Mid-October, already and no denying it's autumn. One is entitled (required?) to have tea and an indulgent snack in the afternoon from now until spring, right?
Favourite pairings...
black Ceylon tea + ginger cookies
reeeeally black, but not tannic, unsweeted ceylon black tea and juggary
red rooibos tea (with sugar and milk!) and spice cake
green tea and chinese egg custards
jasmine tea and thin, sweet biscuits
earl grey tea and a whole lotta steamed milk and honey
(Ochazuke with Yaki-Onigiri)
I'm going to tell you what you might be thinking as you read through this recipe anyway.... this is seemingly odd combination of mild, punchy, salty and sweet flavours. I agree. But, you know how people are always talking about balancing flavours? There's a lot of complimentary tastes happening here, and a predominently warm, soothing texture. It requires you to perhaps get one or two ingredients that you might not always have in your kitchen, but substitions are welcome. But before we get to that, and in case you're unfamiliar with it, let's say hello to onigiri.
Onigiri are balls of rice made with freshly cooked, starchy, sushi rice or other glutenous, short-grain rice, and they often hide a little treat in the middle. Tuna, seaweed and, as in the case here, omeboshi (pickled plum) paste, are common fillings, and onigiri are often triangular in shape. Here's how to make them and here's why mine are rectangular:
If you are running out to get seaweed, just the right tea or that onigiri mold (wow, you are hardcore) for this recipe, please do get omeboshi paste. I recently wrote about its sharp, deep, briny flavour which I love, and combined with that subtle, warming tea, salty seaweed and those caramalized shallots and scallions...well, you'll have highly pleasurable, balanced spoonfuls in your bowl.
Regardless of the fact that it's a pretty arbitrary point in time, many of us choose New Year's Day to draw a virtual line in the sand. We choose this as a time to improve ourselves, including our health and diet. It doesn't hurt that many of us are coming off the longest eating and drinking bender of the year, also known as "the holidays." I have consumed more cheese than I care to think about, eaten every salty and fried thing in site (that's a year-long tradition I can't escape), and replaced water with wine. I don't want to cleanse, I need to. I feel, in a word, gross.
But that was last year! Look at me now. So healthy. I am 6 hours into the new me and nothing can stop me now.
I'm starting with my go-to breakfast, which includes much more fat than you might expect. I was very skeptical when a friend introduced me to hemp oil, with 14 grams of fat per tablespoon. You can read all about the protein, mineral and, best of all, omega 3 fatty-acids and perfect LA-LNA ratio for yourself. I did. I'm certainly not recommending this or any other supplement to you, I mean, we hardly know each other, how could I? The information was enough for me to include it in my diet, chugged and chased with a gulp of smoothie. Which I then follow with just a little pumpkin seed butter on dense, healthy, whole grain toast. More fat, but more importantly something that is very filling and impressively high in iron. Still, you know I wouldn't consume these if I saw all that fat turning into, well, fat on me, but I find I notice the opposite happens, if you can believe it. Which you will also read about if you look into it.
Lastly, my caffeine fix, and it's a healthy one at that. Matcha green tea remains the thing that kick starts me best in the morning, I actually feel more mentally alert (that phrase really just means "smarter!") when I drink it versus coffee, and yet it doesn't hold me hostage. If I skip it, I may be a touch sleepier but I don't seem to experience any caffeine withdrawal and I love that about it. I hate the headaches that used to come from missing the morning coffee I was hooked on, and matcha was the only thing that let me ease off the need for even a morning green tea, once I weaned myself down to that vice once a day. Plus it requires using a pretty whisk.
If you're hitting "reset" with me too, I have to tell you that while my version will include so little wine in the next month that I want to stare out the window at the grey sky and wonder "what is it all for...", I'm not being totally strict about this cleanse. I'm making exceptions to bring you a cheese soufflé recipe this weekend, because I would never sit on something as glorious as that and not share it with you ASAP. Never. So cleanse 2011, includes a light dusting of cheese. Here we go!
the talk this time of year is all about bunnies and chicks, but i prefer elephants, specifically auspicious ones with their trunks raised. definitely porcelain ones filled with good tea.
happy (chilly) weekend, everyone.
i jump on the bandwagon of a lot of holidays, just to partake in the aspects that involve food. usually i like the excuse to plan large feasts and drink too much with family and friends. but this easter it was all the talk of naturally dyed easter eggs that excited me. tamra davis used onion skins to dye her eggs and a friend linked to the kitchn's method that used tea, spices and vegetables to dye eggs, resulting in different colours depending on if you use brown or white eggs. i used both, and the purple cabbage did indeed turn brown eggs green and white eggs blue. i used red tea for another dye, turmeric for the third, and a combo of the blue cabbage dye and turmeric to try to get to green--didn't really work but perhaps if my dyes were stronger. i added a splash of vinegar and stuck them in the fridge to set...
but i sort of went out for the rest of the day and left my eggs in vinegar water for, oh, about 10 hours too long. they probably need just a couple of hours for the colour to set, and while mine looked vibrant when they first came out, the colour and a thin layer of the shell wiped right off--i think the vinegar eroded the shell.
so i ended up with pale pastel shells which were still pretty. and still tasty on a mustard-y arugula and fried potato salad for lunch.
even my late-night snack is seeing red as i watch canada take another medal at the olympics. red rooibos and my mom's homemade cayenne pepper nuts are just the thing. after all that red wine of course. just doing my part to support. (go canada, go!)
