Donabe(土鍋)

 I'd been eyeing the donabe available at my local grocery store and finally caved and bought a smaller one to play around with before committing to something bigger or fancier. It's pretty cute, and a good fit for bibimbap!

A donabe, or whatever you want to call it as, like many things, there are a lot of names available, is basically just a clay pot that you can use cooking directly on the stove/over fire. Donabe is literally 土(do)- earth/clayware and 鍋(nabe)- a pot for cooking in.

Similar to with hagi or any porous clayware used for consumables, it's best to boil a new donabe in water for a couple hours and allow to completely dry before using. This basically helps remove any dust or  any other unwanted things that can effect taste that might have accumulated within the piece from storage/packaging.

Now ready to use, some basic precautions should be followed:
1) Avoid heating a clay pot when empty.
2) Increase the heat gradually. It needs to warm up slowly to prevent cracking.
3) Make sure the outside(which is typically porous, unlike the glazed interior) is completely dry before heating.

Donabe come in a variety of sizes and styles, some even with predetermined uses(ex. one made especially for steaming) in mind. While I've yet to play too much with mine, they're good for pretty much everything from cooking rice to noodle and hotpot dishes, stews, and just about anything you cook with a pot! I've even heard them being used for casseroles.

Can't wait to play more!

Shincha 2012

Long time, no post, and it's shincha time again! 

Got my orders in and ready for tasting(from left to right, all shincha varieties: Maiko's Shuppin Gyokuro and two of their Kinari and O-Cha's YM, Aoi, and two of their sakura sencha)

Reviews up soon, in the meantime, a short list of online shops offering shincha:

Maiko

O-Cha

Ippodo

Zencha

Den's Tea 

Break Room Tea

Work has been stressful lately. More hours, twice the actual working, and trying to learn a million new things that totally fall outside the range of my specific position.

So, I finally caved and brought in some proper brewing utensils. My portable gong fu set and a kettle, as opposed to just a tea bottle before. While this does little for the added pressures, it does give me at least thirty minutes a shift just to relax and enjoy a good brew and that's something.

Durian

One woeful thing about living where I currently do is the complete lack of durian outside of a small window around this time of year.

For those of you who are familiar with this fruit you're probably either feeling sympathy for me or have a reflexive look of disgust at the mere mention of it. Durian seems one of those things that elicits rather extreme reactions. Either you love it or you hate it, rarely does there seem much middle ground.

That aside, this post is for those who's reaction to mention of it was confusion, having yet to be acquainted with this spiky fiend. So an introduction, these pictures? Durian.

Durian is a fruit that, like coconuts, grow in trees and are commonly harvested via the good ol' fashion method of waiting for it to fall to the ground. As I've stated already, it's also a fruit with a mixed reputation, largely stemming from its infamous and unmistakable scent.

While I, and many others, find it to be merely a fruity/citrus scent with a bit of an onion undertone, much like the flavor, others will liken it to rot, compost, and other foul smells. Either way it's strong, so much so that in areas in which durian are common(re: Thailand and Malaysia) there are often bans on bringing the fruit in any form on buses, subways, hotels, and other enclosed public areas.

That said, the only way to know for certain how your nose will react would be to give it a whiff! Until then, let's talk cracking them open, health benefits, taste, and use.

One good way to tell when a durian is ripe and good for eating, aside from it's fall from the tree, is that it has a seam. That is, an opening running from end to end. It's with this that you open a durian, simply wedging your fingers on in there, being mindful of the spikes, and pulling it apart(note: though you might still need a knife if yours doesn't open in a way in which all the pod chambers are accessible!).

Inside each durian you'll typically find 1-5 chambers each containing 1-3 pods(those large mushy yellow things in the picture). Inside most, though not always all, pods there will be a seed roughly the side of a shelled walnut and reddish brown in color. These can be eaten via boiling or roasting while the fleshy yellow pod, often with a custard-like consistency, can be eaten fresh, used in baking, frozen for an ice cream like treat or to be used in (soy)milkshakes/smoothies, used to create sauces and soups, (if unripe) used like a veggie in stir fries and the like, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

That said, what does durian taste like? Well, like the scent, different folk's take on it varies. Personally, I think it matches up with the smell, a fruit/citrus taste with a hint of onion and a gushy/pulpy custard-like feel. It's rather enjoyable to slurp, lol, and I enjoy sucking the pulp off the seeds. Om nom nom.

So, given it's mixed reviews, why should you give durian a go? For one, it's rich in fiber, vitamin B, C, and E, iron, protein, and potassium. It also contains tryptophan which is known to alleviate anxiety, depression, and insomnia and all around just make you feel great! That said, one shouldn't eat much more than two pods a day as consuming durian in excess, like most things, can negate any good it might do for you and even be harmful.

Though don't worry too much, so long as you aren't eating large amounts of it every day, durian is more good than bad for you and generally quite tasty!

Ice-brewed Sencha

I've half-way typed up so many posts for here but the heat just puts me in this state of 'don't wanna' and leaves so many things unfinished. So, a post about something cool.

All those flavored iced teas and tisanes are well and good, but for a hot day nothing beats ice-brewed sencha, imo. It's cold, it's sweet, and it's just caffeinated enough to give you a little perk up. No contest.

The only downfall, as with all iced-things, seems to be time. For the best results, use a medium to high quality sencha with nothing but ice(meaning you have to wait for however long it takes the ice to melt). Yet, given my heat-induced state of 'don't wanna' as in 'don't wanna wait that long', I tend to go halfway on the ice.

That is, about 9 grams(you can use less, around 5, if going with just ice) in a 9oz. kyusu. Filled half the pot with ice cubes, then poured cold water to fill the rest, and sat down with a sketchbook and tried to

ignore the slow melt of the ice.

In all, using today's batch for reference, it took about half an hour per steep(two good ones and one 'eh' one), and a brief bout of rain, but came out magical* in taste. Heavily concentrated and without even a trace of bitterness, ice/cold-brewed sencha tends to be very sweet and very refreshing.

That said, I'm sure using my new icy-looking hagi certainly didn't hurt.

*Translation: grassy, sweet in a pleasant non-sugary way, and delivering of a bit of a heady feeling

Octopus Tea

One evening I doodled an octopus drinking tea and then I drew a variety of octopus/tea-related things.

Considered posting them all here or all at my art blog thingie, but then they got a little out of hand and since I plan on adding even more later(re: once my computer stops revolting on every program I try to use), I gave them their own blog.

Enjoy?

Shiboridashi Test Drive