Friday, October 12, 2007

odds & ends

I had some leftover cranberry walnut campagne bread (though it was labeled as campagne it was softer and in the shape of a baguette), so for our breakfast the other day I made bread pudding. Besides the cranberry and walnuts, the bread also had orange peel, raisins and blueberries in it too. I cut up the 6 slices I had left, added 1 scrambled egg, 1 cup milk, a couple dashes of cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of sugar to the bread. Then I oiled 2- 8oz. ramekins with olive oil and put the mixture in. I then sprinkled the top with vanilla sugar and pre-heated the oven to 375F (190C). I baked it for 30 minutes and voila! breakfast was served....it reminded me of a warm and fuzzy french toast.

Can someone help me? My strawberries have started to form. It is a nice red color, but a bit too tiny. It is my first time with strawberry plants. How do you know when it is time to pick them? And how do I get them to grow bigger? (surfed the internet and it said I need to feed it more water to get them bigger)

Update: we picked them (weren't they cute??), they were a deep red color and the sweetest tasting berries we've eaten!

Awhile back as I closed our door, I looked up and saw these two mounds of cement which weren't there before. The other day, I scared myself because when I looked up to "check" on them, I saw that one of the bumps was cracked open. Gosh, I wonder what was in it? Well, Satoshi has since smashed the remaining bump with an umbrella and we have no idea what was in it because the bump disintergrated and whatever might have been in there was blown away with the wind. Anyone have any ideas what it could have been?

The other day in the supermarket I found these huge Asian pears (you have to open your hand like a glove to hold it). They are called Nansui (literally south water). They were very juicy sweet and juicy, which was almost kind of wine-y.

I also bought these mini chingensai (pak choy). The Japanese love to shorten the names of products, people's names, just about everything. Most of the words that they shorten are words that they take from other languages like air conditioner is air-con and personal computer is paso-con. So what do they call these? chibichin (chibi means tiny or small) and (chin is short for chingensai), cute huh?

Have a nice weekend!

12 comments:

Jann said...

You have quite a collection of foods and things going on here-those are the smallest berries I have seen.....are they all shriveled up or what? you must need a million to fit in a bowl....I have notidea what variety they are , but I bet they were sweet! Let me know!

bourgogne said...

they look like wild strawberries. over here the birds get them before i can pick any.

i love the cute japanese words for many things: animal cries, the sounds of things dripping or dropping and the words for how things taste,like spicey. no wonder japan is king of cute.

K and S said...

they were too tiny, Jann. I wonder how I can get them to grow bigger, but they were very sweet.

hmm, I forgot to take a look at the sign when I bought them from the fruit man, maybe I should ask him and then I can surf the net. you are right, about the cutesy-ness Bourgogne.

Take care you two.
Kat

Anonymous said...

I am clueless when it comes to gardening. All I do is stick a seed(s) or young plants into the ground and cross my fingers. In fact, I was so stoked to see the ti plants take off from those stubs that you can get from Walmart. Still waiting til I get a few more leaves then I can make laulau!!

Now pak choy is something that I hope will succeed for next year, among other things! Cute fruit/veg posts. :-)

K and S said...

I'm like you. Rowena, just plant stuff and see if it takes. I guess I'll surf around for more info.

Take care.
Kat

Thistlemoon said...

Hi Kat!

Those are some sweet strawberries! As someone said they look like wild strawberries. Yum, so sweet.

As to the cement thing - it is some kind of bug. We have those too, here in Florida.

Oh and that bread pudding sounds wonderful. I love bread pudding!

Tips for Makeup and Beauty said...

Wow, interesting blog you have there. Would you like to exchange a link between us, if you don’t mind? I am waiting for your positive reply. Thanks.

Regards,
www.travel-paradise.blogspot.com (or email me @ val_nat2003@hotmail.com)

Kathy YL Chan said...

I don't know why, but just reading this post and seeing the pictures of bread pudding, strawberries, pears and pak choy made me soooo happy! :)
P.S.
Did I ever mention that bread pudding is seriously my most favorite dessert on the planet? heee :)
Have a super awesome weekend!

Unknown said...

Chibichin

What a coincidence. I must be so bored at work I am taking pictures of my food at work and emailing them so I can post comments on your blog. 2nd comment within minutes and it's because I'm eating what is on your blog. My co-worker brought a tofu salad that he made at home. It has tofu, bean sprouts, watercress and Chibichin or baby pak choi. He par boiled it and chilled it and serves it with the ginger sesame Pietro dressing.

K and S said...

Hi Jenndz,

Thanks for the info on the cement bugs. At least they are bugs and nothing bigger!

Hi Putty,

Sure, put us onto your blogroll, you're on ours!

Hi Kathy,

Yes, I know bread pudding is your fave in all the world! Thought of you when I made mine.

Hi Rick,

That is so cool you can get chibichin in Hawaii!

Take care everyone.
Kat

Jann said...

Gone for a while chasing
Simona in Italy...back in 12 days! Cheers to you!

K and S said...

OMG Jann! Enjoy!

Take care.
Kat