For some reason I cannot remember the name of this type of craft.  It’s like cross-stitch, but you only go in one direction.  Instead of embroidery thread you use wool.

     I can only remember that it’s Punto de Cruz in Spanish.  A mom from work introduced me to this craft.  She bought her kits in Chile.  She did awesome rugs, and pieces used as art in her walls.  

     After seeing her, I attempted to do mine with a kit that my dad bought for me.  This is what I’ve done so far.  It’s looking great; however, I am weaving the yarn too tight.  As a result, the canvas is slanting.

If anybody remembers the name of this craft, I would appreciate if you let me know. Thank you.

Gelatina De Cacahuate y Ciruelas Pasas Al Brandy

6 porciones

Para la Ciruela – Ingredientes

1 sobre de gelatina sin sabor

1 taza de ciruelas pasas remojadas

2 tazas de agua hirviendo

3/4 taza de azúcar 

1/4 taza de brandy

Para la de cacahuate (ingredientes)

1 lata de leche condensada

1 taza de creama de cacahuate

1 taza de cacahuates tostados y pelados

1 taza de crema dulce

2 sobres de gelatina sin saor

3/4 taza de agua

Preparación:

Para la ciruela, mezcla la gelatina con el azúcar.  Disuelva con el agua hirviendo sobre fuego lento.  Retire de la lumbre y agregue las ciruelas pasas picadas y el brandy.  

Vierta la mezcla en un molde previamente engrasado y refrigere hasta que esté bien cuajada.  

Para la de cacahuate, licúe la leche condensada con la crema de cacahuate y la crema dulce.  Hidrate la gelatina sin sabor con el agua y disuelva a fuego lento.  Deje enfriar y junte las mezclas.

Incorpore los cacahuates a la crema en forma envolvente.  Vierta ya fría sobre la gelatina de ciruela hasta que cuaje.  Desmolde antes de llevar a la mesa.  

Listo!

I’ll make so I can take a picture of this.

The process didn’t take long, and there was minimal preparation time.  It took about 30 minutes to complete.  I only cut the tofu, the scallions, and measured a few ingredients.  The stove did the hardest work as it simmered the ingredients.

tofu, scallions, bonito flakes

The soup was good, but a bit salty for my taste.  My theory is that it was the wakame seaweed, and the miso paste.  Next time, I will wash the wakame several times to reduce the sodium content.  I will also add less miso paste.  This recipe called for one tablespoon per cup of water, but I think half a tablesppon will do fine.  After all, evaporation takes place.  

miso paste and wakame 

Another slight mistake was that I got soft tofu.  I should have gotten something firmer because soft tofu is fragile, and it practically crumbled when I cut it.

The soup is a light beige color that resembles the color of miso soups I’ve eaten before.  I suppose I did ok by purchasing that particular miso paste.  

bonito flakes in the dashi

Overall the soup was tasty.  I will be cooking it more times.  The ingredients cost about $20 (for two batches -one to keep at Mr. B’s house, and one for me,) and will provide about 20-30 more miso soup bowls.  I think it was a good investment.

mmm…!!!

The bonito flakes, for example, came in different quantities, and textures. Some flakes were bigger than others. Some brands were drier; some look extremely moist.

The miso paste was also difficult. In my search, I learned that the darker the color, the stronger the flavor. At the end, I opted for a milder flavor. I figure that if I want it stronger I can add more miso paste.

The kelp, or konbu seaweed, was easier to select, though. The quality seemed the same throughout the brands, so I decided on the least expensive one.

     There were so many types of seaweed that it was hard selecting. There was NORI and WAKAKE; what’s the difference?. Fortunately, the recipe asked for wakake seaweed, so I went ahead and got some of that. It does look rather strange. The seaweed is so dry that it doesn’t resemble anything I’ve seen before. The bag does say that it’s used in miso soup. Hopefully, I made the right decision.

     I also bought some dashi, or fish stock, in powdered form. That indeed feels like cheating, but purchasing the stock in powered form is so much cheaper than buying the ingredients from scratch. Each dashi box cost between $0.99-2.49, compared to the bonito flakes which ranged from $2-7; and that’s not even counting the kelp. I’ll give this a try.  I might taste the same, and it would save me time and money.

Finally, I bought some soft tofu for 99 cents!  A bargain.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get some chives or scallions.  How can I forgot that when they add such a rich flavor to the soup?  BUT, Mr. B doesn’t like onions or anything that tastes like onion, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise.  (I will get some at the store tomorrow. I like my soup with scallions)

I hope making miso soup turns out as easy as they showed on the internet.

Itadakimasu!

Classes are been offered at both SMC and West L.A. College.  I have to check out what exactly is covered in each class.

Mr. B and I also love miso soup.  I’ve attempted to make some before.  I bought the ingredients at my local Mitsuwa:  the miso paste, the tofu, and the seaweed, but it didn’t turn out ok.  What I didn’t realized is that I need to make a dashi stock first. I need to make the stock from kelp and bonito flakes.  

I’ll be going to the store tomorrow; they have a sale on bonito flakes.  Can’t wait to cook this for Mr. B and myself.

The funny thing is that the last day we were there, it actually rained. In fact, it snowed a little.  Funny CA weather.

Here’s a collage of some photos I took. I’ll be putting the rest in Flickr. 

He worked on this dish since yesterday, cooking and cutting the chicken; grinding the cheese, and peeling the six smelly garlic heads. Since he could not find the traditional New Mexican chiles, he had to buy Anaheim chiles.

“It would have been good if I had the right chile peppers,” Mr. B. said, “but they don’t have them here [in L.A.]” he explained. 

The dish was delicious, and I enjoyed it despite not having the right kind of chiles. What really matters to me, is that Mr. B. cooked for me once again, and that makes me really happy.

Thank you, Mr. B for the delicious meal today!

Happy 4th of July!!!