Matcha, matcha man and as age creeps by…

Simone (junglefrog) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:00:56 +0000

Matcha pannacotta

Wake up, look at the alarm. Damn, it’s only 3 am… Too early… Go back to sleep. Wake up, look at the alarm… Hmmm, 5.30 am. That is late enough, isn’t it? I would jump out of my bed and run excited to my parents bedroom. Screaming something like ‘It’s my birthday, it’s my birthday!’ The tradition was that we would all go and sit on my parents bed (we actually all fell through the bed at one such occasion. Apparently the bed was not build for 6 people) and that’s when we would get presents. And let’s face it; birthday = presents, right?

Usually my parents – knowing us all too well – would give us a strict timeline. Do NOT wake us up before 6 am! But excitement and enthusiasm usually got the better of us so we would always be waaaay too early. Claiming we hadn’t seen that it was only 5.30! So my birthday was always fun and I loved it. Loved being the centre of attention. I’m not really sure when that all changed but I do think it was pretty early on. By the time I was 15 or 16, I no longer thought that birthdays were fun. O yes, the getting presents was fun, but I happened to have friends who did not get along together very well, so what was the point of celebrating when I could only invite one half of my friends?

Happy birthday girl at 4!

These days, birthdays are well, just another year older, really… Getting close to my fifties is somewhat daunting I have to confess. In case you were wondering, today is my 49th birthday. I sometimes still feel that there must be some kind of mistake made. That I wasn’t born in 1963 but rather much later. I don’t feel 49 (of course I have no way of knowing how one is supposed to feel at 49!) and I’m frquently being told that I don’t look 49 either. (I’ve had to show some sort of ID a few times to actually proof that I was that old..lol) But the truth is, that I am and o well, I do feel my age too from time to time.

When I’ve had a really busy day I can feel my bones and muscles protesting (doing a little more sports would help!) but overall, I think I cannot complain. Today is going to be a typical birthday for me; hiding in plain sight for friends and family… We never have a party and if we can, we try and get out of the country to celebrate somewhere else. Or we go out for a nice dinner. Just the two of us and sometimes with a few friends, but that’s it. Enough party for me!

Now on to the subject of matcha. I’d had seen matcha featured in many blogposts over the years but I’d never managed to actually find that elusive green powder and when I finally found a source for it, it turned out they ran out of it, the time I was there to get it. Luck was not on my side. I probably have looked in the wrong placed to, but that’s a whole other subject.

Matcha

I mentioned something on a blog post and sweet Kate from Serendipity send me an email asking if she could send me some of the matcha? I was delighted she would take the trouble to send it to me and a few days later I had two packages of matcha in my mailbox. One was bright green and from Japan, the other was a much duller color and apparently from Belgium. Interesting how those two would react!

Now ofcourse I wanted to make something that would highlight that fantastic green, so my first thought was to make a matcha pannacotta. I had found just the recipe for it, so I set about it. Having made a zillion pannacotta’s before I didn’t think much about it, poured the finished product into the molds and into the fridge.

But then something interesting happened; the substance split. I’ve never had this happen before and while the pannacotta’s are still delicious and if turned over they still hold their shape, it’s interesting to know why this happened.

Holding it's shape but barely

I used double cream and milk for this… You can read what I’ve done in the recipe below. If you’ve got any thoughts on why the mixture split, please let me know! I have a feeling that it wasn’t warm enough as you can still see the little powder dots everywhere which I think is not what’s supposed to happen…

Matcha pannacotta

Print recipe

Serves	6
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	4 hours
Total time	4 hours, 20 minutes
Allergy	Milk
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
From book	Panna cotta by Camilla Saulsbury

Ingredients

2 tablespoons matcha powder
2 cups double cream
1 1/4 cup full fat milk
1 vanilla pod
1/2 cup sugar
3,5 sheets gelatin (or 2 tbsp dried)

Directions


Put the double cream, milk, seeds of the vanilla bean and sugar in a small saucepan and heat until close to boiling but not actually boiling. Take of the heat. Soak your gelatin leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.

Put the matcha into a cup and add one cup of the hot mixture slowly into the powder while vigorously whisking. Once combined add the matcha mixture into the cream mixture.

Add the soaked gelatin (squeeze out the moisture) into the warm cream and whisk until dissolved. Pour the cream into your ramekins, glasses or other molds. Leave to stand in the fridge for at least 4 hours before unmolding. For unmolding you can dip the ramekins into hot water (making sure the water does not get into your molds ofcourse) for a few seconds and then turn them onto a plate and lift the mold.

Happy birthday to me!

Simone (junglefrog) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:09:43 +0000

Blueberry apple cake with lemon icing

I was wondering what to name this post and then I thought ‘O, what the heck…’ Anyone can know I became 25 today (and a bit..) lol… Ok truth be told it is my 47th birthday today… Jeeezzz, don’t you agree that that is dangerously close to 50? I don’t feel 50 or 47 for that matter, but then again, I have no idea how I am supposed to feel at this age!! Don’t we all have that? I mean; when you’re young the only thing you want to do is become ‘old’ and mature to be able to do the things you want to do and then all of a sudden you find yourself well… old….

I always thought – when I was around 16 or 18 years – that life would be over when you got to around 30 (!). You would have a house, kids and an utterly boring life. I am quite happy to report that nothing could be further from the truth!! Ok, I do have a house, but that is the only thing that is how I pictured it. No kids (not because we didn’t want to) and certainly not a boring life! Tom and I have been together for 18 years (our anniversary was on february 1st!) and we’re still very happy together, so nothing boring there either. I don’t want to go as far as to say that my life is perfect (far from!!) but it’s a pretty good life most of the time. And we wouldn’t appreciate the highs if there weren’t any lows, right? (or so I have been told)

I never celebrate my birthday. I just don’t like it. Nothing to do with getting older either, as I haven’t celebrated any birthdays since I was in my twenties. Probably something to do with the birthdays we used to have at my parents house. Big family, boring birthday… Instead we tend to spend it together Tom and I. Sometimes we go away on a trip (we’ve been to the UK, to Barcelona and to more exotic locations during my birthdays) and sometimes we go out for dinner and sometimes we just stay indoors and have a nice piece of cake. Today might be one of the last. We haven’t actually decided yet, but it is freezing cold outside so it is tempting to snuggle up in the warmth indoors and watch a movie (or two)

Instead I am just gonna celebrate my birthday with you all and I baked a cake for everyone to enjoy! Wouldn’t it be seriously fun if I could actually extend somehow that cake and give you each a slice? It’s nothing special but tastes very good. Regular cake that I filled with apple and blueberries and topped with a lemon icing. I love lemon… and I love this cake!

Junglefrog Cooking » birthday

Matcha, matcha man and as age creeps by…

Matcha pannacotta

Ingredients

Directions

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Happy birthday to me!

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