cook

I am in San Francisco doing several food events. One that we just finished on May 28 is a dinner at Tartine, themed around Koji - fermented rice. We "kojiied" so many foods - we used it to marinate beef, veggies, fish, even the daikon garnish of my soba. 

I made 120 servings of soba - a record. I had Lori, one of the bakers from Bar Tartine, help me knead the dough so I managed to produce stable noodles. Pretty happy with the result and it was a sell out night. Several reviews came out of SF Chronicle.   Here is the first one.

I have been working in the bay area since the beginnning of the year, teaching soba and doing events at Google to introduce Japanese rice.  I have also preparing for a koji event at Bar Tartine, one of my friend restaurants in the Bay area. The koji themed dinner is happening on May 28.  Here is a story that came out about Koji. 

http://www.sfchronicle.com/recipes/article/Traditional-Japanese-koji-turns-into-versatile-4526837.php#src=fb

Blood orange is one of my favorite citrus fruit.  I love its bright ruby color and the sweet orange flavor.  The season is not very long so I buy dozens, and use them to make juice and sometimes to make jellies.  

At the recent soba workshop in San Francisco Cooking School, I introduced blood orange agar agar dessert.  I love this dessert because agar agar jellies are simple to make, and so refreshing.  I make this with different types of fruit purees and juices.  Citrus fruit in the winter, strawberries in the spring, stone fruits and berries in the summer, and persimmon in the fall.  I can have colorful seasonal desserts all year round.

Recipe:

400 ml Fruit puree or juice (blood orange, persimmons, pineapple, strawberries, any seasonal fruit – one or a combination of fruits)

2-2 gram bag of Agar Agar (Kanten Powder)

4 tbls cane sugar to taste 100 ml boiling water Mint for garnish Sauce (optional)

Mint

Instructions:

Combine the agar agar powder and sugar in the boiling water and mix well. Add the puree or juice and continue mixing for a minute. Pour the mixture into a mold. Refrigerate.  Garnish the jelly with mint and serve.

Today, I counted 21 wild parrots on my neighbor's maple tree.  I  meet the wild flock up close during the last week of our year in Pasadena.  We are moving to Highland Park.  The parrots' screaming voices wake you up in the morning like a noisy dream. In the afternoon, you hear them again, but it's more of a yearning to get home, wherever that maybe.  They remind of me of the crows in Japan and how my mother used to sing crow song whenever she saw a flock.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Fall has come to LA and it is still lingering.  I spent the month of November exploring Hachiya Persimmons - a fruit that I didn't care for as a child.

I loved to look at persimmon trees especially in the autumn when the leaves change bright red. My mother would make pressed salmon sushi wrapped in those beautiful crismon color leaves. But I didn't look forward to eating any type of persimmon. It was a common tree, like an orange or lemon tree is in Los Angeles. We took the persimmon for granted and when my mother served wedges of persimmon as dessert instead of a pear on an apple, I wouldn't eat it because I didn't like the flavor. It reminded me of the tropical fruits like mango and papaya that I didn't care for while living in Mexico.  My mother told us that persimmon was the only fruit available to eat during the war. She and my uncle would climb neighbors' persimmon trees to steal the fruit, and sometimes they got into trouble.

Palates can change over time. I am now completely hooked on persimmon and it happened this year. I had encounters with the most deliciously ripe Hachiya persimmon, gelatinous and floral in fragrance, and the sweetest crispiest Fuyu persimmon; I also discovered Chocolate persimmon - that has a brownish meat. It tasted similar to Fuyu - crispy and refreshing.  I became hooked on persimmons, so much so that I decided to even take a hoshigaki -dried persimmon workshop so I can learn how to preserve the persimmons and enjoy them even when they are not in season. Here is the story about Hoshigaki making, which I wrote for Zester Daily. (here is the link).  

Back at the ranch for a couple days of rest.  I have been working 24/7 since August on Common Grains. My blog got completely neglected.  Fall is a good time to begin again.  I worked hard pruning the old grapes vines and apples trees past spring in hopes to bring them back to health.  Healthy they became but the wild animals feasted on most of  the fruit while we were absent. I walked along the grape vines and couldn't find a single grape on the vine.  We hope to spend more time on the ranch, after we finish restoring our house in Highland Park.  I am happy to just be in Tehachapi, whenever I can.

I love our trees.  We walk around the property and visit each tree everytime we are here. We have lots of mature trees and about 50 new trees that we planted this year.  Popular, sycamore, maple, apricot, persimmon, walnut, ash, cherry... Half of the new trees were damaged by the critters but those that survived the ordeal are doing okay. Sakai's mended the broken branches and put in an irrigation system that is working, finally.  We want to plant more trees next year. Figure trees take about 15-30 years to mature.  if we could stick around for awhile, this ranch is going to look amazing.

The apricot tree is particularly gorgeous in red. 

The old walnut tree gave us so much joy this year. We didn't even know what kind of tree it was for a long time.  It produced tons of nuts. The green fruit cracked open and some of the nuts had fallen on the ground. The critters ate about 1/3 of the harvest but there were plenty more to be had so Sakai brought over a ladder and we spent the morning picking the nuts.  Ana and Kurokin came along and sat under the tree and kept guard.  I'd never seen walnuts this big.