Miles to go

豆花, Making soya beancurd

Now and then I have a craving for tou hua, and it is impossible to get this in France. There are only 2 decent asian grocery shops in Reims. About a year ago I found this instant soya beancurd mix in one of the shops, and I was really very happy(!). However it turned out quite a disappointment.

So I start from scratch and make it from the bean.

I ground the beans with my cold-press juicer/grinder, mixed the ground beans with water, and sieved them twice through muslin cloth(or cotton. I don't know exactly, but I just found some cloth idling around in a cupboard)(This process reminds me of how grandma always makes authentic coconut milk by adding water to the freshly grated coconut and getting the liquid as milk)

That gave me soya bean milk.

From the milk, I tried two recipes, one for tofu and one for touhua. The tofu didn't turn out like the Japanese silken tofu that we like, but a sort of Italian faisselle kind of cottage cheese. It was not too bad, tasted natural and nice.

I tried the second recipe for tou hua, and when I was stirring it, I was afraid that it wouldn't coagulate like it was supposed to be, so I quickly added a 2 tbsp of agar agar powder instead of 1/2 tbsp..in the end I realised that it was supposed to coagulate when it was cooling, not during the warming process.
(Unlike the tofu, which used alcohol vinegar and sea salt to coagulate, formed during the warming process)





Shall remember to add just a tbsp for 2 litres of milk as indicated next time!

posted by minitotoro @ 1:28 AM 0 comments

Quite hot in France!

It's a pity this Spring is so hot, it's already 23 degrees now!
Bugger, normally the temperature should be 15-18 degrees, and tulips bloom for at least 1 month.
I think the tulips only had their chance for 2 weeks this year.

We had an Easter meal with Nic's grandparents, and as usual his grandmummy decorated the table with Easter decorations in yellow and green. She's really so talented in table dressing!

Then we off we went by car to their orchard to pick ourselves a bouquet of tulips before they all faded. The cherry trees were also fully in bloom, we just sat under the cherry tree, smelling the cherry blooms and apple flowers..while chatting away for 2 hours.

When I was 15 a band senior in RGS bought 3 tulips for another senior, and she spent 21 dollars on those three pathetic yellow stalks of tulips! My reaction then was "(gawk!)Wow that's quite a lot of money for just 3! I'd never spend so much on one stalk of flower!"
The worst thing was, after an hour she was tearing because the tulips totally bloomed to their fullest, the stalks were wilting and the petals falling off! Singapore is just too ridiculously hot for poor tulips.
So now each time I cut a stalk of tulip, I laugh away in my heart because I remember this particular band senior. Especially when I don't have very nice memories of band seniors, I laugh even louder. hmph!

Here's my bouquet!
Next will be the peonies and the Irises, can't wait!

posted by minitotoro @ 11:24 PM 0 comments