Black Sesame Seed Ice Cream

So, the boy comes back from a weekend play date in NY where he eats at a Japanese restaurant...that has black sesame seed ice cream. Wha?

How come I've never had black sesame seed ice cream after an evening of sushi? Green tea, ginger, and red bean ice cream are the only ice creams offered up at the Japanese restaurants I've been to.

He says black sesame seed ice cream is nutty and quite yummy. Grrr. I hate it when I'm left in the dark. So, I made it my own damn self.

Yes, it is nutty. Sesame sweet nutty. Subtle sesame, no where near as sesame-y as sesame oil (thank goodness).

I have to say, while this ice cream is definitely good, I'm just not that into it. Not by the bowl-full, at least. In a flight of ice creams -- say the usual green tea, ginger, and red bean -- I think a small nub of sesame ice cream would rock my socks off. I absolutely love the pale gray color, though.

Curious? Love nut-like flavors? Give it a go! Why be in the dark.This quart is going to be gifted to the nut lover in my life.

Black Sesame Seed Ice Cream
makes 1 quart

3 tablespoons black sesame seeds, roasted and crushed (mini-food processor works great for crushing)
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks

• Add sesame seeds, heavy cream, milk, and 1/4 cup of sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat on a stove, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat.
• Beat together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar with the egg yolks in a medium bowl.
  
• Very slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking the eggs the entire time, being careful not to cook the eggs.
• Return the contents back to the saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened to a custard. Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature.
• Process in an ice cream machine. Chill overnight in the freezer before serving.
  

Nestle Sakura KitKat

During our weekend in Toronto, we went to the Pacific Mall to look for Japanese snacks, and I found them. Because I wanted to restrain myself at least a little, I got mainly KitKats. This is the first of several. I was really amazed with the selection of KitKats available at Pacific Mall, but couldn't bring myself to spend $8 on a bag of mini KitKats, so I stuck to the regular sized ones.

There's quite a bit of flowery (ha) text on this box. Sakura (cherry blossoms) are an important symbol of Japanese culture, so it's rather exaggerated here. The box says up top "The sakura will definitely bloom..." and "Spring will surely come, wishing for sakura in full bloom." The name of the KitKat itself is something like "snow look sakura." It's all very flowery, indeed.


The bars themselves are gorgeous, but I love a swirly KitKat. The actual KitKat is good, but maybe not as inspiring as the box. It's very interesting and definitely tasty, but not as good as some other KitKat varieties out there (for example, Caramel).

The cherry flavor is light, and a little flowery. It's almost soapy, but my husband said that it tasted like how you wish soap would taste. What it really reminded me of was cherry frosting or a cherry cupcake. Very sweet, slightly floral, and fruity. Definitely a winner.

Check out the photo pool links below for many, many more photos of different flavors of KitKats. Also, if you have suggestions for better translations than mine of this box, please let me know.

B+

KitKat Website (Japanese)
Have a break, have a KitKat photo pool on Flickr
Japanese KitKat photo pool on Flickr

Veggie Cheesesteak

Stopped by GreenFest again this year. Last year the festival featuring eco-friendly businesses and organizations was along South St., but this year the festival was just off of South St. on 2nd St., capitalizing on the already heavy Headhouse Farmer's Market traffic.

Again, Cosmic Caterering was the only food booth at the festival (Los Taquitos de Puebla were there, but they don't count because they're a market fixture). Los Taquitos is a bet you can't lose, but I decided to gamble on Cosmic Caterering's veggie cheesesteak, seeing as how I'm currently on a veggie cheesesteak roll. No, I'm not on a bun! I've just had a few cheesesteaks recently.
I was offered cheese and ketchup or honey mustard on my sandwich. I blurted out yes to cheese and ketchup. They asked? Must be how you do it.

I was told by my partner that the veggie meat amongst the onions and mushrooms was Vegadelphia meat, a locally made meat substitute that shows up at lesser sandwich shops. I believe this was my first encounter with Vegadelphia meat, and I did not like it at all. The small seitan chips are kind of squidgy and kind of gross. I could not finish my sandwich. Since I was noshing directly outside of a Wawa, I got a Shorti to replace the nastiness. Yay, Wawa!

I'm torn between awarding Cosmic Catering or Gianna's Grille with the worst veggie cheesesteak award. Seeing as how I managed to eat the sandwich from Gianna's, Cosmic Caterers gets the award. Cosmic Catering, you seem like nice people, but just say no to Vegadelphia!

Orbit Crystal Mint Gum

This is the elusive 16th flavor; the last current regular Orbit flavor I had to find. I bought it at Meijer, near the checkout lanes. They had 3-packs in the candy aisle at one point, but they were all gone when I went, and it looked like they were on clearance. The pictured pack is all beat up because it was in my purse for a week or so before I remembered to take a picture.

Anyhow, I knew it would be minty, since it's Crystal Mint, but seeing as Orbit already has a Peppermint, Spearmint, and Winter Mint, I wasn't exactly sure what I would be getting. Would it be like Dentyne Ice's bizarre (and overpowering) Arctic Chill? Or more like Extra Polar Ice (meaning Extra Xylitol)? Or do those two gums taste the same?

What I got surprised me. This gum tastes a lot like Wint-o-green Life Savers. You know, the ones you could crack with your teeth in a dark room and make sparks? In fact, the whole experience reminded me of those sparks, bringing a pleasant nostalgic feeling.

Also, this gum has little blue blobs in it that I assume are "flavor crystals." I wish I took a picture, but if you've ever had Ice Breakers gum, you know what I mean.

My only complaint is that I'm not sure it tastes very different from Wintermint. It's been a long time since I had that flavor, so I'll have to try and compare them.

B+

Orbit Website

Moe's Hot Dog House

Took a trip recently down to Moe's Hot Dog House on the corner of Washington and Grays Ferry. Whoa, I've never gone to the very western end of Washington, and it's ugly -- uglier than the rest of Washington. But Moe's family-run dog house will greet you at the end of your drive and make things all better.
Moe's corner wedge building houses a handful of tables out front of a long counter where Philly's salt of the earth steps up to order their breakfast staples, hot dogs, or sandwiches from one of the smiling employees behind the counter. I came for the hot dogs, so that's what I ordered. They have regular, beef, and veggie dogs for your approval.
You just know I ordered the Connie Mac - a hot dog topped with their homemade mac and cheese. You know what? Their mac and cheese is not bad. The elbows are loosely held together with cheese and grease, and definitely spiced with homemade love. I'd put Moe's mac and cheese in the category with many soul food restaurants' mac and cheese, which is to say pretty good, but, of course, not glorious. At least it's not my hated fancy-restaurant-crock-of-noodles-in-a-cheese-bath.

My dog came with a fork to shovel the mac directly into your face, and I would suggest you do that, because the flavor of the mac and cheese gets lost when you eat it with the split-grilled dog and the bun all at once. Skip the dog and just order the mac as a side, if you like. I went off the board and ordered a dog with Moe's homemade sweet pickle relish and homemade creamy slaw. That's two tangs at once! I like tang, and think you need some tang or pep on a dog. I could use about four times as much slaw on my dog, though. I want somebody to just weigh my dog down with goodness. Ya know, I'm no lightweight.
Dog eats self. Just too tasty. Couldn't resist.

Here's the curious part about Moe's dogs, and what I liked the most (besides that you can tell they take pride in their business), the hot dog buns are essentially tiny hoagie rolls. It makes perfect sense in such a hoagie-proud town.

It's definitely worth traveling to the end of Washington to visit Moe's for a great dog.

Moe's Hot Dog House
2617 Grays Ferry Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19146
215-465-6637

Summer Pudding

Gorgeous! That's one good thing I can say about this English summer pudding I was inspired to make from the pages of an old issue of BBC Good Food magazine.

I've been meaning to make an English summer pudding for a couple of years now, and I finally made it this past weekend when I had (again) tubs of blackberries to go through.

The pudding needs to be made a day in advance of serving, but the ingredient list is short and the construction is quite simple -- line a cup with bread soaked in sweetened berry juices, and fill with cooked berries. Hopefully the photos will help explain the construction.After constructing my fruit-filled pudding, I waited until the next day to dig in. What never crossed my mind the past two years I (somewhat) thought about making this dessert, and while actually making this thing, is that I would not like it -- it's just too pretty! -- but I couldn't get past the fact that the bread was wet. It didn't matter that the bread was soaked in sweet, sumptuous fruit juice; I just couldn't love wet bread (I feel the same way about ultra-soggy, coffee-soaked lady fingers in Tiramisu).

I also used plain white bread, and think that a sweeter bread like challah or brioche would be better.

All I can say is please try this dessert ahead of time to see if you like it before you serve it to guests. Food is subjective. You may not have an aversion to wet bread. The English apparently don't, and neither does Gordon Ramsey (it was his recipe I was inspired by), nor do other people.

This dessert would have been a spectacular finale to a dinner, but I'm sure glad I only made two individual servings for myself before trotting this out for others.
The last bread piece is in place, and the pudding is ready to be covered and put in the fridge.

Summer Pudding
makes 2 servings

2 cups mixed berries (your choice), washed and drained
1/3 cup sugar (more or less depending on tartness of berries)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
6-8 slices of stale challah or white bread, crusts removed

• Combine berries, sugar, and lemon zest in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the juices have released, but the fruits still hold their shape.
• Drain berries for ten minutes over a bowl, reserving the liquid.
  
• Cut pieces of bread to fit your mold (in my case, large cups to make 2 individual servings) - For each cup you will have 1 round piece to fit the bottom of the cup, 2 rectangles to wrap around the inner sides of the cup (1 slice of bread cut lengthwise should make 2 rectangles), and 1 piece to fit the top of the cup.
• Dip each side of the pieces of bread one at a time into the reserved liquid as you assemble the pudding. Start with the piece of bread lining the bottom of the cup, then the 2 rectangles lining the side.
  
• Fill the bread-lined cup with about half of the drained berries, level to the top of the bread, pressing down on the berries with the back of a spoon. Then top the berries with the final piece of bread.
• Cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator. Also refrigerate any remaining reserved fruit juice.
  
• To serve, invert the cup on a serving plate. If the pudding does not come out easily, pry the sides with a knife. Drizzle tops of pudding with fruit juice, and garnish.
  

What I Did On My Holiday Weekend

This Labor Day weekend was filled with a big ol' bunch of nothing to do -- except bake (three blackberry themed goodies), make ice cream (poured scalding milk on my hand), ride my bike (Delaware Greenway rocks!), and take liberal naps (I'm half cat). My only real outing of the weekend was a trip to the New Castle Farmer's Market just south of Wilmington in New Castle, Delaware.

Unless I'm going to the DMV, I never attempt to go immediately south of Wilmington. The traffic is atrocious at all hours of the day, and I just can't figure out why. How can an 8-lane highway be parked still just south of Wilmington (I-95 and Hwy 13)? Is it because everyone lives in lower Delaware, but works in Wilmington and Philly? Whatever the reason, it has kept me away.

Because I never go south of Wilmington, I've never seen the New Castle Farmer's Market until last weekend when coming back from the beach we detoured from the stopped traffic on 95 to hop onto the stopped traffic on 13 (can't win!). We passed a huge parking lot filled with hundreds of cars, a large building with "farmer's market" on the side, and an outdoor flea market. Being a sucker for flea markets, I put the New Castle Farmer's Market on my to-do list.

I started inside the building first. The building is long, but not very wide, so the size is a little deceiving from the road. Inside there are two large produce stands (one at each end, and not all local produce), various shops selling cheap knock-off goods, a Mexican grocery, candy shop, Amish bakery and butcher shop, Mexican restaurant, pizza joint, seafood restaurant, pretzel shop, ice cream shop, another meat counter, and a couple of other American burger and sandwich type places (I know I left some things out; I'm not a directory).My first stop was at Stoltzfus Amish Bakery. (Are all the Stoltzfus bakeries related, or is it just that every third Amish person is named Stotlzfus and owns a bakery? This is a serious question. Amish aren't keen on making websites, so the puter box reveled no answers.) Amish classics like shoofly pie and whoopie pies do not thrill me, so I went with a slice of red velvet roll. The cake was flavorless and tough, but perhaps the cake needs that tough texture in order to be rolled without cracking. Cream cheese frosting saved the day.
I had every intention of picking up lunch at the market, but nothing excited me. The thick stuffed pizzas were the most tempting, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat all that cheese (had a salad later at home which makes for bad food blogging, but saves calories).
The real fun is outside at the flea market where you get to riffle through people's collected crap in search of treasure. No flawless set of original Fiestaware was found, but I did pick up a pickling recipe book amid the hundreds of crockpot cookery and microwave cooking books. Do you think in 30 years well laugh at all the celebrity chef and special diet cookbooks we buy now that will end up at flea markets?I also got two Corelle cups that were the perfect size for the blackberry pudding I made (very pretty, but strange -- coming soon).

Despite the horrid traffic on 13, I will be back to the New Castle Farmer's Market for the flea market (love 'em!), but probably never back to the indoor section (it's not a true farmer's market, and I have no need for knock-off purses).