Wednesday TeaDay 4/15/09 Flip flop?

[jazz88]

Just had my last bit of Sakura Sencha also came to the conclusion that i do not particularly like Genmaicha. I would drink it, just not my favorite ...

Will take a short break and make my signature soup: 13 different beans (organic) + some lentils + barley miso (organic) + some curry powder and a dash of porcini mushroom powder. I'm a pretty good cook, just do not enjoy spending too much time in the kitchen!

[Dreamer]

Hi All,

Another fun question! (And another great picture from Sal!)

If I could have anyone cook for me I'd pick my mom or my grandma (her mom). They were both awesome cooks (just plain old American food) and there are some things that I just can't make the way they did, so I fear those tastes are lost to me forever I learned much of what I know watching them cook and little was written down. Sometimes I think that I would give just about anything I have to spend one more afternoon with my grandma in her kitchen.

Finally, we've got sunshine today! Yeah!! The only thing good about cloudy skies is that it makes for good picture taking...here are some pictures I took during yesterday's cloudiness..






And here's the yummy Yame gyokuro (O-cha) that I'm enjoying this afternoon made in my sweet little Den's kyusu in a favorite cup from ebay:


Have an awesome day,
Dreamer

[cherylopal]

Will take a short break and make my signature soup: 13 different beans (organic) + some lentils + barley miso (organic) + some curry powder and a dash of porcini mushroom powder. I'm a pretty good cook, just do not enjoy spending too much time in the kitchen!

Sounds delish- would you share your recipe please??

I am so in a soup (as well as tea) mood with this cold drizzly day. I've got a red lentil dal simmering now...huummm maybe some darjeeling if it wasn't too late.

[geeber1]

Beautiful photos, Dreamer! I can't believe your lilacs are already blooming - ours are just starting to leaf out here in Eastern Oregon!

[jazz88]

Sounds delish- would you share your recipe please??

Of course. It's very simple and you don't do much which I like

To the boiling water I add a generous amount of Bob's Res Mill 13 bean soup mix. How much exactly depends on how thick/think you like your soup. I like mine fairly thick I also add some red or green lentils. Then you let them simmer for about 40 min and add water if necessary. When it's almost done i add freshly grated ginger, curry and dash of porcini mushroom powder. And finally I add a very generous tablespoon of Three Year Barley Miso paste by South River and stir until it's dissolved. (There is no need to boil miso).
I buy these ingredients at my local health food store. Of course you can improvise and substitute etc. However, miso paste in much better than miso powder in my opinion.

Just had more Sencha. Yay!

[Katrina]

First of all, thank you Dreamer. I could actually smell those lilacs. Ours are still just the teeniest, tiniest green buds.

I chose gourmet chef because I really wish we were eating something more interesting than pork chops and sweet potatoes tonight. I actually think I just need a gourmet food shopper. I am happy to cook...I just never have anything in the house these days. And to be honest, my actual vote would have been "anyone who isn't me." I love to cook, but some days ANYTHING prepared by ANYONE else sounds perfect.

2nd flush Darjeeling in my cup today...Actually it was more like a vat than a cup.

[cherylopal]

Sounds delish- would you share your recipe please??

Of course. It's very simple and you don't do much which I like

To the boiling water I add a generous amount of Bob's Res Mill 13 bean soup mix. How much exactly depends on how thick/think you like your soup. I like mine fairly thick I also add some red or green lentils. Then you let them simmer for about 40 min and add water if necessary. When it's almost done i add freshly grated ginger, curry and dash of porcini mushroom powder. And finally I add a very generous tablespoon of Three Year Barley Miso paste by South River and stir until it's dissolved. (There is no need to boil miso).
I buy these ingredients at my local health food store. Of course you can improvise and substitute etc. However, miso paste in much better than miso powder in my opinion.

Just had more Sencha. Yay!

Thanks so much!! I have several miso pastes- never heard of miso powder?? so I guess I'm good to go there.

[Drax]

... a 2008 Menghai ... the "biscuity" or "doughy" comments in the aroma. Very nice!

Hey Drax, I've never heard those terms when describing tea, but the second I read that, it put a label on a very distinct thing I taste in some of those younger Menghai shu pu-erhs! I'll have to add those terms to my tasting vocabulary, thanks.

Heh, glad I could oblige. I'm always finding myself saying either "I can't quite identify that particular piece of the flavor," or "I know this flavor, but my brain cells won't connect to it"... but this one certainly lept out to me. Doubt I would have come up with it if I hadn't read it somewhere else...

[brad4419]

I like your blooming lilacs dreamer. Here in southern ohio our lilacs are still leafing out so its a few more weeks till flowers.

Had a 4 cup about 12-14oz pu erh session tonight with 2006 Guoyan Nannuo Pu-erh Tea Cake. I will post a new thread in pu erh section because I just can't get it to taste good for me.

[Chip]

I was Jonesing for tea so bad this evening, I threw a few Long Jing leaves in a cup and went grandfather brewing. It is hitting the spot, pretty amazing since I am guessing it was les than a gram of leaf.

Nice photos Dreamer and Sal! After months of dreary clouds, rain and cold, the sun will apparently come out tomorrow.

[Chip]

Sounds delish- would you share your recipe please??

Of course. It's very simple and you don't do much which I like

To the boiling water I add a generous amount of Bob's Res Mill 13 bean soup mix. How much exactly depends on how thick/think you like your soup. I like mine fairly thick I also add some red or green lentils. Then you let them simmer for about 40 min and add water if necessary. When it's almost done i add freshly grated ginger, curry and dash of porcini mushroom powder. And finally I add a very generous tablespoon of Three Year Barley Miso paste by South River and stir until it's dissolved. (There is no need to boil miso).
I buy these ingredients at my local health food store. Of course you can improvise and substitute etc. However, miso paste in much better than miso powder in my opinion.

Just had more Sencha. Yay!

Thanks so much!! I have several miso pastes- never heard of miso powder?? so I guess I'm good to go there.

I made my first miso paste soup the other night, and it was really outstanding I say humbly! I made it with several different mushrooms including shitake, seaweed (heh), etc. I was amazed how the miso completely changed the entire flavor of the soup.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

I would be very happy with a Gourmet Chef preparing my next meal as long as he or she was willing to abide by a few restrictions in the cooking. As much as I love Iron Chef, some of the unique ways that they incorporate the secret ingredients do not sound overly appetizing. It would be nifty if I could choose the secret ingredient though, and the Iron Chef who would be preparing the meal. In a perfect world, I would just go with Morimoto preparing gourmet sushi.

I've been drinking iced tea today. I had some good luck with cold brewing Den's guricha and finally made some cold tea out of the mugi-genmai mix that was fantastic. Both work well to just top off the container and stick it back in the fridge after pouring myself a glass.

[Intuit]

Cooking and baking are rule- and method-based. Know and follow the rules and recommended techniques, and you too can prepare many dishes from scratch, either from a recipe base or sans recipe with ingredients at hand.

Food prep and presentation are as much as science, if you want your food to look as toothsome as it tastes.

No decent tea for more than a week. :-(

[Herb_Master]

Hi All,

I know someone who would love this picture, she loves blossom shots, but goes ecstatic over water droplets on plants. She turns her settings to high pixel count and zooms in on the droplet

Then blows it up to see what the reflection in the droplet looks like