Blueberry Pie!

So I decided to try a new pie this weekend. I wanted to use blueberries and lemon curd, and I wanted it all to be baked. Blueberries and lemon curd seem to be a popular mix, but every recipe I found used fresh blueberries and had a curd that was cooked on the stove, cooled overnight, then glopped into the cooked pie crust. Not what I wanted.

My mental image was a lemon curd pie with no signs of blueberry until you cut in and found a narrow band of blueberries just on top of the crust...hidden under the lemon goodness. So the plan was to bake the blueberries with the crust for 20 minutes, then add the lemon and eggs on top and bake for another 20 minutes or so until the curd set.



And that's what I did. I also pureed a handful of blueberries to marble in with the lemon curd.

I learned several things while I was making this pie...



First: Blueberries float. When you add the (still-liquid) lemon and eggs, the half-baked blueberries floated to the top of the mixture.



Second: Pureed blueberries and lemony eggs don't have enough density to marble. They just combine.

Third: Blueberries are TART! I was so happy about that actually. I was really afraid that they'd go all sweet on me, but the combo of lemon and blueberry created the tartest tart I've ever had. AWESOME!

In the end, the pie was great. It didn't look anything like what I thought it would, but as far as taste, it was just what I wanted.

Amnesia

I haven't forgotten about this! I just haven't had anything to post about this week. But I'm making a pie today. So I'll let you know how it turns out.

Matsushima

I went on my 'last hurrah' trip with Nobuko and Sachiko this weekend. By weekend, I really mean Monday and Tuesday, because I had to work on Saturday and Sunday.

We took the 10AM train all of 30 minutes to Matsushima Kaigan. We went to several of the places that I had never seen, despite 3 previous trips. There is a little traditional building (moved from somewhere by someone or another) on top of a small hill overlooking the ocean. We had a bit of tea as a tour group of Chinese speakers stood in front of us and stared on as we drank our tea. It was awkward and funny for all of us I think. There is a also a small collection of historical things (I'm not sure they quite qualify as artifacts) next to this tea house, and we had a stroll around there as well.



We had a brief look around Godaido, a small temple on one of the tiny little islands in the bay. It is opened once every...let's say 33...years. It's cute. I'd seen it before.

Then we headed towards what was, for me, the main attraction. Fukuura Bridge. And the little island on the other end of it. I have been to Matsushima several times, and I believe Akira has been with me every time I've been in recent memory. I had wanted to go have a closer look at this very nice bridge, but there is some sort of curse dooming any couple that crosses the bridge together. So that never happened. Apparently, there is no fear of the curse if Akira happens to be at work while I'm strolling over the bridge. Awesome!



It's a bridge! And on the other end is a lovely little island with some huge old trees that have remained relatively untouched (for Japan). There are also nice views of other little islands.

After a nice walk around the island, and some yakisoba back on the mainland, we called for the car from the ryokan. They picked us up! Isn't that nice?

Lot's of lounging, several trips the bath, an enormous dinner, and lots of sleeping ensued.

In the morning, we went to a glass museum that houses the collection of a Japanese artist who lived, and created glass, in Venice. There were some very gaudy pieces, but also quite a few nice ones. Especially the boxes. I'd really like to know how you make boxes out of blown glass....Anyway, someone was getting married in the garden between the museum and the adjoining hotel. But they were obviously rehearsing and taking pictures before the guest arrived. I have to admit that I was absolutely astonished to see the bride wandering around in her (Western) wedding gown with the groom in tow. She was in her dress! With the groom! Before the wedding! I can't explain why it struck me so odd. I think Sachiko and Nobuko thought I was really silly. But Japan is, in general, SUCH a superstitious country. I suppose because they've basically adopted most of America's marriage customs, I expected this one to have made it as well. I don't know. It was dumb, but I was really surprised.

Next was the オルゴール museum. This was described to me as a music box museum. But these were huge organs from Belgium, France, and Germany (for the most part) that played like player-pianos. It was absolutely bizarre! You could make a fantastic horror movie in that place.



And now I'm back home. Check off another great weekend.

Cat Island

a.k.a. Tashirojima a.k.a. Manga Island



We finally made it to Tashiro Island. Akira had been agitating for a camping trip on the island since last year, but had never been able to rustle up enough interest. Well this year the interest was there, in spades. In the end we had around 30 people. I never made a final count.


Sara, Akira and I woke up around 7AM and after various stops made our way to the ferry port with a carload full of stuff. We took the 9AM boat over to the island. I didn't expect many others to make the early boat, but I was a little surprised we were the only ones. I think it was for the best though, because it gave us a little time to get things squared away with the cabins. We had a few hours before the next crowd made it to Tashiro, so Akira showed us the rocky beach near the campsite. It was beautiful!










Very much how Japan exists in my imagination. We wandered around a bit more, then headed down to the port to meet up with everyone.

What'd'ya know? There really are cats everywhere on this island!


Tashiro Island is nicknamed Cat Island and Manga Island. Apparently, there are no dogs on the island. Only cats. They tend to hang around fishermen. Go figure. The island was also a favorite of Ishinomori Shotarou, the manga illustrator who claimed Ishinomaki as his home town, and in whose honor the manga museum was built. Hence, Manga Island.

Anyway, I would not exactly call it a party. Just an occasion for everyone to get together, have a few (or more) drinks, and spend time on an island away from our own boring hamlets. It was definitely a great weekend away.

Cambodia Report Day Four

I'm just gonna jump in here. Our days at Angkor Wat are so much more difficult to write about. There wasn't nearly as much to ponder as there was in Phnom Penh. That certainly doesn't mean that it wasn't amazing, incredible, and probably any other superlative you can think of. It just wasn't challenging like poverty and desperation.

I was hoping to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat, but when we heard sunrise would be at 5AM plans changed pretty quick. We decided to head out at 7AM. That was plenty early. It's about 10~15 minutes to the entrance, where we popped out to purchase our 3 day pass, then continued on for a few minutes to Angkor Wat. It's HUGE. The outer walls are 1KM squared. I knew that before, and I've seen pictures, and you'll see my pictures, but you just can't believe how big it is.

Photo by Sara





Next, on to Angkor Thom:





The main temple within the city of Angkor Thom is the Bayon.





Photo by Sara





We then headed to Baphuon and Phimeanakas. No pictures. I'll tell you more about everything later. I'm just trying to get something up here.

Terrace of the Elephants



Terrace of the Leper King



The West Gate of Angkor Thom



Then we headed out the east gate of Angkor Thom on the short circuit to Thommanom.

The next medium sized temple was Ta Keo. You'll notice there's a complete lack of decoration. It's a very stark contrast from all of the previous temples. Work on this temple ceased after the top was struck by lightening. The king took it as a bad sign.



Next stop, Ta Prohm. Much of Tomb Raider was filmed at this one, famous for the trees that are destroying the temple works. It's neat. But not as good as Beng Mealea.





Almost done! We headed for Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang, which are situated on either side of the road. We were SO exhausted by this point. But the lake was really beautiful.

Tart!

I tried a new citrus tart yesterday!



A weekday off is always a perfect opportunity to make a pie. I had been eyeing the grapefruits at Kyouei for a week and finally decided to go for it. I'm not completely satisfied with the recipe at this point. Though Akira finished half of the tart last night, so at least it wasn't a complete flop. I prefer white grapefruits in general, but the few grapefruit tart recipes I could find called for pink. Pink grapefruits have a much more delicate flavor, and need a little kick from orange and ginger to cut the bitterness and enhance the flavor. I added about 1 1/2 tsp of the juice from grated young ginger and that was way too much. Even with over a cup of other liquid, when cooked, the grapefruit was hard to taste under all that ginger. Next time I'll reduce it to a 1/2 tsp.

I'd also like to see what happens with white grapefruit. I think I'd stay away from the ginger pairing there. Maybe coriander? I'll let you know.

Here's the recipe as I made it. You'll probably want to reduce the amount of ginger.

Pink Grapefruit Tart
adapted from Anne Willan's Look & Cook: Perfect Pies & Tarts

Pâte Sucre dough
1 1/2 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla, or any dark spirit on hand (I used Tiffin this time)
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3 egg yolks
pinch salt

Tart filling
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
zest from 1 pink grapefruit & 1 orange
1 c pink grapefruit juice
juice from half a large orange
1 1/2 tsp juice from grated ginger

For the grapefruit filling:
Combine sugar and eggs in a bowl. Add juices and zest to the bowl. Whisk until the eggs are well mixed and there are no gloopy whites. Set aside.

For the tart shell:
Sift flour into a large bowl leaving a well in the center. Add butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and yolks to the well. Combine ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Draw flour into the butter and sugar mixture and combine until a course meal forms. Knead meal until it sticks together, then becomes smooth and pulls away from the bowl easily. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky. If it's dry, just keep kneading. It takes a few minutes, but the crust will be too sticky if you add water. Don't do it! Work dough into a ball and flatten into a disc. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or foil, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out dough to fit your 10 inch tart plate. Fold dough and transfer gently to the plate. Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork so that it won't bubble while baking. Line the inside of the dough with foil and fill with rice or beans to weight the dough. Chill dough in the tart pan for another 15 minutes.

Heat oven to 400F. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then remove the pie weights and bake for another 5-7 minutes until dough is golden. Remove from oven.

Turn oven down to 375F.

Finish the tart:
Add filling to your pre-baked pie shell and bake at 375F for 25-35 minutes, until the filling is firm and cracks a bit near the crust.

This is my first attempt at sharing a recipe. Please tell me if my directions are incomprehensible.

Update Update

I'm having my film developed today, and I'm going to wait 'til I have some pictures to share before I update again. Why? Because I'm starting to forget things and because Angkor Wat is really about seeing. There's not a whole lot to tell that shouldn't just be shown.