Love the Future 愛未来 - Ai Weiwei 艾未未

Ai Weiwei - Never Sorry.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alisonklayman/ai-weiwei-never-sorry
Artists must have the freedom of expression.
The artist is detained, but the artwork still travels. 


My humble homage to the artist -love the future.

Tsuru T-shirts - Benefiting the recent Japan Earthquake

From my co-worker Abby who is doing her part to be a good citizen of the world community!

Hello!

I’ve been working on a non-profit t-shirt company for a while now and we finally have our very 1st t-shirt printed!

While the organization is still a work in progress because we don’t have shirts for other causes yet, you can now purchase our Tsuru t-shirt benefiting the recent Japan disaster. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to IMC (International Medical Corps: http://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org/ ) which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through health care training and relief and development programs for emergency relief.

Shirts can be purchased online here: http://ohmy.bigcartel.com/product/tsuru (unfortunately, sizes are limited due to printing budget constraints)

You can also learn more about the organization through our general web link: http://ohmyshirts.org/

Additionally, we are always welcoming t-shirt designs for the other causes listed on our site. Please pass our web link along to anyone who might be interested in designing for a good cause.

Thanks!

Abby

The Chocolate Test

Years ago, when I was soooo in "love" with my French boyfriend, I became quite enamored with many things French along with him. Macarons de Paris from Dalloyau, crisp Sancerre wine from the Loire Valley, goose rillettes, tea from Mariage Freres and last but not least, really GOOD chocolate. 

So now with the macaron craze here in the States (and still earlier in Japan), macarons de Paris is no longer a novelty. Over the years, I discovered that I no longer enjoy Dalloyau as much.(My current favorite macaron is from Pierre Herme -the rose flavored one is incredible!) 

I still enjoy Mariage Freres (Earl Grey Silver tips being my Earl Grey of choice), but with tea, I have always been fickle. I explore teas from various purveyors and find that the more I try, the more chances to discover wonderful surprises.

I always wondered whether my opinion of chocolate bars from Bonnat would stand the test of time. I decided I should give it a go with some taste-testing! 

So internet shopping I did go! (I heard that Bonnat had a falling out with their U.S. distributor so it's now more of a challenge to find)

Bonnat is just as I remembered it!  Dark and pure with complex flavors!

This time around, I did compare with other high quality chocolates such as Valhorna. Even then, Bonnat came out the winner. 

All I can say that this wasn't a nostalgic sense of good, but the real thing!

Bonnat is still my favorite pure chocolate goodness! And for that, vive la France!

KCRW Global Street Food Event at the Broad Stage

My sister's birthday present to me this year was a ticket to the Global Street Food event hosted by Evan Kleinman of the Good Food Show on KCRW.  (She couldn't find any reasonably priced tickets to the L.A. Phil with Gustavo Dudamel)

She's also been curious as she's been missing out on the Food Truck trend living out in the 'burbs. This of course kills two birds with one stone. A nice b-day present that I won't resent spending sister time with (sort of...) and her being able to try different foods sans a picky 11 year old son (my nephew) without whining or complaining. (she wisely left the kid with her hubby.)

As interesting as the panel/lecture was, the true calling was from the Food Trucks on hand that day.

Firmly grasping my food voucher coupons, we decided that the first truck to hit would be India Jones Chow Truck.

I was not disappointed!   

The butter chicken was YUM!

But the hands down BEST of the BEST had to be the shrimp taco from Marisco Jalisco!

Scallops in miso butter glaze

I normally wouldn't do a miso glaze, but today, I was inspired. Scallops, pan fried in butter with miso and deglazed with equal portions of a nice Cotes du Rhone and sake.  Too lazy to plate separately, I served it donburi style (over rice).

Artisanal L.A.

I stopped by at Artisanal L.A.'s spring show last weekend.
(A happy accident in finding a re-tweet from McCall's Meat & Fish.)

Not so subliminal messaging?

Chicken Pot Pie! The reason I came!!

  

Homemade Graham Crackers!

Shortbreads!

the most AAHSOME FUDGE I've had!
(and I normally hate fudge)

Caramel from Le Bon Garcon! Tres tres bon!

Laura Ann's Jams! About as local as it can get!

Dinner 4/17

Scottish Salmon

Le Bon Garcon Caramels

YUM!

Don't expect me to share! 

Strawberry Season

If only we had strawberries that didn't disappoint us!

As with most strawberries I find here in Southern California, my last purchase was far too hard, with barely any fragrance or sweetness one expects from fresh strawberries.  I guess the farmers pick these varieties to be hardy enough for transport across the country.

Well, one can always make strawberry sauce!

I know David Tanis wrote in his cookbook that strawberries go nicely with roses as they are botanically related.  Let's put that to the test!  I happened to have some Rose Tea on hand.....

I've picked out just the dried rose petals, and added it to my strawberries simmering in a saucepan.

The results?  YUM! Excellent on vanilla ice cream!

A month of cooking

For about 2 weeks from the day the earthquake/tsunami hit Japan, I had been anxiously watching the Japanese news via television and internet. There was 24/7 coverage and live feeds from NHK and TBS.

In a bizarre and absurd way to cope, I started to cook. It was to pass the time and feel useful and to appreciate what we have.

My chocolate sauce endeavors started just before all the chaos, but it continued with me throughout the month, if only to drop it off to taste tester friends and have chance to chat.

another batch infused with red wine

a test batch of wine infused truffles

vegetarian sushi

Pasta with Rapini and Guanciale

I also indulged in frequent cups of tea - as my friend's mum used to say, "Put the kettle on and we'll have a nice cuppa and a chat."

And so a month has passed, and Japan is only beginning to cope. The country still shakes with aftershocks, but life must resume and we must not be swayed by gloom and doom sensationalist news.

Resilience - Sakura Project-Last day for Japan Earthquake Relief Give-away

Chika's fundraising give-away closes today West Coast Time around midnight.

Please consider donating/signing up for the Japan Earthquake Relief. 

In keeping with the theme of Sakura (cherry blossoms),  I made a Sakura panna cotta. I did spy panna cotta on Chika's blog, but I've decided to change it up a bit. (Partially because the strawberries in California are....mediocre at best, and more like, I just don't do rhubarb)

I also have to admit that cherry blossom flavoring and cherry leaf flavoring is really really powerful, and a bit overwhelming at times. However, used sparingly, the fragrance can be just as subtle and sweet as an orchard full of blooming trees.  

In my panna cotta, I've infused a cherry tea from Lupicia Tea called Cerisier to the milk/cream mixture.

This tea is quite sweet and fragrant, more of cherries than of cherry blossom. Just the way I like it!

I contemplated what type of sugar to use to flavor the cream. 
Brown sugar would be too overwhelming, granulated sugar would be too straight forward in the sweetness, and honey would be just too cloying.

I decided to use wasanbon in keeping with the Japanese theme of this no-longer just Italian dessert. 

For the sakura component, I made a sauce from salt-cured cherry blossoms (Sakura no shio zuke) and a little bit of raspberry champagne jelly from Robert Lambert. 

The hint of raspberry really brings out the cherry and cherry blossom notes!

Hope - Sakura Project

My friend Chika of She Who Eats, has updated her blog in regards to her Japan Disaster Fund Raising Project.

As Chika mentions in her blog, green tea powder (matcha) pairs beautifully with sakura desserts and she is planning on including it (a really nice one from Kyoto!) with one of her give-away sets.

By coincidence, I had baked a marbled tea cake last night with my stockpile of matcha that I brought back from Japan last year.

I still need to tweak my technique on marbling, but the bittersweet matcha is definitely a nice contrast to the vanilla based cake.

Ganbare Nippon!

Stirred - Japan Earthquake Relief with Sakura

Food Blogger and good friend Chika has started a Fund Raising Campaign for the massive earthquake and tsunamis that hit Japan.

The devastation is so extensive that help will be needed for both immediate relief and long term re-building of lives. If you are able to, please make a difference by donating.

For those of you who have asked about my family, thank you.
Most are in Tokyo and they are all accounted for.

In keeping with Chika's theme, I will be posting (more regularly) with Sakura (cherry blossom) related notes and recipes. Last night, I made Hoji-cha Biscotti with Cherry Blossoms. I was inspired by re-reading her blog entry from last spring, and yes, I had these ingredients on hand. :-)

Salt's Cure - My new favorite place