Archive for the 'musings' Category

lack of camera blues.

Published
by
miki
on February 21, 2009
in findings and musings
. 1 Comment

I’ve had a camera for as long as I can remember, most of the time more than one. But unfortunately for me, I tend to get alot of use out of them and break them in the process. (Sometimes my friends break them). Right now ALL of my digital cameras are broken (2) and I lost 1… I have two fully functional film cameras… but honestly, I’m not going to take pictures with film right now. Instant gratification has ruined me, and my darkroom supplies are scattered in boxes all over my house and garage and the space I used to use as a darkroom has been demolished for renovation. 

Anyways, I wish I could take pictures of my creations and my plants I’m growing and the orange tree I climb to pick the fruit to make the best orange juice… but I have no camera and that fact makes my blogging less frequent. I want to buy another camera, I know how cheap they are these days; but I am unemployed. go figure.  Unemployment, however, has been an adventure. 

I’ve discovered a (new to me) mexican grocery store chain called Vallarta. They’re weekly specials are insane. 4 pounds of onions for $1. . . 4 pounds of fuji apples for $1. Fluffy mexican loaves of white bread 3 for $1. I love the ‘dirty’ feeling of these kinds of places. This place has  meat in glass cases that look (and smell) like they have questionable refrigeration. They have hand made mexican chorizo that is so obviously still stuffed in intestinal casing… Huge cow tongues, delicate calfs tongues, pig trotters by the dozen and all sorts of other goodies. Theres also a section that sells prepared mexican food. My favorite, however, was definitely the undersized kiwi at 7 per $1, green onions 4 per $1, and parsley at 3 bunches $1. I LOVE this place.

Guess What!

Published
by
miki
on January 27, 2009
in findings, musings and recipe
. 0 Comments

I MADE CHEESE! Mozzarella to be exact.

I followed these instructions

and because my ingredients weren’t exactly the same as the authors I’ll leave some mozzarella notes. Its much more simple than I could have imagined… to think I went to culinary school and I was afraid of making mozzarella… It was easy, really easy.

Ingredients

1/2 gallon of raw milk (unpasturized, non-homogenized)

1tsp citric acid powder disolved in 1/4 cup water (I found citric acid at a home beer brewing and wine making supply store $5/lb)

15 drops concentrated liquid rennet mixed with 1 Tbsp water (found next to the raw milk at the store)

1 scant tsp salt

Thermometer – mine was in celsius and one of those mercury kind…

strainer or cheesecloth

I followed the instructions loosely and I still got fantastic cheese. Right now I’m in the process of making ricotta with the whey… And also writing this is the only thing really stopping me from eating all that cheese.

Stuff White People Like

Published
by
miki
on January 26, 2009
in musings
. 0 Comments

So I’ll be the first to tell you I’m Japanese and not white… but looking at the stuff white people like list tells me alot about myself. Here are the things that I fit into. Starting Backward.

I Like (out of 120):

119: Sea Salt

112: Hummus

111: Pea Coats

106: Facebook (its how I can actually get in touch with my brother [of all people] )

103: Sweaters

97: Scarves

91: San Francisco

90: Dinner Parties

87: Outdoor Performance Clothes

78: Multilingual Children

64: Recycling

63: Expensive Sandwiches

61: Bicycles

60: Toyota Prius

58: Japan

54: Kitchen Gadgets

50: Dogs

48: Whole Foods & Grocery Co-ops

42: Sushi

36: Breakfast Places

27: Marathons

24: Wine

23: Microbreweries

19: Travelling

15: Yoga

13: Tea

6: Organic Foods

5: Farmer’s Markets

1: Coffee

So What did that tell me? I’m a foodie (although I hate the term foodie) , I’m from California, I’m Japanese and I like clothes.

Inspired…?

Published
by
miki
on January 26, 2009
in cravings, findings and musings
. 0 Comments

Sometimes I get these urges. (I know I have started many posts like this but keep reading) Not to eat things necessarily (* see note later) Sometimes its crazy artistic urges where I do things to lots of people and I’m the only one in on the secret. Sometimes I plant lots of things. Sometimes I harvest lots and lots of things to feel like I am my own farmers market.

Sometimes it is to kill my sourdough. I’ve never been able to kill my sourdough. I will neglect it often… not feeding it for over a week… and then I will feel sorry for my life-form and feed it a little. Sometimes I get sick of it and I will dry it and powder it or freeze it to restore later.

This time I came very very close to killing my sourdough starter that sits in a ziploc container in the refrigerator. Very Very Very close. It smells like alcohol, fermentation mmm. Actually, it doesn’t smell very pleasant at all. AND I was pretty sure it was dead. But I tried to feed it anyway. Like when you come across something that was once living when you walk on the beach and have to poke at it to see if it moves. Well my sourdough moved! So now that I’ve nearly killed it I think I will try to restore it to a healthy sourdough again. The way I put it to my mom, right now my sourdough is my 90 year old senile- can’t remember how many times he’s eaten breakfast today-  grandpa and I’m going to make it my 22 year old surfs-swims-does martial arts-works out alot-  daily brother.  I’m going to make some bread tomorrow.

Changing subjects abruptly… I’m also going to attempt to make mozzerella cheese. I found some raw whole milk and liquid rennet (both in the dairy section) at the Lassen’s (like baby Whole Foods – same company). The other ingredient I need is acetic acid, which I hear they sell at brewing supply stores– and there happens to be one in town. Hopefully it works… with internet guidance and a thermometer… and hopefully successful F to C conversion skills because all my thermometers are in Celsius. Yay cheese.

* note: at the Lassen’s I bought another can of black beans. I think what happened to me and black beans was that when I was in Japan for a year and a half, I ate them once. The one time I ate them, they were ridiculously expensive (but still good), so now when I go to the grocery store I pick up reasonably priced black beans, all the time. It’s a good thing its healthy :)

I remembered another thing I plan on making tomorrow (You get the inspired (?) part yet). My friend’s birthday is coming up so I’m making her a chocolate cake studded with hazelnuts, soaked in Grand Marnier and covered in dark chocolate mousse. Its not as messy looking as it sounds. If I make it correctly it’s actually pretty exquisite.

Also! I discovered maple butter at the Lassen’s. Its inverted maple syrup that spreads like, well, butter. It’s completely natural and it tastes like butter pecan ice cream (which was my favorite as a kid) (Right now my favorite is spiced rum raisin)

Also at the Lassen’s – because I keep finding cool stuff – is vanilla bean paste, for those of you who are too lazy to scrape out the vanilla specs out of the pod or think vanilla bean pods are too expensive (there are easy ways around the price factor). Vanilla bean paste comes in a jar and it is a million times better than Vanilla essence (vanilla essence is 35% alcohol — vanilla bean paste is not)