Teach me about Tea

Now she wants to bake a cake. That's all I know.

Just made a really simple and quite tasty soup.

Chicken stock - either prepared or made from bouillion.
3 leaves of bok choy
6 green onions (scallions)
1/2 of a block of firm tofu

Do this bit a little ahead of time. Take your tofu out of the package, wrap in paper towels or tea towels and place an empty pan on top of it. This will help drain some of the excess liquid from the tofu.

Mix up your stock if using bouillion. Might want to make it a tad more dilute than the mixing instructions to reduce salt concentration. Heat the stock on medium to low.

Clean the bok choy leaves. Cut the green part of the leaves off of the main white stem - a simple triangle cut around the stem is sufficient, no need to remove the white veins. Place all leaves on top of each other and then roll into a tube. Slice down the center lengthwise. Cut perpendicular to that center cut so that you have ribbons of cabbage. Put cut leaves into the warming stock to soften.

Clean the green onions and remove the root end. Slice the white part up to just about where the leaves diverge. Put into the stock.

Cube the tofu once it's been drained. Wait until the stock is just about done to put in the tofu.

Voila. A quick and easy soup. I just made this and it didn't take more than about 15 minutes at most. If you want to "spice" it up a little, I found that just a bit of garlic powder and, surprisingly, just a touch of balsamic vinegar makes it really good. I liked it with the cabbage just a little bit undercooked so that there was a bit of a crunch to it.

Since this thread has become a recipe thread here's one.

Spiced Mocha Mix
1 cup sugar
1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1/2 cup cocoa
3 tablespoons powdered instant coffee
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of salt

Mix it all together and then store in an airtight container.

For a single drink use 3 tablespoons of the mix and 3/4 cup hot water.
If you need a huge pick me up put 3 tablespoons in with your cup of coffee. <-- What I do.

Sorry for the bump. I am hoping that this get's stickied and we can keep the recipes and chat about food going.

People have already covered most of what you need to know so all I can add is my opinion.

I believe in high end green teas. Stuff like Gyokuro or Matcha straight up no sugar, no milk, no honey. Just plain Water plus Tea.

Don't get me wrong I drink other stuff and sometime use sugar but when I need a good tea fix is has to be a good green tea straight up.

Well, lately I've been a little lazy, but last night I made potato salad...

Boiled 6 russet potatoes until tender.
Cut to bite sized cubes.
Added usual stuff; chopped celery, green onions, finely diced dill pickles (not relish).
Instead of the usual mayonaise + mustard dressing, I made up some ranch dip/dressing with mayo + sour cream + yogurt.
Added in about a Tbsp. of mustard powder, about a tsp (or 2) of coarse black pepper, & a sprinkle of cayenne.

It's got a little kick on the backside.

I'm sure it'll be nice with a tall glass of slightly sweetened iced tea.

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That soup I made earlier? It's great on sushi-ish rice.

Make up a batch of sticky-type rice. Not that quick cooking stuff, but the real deal. Once it's done cooking, put in 1 tablespoon of mirin (sweetened rice cooking wine), 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, and just a little bit of sugar (dissolve the dry stuff in the wet stuff first). Pour that into the rice and fold/cut the rice around to make sure it's all covered.

Take out a few scoops and put the soup on top of it. Really good. And the rice is good just by itself. Slightly sweet and just a little bit tart (like I like my women ).

It's not necroing a thread if its less than three weeks dead right?

Anyways found the perfect way to get unhindered CoH time from my wife (IE she stops adding to the honey-do list). I made chocolate covered blueberries and strawberries.

Its real easy. You just need some good quality chocolate in a decent quantity, the fruit, a cookie sheet or two covered with wax paper, and 2 pots one needs to be larger than the other. Fill the bigger of the pots with hot water, set on the stove and bring it to just below boiling. Put the chocolate in the second pot and place the pot in the first pot with the near boiling water. Stir the chocolate around. It will take a few minutes to melt. Then use a toothpick or metal skewer to dip the blueberries and strawberries into the chocolate and using another toothpick or skewer place the chocolate covered treat onto the cookie sheet. Once the sheet is full put it into the fridge to let the chocolate harden. When your wife or significant other comes home surprise them with your homemade treat.

Dark One, I always thought you were supposed to put the vinegar/mirin sauce in with the rice while it cooks? I find your technique of adding it in afterwards very interesting.

And chocolate is almost always the way to a woman's heart, Crim. lol...
I say *almost*, because when I was younger, I actually didn't care much for chocolate. Later in life, I discovered that it wasn't chocolate *per se* that was the problem... but rather it was my tastebuds... I like the expensive stuff (go figure). lol

I love the fun additions that some of the chocolatiers have come up with.. ginger, cayenne, even some florals, go very nicely with (dark) chocolate. Have fun experimenting!

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lol... that was the *joke*

I would never malign *chocolate* for the poor treatment it receives from certain mass production "candy" corporations. It's not *chocolate's* fault that it gets diluted with horrible fillers & binders, just so some bigwig can stretch their bottom line...

Of course NOW my analytical brain understands what my tastebuds always knew.

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The sad thing is that Hershey/Nestle/Mars have convinced the American public at large that chocolate is supposed to taste that way.

Super Recipes

Recipes for Supers

The Heroic Kitchen



(I'm making Gra'ma's scalloped (cheesy) potatoes today)

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Reading about rice makes me want to share a stupid easy and quick way to make stroganoff. This is the version I'll do if I want to spend minimal time in the kitchen. (ie. 10 mins or so) Otherwise I'll make it more from scratch, but this is a proven winner.

Put rice in rice cooker following proper proportions of water/rice (this does change depending on the type of rice. I prefer jasmine rice as it holds up better with sauce and isn't as sticky as your traditional white rice). Let rice cook in rice cooker (about 20-25 mins. It'll tell you when its done cooking)

About 10 minutes after rice was started...

Take some precooked frozen meatballs, heat them in a covered nonstick pot/pan until heated. Season as necessary. Add a packet of brown gravy mix following the instructions on how much water to add with the packet into the pan with the meatballs. Let that thicken up a bit, then add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sour cream, stirring well. Let meat and sauce bubble and thicken up to desired consistency. Take off heat and wait for rice to finish cooking (if it hasn't finished by this point.)

Scoop meat and sauce over cooked rice and you're done. Om nom nom!

Sounds kinda like a variant beef bowl recipe.

Love olive oil, my fav comes in a bottle from Harris Teeter, I can't remeber the name but it has all the nice fruity flavor with none of the peppery finsh.

I really dig saveur magazine especially anything bordering the med, imo the bestest food evah