Coconut Jellies

It's getting quite warm in NYC and I am starting to crave some cool deserts.

This coconut jelly I made a few month ago was a success and super-easy, too. If you have left over coconut milk from making Thai curry, and have milk, cream (optional), your choice of sugar, gelatin, you are ready to go. Just read the basic liquid-to-gelatin ratio on the gelatin box and you can figure it out.

After making the mixture, I poured it in a tray and later cut them into cubes, but you can use ramekins or jelly molds.

In the pictures, I topped them on sweet azuki bean puree. This combination makes it very Asian.

I need to make it soon again!

Newbies in my house

In the spring, I tend to get packages from my friends and family.

Partly because April was my birthday month.

And partly because that, where I am from, spring is significant - is more than arrival of warmer weather & spring showers. It is the start of a new cycle of life, both in nature and society. Japanese schools' and companies' old year ends in March and a new year starts in April with new students & freshly employed graduates, anxious and hopeful, under cherry blossoms.

Or I'm just fortunate to have good friends and family - anyway, is nice to greet the beautiful season with a few new things at home.

Japanese "tenugui" cotton towel with horsetail print.
My sister always gift me with new patterns she finds.

My grandma would sometimes cook horsetail shoots and
serve in the mixture of  soy sauce and fish broth.
It's a little bitter and is definitely taste of Japanese spring.

Tomato-colored food container by Thermos.

Now my stew is hot at my lunch at work
- without the help of the microwave. 

My sister's homemade strawberry juice concentrate.
Here is with sparkling water: strawberry soda.

And because we started composting at a local library,
my friend Amy sent this for my birthday.
A compost bin that you can freeze!

And of course, Amy filled the bin with her most delicious mint brownies!

Stay Strong, Boston.

It makes no sense.

I have so many memories of Boston and it is pretty sad that it had happened there involving innocent people. My good friend's husband was in the race, but he is okay and so as my other friends & their families.

I just hope things like this will never happen again.
We have so many other issues we need to deal with, than killing and hurting our own kind.

Blog Viewing Tip

It's been a while since Blogger introduced this "dynamic view", but I'm trying it out for the first time, hoping my readers will have easier access to my older posts & that some forgotten posts'll be rediscovered by those who are new to them.

Simply click on the viewing preferences on far left of the header bar.

Archives and categories are still on the right side of the blog; they'll pop up if you hover over them.

Hope you will find new photos/posts (which are old) you like!

もうすぐ春

３月も半ばだというのに雪が降ったり、冬と春の間を行ったり来たりしているニューヨーク。

この半月くらいの間に、またいくつかの変化が周りであり、改めて、暮らしや人生も季節が移ろうように刻々と変化し続けているんだなーと思った。

どうせその流れにのらなくてはいけないなら、楽しみながら流されていきたいと思う。

午前は久しぶりにヨガに行って、心身もほぐれた。
美佳先生のヨガは本当にスペシャル。セッション後に初めてneti potにトライ。台所のシンクの上で溺れるかと思った。玄米酵素のお裾分けを頂いて、お友達の車に相乗りさせてもらって帰った。普段車に乗らないので、窓の外の風景がなんだか新鮮。

午後は娘のお迎え。
まだ肌寒かったが、日向には春の兆しがはっきりと感じられた。
娘の乾いた小さい手が冷たいけどあったかい。

夜は明日の遠足のため、娘のおにぎりを握る。梅干しと昆布。
娘は明日動物園に行くから興奮しているのか、何度も起きてくる。

やっと彼女が寝ついたあと、ご無沙汰だった友達と電話。
彼女はいつも自然体でポジティブでおもしろくて、楽しい気分になってくる。もっとこまめに連絡をとらなくては。

気づいたら夜10時を回っている。
仕事は少しだけにして、今日は早寝しようかな。