Easy Cooking! pt 5 - Tobiko + Shiso Pasta

This one is so easy and DELICIOUS, I had to re-post it under this blog too.

http://ericheartsusan.blogspot.com/2009/08/tobiko-shiso-pasta.html

UM, YOUR WELCOME.

Tobiko is also known as flying fish roe, which you've probably had as sushi. This recipe is an adaptation of the Tokibo+Shiso spaghetti from a popular restaurant in New York called Basta Pasta (I think they meant to say Bastardized Pasta aka the love child of centuries of Japanese and Italian cuisine). Your only challenge would be in finding tobiko and shiso leaves since clam juice is available at all supermarkets. Check your local Asian groceries. Now do yourself a favor and make it.

http://rxdebt.blogspot.com/

Easy Cooking! pt 4 - Spicy Cod Roe Spaghetti

When I'm really busy and stressed, I tend to find comfort in pasta. Japanese people have appropriated the pasta genre and created some wonderful Eastern inspired dishes. A Japanese food court next to my apartment makes the most delicious spaghetti with spicy cod roe (mentaiko) for five bucks. But leaving the house means looking presentable, and often I'm too lazy to brush my teeth/hair so I make sure I keep plenty of Japanese spaghetti sauces and instant miso soup stocked.

Need: angel hair pasta and the spicy cod roe spaghetti sauce (available at most asian food stores)

Express directions:

Cook 1 serving of angel hair pasta

Drain without rinsing the pasta with water (so the sauce will stick).

Reserve some of the starchy pasta water and add a little if sauce isn't sticky enough

Toss well with spicy cod roe sauce

Garnish with a seaweed (included) and/or a soft boiled egg, some scallions..

Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Route:

If you have more time, you can saute 1 clove of garlic and half a small onion in a 1/4 tbsp butter and add the cod roe and toss pasta while the sauce is still hot. If you want to get really fancy, you can add 1tbsp of white wine until it evaporates, then add the cod roe and a 1 tbsp heavy cream to get that rich texture.

Serve with some instant miso soup and you have yourself a fancy fusion dish!

Stay tuned for my Tobiko + Shizo spaghetti recipe. It's on the books for dinner tonight!

Road Biking pt. 3 - Le Tour de France

Not many people are familiar with the Tour de France, simply because cycling in the U.S. is rather esoteric. Those of us who know about the Tour have likely heard about it because of Lance Armstrong - the American legend with his record shattering 7 straight wins in the Tour, and even more impressively, his successful battle over testicular cancer (which had metastasized to his lungs and brain). Lance has contributed his fair share in raising awareness about cancer through his LiveStrong campaign, and is also responsible for those trendy rubber yellow bracelets.

After announcing his retirement, cycling as a sport in the U.S. seemed to have completely died. Most Americans would have cared less about who would win the Tour seeing as they couldn't put their hopes in any obviously familiar names.

Alas after 3 years of deadwinds, Lance returned for the 2009 Tour de France trying to go for his eighth win, though his main objective, as he put it, was to raise greater awareness for his LiveStrong campaign.

The Tour de France concluded yesterday, with disappointing results for us Americans as Lance wasn't not able to pull another win. This result was actually clear in stage 17, when Contador, his teammate and arch-rival, took off at adrenaling-like speeds on an excruciating uphill climb where no one was able to follow.

Sadly, Lance was not able to hold second place either.

However, one cannot expect too much from Lance Armstrong. He's currently 37-years old, an age at the verge of retirement for most cyclists. One also has to consider his impressive conditioning after his 3-year sabbatical. Had he been in his prime, the Tour de France would have been another walk in the park.

To watch the Tour de France, visit:
http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

On pt. 4 I think I'll talk about sizing your road bike.

Computer games pt. 2 - Illustration

Uhh... Mike requested me to show a clip... hes a stupid turd



*edit* - Apparently, Mike doe not like my style of posts. So I will explain what is happening. This is just a clip from a pug, a scrim with random people, through a program called ESEA. It's basically a way for you to scrim when your team isn't around. The site keeps track of your stats and you can win prizes. And I submitted this clip and I was pretty sure I was going to win. But I didn't -_-... so you be the judge.

Easy Cooking! pt. 2 - Lemon Pancakes

This recipe is more about the virtues of eggs in baking than pancakes (see my sponge cake recipe on my other blog).

Beating Egg Whites

When beaten, egg whites will create foam. The beating process unfolds the proteins, which then reform bonds around the incorporated air. Bakers love to beat them them until they create stiff peaks and sometimes recipes call for acids, such as cream of tartar, to stabilize the foam and prevent it from liquefying again. If you don't have cream of tartar, it you can sometimes substitute with vinegar or lemon juice.

Here are some tips on how to beat egg whites:

1. They must be at room temperature. Eggs can actually be left out in room temperature for upto four days. While I wouldn't recommend pushing it to that limit, it's fine to leave them out for the day. The older the eggs, the better the foam as well.

2. You absolutely cannot have any yolk, shells, oils, or any kind of grease touching the whites. Eggs are easier to separate when cold so if you have trouble, separate first, then leave egg whites out for about 30 minutes to an hour. Also, use stainless steel bowls and attachments. Plastics will have traces of grease that will have you beating for hours wondering when your eggs will foam.

3. A pinch of salt will help firm up the proteins

4. Use the whisk attachment on a hand mixer to get maximum air incorporation. Or mix by hand with the long whisk.

5. If the recipe calls for cream of tartar, add it midway.

6. Stop whisking as soon as stiff peaks form (will not droop). Overwhisking will cause whites to liquefy again.

7. Use whites gently and immediately.

Stiff peaks

Folding in Egg Whites

Folding egg whites into batter is what gives cakes, meringues, and pancakes their loft and fluff, or what I like to call super fun happiness! This video is a great tutorial on how to fold in egg whites, as well as a demonstration of how the steam from within the egg whites rises during cooking!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid271521142?bctid=1711778260

In a bowl whisk together until very smooth:

2 cups sifted flour (sift first, then spoon into measuring cup and level)

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups milk

2 egg yolks (save whites)

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites, then fold into batter as instructed by the video. Butter your frying pan, ladle your batter, watch the cake rise, and then flip. Serve immediately!

Art pt. 2 - Graphics Software

Now that you know about graphics tablets, I must also say that they are pretty useless unless you have some sort of graphics software to use them with. Everyone knows about Adobe Photoshop, so the purpose of this article will be to showcase some of the lesser known graphics software out there that I use, have used, or have heard about.

1. OpenCanvas: http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/



This program is very handy and intuitive, and it is the program that I use the most because of its simple feel. Version 4.06 is the last of its line that uses the original OpenCanvas interface that I felt was easy to use. All of the controls were simple to adjust (opacity, pen pressure options, min diameter, max diameter, etc) and the hotkeys to switch brush types were simply a, s, d, and f. However, after the release of version 4.5, the OpenCanvas developers decided to give the software a more photoshop look and feel, probably so that long-time photoshop users can easily get adjusted. Even the hotkeys were changed to that of photohop, so I felt that it just became more complicating to use. Well, you will probably have no idea what I am talking about unless you try out this program for yourself. It has a free trial available, so you can test it out, but afterwards you will have to pay (although it's pretty darn cheap compared to professional software like photoshop).

If you don't want to pay, there is a free version available, but it is one of the earliest versions of the software, which isn't really bad at all if you just want to draw or paint. You can find it free to download here: http://wistinga.online.fr/opencanvas/

2. Easy Paint Tool SAI: http://sai.detstwo.com/sai/



If you are active on deviantart.com, then you probably noticed that this particular program is all the rage these days. I haven't used it that much, but it certainly does have a nice feel to it. Many people on deviantart who use it say something like "it's so easy to use and it's really easy to make your art look good with SAI." The preset brushes for marker effect, watercolor, etc feel more natural and smooth than in other programs, and it's easier to blend colors while painting. Also, all of the interface is shoved over to the left so that your working area won't be blocked or hindered by floating tool windows, which I think is a very clever and efficient design.

This program is also not for free, but there is a 1 month trial period (which apparently is resettable by some method that I will not discuss here).

3. TheGIMP: http://www.gimp.org/



This program is said to be the open source alternative to Photoshop, but it has a very different feel to it even though it is capable of many of the same things. I have very limited experience with it, so I can't say much more about it except that it's totally free.

4. Oekaki/SHI-Painter: http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA016309/spainter/index_en.html


Many people call this a super enhanced version of MS paint, but I've found it to be quite different than paint when I tried it out for a bit. It is a very simple piece of software, but many people like it because it is so simple. There aren't a lot of options or a large variety of brushes, but it has more "advanced" features such as layers. Even though this is a very simple program, there are lots of amazing art pieces that have been done on oekaki (http://yayster.deviantart.com), so don't be deceived by that example picture on the web site :). This one is totally free, too.


There's a lot more stuff out there (Corel Draw, Paint Shop Pro, etc) that many people use and love, but I have no experience using those programs so I can't say anything about them. There's probably also a lot of other drawing/painting software out there that I've never heard about, so if you know of any (especially free ones) that aren't listed here, feel free to list them in the comments.

And since there was a request to see some of my works, here it is:
http://jeongk.deviantart.com (profile)
http://jeongk.deviantart.com/gallery/ (gallery)
It's nothing pro level, but I hope to get there someday. Thanks for reading!

Magic pt. 1 - Wow Factor

Magic is a discipline that requires perfection and nothing less. Though I am no where near that level it is a hobby that I enjoy practicing. One of the greatest things about magic is that it creates a whole new world for the viewer: the illusion that the impossible can be accomplished in such an ordinary world. Magic is an art form that speaks the language of mysteriousness, regale, and perfection. The very act of completing a successful magic trick or routine is enough to open doors to an imaginative world.