ruth's new book, hashimoto, handwritten entry

Ruth's new book, "Me and My Sister", is available for pre-ordering through Amazon.ca! It's the second book that she's illustrated AND written. I have such a cool sister.

Hey, has anyone seen the One Man Lord of the Rings yet?

Earlier this week, Jeff and I went to Hashimoto with our friends Mark, Andrew and Jenny. Andrew & Jenny are in town visiting from California. We tend to only go to this upscale kaiseki restaurant about once a year as an extra-special outing because of its price (choice between $100 and $150 meal option, not including alcohol) and location (a remote strip mall in Mississauga), but it's always worth it. Chef-owner Masaki Hashimoto decides on the menu; you just sit there and eat whatever he makes. :-)

Andrew kept notes on his Palm about what we were served. He says he missed some details, but we were basically served the following (we opted for the $100 option):

- Crab with sudachi in lemon
- Pompano & sheephead (ishidai...a type of fish, not from a real sheep) sashimi
- Clear soup with monkfish & yuzu (citrus)
- Baked persimmon (kakidenga) filled with black codfish, sweet miso, walnuts, eggplant, sweet yam potato. Garnish: smoked salmon, ginko nuts
- Winter bamboo, minced chicken, snow peas, ume, carrot.
- Burdock tai buckwheat rolls
- Sweet rice with chestnut. White miso soup with watercress, shiitake and okra.
- Homemade coffee jelly, homemade vanilla ice cream, wild berries.

My favourite course was the fourth dish, a baked persimmon filled with blacked codfish, deep-fried walnuts, eggplant, and sweet yam potato. Tender gingko nuts were elegantly speared on pine needles, with a few small cubes of unbelieveably good smoked salmon on the side. After we ate the filling, we ate the persimmon as well.

Every serving was exquisitely presented without pretension, and the server (sometimes the chef's wife, sometimes his son) would describe each dish after setting out the plates. Our group was the only table at the restaurant that evening; there was only one other customer, and he sat at the bar. The restaurant itself only has three tables; I wonder if they would have still opened if we had to cancel?

We also had sakura-flavoured Okunomatsu sake, which was served chilled. We didn't know the price until we got the bill; the owner's wife asked if we'd like some sake, and we said yes. Instead of bringing the sake in the usual small porcelain containers, she instead brought out the elaborate decorated box, pulled out the container and opened it in front of us.

As she poured it, she described how the sake was made in one part of Japan, the special process it was put through to give it its special flavour. We smiled and listened and the same thought was going through all our minds: How much was this bottle of sake going to cost?!? It seemed tacky to ask at that point since we had already committed, so we just went ahead and enjoyed it. It was VERY smooth and did have a unique fragrance; I've never had chilled sake before and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. At the end of the meal, we found out from the bill that the sake cost $100. Ouch, but we all agreed it was worth it.

One of the things I love about Hashimoto's is that I inevitably get to try at least one or two things I've never had before. In this case, it was the sake, coffee jelly and the pompano & sheephead (ishidai) sashimi. I may not like everything that's served (though this time, I enjoyed everything without reservation), but it's always an adventure. I love the anticipation of wondering about what's going to be served next, admiring the colours and arrangement of each dish before starting to eat.

This is not a restaurant for the cautious or unadventurous eater, nor is it for someone who's in the mood for simple sustenance, doesn't care about the atmosphere or presentation. Our server noticed some of our party trying to read the Japanese written on the plates beneath one of the courses, example. He translated for us, then told us that the poems were written by the owner's mother as she was hiking through the mountains in Japan.

Yes, it was just a small detail, but it was just one of many such details that enhanced the experience for us.

And here's the last handwritten Blathering of the year (click here for a bigger image). Happy New Year, everyone!

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adventures in cooking

Thanks to Tom Smith and Allison Durno for the inspiration for this strip.
Part of My Life In A Nutshell.
Those who don't know Rosie might want to check out Waiting For Frodo.

Despite the bad weather yesterday, I was overcome by a craving for the Chevre Noir I had discovered a couple of weeks ago and decided to visit St. Lawrence Market in search of it. Following a tip posted by my friend Kristen, I found it at Chris' Cheesemongers / Alex Farm Products. Bought a small block of 2-year-old Le Chevre Noir for about $17. Whoa, pricey. But I figure by shaving bits off over the next couple weeks, I can make it last. It even came with a tiny rolled-up certificate in French. My French isn't the greatest, but it seems to be an enthusiastic gushing of praise for the cheese and the company.

Really enjoyed browsing the different types of cheese, got into a conversation with one of the Cheese Guys. I ended up buying a very tiny wedge of Cacio Di Fossa Pecorino after trying a sample sliver in the cheese shop; the Cheese Guy said they only get it from time to time, and said that if I liked Chevre Noir, I might like this as well. Oh YUMMM, he was definitely right. And ahem, of course I remembered to SUCK my cheese when trying the sliver. Also bought some Apple Smoked Cheddar, which both Jeff and I like.


Thanks to Mary Bertke for inspiring this particular strip.


I'm having fun trying new recipes from my Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. One reason I know I'll never be a good cook is because I don't like repeating recipes that often. It's much more interesting to always try new ones! It means I'll probably never really improve, but cooking's more fun that way.

Last night I made Mushroom Sesame Tofu Stew, with a loaf of fresh-baked rye bread I bought at the market. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and I have leftovers for lunches this week, yay! I love making stews because they're usually pretty straightforward: just chop a bunch of stuff and throw it in a pot. I'm not a vegetarian, but I've been enjoying experimenting more with non-meat recipes.

A POLL: If you're a cook, do you prefer to stick to known recipes (written or not), or do you enjoy trying new ones? Does a dish name like "Mushroom Sesame Tofu Stew" gross you out or intrigue you?

Also, does anyone have a good recipe for tabouleh?

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sucking cheese

Needed to shake off some early winter blahs, so I dropped by the Toronto Gourmet Food & Wine Expo at the Metro Convention Centre Friday night. Some days I feel like one of the characters in SimPeople. Too much work, not enough fun, hence the drop in my Happiness score. I'm such a geek.

My favourite event was the wine and cheese matching, which was an hour-long workshop conducted by a sommelier and a cheese expert (can't recall the proper term for the latter, sorry). Comparing the different wines was fun, though I admit things got a tad fuzzy after the third glass; my alcohol tolerance has always been pretty low.

Really enjoyed the commentary by the cheese expert, who explained the proper way to enjoy cheese. Most people just chomp and swallow, she sighed, and instructed us how to savour the experience. First, break off a small piece and enjoy the fragrance. Then take the piece and put it in your mouth, let it rest against the roof of your mouth. Chewing once is allowed. Then...

"SUCK YOUR CHEESE first!" she said with great enthusiasm. Dutifully, we sucked.

I felt a bit silly at first, but can see the wisdom. Too often we munch on food whilst chatting or watching the tv or hurriedly before rushing off to the rest of our day. No wonder we tend to eat things that are bad for us, or eat too much. Cheese is just one example: many cheeses may be high in fat but when slowly savoured, a smaller piece may satisfy just fine.

And now I'm hooked on two-year-old Chevre Noir, one of the tiny samples we were given in the workshop. Best cheese I've ever had; my mouth is watering in lustful memory even as I type this. MUST FIND MORE. I plan to check out St. Lawrence Market later this week. I'm sure it's decadently expensive with a soaring fat content, but I figure a very small piece will do, especially if I use the suck-and-savour technique.

Finished Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, thoroughly enjoyed it. Great premise, spunky heroine. Now I've started on the second book in the series, Lost In A Good Book, and am also reading Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait In Letters. Also went to see Finding Neverland after reading Allison's review in her Livejournal; loved this movie! Wished I brought more Kleenex.

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temptation

Congrats to Erica Neely, who successfully defended her philosophy dissertation yesterday!

So I made Chicken Mole a couple of nights ago, using a recipe on the back of a chocolate pasta package that Paul Kwinn gave me a long while back. Is it my imagination, or is the recipe below WRONG? (i.e. chicken should be added BEFORE simmering)



Click to enlarge.

I assumed it was wrong, so added the chicken before simmering, which made more sense. Also used some Sharffen Berger cocoa that Joey Shoji gave me. Very strange to see the tomatoes and chocolate in such close embrace, and it made me wonder: how was this recipe invented? Did someone methodically go through every ingredient imaginable to see if it partnered well with chocolate? Wish I had been around to help with the taste testing. I think.

Surprisingly, the combination of spicy and sweet turned out remarkably well. Jeff even asked for seconds, and he's pretty blunt when it comes to whether or not he likes something I've cooked. I wasn't too crazy about the chocolate pasta, but that might have been because it was somewhat stale.

Anyway, thanks so much for the gift, Paul! And apologies for taking so long to getting around to using it.

Curse you, Rachel! After you mentioned The Incredibles commercial merchandise in Blatherchat, I checked out a Disney store yesterday afternoon. For the first time in a very long while, I was actually severely tempted by movie-inspired merchandise. I drooled over the Edna mug, lusted over the Incredibles figures, especially Violet and Elastigirl. No Edna available separately, sadly, and I couldn't justify the cost of spending money on an entire mini-Incredibles figurine set just to get Edna.

Anyway, I resisted temptation and managed to walk out of the store empty-handed.

Just barely.

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turkish cooking & Flickr

Front of a birthday card I made for Justin. Click for bigger image.


Fun 40th birthday party for Justin yesterday. Excellent victuals, too; Justin and Justin's mom had prepared all kinds of scrumptious but healthy dishes, most of them Turkish and from a cookbook called Sofra Cookbook: Modern Turkish and Middle-Eastern Cookery, by Huseyin Ozer. I've added this to my Amazon Wish List; I maintain this list more for myself than anyone else; I used to write down interesting-sounding books and movies on scraps of paper which I'd promptly lose.

And Justin hadn't seen the piano music I'd written for him after all! Now I need to dig up the other music I've written and give copies to my other musical inspirations, just in case I've been negligent in their cases as well. To John: Sadly, I have been unable to find my copy of Commandy Andy. I'll keep looking, though. I was highly impressed that John still remembered the tune!

Also chatted with Tom West and was delighted to discover that there is an 80-85% chance he'll be at FilKONtario when Michelle's the Author Guest! Yayyyy! Very happy about this since, after all, Tom's the one who introduced me to filk in the first place. Michelle was unable to be at the party because she's in Montreal this weekend for ConCept.

Thanks to Ruth & Kaarel for giving me a lift to the party, since Jeff wasn't able to attend.





I'm starting to link all my Blatherings photos to my Flickr photo album, by the way. I figure it's a way of saving some hard disk space as well as making back-ups of my favourite images. I'm pretty happy with Flickr so far, especially the bulk uploading tool available for Mac OS. Anyway, from now on, you'll usually be able to click on any photo to get a bigger image. I'm also pretty happy with how the Filking Group on Flickr is growing, with members in the filking community contributing photos.

Especially liked the comment from John (jjc in Blatherchat) in response to yesterday's Blathering about Salad Nicoise:

"I used to reflexively order café liègois, but that was because I was living in France. When I'm travelling in the States, I'll order chicken Caesar salads, because they're universally available, sufficiently digestible and nutritionally complete that I can live on them for long enough to run a Scrabble tournament, and hard to completely botch. If I'm eating out in a civilised part of the world, I cannot resist just about any preparation of duck, and am rarely disappointed.

Salmon and canned salmon are two different substances. I learned this the first time I made a salmon salad sandwich out of real salmon. I felt like I'd wasted a large portion of my culinary life opening cans. Canned salmon is for cats. Except the spoiled one that come to my back door, who gets barbecued salmon, microwaved back to body temperature if I've had to refrigerate it."

John, you canned salmon snob! I love canned salmon, and will often have it with toast, or dumped over some freshly cooked pasta for lunch. Yummm....

John, by the way, was the one to arrange the candles on Justin's birthday cake. Poor Justin spent a while trying to figure it out; it's a ritual between the two of them and there are times when the rest of us despair of ever getting a taste of the cake. This time the answer was relatively simple (for a technonerdboy, that is): the ascii character for 40.

:-)

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