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Vegan Rice Cupcakes

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Just discovered this cupcake recipe for my vegan (I’m not) friends with the extra bonus of possible variations!

Japanese style vegan rice cupaakes!

INGREDIENTS: For 1 mug cup (arrange quantities accordingly for a greater number)

-Rice powder (Ris Blanc): 4 tablespoons
-Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon
-Sugar (of your choice, honey might be feasible): 1 tablespoon
-Baking Powder: Half a teaspoon
-Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
-Soy milk: 4 tablespoons

RECIPE:

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-In an oven ramequin or mug cup first pour rice powder, cornstarch, sugar and baking powder and mix well.
Next add olive oil and soy milk and mix well.

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-Depending on the kind of rce powder and soy milk you use, you may have to increase the amount of one or both for a smoother mixture. Experiment!

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-Cook insid emicrowave for 2 minutes or more. Check by pushing a thin wooden or meddle stick. It should come out clean. The taste is light. You may add sugar.

-Have a good look at the cake while it cooks. It should not be more than 2 minutes 30 seconds.
If you use kabocha powder, you will need 1 small teaspoon plus 1 teaspoon of water.

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-The above green cupcake was made by adding 1 teaspoon of spinach powder and 1 teaspoon of soy milk!

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-Add 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of soy milk for a cocoa cupcake!

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-Add 1 tablespoon of carrot powder and 1 teaspoon of soy milk for a carrot cupcake.

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-Add crushed apple for the above!

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Vegan Tofu Lemon Cupcakes

VEGAN-TOFU-LEMON-CUPCAKE

This is a slightly different version of the Japanese style vegan tofu cupcake I introduced a couple of days ago. It will give you an idea of how to play on that idea!

INGREDIENTS: For about 16 cakes

-Tofu (kinu tofu): 180 g
-Sugar (of your choice): 80 g
-Soy milk: 3 tablespoons
-Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
-Olive oil: 2 tablespoons

-Flour (use chestnut flour if you are wheat allergic): 160 g
-Baking powder: 2 teaspoons

-Grated lemon skin: 1 whole lemon
-Dried English tea leaves, finely chopped ( the contents of 1 tea bag is adequate)

RECIPE:

-Mix flour and baking powder well.
Mix soy milk and lemon juice separately and and set apart.

-In a large bowl drop in the tofu and sugar. Mix well until you obtain a smooth paste. Add the soy milk, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix the lot thoroughly with a whisker.

-Add the all flour and baking powder mixture and mix in with a spatula until floury lumps have disappeared, but don’t mix too much!

-Pour mixture into cups and sprinkle them with grated lemon skin and dried tea.

-Bake inside oven for 16 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius.
If you make mini cupcakes, 12 minutes should sufficient.
keep looking at the colour of your cupcakes!

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Matcha Tofu Muffins

MATCHA-TOFU-MUFFIN

Tofu and Matcha tea are considered for good reasons as health food here in Japan.
They can also be combinedinto a very European/American style cake: Muffins!

INGREDIENTS: For about 6 muffins

-Tofu (kinu tofu): 150 g (no need to press waterout)
-Egg: 1
-Wheat (use one of your preference): 4 tablespoons
-Cornstarch: 2 tablespoons
-Cream powder: 2 tablespoons
-Sugar: 3 tablespoons
-Matcha tea powder: one and a half tablespoons
-Butter: 15 g
-Baking powder: 1 teaspoon

RECIPE:

-Melt butter inside microwave oven.
Take out and pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

-Drop all ingredients inside a food processor and process until you obtain a smooth mixture.

-Fill muffin cups with mixture up to nine tenths height.
(Pouring the whole lot in an oiled/buttered pound cake mold is fine, too)

-Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes (Check colour as all ovens have their own “character”)

-Let them cool completely.
If you don’t eat them at once, wrap them in cellophane paper and leave inside refrigerator or in a very dry box.

Best enjoyed with tea? LOL

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Baked Tofu Cheese Cake

BAKED-TOFU-CHEESE-CAKE

One way to lighten your cheese cake and invest into a new taste is to introduce tofu!

Here is a simple recipe that will please anyone woorying about unwanted calories:
Baked Tofu Cheese Cake!

INGREDIENTS:

-Cream Cheese (Philadelphia): 230 g
-Tofu (kinu tofu): 200g (before pressing water out)
-Sugar: 70g (of your choice)
-Eggs: 2
-Vanilla bean pod: 1 (small) (if not available use vanilla essence)
-Soy milk: a little
-Flour: 2 tablespoons (flour of any kind is fine)
-Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon
-Biscuits (crushed to form a solid base under the cheese cake/optional)

RECIPE:

-Line the bottom of a oven cake mold with a layer of crushed biscuit.
You may do without it but it will help absorb excess water from tofu.

-Soften cream cheese to room temperature (you may warm it a bit inside a microwave oven) and mix with sugar.

-Once the cheese and sugar misture has become smooth, add the tofu by crushing it between your palms, addd the whole eggs and mix well with an eletric whisker until you obtain a smooth mixture.

-Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and extract the inside (or use vanilla essence), mix it with some soy milk and add to the mixture. Mix well.

-The last three steps may be done with a food processor, but mixing all ingredients one by one give you a “right feel”!

-Pour the mixture inside the mold over the biscuit layer and flatten the surface with a spatula.

-Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for 50 minutes r until you have obtained the right colour and a raising mound in the middle.

-If the colour even then is too white, raise temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for 10 more minutes.

-Let cake completely cool down.
Only then may you take it out of its mold and leave it inside the refrigerator overnight before eating it.

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’09/71): PC Crash Bento 2

BENTO-09-11-02a

As of November 2nd, the Kojima Company had not called me back yet to announce that my laptop was finally ready for me to collect. I had been without it for 11 days by then and for all the time suddenly found to write and read, I was really beginning to suffer from hi-tec retrieval!

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I had requested the Missus to prepare a musubi/rice balls bento that time.
She came up with four different balls:

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-One with Japanese-style pickled cucumber
-One with hijiki/sweet seaweed, sesame seeds and cheese
-One with pickled ginger and sesame seeds
-And the last one with umeboshi/Japanese pickled plums.

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The tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette was of the plain variety. Just sweet enough.

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As for the salad/dessert side dish she rolled wedges of jiro kaki/squat persimmon inside raw ham and place dthem over a bed of lettuce, cress, walnuts and black olives.

Very healthy!

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Vegan Tofu Cupcakes

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Cupcakes are the norm all over the world when it comes to bakery and tofu is a must for vegans.
Now, it is possible to make very simple cupcakes for vegans!
Wheat flour allergics can replace the wheat flour with chestnut flour like the Corsicans and Portguese do in their traditional food!
This is only the basic recipe to which you can add fruits and vegetables!

Vegan Tofu Cupcakes!

INGREDIENTS: For 5~6 cupcakes

-Tofu (kinu toufu): 300 g
-All-purpose flour (for substitutes, read above): 100 g
-Sugar (white, cane, or even honey): 30 g

RECIPE:

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-Get ingrediens ready and pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

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-Mix tofu and sugar. Mix well.

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-Sprinkle flour over tofu and mix roughly so as to leave a little flour on the surface.

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-Bake for 25~30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius or until desired colour.

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-Dead simple, aren’t they?
Now your skills will reside in what you add!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’09/70): PC Crash Bento 1

BENTO-09-10-26a

My PC (laptop) having crashed for the third time in the last four years, these bento reports are a bit late. This one was due on October 26th!
The PC being brand new at the time I purchased it and still has great speed. I’m reluctant to part from it, but I might soon be forced into a painful reconversion (Microsoft to Mac?).

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Therefore I will call this particular lunch box the “PC Crash Bento 1”!
The same bento was consumed on a heavy rainy day to compound my misery, but I must say the meal lifted my spirits somewhat!

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For all her grumpiness on that day, the Missus did not disappoint me:
After steaming the rice, she mixed it with hijiki/sweet seaweed, green peas and roasted sesame seeds.

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As for the garnish, it came in all kinds of ingredients and colours:
She deep-fried (shallow-fried would be a more precise term) pork fillets sticks she had dipped in batter and then coated with broken fried soba (the soba was purchased fried, then dried and cold in package). She placed the pork atop lettuce and shredded greens.
Hand-made pickles (carrots, ginger, pimento) were added for the vinegary part.
Fresh plum tomatoes for the Vitamin C and the decorative note.
She boiled a few “sato imo”, a kind of sweet tuber typical of Japan. After peeling them, she fried them for a while in sweet sauce and seasoned them with black sesame seeds. Finally, a slice of orange for the finishing touch.

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The dessert consisted of jiro kaki/squat persimmon wedges grown in Shizuoka and mini red-haert kiwi fruit, also grown locally.

Certainly a hearty lunch!

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Tofu & Chicken stuffed Green Peppers

TOOFU-CHICKEN-PIMAN

Tofu when mixed with other ingredients opens a door on an infinite number of easy recipes!

Here is a very simple Japanes-style snack:
Tofu & Chicken stuffed Green Peppers!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 people

-Green peppers: 6
-Kinu tofu: 400 g
-Minced chicken: 175 g
-Japanese Sake: 1 tablespoon
-Soy sauce: 2 teaspoons
-Cheese powder: 1 tablespoon
-Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
-Black or white pepper: to taste
-Cornstarch: a small amount according to preferences

RECIPE:

-Leave a weight on top of the tofu to drain water and reduce it about two thirds of its volume.
-Wash the green peppers, cut in halves and wipe off humidity.
-In a bowl drop the tofu and minced chicken. Mix well by hand until you obtain a soft smooth paste.
-Add Japanese sake, cheese powder, salt and pepper and mix well.
Sprinkle insides of peppers with cornstach and fill each pepper half with tofu/chicken mixture.
-Place on oven plate and cook at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Serve with a little salt or soy sauce.

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Gastronomic Destinations: New Caledonia (’09/09-3)

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Ilot des Canards/Duck-canard Islet

New Caledonia ofers many escapes within short distances.
One of mine (and the Missus’) is a small islnad only 15 minutes away by boat from Noumea called Ilot (or Ile) des canards/Ducks Islet.
if you have your own boat (a yacht wouldn’t be able to find deep enough water to stop there) wind sail board or kayak you could reach the place quickly enough.
For pedestrians, go to Colleen Excursions (Tel.: 28-33-58) in Anse Vata Bay where you can book a boat across the lagoon for 1,000 Pacific Francs (return ticket)/12 US $.

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The sland is worthe the vist (daytime only) for many reasons:
Originally copmpletely desert, a French-japanese couple obtained the license to develop it.
Not ony did they build a restarant wih seats and parasols there, they also planted trees and plants form New caledonia, thus ceating a new environment while protecting and furthering native nature.
The birds have come back and even “fight off” tourists away from their nests!

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Enjoying local beer on an empty stomach…

The restaurant offers healthy and plentiful fare in a great natuaral enironment away but still within a short distance of civilization.

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Salade de Crudites/Vegetables Salad

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Venison Grill Salad

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The staff are all recruited from the locals who are very warm and friendly.
One can rent cahairs and parasols (bring your own parasol if you don’t want to spend the money as it can be pretty hot!)

A great day off away from the crowd (that is, in the off sason!)

ILOT CANARD, PLAGE LOISIRS
Tel.: 46-92-84
(Call to check day off)
Credit cards not accepted

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Gastronomic Destinations: New Caledonia (‘09/09-2)

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Ile des canards seen from Noumea, Anse Vata Bay

new caledonia is our regular destination when when we find the the time to escape from Japan for a short vacance.
being blessed with sun, sea and great food, be it French or “ethnic” of all kinds, it also offers some of the best natural water in the Pacific Ocean!

I’m not tired of repeating it, a benediction for beer Brewers and beer lovers!

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There are three distinct microbreweries in New Caledonia:
The first one, 3 Brasseurs, is actually a branch of a great microbrewery in France, but it uses only local water and thus can be considered a true New Caledonian mkicrobrewery!
It not only offers a range of four different beers, all made from pure malt and hops, unpasteurized and unfiltered:
Blonde (lager), Ambree (red ale), Scotch (porter) and Blanche (weizen)
sampling their tasting set is simply a must!

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New Caledonia lobsters!

But they also include a restaurant upstairs where you can eat all typical Alsatian Cuisine, Southern French Cuisine, and other typical French specialties:

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Mussles and fried potatoes, which is a belgian specialty actually!

On the first floor, you can either enjoy a drink at the pub or on a terrace.
Check their special band music nights!

3 Brasseurs
Centre Commercial de la Baie des Citrons, Noumea, Nouvelle Caledonie
Tel.: (687)241510

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Gastronomic Destinations: New Caledonia (’09/09-1)

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View of Noumea from Ile des Canards

Travelling to New Caledonia can easily become a thirsty venture!
Even in “Spring” (September), temperatures can uickly soar over 25 degrees in the shade, meaning at least 10 more in the sun!

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Number 1 Beer and havannah Beer at Le Fun Beach

New Caledonia is not only blessed with sun, sea and great food, but it also offers some of the best natural water in the Pacific Ocean!
No wonder this island has been settled for millennia as the water is slowly filtered through rocks before to gush out at the feet of pretty high (over 2,000 metres in some cases) for such a small island!
A benediction for beer Brewers and beer lovers!

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Tuna Salad at le Fun Beach

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Roast Beef salad at Le Fun Beach.

There are many restaurants in Noumearemisniscent of Southern France. Actually the Caucasian population is mainly from Southern France and Corsica.
Food in such restaurants is very healthy although a missing a little spice. Sauces and vinaigrettes are light in particular.
There are exceptions I will mention in my next posting!

LE FUN BEACH
Promenade R. Laroque, Noumea, New caledonia/Nouvelle Caledonie
Tel: 263132
Credit cards OK
Great View on Anse vata Beach and Bay
Lunch and Dinner

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Sushi and Sashimi: Eat Local!

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Saurel pike/Aji from Suruga Bay, Shizuoka Prefecture

Very few people will disagree with the notion that Japan is the ideal place to discover and savour sushi and sashimi in the whole world. Nevertheless, there are a few rules of the thumb to respect even in this gastronomic paradise.
The overriding rule is that you should try and eat only local fish or seafood.
Tsukiji might be considered a sushi paradise by Tokyoites, but the cheap prices enjoyed by tourists cannot conceal the reality: the fish and seafood are “imported” from all over Japan and beyond!
More than often, Edomae (Tokyo) sushi is nothing but a clever way to “dress up” ingredients to lure officionados (and customers) into believing they are eating top quality sushi (with the consequent prices).
Now, if you have the chance and time to explore Japan beyond Tokyo, you will discover an unfathomable treasure trove of gastronomic pleasure and knowledge!
After all, this country is a vast archipelago stretched across greatly different seas and climates, making for a diversity difficult to equal.
So, even if you cannot possibly explore all the shores of this nation, make a point to learn about the food available wherever you choose to stay.
The same goes for residents, not only for their own sake, but for that of their visitors and friends!

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Sushi set with fish all caught in Suruga Bay, Shizuoka Prefecture

You also ought to do some homework. Sushi chefs worthy of their salt will be only too happy to answer questions to genuinely interested customers and come up with revelations of their own.
As an example to illustrate the need for some basic knowledge, in Hokkaido “oyakodon” is not cooked chicken and omelette on a bowl of rice, but raw salmon and its roe spread on top the same bowl of rice!
Likewise, the same fish will more than often be sold under a myriad of names.
Many morsels will not be found anywhere else as “sakura ebi/cherry shrimps” and fresh”shirasu/sardine whiting” in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Sashimi in most cases has to be perfectly fresh as typified by “kubiore saba” in Yakushima Island where fishermen break the neck (“kubiore”) of mackerels (“saba”) to preserve their quality upon catching. The same fish will be served within a few hours, or less, on the local tables.
On the other hand, tuna sashimi is best consumed after ripening for a few days in a refrigerator.
In Hokkaido, large shrimps, especially “botan ebi” will be served only raw, whereas “kuruma ebi” will be first boiled in other regions.

If you ask for “tataki”, make sure it means the whole fish, especially “aji/mackerel pike” that will be served finely cut as tartare atop the dressed fish.

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Flying Fish/Tobiuo sashimi from Yakushima Island

On the other hand, sushi follows different rules.
Fish and seafood placed on “donburi” (bowl) are usually of the freshly brought variety but fish served as nigiri is prepared in a different way.
The greatest sushi (and this cannot be done in Tsukiji!) are made with fish which has been gutted and cleaned live within seconds, then dressed into strips/fillets left to mature in a refrigerator on clean cloth/kitchen paper. This can be done only with fish caught locally!
The same obviously goes with shellfish and other marine ceatures: One cannot sample better “uni/sea urchin” away from Hokkaido or sakura ebi from Shizuoka.

Vegan and vegetarians, upon finding a restaurant willing to satisfy their priorities should also ask for food grown locally, a search easier than one might think at first as there are many non-meat eaters in this mainly Budhist country.
The same vegetables will make for the perfect combination when associated with local fish!

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Vegan Tea Buckwheat Noodles: “Tya-soba”

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Shizuoka Prefecture is celebrated for its green tea all the World.
I had the pleasure to taste something of value for many recently.
Vegeterians (and vegans!), rejoice! A company called Ikejima Foods in Hamakita Ku, Hamamatsu City has come up with Tea Buckwheat Noodles/Tya-soba!.
Tea comes from the Kawane area which produces some of the best tea in the Prefecture.
The noodles contain no preservatives and neither the noodles, nor the tsuyu/soup contains any animal extracts whatsoever (no milk or egg products).
One pack contains enough for 4 small or 2 medium portions.

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As for cooking, here are simple instructions:
Cold Noodles style:
Dilute tsuyu/soup in 100 ml of clean water.
In one big pan heat 2 litres of water. Bring to boiling point. Drop in noodles. Lower fire to samll. Stir with long chopsticks. The noodles are ready when they readily come to the surface. Wash them rapidly under running cold water inside a “zaru”/small basket or inside a bowl full of cold water until noodles are cool enough. Drain water and place on a flat dish over a bamboo net if possible. Eat noodles by dipping them in tsuyu/soup to which you can add freshly cut raw leeks and wasabi (or any spices you fancy!)

Hot noodles style:
Dilute tsuyu/soup into 230 ml of hot water.
Cook noodles as for cold style. Drain and drop into bowl full of tsuyu/soup. Add vegetables, freshly cut raw leeks and spices to taste.

“Meicha Soba”
Ikejima Foods
Hamamatsu City, Hamakita Ku, Terajima, 2351
Tel.: 053-587-1025

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(Great) Sex before (Great) Food, or (Great) Food Before (Great) Sex?

PALADINO-1

How many times have I read and seen (on screens!) about those great meals being the preamble to great love?
I’ve always wondered about the truth, if not the feasibility, of such perfection…

Now, I fully understand the risks of posting an article on this somewhat contentious issue:
-“He’s doing this to get more views…”
-Some spammers will not resist from jumping on the bandwagon. They’ll be disappointed!
-Some bloggers with overriding precepts will complain (loudly)…
I hope I will not have to erase too many comments! LOL

GIONO-5

In spite of my “maturity”, I enjoy (relatively) good health and endeavour to enjoy my life to the full.
But there are limits.
The Romans might have developped the right way by eating and making love on the same couch, but knowing how these orgies (have you checked the real meaning of this word?) ended up in later years, I’m not really convinced.
Honestly speaking, have you tried and reaaaaallllllyyyy appreciated sex with a full stomach and a swirling head?

Many of us do have to consider inescapable issues:
At some time of our lives we were brainwashed into thinking that sex should occur at night (Shut those lights down, will you?).
The hippies had it right in 1960’s as they were aking love when and where they wanted. That is, until they settled into comfortable lives…
On the other hand, nights ar no longer the frightful period of of your daily life as in the Mddle Ages when humans had to comfort each other.

UZU-4

One overriding reason for avoiding sex afer a great meal is that strenuous physical exercise after consuming a good amount of food and drink is fraught with high health risks, whatever our age. Ask the doctors!

Now, if you need a more prosaic excuse, have you ever realized that, unless you had a good scrub and plenty of perfume beforehand, how you and your spouse/partner/lover look and smell after ingesting a significant volume of food and drink, whatever the quality of the latter?

TOFU-CARPACCIO

The French might have it right with their “demon de midi/noon demon”, meaning that mature people will skip lunch in favour of (sometimes illicit) sex.

-“But I’m too busy working in day time!” you will say.
There is a solution to that:
Share that great food early enough, settle down for a long contented moment to allow your body metabolism to recuperate (keep talking, don’t doze off!)
Why do you think the “digestif” was invented for?

I just read an interesting survey held by this week’s “L’Express” magazine, which says that, among other data, 61% of ladies attach great importance to a shared meal against 46% of gentlemen before eventual sexual relations!

CERISE-2

Ladies do seem to prefer sex after a great dinner (or a great drink), or at least at night when they can doze off inside their loved one’s arms (who am I to say that?) ….

But women can suddenly wake up with strong yearnings.
Have you ever heard this (allegedly true) story about Napoleon and Josephine:
The Emperor’s first wife was a notoriously highly sexed inividual.
One night she could not wake up her illustrious spouse to assume his marital duties.
She got up and took a piece of particularly pungent cheese from a tray on the bedroom table and brought it under Napoelon’s nose.
The Emperor, not bothering to open an eye, muttered:
-“Soory, not tonight, Josephine!”
When sex can be associated with food…

My own recommendation/preference?
The “noon demon”, of course! LOL

NOTE:
The food and drink depicted in this article have no aphrodisiac properties whatsoever!
Sorry to disappoint those who expected sausages and meatballs!

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Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Tea as Food!

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(from top middle, clockwise: Salted Cuttle fish marinated in tea leaves and rice yeast, conger eel pike and urchin in green tea jellied fish broth, tea leaves walnut tofu curd, tuna simmered in green tea with tea leaves dumpling cake, matsutake mushroom cooked in tea leaves)

Tea is mainly known as a drink all over the World in spite of puddings and a limited variety of desserts made with red or green tea.
Shizuoka Prefecture where more than 50% of all green tea in Japan has witnessed some gastronomic research by local chefs of all leanings and events have regularly been organised to share the information and skills.

Fugetsuro is one of the restaurants in Shizuka holding such welcome events:

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Above is a view of a dinner Mr. Hitoshi Yamada, Master Chef at Fugetsuro was asked to design for some 120 guests with the overriding concept that tea must be included in all dishes.

Including the first dish described above, the menu ran as follows (I let you judge!)
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Raw fish assortment: Tuna, seabream, sole, seasoned with fresh tea, edible flowers, salt and soy sauce.

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Surugani: tea sob/buckwheat noodles, seabream cooked in whole rice, “kouyou” carrot, tea leaves.

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Oven-baked black pork seasoned with tea, five color vegetables, tea sauce.

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Tofu bean curd and whole rice Pouch, deep-fried tea leaves. Seasoned with
“macha” tea salt.

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Autumn salmon marinate in seaweed and tea, yuuba/bean curd sheet. Seasoned with golden vinegar.

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Tea rice, salmon roe, soup.

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Persimmon, grape, “macha” tea Bavarois, green tea cube jelly.

Fugetsurou
420-0852 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Koya Machi, 11-1
Tel.: 054-2526500
Fax: 054-2528411
Homepage (Japanese)

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Tokyo Terrace
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Chrys Niles
Comestilblog
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Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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日本語のブログ
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