I’ll Make It Myself!: The Rosette of Versailles: Apple Custard Tart with Walnut Crust
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. Ze works in international student exchange; writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan and the US; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group on LinkedIn.
I’m a huge fan of Ikeda Riyoko’sThe Rose of Versailles (Beru Bara) fan, so how could I pass up a version of tarte bouquet de roses? You’ll need a lot of walnuts, some maple syrup, and some elbow grease, but this elegant tart can be made in your Japanese kitchen, too!
I’ll Make It Myself: Kabocha Squash Purée (Pumpkin Purée Substitute)
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Trying to shift your mentality of “I can’t have it because I can’t buy it in Japan” to “I’ll make it myself!” is hard. Really hard. For example, let’s take my recent discovery of how to purée kabocha to substitute for pumpkin purée/canned pumpkin in American recipes. Kabocha and pumpkin have different textures. Pumpkin has more water content, so mashing and processing boiled or baked pumpkin (something I might have phoned my mom about in grad school) results in a texture like thick applesauce. Mashed kabocha is more like mashed potatoes.
Trying to substitute mashed kabocha for canned pumpkin does not work. This is what I was told, and it’s true. But that doesn’t mean you can’t purée it by adding water and blending.
I know, I know.
I’ll Make It Myself: Kitchen Library – 9.24.2012
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Welcome, new subscribers! I seem to have jumped from 20 email subscribers to 90 over the last week. I would love it if you commented to tell me how you found this blog and what kind of content most interests you–recipes? restaurant reviews? rants? Thank you for reading!
LAST CHANCE – “Fall Flowers of Japan” @ NY Botanical Garden until 10/30/2011
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Carolyn Brooks (Ishikawa-ken, Kanazawa, 2006-11) is co-author of the blog MadSilence–a cross-cultural blog written with her father–and a current culture/education related job-seeker in the NY area available for full-time or consulting work.
Feeling a bit homesick for the full moon, momiji and manju that are signs of fall in Japan? Despair not, for 4 days remain of the wonderful “Fall Flowers of Japan” display at the New York Botanical Garden. It will continue until Sunday, October 30th, 10AM to 6PM, and costs (a completely worthwhile) $20 to see. The main focus of the display is kiku, chrysanthemums. They have dozens of varieties to see, including traditional shapes and colors from Japan trained into waterfalls or bridges, and new strains bred in American which look like bird’s nests and exploding stars.
These mums were bigger than a grapefruit, and were so glossy and translucent that they should be made of spun sugar!
