The day has come again, faster and in a busier moment than usual, my parents being with us. It’s A.’s birthday. The weather has been bad enough to be remembered, A. always says it’s usually sunny on that. Today was not, and after drizzling now it’s pouring. That gave me plenty of time for preparing A.’s birthday cake, or rather tart. He originally wanted a strawberry tart, the classic one, but after stopping at three different places I couldn’t find proper local strawberries with the correct size. So we agreed on a chocolate tart. Last year one was a big hit!
But you know me… I like to try new recipes rather than doing over and over the same things. So I made a classic dark chocolate tart using my recipe from last year, but I also improvised a new one with A’s favorite white chocolate, coconut and cardamom. And though I am not a fan of white chocolate, it was surprisingly not as rich I thought it would be and I enjoyed it a lot. So here is my recipe.
White chocolate tart (4 servings)
Flour, sugar, butter and a bit of water for the dough.
110g of white chocolate
100ml of coconut cream
2tsp of ground cardamom
1tbsp of brown caster sugar
4tbs of ground coconut
1 egg
Prepare the dough and bake it, until still soft and about to golden.
In a pan heated at low heat stir together the chocolate, coconut cream, add the sugar, the ground coconut and the cardamom. Let cool then add the egg. Stir well and pour in the baked pie crust. Bake for 10-15min at 150deg. Let cool a bit and enjoy!
I’m not the kind of person who complains about the weather. I take it as it is and enjoy each day as it comes… I don’t mind the extreme heat, nor the cold, neither the snow, the wind nor the rain… as long as the weather changes regularly… but I think I have had enough of rainy weekends now… honestly since the beginning of June there as not been a single day without rain at some point, and every single weekend has been rainy if not heavily rainy… And usually on rainy weekends we do stupid things (that we never regret! Don’t get me wrong!). 7 years ago we started browsing internet and ended up buying our country house in a flash… sometimes we spend rainy weekends at an arcade and batting center, and last month we browsed internet again and bought a new car…
Oh yes… a car to go to the beach… well now I just wonder when we will go as a typhoon is coming just for the weekend of course. If I had an outdoor job I wouldn’t mind rainy weekends, but my job gets me stuck indoor 12h/day so I miss the rare sunshine…
What else do I do when it rains?
I cook… sweets… of course… to compensate for the lack of activity!!!
I bake and bake and bake… and this time it was coconut milk and white chocolate scones… which were perfect for both breakfast and tea-time! Simple recipes give often the best results: flour, sugar, baking powder, and then coconut milk, coconut oil, and white chocolate chips… that’s it… all mixed together, and baked…
I wish you a happy weekend, stay dry if you are in Japan…
today glimpse of blue sky and sun on my way to work…
Spring and fall are the perfect seasons for hiking in Japan. The temperatures are just right not to get a sweat but not to freeze or die of over heat, bugs are fewer and either the flowers and tender greens, or the crimson colors of fall make a picturesque scenery. There are plenty of options to go hiking in Chiba and I won’t overview them here. There are few things I take in consideration when searching for a hike: the path needs to mainly be a non drivable road. What’s the point walking on the road side?? The path should be a loop or as much as possible not use twice the same route. There are very few hiking trail in Isumi to my knowledge, and one of our favorite is now impracticable as bamboos grew all over the path. So our favorite options are in Otaki and Katsuura. We’ve been to Yorokeikoku 養老渓谷 in the fall many times, for the maple trees, the monkeys… and for the spring we could never find something that was satisfying. I usually like the sight of the ocean in the spring as a remembrance that the swimming and bodyboarding season will start soon for me (though some people surf all year round, I find it hard to get in the water when it’s freezing cold outside). Actually Katsuura, about 20-30min drive south of Isumi, has quite a few hiking options, and this time we found a scenic short hike I thought was really worth mentioning.
South of Katsuura is the small town Ubara 鵜原 mainly a fishing port and a nice little hike called Ubara utopia 鵜原理想郷 that takes you up the hills with a stunning view of the ocean and the cliffs and down the beaches and tiny fishing harbors in coves.
The hike is rather short, count 1h maximum, but is really worth. It takes you through tunnels carved in the very soft rocks and going up and downs in a beautiful vegetation and to scenic views. Everything is very well indicated so no headache about which way to go, and the parking space at the starting point is large enough and easy to find (other parking options are also possible on the beach side). We came by scooter so it was even easier for us to park.
If you plan to come for the weekend, there is a small ryokan just at the beginning of the hike: Ubarakan 鵜原館 which seems to have a nice rotenburo (outdoor bath) and a few bathes in the carved stone caves and room with ocean view!!! We haven’t tried it yet so I have no idea how good it is…
Starting point of the hike
On top of one of the cliffs
After the hike we rode back home and it was time for tea and a little snack, so I decided to make one-bite scones. I am recently testing a new scone recipe and I think now I have the perfect balance to share with you. And with all the spring greens around I prepared a seasonal classic: macha white chocolate. Here is this version but it works with anything.
Scones
– 150g of flour
– 30-40g of sugar (depending on what you use for flavoring, for white chocolate use 30)
– 1tsp of baking powder
– a pinch of salt
– 40g of butter at room temperature
– milk (quantity will slightly depend)
– 2tsp of macha powder
– 2 handfuls of white chocolate chips
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, add the butter and knead to mix everything together. Add the milk slowly while kneading. If you want a uniform green color add macha now, otherwise wait until the end. Stop adding milk when the dough is moist but not sticky. If you’ve added to much milk just add a bit of flour!!!
I wanted a non uniform green color so I added the macha at the end and the white chocolate. Shape the scones and bake at 180deg for 10-15min depending on the size of your scones.
