Chinese New Year rice cake

Tomorrow will be last the day of Chinese New Year, in honor of that I fried up some "nin go" for breakfast.

"nin go" is a sticky rice cake similar to Japanese mochi made during Chinese New Year. It is made with glutinous rice flour and sugar. 

More interesting facts about "nin go"

 I found my homemade "nin go " this year at Penang restaurant in Atlanta.

This "nin go" has been stored in the fridge to keep it fresh, this causes it to harden which makes it easier to slice.

Before slicing, the banana leaf lining is removed. The "nin go" is filled into molds lined with banana leaves which impart a nice aroma to the cakes.

After slicing into bite size pieces , the cakes are dipped into a simple batter of eggs , flour, baking powder, sugar and salt

 The cakes are then pan-fried in a buttered pan

They are cooked till golden on each side. When they are done , drain them on paper towels and let cool for about 3 minutes before serving

The perfect accompaniment to these cakes is some fragrant Jasmine tea

Beautiful golden Jasmine tea bought in San Francisco Chinatown

Banana French toast

The plan for today was to get some cleaning done around the house before the onset of piano students and Willy Wonka rehearsal later in the day. I especially wanted to accomplish some dusting and also organizing of cachepots and other orchid dressing related supplies(moss, raffia, twigs) in anticipation of Thursday's visit to the orchid farm. 

To energize myself for the workday ahead, I decided a slightly more decadent than usual breakfast was in order. I looked around to see what needed to be used up and found we had over-ripe bananas and also remembered a loaf of stale brioche stashed away in the fridge in the event of a French toast craving.

So with those ingredients on hand, I made banana stuffed French toast!

The best French toast starts with stale brioche. Paired with some over-ripe banana, it makes wonderful French toast. I try to keep matching bread slices together. First step is to top every other slice of bread with banana. I use about half a banana on each slice. After that, you basically make a banana sandwich.

Next comes the custard for dipping the bread. I use one egg and 1/4 cup half and half for every 2 slices of bread, I had 8 slices bread today, making 4 sandwiches so I used 4 eggs & 1 cup half and half. I added to that 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Preheat the skillet till warm and then add a a couple of dabs of butter

carefully dip the "sandwiches" into the egg custard , turning once. The bread only needs to soak for about 5 seconds on each side and they go right into the pan

Fry till golden and set. When the toast is done, drizzle with a little honey

Breakfast is incomplete without a cup of hot tea or coffee.  This morning's beverage of choice was London Cuppa tea (Racquel, this one is for you)

Since these tea leaves are finely ground, I like to put then in "fill your own" tea bags before putting them in the pot. "Fill your own" tea bags I usually find at the Super H mart. I prefer the ones that completely seal with a quick fold . These do not have half the bag hanging out looking like you have your socks in the teapot. London Cuppa tea is also available already bagged in tagless teabags but I found the loose variety on special at TJmaxx

Breakfast is served!

After this most delicious breakfast, it was on to vacuuming, dusting and hanging pictures. Also organized some of the orchid supplies.... did I mention, I get to go to the orchid farm on Thursday!

Socrates presides over the cleaning of his domain

Clean and sparkly!

I got the house vacuumed and dusted, some organizing done and a picture hung. Piano lessons went well today and I had a good time at Willy Wonka rehearsal. I 'd like to think it had something to do with starting the day with a delicious breakfast.

New art by Seth Fitts is finally on the Wall

Lovely Monday

The day started out with the frantic preparation of Valentine's Day gifts, frantic because I woke up late and was expecting company for TEA in less than 3 hours

Macarons: red bean, raspberry, mango, strawberry-lemon curd

I used my new stamp set for the first time, Red birds on brown stickers from PaperSource

Lindt chocolates in colors corresponding to the macarons

Domestic bliss

With the treats done, I quickly tidied up around the house and got cracking on experimental savory scones

I omitted the sugar and added capers and grated white cheddar to the SAVOY Hotel recipe

The evening before, I embarked on a red velvet marathon baking session which resulted in a "bumper crop" of red velvet cupcakes and a layer cakes

Red velvet batter on the way

3 lbs cream cheese, 1/2 pound butter and 2 lbs powdered sugar:

 A LOT OF FROSTING

Red velvet cupcakes, perfect party favors

Since it was Valentine's day and the weather was springlike, I opted to use the
 apple blossom patterned Bavarian dishes inherited from Raleigh's grandmother Olive Batten

"Apple Blossom" by Tirchenreuth, Bavaria

La Perruche rough cut sugar cubes

 And tea must also include homemade macarons off course, and we had raspberry, strawberry and mango

The scones turned out really well, can't wait to make them again

I love the moment hot water is first poured on loose tea leaves, the aroma is wonderful as the leaves begin to unfurl

I paired the  "Apple Blossom" with brown Toile napkins from Pottery Barn, Johnson Brothers "Greendawn" plates

And our centerpiece of Valentine's tea, red velvet cake!

I was very pleased with how the red velvet cake turned out, it had a good chocolate flavor perfectly balanced with just the right amount of tartness in the cream cheese frosting, not bad for a 1st attempt. And it was perfect with a cup of Assam blend tea

A perfect ending to a lovely afternoon tea!

I opened the windows after tea and the cats formed a heart... 

Happy Valentine's Day!

They were looking out at the visiting cat out on the deck