can really do coffee.  Mmmm!

Second stop: Shinjuku station to pick up Japan JR Rail Passes. (If you ever travel in Japan, this is a MUST.) 

Third stop: Tokyo station to catch a bullet train-新幹線 (shinkansen).

Fourth stop: Kyoto.

When we arrived in Kyoto, we made our way to our accommodations for that evening.  We didn’t know it then, but our experience at this traditional Japanese ryokan (inn) would be one of the highlights of our whole trip.

The ryokan, which is in Kyoto’s Gion district, is called Shiraume-白梅, which means white plum blossoms. 

As we walked along the old stone street, we passed a geisha and a maiko.  The plum trees were blooming.  A small stream flowed along one side of the road.  A crane flew right onto the bridge entrance to our ryokan as we approached. 

I was instantly impressed.  The scene was so picturesque.  A crane.  A little bridge with a stream running under it.  White plum blossoms blooming.  It was perfect.

View of the street from the room.

Beautiful painting inside Shiraume.

Decor inside one of the rooms.

As we entered, we were greeted by Tomoko-the woman who runs the ryokan.  She spoke English extremely well.  Our rooms were not quite ready yet, but they took our luggage for us and gave suggested we do some site seeing before returning to officially check in.  

As we were leaving, Tomoko took me aside and told me that someone had just canceled their room reservation for that night and offered the room to Karl and I free of charge. 

We graciously accepted her offer.  What a delightful place!

And off we wandered, to find some temples...

Boeuf Bourguignon

A few years ago there was that really popular movie out about Julia Child.  I loved the movie.  Read the book.  It was ok. Read Julia's Memior.  LOVED it.  In fact, I have had a minor obsession with watching her video's on youtube over the past year.



This one has been my most recent obsession.  Yesterday, I took the plunge and made it.

By the end of dinner I was licking my plate.  Face-in-bowl-licking.  Extremely dignified.  As always.

It was really that good.  And so easy to make. 

I am thinking fish next...any ideas where I might find swordfish? 

Thanksgiving with a Tiny Oven

First, watch this video.

Who doesn’t have a battle ax, chainsaw and bazooka in their kitchen!?

Ok, now watch this one.

Maybe you don’t care for the Muppets…I think they are hilaaaarious. 

Fortunately, I did not have to skewer my own turkey or deal with talking pumpkins this Thanksgiving.  Also, having been in Japan for over a year now, I was able to approach Thanksgiving preparations with much more confidence. 

If you want to prepare a turkey for Thanksgiving and you live in Japan, this is what I recommend:

Step 1: They do sell turkeys at Costco, but unless you have a big enough oven this option is out of the question.  We ordered a tiny 5 lb turkey from a website called “The Meat Guy.”  It’s great. Order about a week in advance.  The website even allows you to choose a specified day and time of delivery.  

The turkey-sitting in an 8x8in pan.

Step 2: Make sure your turkey is thawed out completely 12-24 hours before you want to roast it. 

Step 3: Brine it!  I followed this recipe (I also added an apple, as you can see) for brining our little turkey.  Brining makes a huge difference in the juiciness of the turkey.  We let ours brine for about 16 hours before roasting.

The turkey brining away.  We had to put it into a backing bag and then into our crisper-it was the only way it would fit into our fridge!

Step 4: Stuff and roast.

Stuffed with wild rice cranberry dressing. Yum!

A perfect fit for our tiny oven!

Step 5: Eat!

This is what the rest of our holiday meal looked like:

Kabocha squash with butter and brown sugar.

Mashed potatoes-because you have to!

A made-up wild rice, cranberry shittake stuffing.  Delish!

Sorry, my gravy is out of focus.  If you make gravy, for mercy's sake, make this one!

Pumpkin-one of the best desserts (or, let's be awesome, breakfasts too!) ever.

 Our holiday was delightful in every way.  Flowing with apple cider, champagne, and white wine.  Bountiful, delicious food.

So very much for which to be thankful!

Chili and Corn Bread-or-A Match Made in Heaven

This wasn't planned.  But sometimes, the best meals aren't planned.  They are thrown together in an hour.  And they are de-licious.

My amazing husband made this chili while I was away at my koto lesson. 

Guys-it was amazing.  I don't know how he made it.  He explanation was, "I'm a guy-all guys just know how to make chili!"

Ok. Not arguing with that.  

I made a super quick corn bread when I got home.  Because cornbread and chili together...they are like peas and carrots. 

I used this recipe and added a small can of green chilis and some grated sharp white cheddar cheese. 

It was marvelous.  A great end to a weekend. (We were at an awesome wine festival yesterday-post coming soon!)

Apples and Cinnamon

Don’t you hate those days where you just can’t seem to shake off a bad feeling? 

Something keeps nagging at you…but you can’t figure out what.

You keep playing over the parts of the bad dream from last night.

You create absurd scenarios in your head and wonder what would happen if they ever came to be.

I am not a depressed person, but everyone has a bad day every now and then.  One of the best things you can do to perk yourself up is to have some comfort food.

What is your favorite comfort food?  I am definitely a macaroni and cheese girl.  One of my other favorite things is hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks.  In fact, apple cinnamon is just one of my favorite flavors. 

Which is why I made a bagel version.  Sweet apples+spicy cinnamon=delicious bagels. 

What makes them even better is the cinnamon walnut cream cheese I made to enhance their delightfulness.  It totally worked.  (Making new cream cheese flavors is so fun!) 

 

Nothing hits the spot on a bad day like a delicious toasted bagel with cream cheese.  Especially with some hot apple cider on the side.  

Apple Cinnamon Bagels

Note: The apple and applesauce provide enough liquid for the recipe.

5/8  cup applesauce

medium apple, cut up into tiny pieces

1 T vegetable oil

2 T honey  

1 t salt

5/8 cup whole wheat flour

2 3/4 cup bread flour

2 1/2 t active dry yeast

1 t cinnamon

1. Mix all ingredients together.  Knead and let rise an hour.

2. Shape dough into six bagels. ( Roll dough into balls and poke a hole in the middle.)  Let rise 30 min. During this time prepare your pot of boiling water.

3. Boil the bagels.  About 1 min per side.  Preheat oven to 400 F.

4. Bake 25-30 min.

5. Smother with cream cheese and enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

 

I had searched and searched and really could not find a staple item for my kitchen…

...muffin pans. 

I get that baking doesn’t really seem to be a thing here…(Seriously, options are limited with such tiny ovens.)  But no muffin pans? 

What about cupcakes? 

Such joys are possible when you have yourself a nice set of muffin pans.

Thank goodness for awesome sisters who send you things!  My sweet older sister sent me two cute little silicon muffin pans a couple months ago.  One green and one blue.

I have never used anything silicon in the kitchen before besides rubber spatulas.  I did a bit of research online before baking with them.  I discovered some really cool things:

1. You don’t need to grease silicon bake ware.
2. The pans cool down significantly faster then regular metal pans.
3. They can be folded up and put away-space savers!

The one drawback is that they can take a little while to clean, by hand anyway. 

Since it is autumn, I decided to christen the new muffin tins with pumpkin spice muffins.

With cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.

They were divine.

Season of Soup Part 3: French Onion

I’ll be honest.  I really wanted to make this soup because I finally had the perfect dishes in which to serve it.

Is that weird?

Don’t get me wrong: I also made it because it is stupendously delicious.  But I am of the opinion that presentation can help make food taste even better.  

The last time I made French Onion soup was because I had been given around thirty pounds of onions by a fellow teacher.  That was my first time making it, and it was good. 

But this time, it was better.

I followed a different recipe this time.  The only real difference was the addition of thyme.  I also melted provolone on top...because it's what I had.  It was delicious!

Find the recipe here.

Season of Soup Part 2: Tortellini Spinach Pesto

I know I have complained before of some ingredients being difficult to find in Japan.  (Cheese is one, if you recall.) 

Making Chinese soups is a snap.  Finding ingredients for Asian recipes is usually not too hard.  Things like fresh shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots, which would otherwise be dried or canned. 

Fabulous.

After the Schezuan soup, I was in the mood for something different.  So I looked to Italy.

I have found and used some great soup recipes on the Eating Well website.  This particular recipe I based off of Eating Well’s Chicken and Spinach Pesto recipe-it's delicious. 

When I made this soup, I basically made the Chicken and Spinach Pesto soup, but added tortellini.  If I could get my hands on Italian sausage, I would have substituted it for the chicken, but alas.  I have yet to discover Italian sausage in the Land of the Rising Sun.  Sigh.

But the chicken is still delightful.  It's an excellent soup.

I recommend wine and Italian bread on the side with tiramisu for dessert. (In my book, these three things go with any meal.)

Yummy!

Find the soup recipe here.