text: As a rule, one of the most widespread problematic on the Computer are duplicate files which are copies of files before now existing on hard disk. It's easy to see that there is no any advantage of such files but there is a large harm – eventually, they take a lot of place which other (more useful) files could occupy.To struggle with such duplicates is not only probable but also necessary. The singular windows free download program which automatically allows to define copies of files is used for this purpose to allocate them from the common list and to delete from the Laptop. Such clone folder instrument as Clone Remover.Why Clone Remover? When users open one utility they come up against such unpleasant situation as the necessity to master difficult management of software, to learn fasten, their arrangement, options and control panels. At times, it takes a lot of time to start to use the tool which is spent for development of toolkit and possibilities.With Clone Remover as a windows free download tool it's not so. The clone folder instrument has surprisingly simple and user-friendly interface which allows to master the software easily, does it accessible to users of various level, skills and abilities.For example, in the instrument practically there are no panels of instruments or panels of menu which would complicate work. On the contrary, almost all work in the instrument is transferred to a dialogue window in which all users can co-operate with the utility interface in the mode of "user-program" or "question-answer". Work in the utility is carried out in the form of windows replacing each other in which the user is offered to answer some problem.Some answers from which it is necessary to choose one or several ones depending on problem type are applied to each question in the windows advantage. For example, the software can ask among what files you're going to search for duplicates, and to offer some variants of answer for a choice. Or – to suggest to choose in which directory you're going to search for duplicate files – in a folder, on a disk, a network disk or archive.It's interesting that such removability of windows in the program doesn't prevent the tool to be functionally developed and interesting. As we've already told the program has possibility to search for duplicate files in such directories as a folder, a disk, archive and a network disk. For this reason you can be always assured that you can find copy of any file irrespective of its site.Functionality, interactive mode of functioning, simplicity and convenience of design – all distinguishes it Clone Remover from many other similar service.Certainly, we've described completely not all functionalities of the clone folder tool. Besides them you can find such options as possibility to keep results of search in a special file, to search for duplicates in e-mails in program Microsoft Outlook etc.


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Tboy Daflame – Basbousa Amapiano
August 25, 2022 | Songs | No Comments|
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subset: commoncrawl


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Class-Consciousness and the 'Movies'
"The line of demarcation between theatrical audiences and movie audiences will grow ever sharper, the one representing entirely the bourgeoisie and upper classes, and the other the proletariat"
Motion pictures, or the 'movies' as they are popularly called, are a development of the twentieth century. We can all remember when they were unknown; then a considerable period when they were exhibited in the vaudeville houses, always at the end of the programme—the good-night act; then the time, scarcely more than a decade ago, when little theatres began to crop out devoted exclusively to motion pictures, and charging an admission fee of only five or ten cents. At the present time it is almost safe to say that there is not a town of over five thousand inhabitants in the country without its motion-picture theatre, and in many sections the films are exhibited at least once a week in towns as small as one thousand. Various calculations have been made to determine the number of people who daily attend the movies in the United States, the figures ranging from an inside estimate of four million, to an outside figure of ten million. Even the smaller estimate is sufficiently impressive, but probably, in prosperous times at least, the higher is more nearly correct. Ten per cent of our population, then, are patrons of the motion pictures.
These facts, I am aware, have been stated over and over, to the point of weariness, and various interpretations put upon them, or deductions drawn from them. It has been pointed out, with truth, that the motion pictures, owing to their cheap price of admission and their extreme mobility, have added an entirely new source of amusement for small communities, where in the old days regular, or even, sometimes, occasional, dramatic entertainment was out of the question. It has also been pointed out that in the larger communities an individual, and more especially a family, can secure an evening of relaxation and entertainment much more frequently than before, because the head of a household, for example, can take his wife and three children to the movies for the price of one gallery seat at a regular playhouse. It has been still further pointed out that not only is the outlay smaller, but the return is more certain, and the sense of disappointment less, also, if the entertainment does not please. At the motion-picture theatre more than one drama is presented—often four or five. At least one of them is bound to please. Paying five times as much admission even to the top gallery, the patron of the spoken drama, in any town except the few large centres, is generally taking chances with an unknown play and unknown players. The smallest town, however, sees the same motion-picture players as the largest—there are no second companies in the film world. John Bunny and Mary Pickford 'star' in a hundred towns at once.
The result has been, so the theatre managers themselves agree, not only the practical extinction of the cheaper melodramas which used to cater to 'the masses,' the 'ten-twent-thirts,' as they were called, plays which had no literary quality whatever, and were never so well done as film-players do the same sort of thing, but also the practical desertion of the gallery seats for dramas of the better sort. A generation ago it would have been almost inconceivable that a man would build a theatre without any gallery in it. Yet Mr. Ames's Little Theatre in New York has not only no gallery, but no balcony. It is simply a drawing-room with the floor tilted. A second theatre with no balcony is now being erected in New York, and several of the newest houses have no gallery. The day of the gods is over.
Now, just what does all this mean? It means, the optimists will tell you, that the masses of the people are getting at last cheap amusement, on the whole of a good grade. Better and better productions are being made by the motion-picture firms, better actors are appearing on the screens, the Pathé Frères are presenting interesting and truly educational pictures of current events all over the world, a board of censors sees to it that objectionable film-dramas are for the most part eliminated, and the spoken drama is learning to adapt itself successfully to the new conditions. There appear to be just as many regular theatres as ever, and an even greater interest among educated people in the art of the playhouse. Moreover, as the motion pictures improve in quality, these same optimists say, they will 'educate' many of their patrons to a desire for higher things. They will act as a school of appreciation for the spoken drama; they will breed new audiences for the legitimate playhouse.
This is a comforting—and a comfortable—view. It is a view we all wish we could hold. The present writer stuck to it as long as he could. But one does not need to be a Marxian Socialist, it seems to me, to detect, with a little thought and some observation of actual conditions, the economic basis of motion-picture popularity, and to feel that, so long as that economic basis exists, the breach between the film drama and the spoken drama will always exist also. You cannot, of course, draw any hard-and-fast line which will not be crossed at many points. In Atlanta, Georgia, for example, you may often see automobiles parked two deep along the curb in front of a motion-picture theatre, which hardly suggests an exclusively proletarian patronage. It does, however, suggest that Atlanta has a meagre supply of the higher type of dramatic entertainment. On the other hand, when Sothern and Marlowe used to play Shakespeare at the old Academy of Music or the Manhattan Opera House in New York, the galleries were always packed with a proletarian audience. Nevertheless it is perfectly safe to say that in the larger towns, where the higher-priced drama coexists with the motion-picture plays, the line of cleavage is sharply drawn in the character of the audience, and this line is the same line which marks the proletariat from the bourgeoisieand capitalist class.
In the smaller towns, of course, the line is much less sharply drawn, and in the villages, where 'regular plays' never come, it is hardly drawn at all. But it is just in these villages, also, we must note, where modern industrialism has its least hold, that elder American institutions and social conditions most persist. In the average American village of a few thousand souls, even today, you will not find class-consciousness developed. The proletariat is not aware of itself. The larger the town, the greater the degree of class-consciousness—and the sharper the line of cleavage between the audiences at the spoken drama and at the movies. Indeed, in a certain New England city of thirty-five thousand people, a concerted attempt was made two years ago by several wealthy men to provide good theatrical fare. They purchased the best theatre in the town and installed an excellent stock company. The gallery seats sold for as low as ten cents, thus competing with the movies. But the theatre was on the 'fashionable' side of town, it was looked upon by the six thousand mill operatives and their families (constituting a proletariat which numbered more than fifty per cent of the population) as something that belonged to the other class—and they would not go near it. Consequently the well-meant attempt was a failure, while the movies continued to flourish as the green bay tree.
That is, perhaps, in the present state of things, an extreme example, showing rather how matters are going to be than how they generally are. At present, it is certainly not necessary to find any definite state of feeling to explain the cleavage between the two audiences. The economic explanation is quite sufficient.
Testifying recently before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations, Scott Nearing, of the Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania, said, 'I believe that half of the adult wage-earners of the United States get less than $500 a year; I believe that three fourths get less than $750 a year; and I believe that nine tenths get less than $1000. A careful survey of all the wage-literature published shows that the wage-worker who gets $1500 is an extraordinary, a unique, exception.'
Bearing these facts in mind,—and they are hardly to be disputed in their larger aspects, though there may be some exaggeration in the figures, or at any rate some mitigating circumstances which Mr. Nearing does not take into account,—how ridiculous it is to expect the wage-worker in New York, Boston, or Chicago, where even gallery seats (good gallery seats, at any rate) are fifty cents each, and where some theatres have no galleries, to take his wife and family to enjoy the art of Mrs. Fiske or Forbes-Robertson, to see the productions of Frohman and Belasco, to be uplifted by Shakespeare or cheered by Cohan or made thoughtful by Galsworthy or tickled and provoked by Shaw! If fifty per cent of the wage-workers of these cities receive but $500 a year, you can figure for yourself, gentle reader, what proportion of a week's pay it would require for the father in this class to take his wife and two children to the theatre. Even supposing that his yearly wages reach the enormous figure of $1000 a year, so that he is earning $20 a week, the father of a family would probably think twice before he invested two dollars in seats to 'Hamlet' or 'The Follies of 1914.'
Out on the road, to be sure, the prices are frequently scaled down, and it becomes possible to see a play for twenty-five cents instead of fifty; but even at that rate a wage-earner will think a long time before investing. Moreover, the motion-picture theatre, where he does go for his evening's relaxation, is almost always much nearer to his home, possibly saving him an additional expense in carfare. If he has children, he can take three of them as well as his wife for the price of one gallery seat at the regular theatre—and, what is an important point to consider, he will not be segregated from the rest of the audience, the 'shirt-front' contingent below stairs, the class which employs him by day. He will sit on the ground floor, with his own kind, feeling as it were a kind of proprietorship in the playhouse. Here he is apart from his daytime distinctions of class; he is in an atmosphere of independence. He is paying as much as anybody else, and getting as good a seat. It will require a tremendous deal of 'educating' before you can persuade such a man to invest a dollar and a quarter instead of twenty-five cents, out of a yearly wage of $500, on a single evening's entertainment, and to invest it in a theatre where he enters by the back stairs.
No, so long as the economic structure of our society remains as it is, and so long as our theatres are conducted as they are at present, the movies will not be to any appreciable extent a training school for audiences, fitting them for an appreciation of the spoken drama; nor will the movies grow any fewer in the land. Instead, the line of demarcation between theatrical audiences and movie audiences will grow ever sharper, the one representing entirely the bourgeoisie and upper classes, and the other the proletariat. The movies will become ever more powerfully a factor in the growth of class-consciousness. Already, as I have indicated, this result may be seen in the legitimate theatres as well as in the movie houses.
When theatres are built without galleries or balconies, when they are decorated like drawing-rooms and no seat is sold for less than two dollars, or even two dollars and a half, what chance is there of a democratic audience? More and more our playhouses are shrinking in size. There has not been a theatre built to house dramas in New York in recent years which could not almost be placed on the stage of the old Boston Theatre. This is said to be a result of the changed conditions of the drama itself, modern realism having dictated an intimate type of playhouse. In part that is true—but only in part. It is almost equally true that in recent years the managers (who would not care a snap about the proper presentation of intimate drama if they could fill the Metropolitan Opera House with it improperly presented, or with something else) found that they could not fill the larger houses. The upper galleries were just so much waste space. Their support came from what they call 'the two-dollar crowd.' Therefore they built for the two-dollar crowd—they built gilded drawing-rooms. That development continues to-day. So does the development of the movies. Already the spoken drama and the silent drama are far apart. Each is the amusement, the pastime, of a separate and antagonistic class.
I do not think that it would be at all difficult to show that this is bound to have a bad effect on the spoken drama, but I am rather less concerned with that phase of the question here than with the effect on the proletariat. It is surely a matter of record that the great periods of the drama have been coincident with periods of national awakening—true of all branches of the arts, perhaps. The Athenian drama and the Athenian state went hand in hand, for instance. The name of Shakespeare and the name of Drake can hardly be separated. Ibsen and modern Norway were a joint growth. The drama in France has always been close to the consciousness of the nation. We have no native opera in America; it is an imported pastime of the capitalist class—as we may call them in this paper, which set out with a title borrowed from the Socialists. But you may hear any Italian laborer digging a ditch or laying a railroad burst into an air from Verdi, because opera is his national speech. To think of Vienna is to think of Johann Strauss. We have as yet no body of American drama worthy of the name. Bronson Howard, James A. Herne, and Clyde Fitch gave us the beginnings of such a drama, and other men still living and active have striven to carry on the work, men especially like Eugene Walter and Augustus Thomas. But of late there has been a disappointing lack of progress.
It is not that dramas are not written by Americans, or even that they are not well written by Americans. George Cohan's Seven Keys to Baldpate was extraordinarily well written—or shall we say well made? Rather it is that they never get down to national fundamentals, that they have no intellectual seriousness (which does not mean tragedy, or even necessarily any lack of comedy, as our present-day audiences seem to suppose). When Clyde Fitch's play, The Truth, was revived last winter after nine years, it was almost shocking to see how much more seriously he took his task as a dramatist than our entertainers of the hour. He was tracking down a woman's character; the hunt that thrilled was the hunt for her soul.
To-day the plot is the thing, and just now the dramatist who can give a new and unexpected twist to a 'situation' or tell his story backward is acclaimed as king. Is this not a symptom of sophistication? Is not sophistication bound to come in at the window when the proletariat goes out by the door, even if it is the back door? It is always true, I think, that a person who has never been obliged to earn his own living lacks a certain solidarity of view that neither sympathy nor good intentions nor moral character can supply. Just so the wage-earners of a nation, who have lived perpetually close to the sterner realities, supply an element which the drama needs, which must have, to achieve the universality and power demanded of any truly national expression in the arts. A theatre without a gallery means a drama without a soul.
No doubt this point could be elaborated upon at considerable length, but after all it less concerns our present discussion than does the effect of the movies upon the proletariat. When we speak of class-consciousness, we do not mean the consciousness of 'class.' Certain people have always been quite conscious that they were superior beings, even in democracies like our own. There is nothing new about that. But what we mean by class-consciousness, as a revolutionist term, is the consciousness of the proletariat; not that it is socially inferior at present, but that it proposes to be economically equal in the future, and that this result is to be achieved by concerted class-action, whether forcible or parliamentary.
The growth of this idea, of this class-consciousness, is something every revolutionist is working for, and anything which will increase that growth is looked upon as so much gain by many. In 1881, for example, at the time of the Nihilist agitation in Russia, a great and brutal anti-Semitic rising occurred, and there were leaders of the revolutionist movement who looked upon this as a blessing, because those who beat and robbed and murdered the Jewish 'usurers' were mostly Russian peasants, and their concerted action meant that they were achieving class-consciousness. The argument is grotesquely horrible, of course, yet it was seriously made. In like manner the Syndicalists—represented in this country by the I.W.W.—are perfectly willing, in order to strike a blow, however blind, at Capitalism and increase class-consciousness, to encourage sabotage with all its demoralizing effect on the moral tone of the workingmen themselves. From the Syndicalist's point of view, then, surely, the movies should be regarded as a blessing, as an aid in the growth of class-consciousness, for they are rapidly segregating the theatrical amusement of the proletariat from the theatrical amusement of the master class, and drawing the line of social cleavage more and more sharply.
But any sound Socialist should tell you—what you yourself who are not a Socialist will readily concur in—that any injury to the capitalists which does not result in a corresponding gain to the working class, is folly; and equally he should tell you—and equally you will concur—that any growth in class-consciousness which is accomplished at the expense of the moral, intellectual or spiritual fibre of the proletariat is a dubious gain if not a distinct backward step. In practically shutting off the proletariat from the spoken drama, as we are doing (our New England city of 35,000 showed a proletariat of at least 20,000 who would not or did not attend the legitimate playhouse), and throwing them back on an exclusive amusement diet of motion pictures, what are we doing to them? Are we helping them or harming them? Should their own leaders rejoice at a gain in class-consciousness, or consider gravely the other side of the balance—the loss of romance, of poetry, of intellectual stimulation,—all the varied aesthetic appeal of the most universal of the fine arts, the art of the theatre?
I am perfectly well aware that many people will consider this question of but trivial importance. I am also well aware that many others will retort, and retort truly, that very often the movies are an excellent institution, supplying innocent amusement, often educational in value, to people who would otherwise be without resources for amusement. I do not for a moment deny it. In the smaller towns the movies are a boon. I myself would infinitely rather see Cabiria on the motion-picture screen, for that matter, than half the melodramas on Broadway. But the small town which never had an amusement centre till the movies came is far from the heart of the problem, and Cabiria and its kind are far from the normal motion picture. The question is not between the movies and nothing, but between the movies, the average five- and ten-cent movies (Cabiria was exhibited on Broadway at a dollar a seat) and the spoken drama—in other words, between a semi-mechanical pantomime and a fine art.
Let us put the matter a little differently. In our schools we attempt to teach the best literature, to inculcate ideals of good music and sound art. We open museums and establish free libraries. Why? For the simple reason that we believe, and rightly believe, that a knowledge and love of these better things is a bulwark of our civilization. We do not open museums of fine paintings for one class, and museums of photographic reproductions of poor paintings for the proletariat. That would be inconceivable. We do not establish libraries of the world's choice literature for one class, and, for the proletariat, provide endless editions of dime novels. That, too, would be inconceivable. In our socialistic institution, the school, we give alike to all; in our socialistic institution, the public library, we give alike to all; even in our semi-philanthropic institution, the museum, we give alike to all; and always for the same reason, that our civilization may be bulwarked to its foundation by what we call culture.
But what of the drama, the most universal, the most vividly appealing, the most direct and potent of the arts? Many people read but occasionally. Still more are but slightly reached, if at all, through the medium of pure vision—by painting and sculpture. Yet the drama goes home to everybody, old and young, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. It has ever been so, and will ever be so. It is inherent in our very natures. So instinctive is our response to it that it has almost never been regarded as 'cultural' or 'educational.' It is regarded as amusement. We are all willing to pay for it, within our means. How can it fail, then, to reach us more surely than any other art? How can it fail, in a deeper, truer sense, to be potentially of the very highest cultural value?
Think for a moment of the place that Shakespeare holds in the culture of the race! Shakespeare was a dramatist, and his plays, conned dully in our schools, live on the stage to move us. Had Shakespeare the dramatist failed Shakespeare the poet would have been forgotten these many years. Your memory and mine, going back over our lives, conjure up recollection after recollection of happy hours in the theatre, when we have wept and laughed with Jefferson, grown sad with Booth till he lifted us up to a never-to-be-forgotten vision of those flights of angels singing him to rest, known the fever and the heartache of romantic love with Miss Marlowe on Juliet's balcony, thrilled to the staccato tones of Mrs. Fiske, or pondered the paradoxes of existence in the provocative plays of G.B.S. Amusement, yes; but how much more! The charm of personality affecting us, the roll of poetry in our ears, the thrill of climax, the rattle of repartee, the spell of romance, the enlivening spectacle of social contrasts worked out under our gaze, the stimulation of intellectual reflection on the concrete facts of life, the glamour of beauty, of lights, of stage pictures—that is the theatre, that and how much else besides! Is it not a part of our cultural equipment, is it not knit in the very fibre of our civilization?
And what have the movies to offer in its place? I want to be fair to them. They offer geographical pictures of educational value, as well as pictures illustrating current events and natural history. Occasionally, a film has some real historical worth, like Cabiria, or, like the same film, some real pictorial charm. But when that is said, you have said nearly all possible. They are capable of expressing more personality than a static photograph, of course; but to imagine the princely quality of Forbes-Robertson's Hamlet, that concrete emanation of a lofty ideal, in a motion picture! They have a cruel realism which at once dulls the imagination and destroys the illusive romance of art. They are utterly incapable of intellectual content. That could be deduced had you never seen one. After seeing hundreds and hundreds, as I have done, experience tells you that only the skeleton of narrative is possible, and usually that narrative is utterly banal. All poetry, all music, all flash of wit, all dignity of spoken eloquence, they can never know.
There can be no Shakespeare in the movies, no Shaw, no Booth, no Jefferson, no Gilbert and Sullivan, no Johann Strauss, no Julia Marlowe or Mrs. Fiske. What does it matter if such as these latter players act before the screen? 'Mrs. Fiske in Tess' is announced in the motion-picture houses, but you almost weep when you witness that travesty on her poignant art, that reduction of a soul-gripping play to a poor pantomimic skeleton, like an illustrated report in a Hearst newspaper.
Impersonal—that is the word which perhaps describes the motion picture better than mechanical. You view the dumb actions of human beings as through a glass. We all know how difficult it is, when sitting in a café at the next table to a group of strangers whose talk we overhear, to find anything amusing in the jokes which they enjoy. We are not in contact with them, and our own personality, with all that it implies, is not called forth. In the motion pictures we do not even overhear the talk. There is no talk. We see the actions of puppets, but it has little meaning oftentimes, and to our personality there is no call whatever. Yet it is the very essence of the value of amusements that in them, because they are spontaneous, our personalities have freest play, and in the life of the child particularly the individual is thus most effectively developed. The cooperation between audience and actor in a fine play is something which baffles analysis, perhaps, but is too real to question; and after such an experience both the actor and the audience feel that some change has occurred within them. But no more change is possible to the audience at a motion picture than if they viewed some far-off action of strangers in dumb show through a window. The soul is not reached.
Such is the theatre, such are the movies; 'and never the twain shall meet.' Who can say that a class-consciousness gained by the loss of the former is an advantage, either to the proletariat themselves or to our nation? What is the subtle but incalculable loss to the next generation?
It will doubtless be urged by many that this result, however unfortunate, is inevitable, that it is a natural evolution. What a comfortable answer that always is! It is a natural evolution, yes—of our present system. But it is only inevitable on the supposition that our present system is irrevocable, a supposition which few of us any longer hold. The theatre is now entirely conducted in America under a system of competitive capitalism; but we long ago took our schools away from such management, and our libraries. There is nothing to prevent our doing the same with our theatres, except the weight of public opinion.
We have not yet realized the place of the theatre in the life of a nation. Still Puritans at heart, we do not yet believe that anything we enjoy so much can be of value to our souls! The democratizing of the drama on the Continent has been accomplished under benevolent despotism—and think of the gains which have resulted to all the allied arts of the theatre! Such a method would be impossible here, no doubt, without the sanction of the popular vote. With that sanction, we should achieve a socialized theatre, and the superbly direct and vivid arts of the playhouse would be open to all, and in them all would feel proprietorship.
Every municipality large enough to support a theatre comfortably should have a municipal playhouse, not of the tiny and 'intimate' type, but large enough to provide many seats competing in price with the movies; and in the trusteeship and management of this theatre the proletariat should have equal share. In the larger centres there should be branch theatres, just as there are branch libraries, for the performance, under the simplest of conditions and at the minimum price, of fine plays close to the homes of the workers. When we think that the plays of Galsworthy were first performed in America at Hull House, we need not fear the lack of proletarian appreciation. That appreciation is essential, indeed, to the dramatist who would grapple with fundamental things, and without it no large body of serious national drama is likely ever to be written.
But here is neither the time nor the space to expand a scheme for a civic theatre. My purpose was to show the need therefor, a need which has arisen in our nation just in proportion as a proletariat has arisen, and which is now emphasized and made more insistent by the growth of the movies with the consequent deflection of almost the entire wage-earning population away from the spoken drama to the infinitely inferior and spiritually stultifying mechanical film-play. And with the steady increase of class-consciousness effected by this cleavage, the task of bridging the gulf again will be rendered constantly more difficult, if only because the proletariat will become constantly less susceptible to finer aesthetic appeals.
The problem, if it is ever tackled at all, will perhaps be given up as hopeless by the leaders of our present regime; it will be labeled a Utopian dream. But Utopian dreams are just what the Socialists thrive upon. The civic theatre is hereby commended to them, as a needed propaganda. Thrilling songs may yet be sung and stirring dramas written to the steady tramp of revolution!


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In a 2011 email to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other people seeking to dismantle the Chicago public school system, Republican Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner claimed that half of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers are "virtually illiterate".
Not only is that an absurdly false claim about public K-12 teachers in our state's largest city, it's also a flagrantly racist one.
According to the CPS website, 50.3% of CPS teachers are white, and the race/ethnicity of 1.7% of CPS teachers is unknown. That means that 48% of CPS teachers are of a known ethnic minority. I'm very convinced that Rauner was referring to non-white CPS teachers as "virtually illiterate".
The latest email release from Rahm's administration in Chicago has proven that Rauner is a total racist who thinks that minority teachers are illiterate, and that the Rahm-Rauner agenda to destroy public education in Illinois is motivated by racism. The truth of the matter is that public school teachers in Illinois, whether it be in Chicago or another part of our great state, are intelligent, functionally literate, and do a great job of educating our state's children.


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This is to announce a India-themed quiz at the University of Maryland, College Park ( organized by DESIUMD ) which "yours truly" will be conducting on Friday March 2nd with his customary Inzamamian flair.
If you are in the area, free on March 2nd at 5:30 in the evening and would like to participate in a rather easy, lowbrow quiz with no arcane references then kindly drop by the Nyumburu Cultural Center to enjoy a liberal splattering of trivia about Chichi, Mithun-da, forgotten Indian bowlers, Doordarshan oldies, corrupt politicians and other assorted topics of no importance to anyone.
[Sample question: From the personal section of a certain newspaper on a certain Valentine's Day. Who is M? Hint: M is not Mithun Chakraborty]


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Agent 007 is officially out of limbo. Bond 23 has a Nov. 9, 2012 release date and production of the movie will start late this year, Eon Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said in an e-mailed release on Jan. 11.
The production company and studio, the latter fresh out of bankruptcy court, confirmed Daniel Craig is returning and Sam Mendes is directing. One tidbit of news: the script will be by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.
Logan hadn't been mentioned previously. Eon's last word on the story was when it said Purvis and Wade would collaborate with Peter Morgan, but Morgan left the project without actually writing a script (while gabbing plenty about how he never really cared for the Bond character).
Logan, a 49-year-old, Chicago-born screenwriter, has credits including 2007's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and 2000's Gladiator.
No title was disclosed. Still, the release confirmed the obvious, especially concerning Mendes, whose ex-wife Kate Winslet had publicly confirmed the director was working on the film. Eon had suspended Bond 23 "indefinitely" last year because of MGM's financial ills, which climaxed with with its trip to bankruptcy court where creditors exchanged debt for equity in the studio.
MGM also tipped its hand in bankruptcy court filings that it wanted Bond 23 to come out in November 2012. It remains whether the other part of the studio's 007 plan — that Bond movies resume coming out every other year — comes to pass.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Bond 23, Bond 23 to come out in November 2012?, Daniel Craig, Eon Productions, James Bond Films, John Logan, Kate Winslet, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM's financial troubles putting Bond 23 in limbo, Neal Purvis, Peter Morgan, Robert Wade, Sam Mendes, Sam Mendes to reunite with Daniel Craig? | 4 Comments »


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Note: November 25th, is the U.N.'s International Day To End Violence Against Women. In recognition of the day, something I believe is important every day, I plan to share a few posts this month that look at how women are viewed and treated in society– and how that may contribute to the problem.
When women are sexualized and compartmentalized, on so many levels, it's not hard to see why they are victimized in such huge numbers.
I'm not an expert on the topic, and I'm sure there are much more complex theories out there; however, whether it's unrealistic Disney characters or how our girls are expected to dress at school, these issues are relevant to the larger issue of inequality and abuse of women. Join the discussion! Share these posts, or contribute your own thoughts in the comment section.
I grew up on Disney and their magic. Every Sunday night, I waited for the iconic music and the image of Tinker Bell, spreading pixie dust over the Disney castle, to make my weekend complete. I ached to go see that castle in person, and was sure Tink was real. Though a tad haughty, she remains my all-time favorite.
As an even younger child, some of my earliest memories are of dancing around my paternal grandmother's cast iron coffee table, as my brother and I listened to the albums Bambi and Mary Poppins… yes, albums. They came with color print inserts, that you could follow along on. My brother and I made our own fun– imagining the hunters coming or skipping with our invisible kites. We sang and danced for hours in that tiny living room, swept up in the magic that Disney does so well.
My maternal grandmother took me to Disneyland when I was five and a half, and my new baby sister's birth required that my mother rest. My aunt Pam was only 11, and we were "tickled pink" to be in the Magic Kingdom! I can still remember the Small World that made mine grow exponentially, and my determined effort to be as cool as my aunt. Later, our family would visit Disney World– which truly is worlds bigger than the land that started it all! To this day, the clean perfection of Disney World does something to me that doesn't exactly gel with my other world-views. I know it's plastic; it's a money pit; it's un-environmental on a million levels– I know all the reasons why Disney World should annoy me, but I love the place, and the sense of fantasy that comes back to me when I'm there.
As my own children were growing up, they too were fans of the Disney franchise. Each new movie swept them away, and I got to continue seeing them, in the name of parenting. Principessa, my now 24 year-old daughter, and my first-born, was totally besotted with The Little Mermaid. She would stare at the screen in a trance. She knew every word, every song– every gesture. When Belle came along, she learned to twirl around our small living room in Chicago, and yell "the beast!" She posed for most pictures with her hand tilted under her chin, á la every Disney heroine ever seen. And my boys were no less enthusiastic about Lion King, Aladdin, and each of the Toy Story movies. Disney has been a part of my life for… all of my life.
The making of a princess:
However, it didn't take becoming a parent to notice some Disney trends that have certainly challenged me. It has always bothered me that Disney feels compelled to kill off mothers. Hello? What's up with all the dead mommies, Walt (and all the Disney guys since)? Snow White (the first Disney full length film): dead mom, evil step-mother (Freud would have a field day!); Bambi: slaughtered mom; Peter Pan: lost boys– no mommies; Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin (neither Aladdin nor Yasmin had mothers)… character after Disney character without mothers.
Beyond the lack of mother figures, or mean step-mother figures, it's hard to be a mother of a daughter and not notice that most of Disney's female characters are demure, sexualized, and beautiful… unnaturally beautiful. They all have doe-like eyes, tiny waists, perfect bust lines, gorgeous hair– they're all just a tad too… perfect. And while I know they're cartoon characters, they are all just perfect in a way that just isn't… real. What does that teach our daughters about how they look and how they should act, to appear more like the characters they admire?
Recently I've seen two separate visuals about the ways in which Disney women/girls are portrayed in highly unrealistic ways, that perpetuate unreasonable expectations for young girls, and admittedly, each picture and point had me nodding my head and wondering how I allowed my own girl to idolize these unreasonable standards of femininity, and how did those early messages influence how they feel about themselves in life, when they don't look like the heroines they have admired. Poor Barbie has taken a beating in recent years, but Disney remains a favorite.
What I find most disturbing about these photos is that once you look at the images on the right, the "realistic" animations, the originals look so wrong– actually the originals are much more distorted than I realized before. And, the "realistic" characters are not way out there folks; their bodies are adjusted to a fairly slim version of real. Why oh why can't Disney just do it real in the first place? (images from Loryn Brantz at Buzzfeed)
I know this blog post isn't going to change the world; it isn't going to change violence against women, or how they're viewed, and it certainly isn't going to change the "magical world of Disney–" but it's a step forward. From an early age to now, it's been a love-hate affair for me, with Disney. While I have long enjoyed their special brand of magic, as a mother, as a woman, I wish they would use some of their immense influence, to lead the way in bringing stronger female role models, who do not represent a distorted physical image, that is impossible to attain. What an incredible thing it would be, if Disney stepped up and helped a new generation of girls and boys see that girls are not just delicate, pretty things, who win in the end by batting their eyes and finding a prince, but by being determined, intelligent, adventurous, and strong– in bodies that are strong and accurately represented.
As we look at the continued assaults on women, all over the world, and how girls and women are viewed, maybe it's time we all take a closer look at what we set in front our daughters, as examples of femininity, from the start. The characters in these animated movies are often some of the earliest role models and heroines our daughters, nieces, sisters… we, see and try to emulate. They sing their songs; dress like them for Halloween, and carry them in their hearts as the young women they look up to. That has been true since I was a girl. It's time that we all get real, and help girls and women see themselves as the strong, capable, beautiful people we are… just as we are– not as some artist imagines us. Disney, let's get real!
For a compelling look at one family's withdrawal from all things Disney, check out this blog: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/blog/one-familys-bold-experiment-year-without-disney
These visuals are pretty compelling as well! Is it that hard to be real in that magical world?
Snow White
Also read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/disney-princess-real-waistline_n_6076634.html
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Make me smile; and HELP ME REACH MY GOAL: I'd love to see the Tales From the Motherland Facebook page reach 500 likes in 2014. Have you stopped by to spread some fairy dust? Follow me on Twitter, it's where I'm forced to be brief. Most importantly, if you like a post I've written, hit Like and leave a comment. I love to hear what readers think. Honest, positive or constructive feedback is always welcome. Click Follow; you'll get each new post delivered by email, with no spam. If you see ads on this page, please let me know. They shouldn't be there. © 2014 Please note, that all content and images on this site are copyrighted to Dawn Quyle Landau and Tales From the Motherland, unless specifically noted otherwise. If you want to share my work, please give proper credit. Plagiarism sucks.


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Tony Cartlidge sat in the cab of a cement mixer on a nuclear power plant construction site in Washington, reading a book on great California winemakers…
Inspired to somehow enter the wine industry he had become enamored with, he jumped into his 1960 Rambler and headed to Napa. He checked into the Motel 6 and used the yellow pages hanging from the pay phone in the lobby to cold call wineries looking for employment.
And it was there the legend began.
Garagistes – (gar-uh-zhē-stuh) n, Fr. – A term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their garage, who refused to follow the "rules." Now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world. Syn: Rule-breakers, pioneers, renegades, mavericks, driven by passion.
Legends often begin in the most ordinary surroundings. For Tony Cartlidge and Glen Browne, as with many great entrepreneurs and iconoclasts of the 20th century, the legend began in 1980 in an undistinguished Napa Valley garage. Cartlidge—a dreamer with a love of wine and a fondness for taking the road less traveled—and Browne—a man of great business sense and a small amount to invest—set out to build a wine company from scratch.
As far as they could tell, there was no need (or, more to the point, not enough money) to buy an estate. Only a desire to seek out the best vineyards, harvest the best grapes and make the best wine possible.
Cartlidge scoured the appellations of the North Coast in his 1960 Rambler, from Napa to Sonoma to Mendocino to Lake, to source grapes farmed with care and concern for the land. He brought the harvest back to a simple garage winery to handcraft wines they knew people would enjoy as much as they did. Cartlidge & Browne wines soon began to garner raves from critics and wine lovers alike.
"The question that begs to be answered is why so many producers ignore what Cartlidge and Browne does better than just about anybody else in the state - produce fruit forward, pure, varietally correct, delicious wines." —Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
"A superb choice for frugal consumers..."
"…Tony Cartlidge deserves accolades from consumers who are fed up with overpriced wines."
"This winery knows how to make popular, high quality wines that sell for a song."
"…no other California winery so consistently delivers this quality at such humble prices."
Like that vintage foreign convertible. Pinot Noir takes extra effort to maintain. But when done properly elicits respect and envy. If it was easy, then everyone would do it. And that's half the point. Take the top down and go out for a spin just once and you'll know it's worth it all.
Ah Chardonnay…a big, comfortable Cruiser. As smooth as tuck and roll seats. Easy to handle as three on the tree. Relaxing as a Sunday afternoon drive. Might not be the fastest but it'll get you there. And all of your friends too. Dependable and perhaps unappreciated. Ah Chardonnay…
Like a classic muscle car, Cabernet Sauvignon's sleek lines belie its power and endurance. Sure this bold dark beauty is racy. But though it is quick to accelerate, it downshifts into a smooth finish. Revved up and ready to go now, you can trust that a little age won't slow it down. True high performance.
Merlot is like that ol' pick-up truck of mine. Dependable. A real worker. Just jump in and start it up. It never lets me down. Oh sure it might not be fancy. But I can't tell you how many times I'm glad I have it. And my friends are glad I have it too. It just makes my life easier. And isn't that what it's all about?


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Recently tofu has been going through a boom all over the world and since I have been asked many a time about recipes, I though it was time to re-edit this compilation!
Natto Manofu!
Mabodofu in Japanese or Mapo Doufu in Chinese Mapo doufu, is a popular Chinese dish from the Sichuan (Szechuan) province. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, and often topped with minced meat, usually pork or beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions, other vegetables, or wood ear fungus, but these are rarely considered authentic Sichuanese.
The Japanese sometimes combine it with natto to create a vegan recipe!
Natto Manofu!
INGREDIENTS: For 2~ people
-Natto: 2 standard packs
-Tofu (silk to fu): 1 standard block/300~400 g
-Leek: 1/2 finely chpped
-Fresh ginger: 3×3 cm cube, finely chopped
-Garlic: 1 clove, finely chopped
-Salad oil or seasme oil: as appropriate
-Soy sauce: 1 tablespoon
-Mirin/Sweet sake: 1 tablespoon
-Japanese sake: 1 tablespoon
-Doubanjiang/豆板醤: 1 tablespoon
-Shichuan pepper (if a vailable): a little
-Mix the natto with its tare/sauce. If tare is not provided, mix it with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Press water out of tofu. Cut tofu into small pieces (size of the pieces is up to your preference actually!).
-In a bowl mix soy sauce, Japanese, mirin and Doubanjiang into seasoning sauce. Set apart.
-Heat oil in a frypan. Throw in the chopped leek, ginger and garlic. Stir fry for a while.
-Once the leek have become half transparent throw in natto and the seasoning sauce. Mix and heat quickly for a short while.
-Add tofu, Fry until natto has mixed with tofu.
-If there is not enough water to your preference, add some hot (not cold!) water. Sprinkle with Shichuan pepper and serve atop freshly steamed plain rice!
Vegan Natto & Aburage Tofu
Tofu and natto are both made from soy beans and can be easily combined into vegan recipes!
Natto & Aburage Tofu!
If you have any problems with quantities, look at pics or experiment!
INGREDIENTS: For 2 people
-Abrage/deep-fried tofu: 1 standard pack/2 blocks
-Natto: 1/2 standard pack
-Natto tare/sauce/dresing (sold with pack): as appropriate
-Miso: 2 tablespoons
-Leek: 1/2 chopped
-Soy sauce: as appropriate
-Sponge water the oil and humidity off the aburage with some kitchen apaper. Cut through as to be able to open and stuff the tofu. The best method is to cut at an angle as shown in above picture, leaving half closed. Actually, you had better experiment, although you must keep in mind that the tofu should not be completely cut!
-Add some chopped leeks and the tare/sauce to the natto and stir until sticky. Add remaing chopped leeks and stir well.
-Paste the inside of the tofu with miso. Use a spoon. Stuff each tofu block with half of the natto. Secure with a toothpick.
-Fry until tofu attains a nice toast colour. No need to use oil!
You can also grill inthe toaster!
-Cut to size of your preference or serve it whole. Provide soy sauce for more seasoning if needed.
-Aburage as sold packed in Japan, although you will find them freshly made at any good large supermarket here!
Vegan Edamame Tofu
This is the season for fresh edamame and there are so many ways to accomodate them!
Have you ever thought of creating a vegan recipe with them and tofu.
Here is a simple way to please everyone!
Vegan Edamame Tofu!
INGREDIENTS: For about 6 people, unless you have a big appetite!
-Kinu Tofu/Silk Tofu: 400 g
-Edamame: 1 cup (boiled in salted water and extracted from their pods)
-Agar agar: 8g
-Water: 385 CC/about 2 cups
-Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
-Mirin/sweet sake: 1 tablespoon
-Vegan konbu dashi/seaweed soupstock: Check RECIPE: 1 cup/200 cc/ml
-Mirin/sweet sake: 3 tablespoons
-Soy sauce: 3 tablespoons
-Grated wasabi: as appropriate
-Soak the agar agar in the water for at least two hours or overnight.
-Peel off the thin skin of each edamame. Borin work, I must admit, but worth it!
-Place the tofu over a bamboo strainer/zaru to take as much water off as possible.
Press the agar agar strongly to drain it of any water.
Drop the agar agra in 400 cc of water and simmer on a weak fire until completely dissolved.
-Drop the edamame, tofu, salt and mirin in a mixer/food processor.
Turn until you attain a smooth paste.
-In a large bowl pour the tofu mixture and add the dissolved agar agar a lttle at a time and mix well until all has been incorporated.
Pour the whole into a rectangular mold you will have wetted beforehand.
-Smooth the surface flat with a gum spatula. Knock down the mold on the working table a few times to ensure homogeneousity.
Let cool and place inside refrigerator.
-Mix the dashi, soy sauce and mirin/sweet sake.
Heat to just before boiling point. Switch off fire and let cool completely.
Keep in thefridge.
-Turn the edamame to fu over a cutting board.
Cut into 8 pieces and place them on serving dish as shown above.
Pour dashi drssing around it.
Decorate with a few edamame and some grated wasabi.
Tofu & Vegetable Juice Cake
The great thing about tofu is that you can devise simple and yummy food with few ingredients and little money!
Here is a simple recipe for a healthy cake for adults and children"
Tofu & Vegetable Juice Cake!
INGREDIENTS: For an 18 cm wide mold
-Real 100% vegetable juice: 40 g
-Tofu (Silk tofu): 300 g
-Sugar: 50~80 g
-All-purpose flour: 100 g
-Eggs: 2
-Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
-Line the mold with an oven baking paper sheet.
-Drop the vegetable juice, tofu, sugar and eggs in a food processor. Mix until smooth.
Add flower and mix again until smooth.
-Pour the lot into the oven mold and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30~40 minutes.
-Let cool completely.
-Take out the mold and place on a serving dish. Chill it properly inside the refrigerator.
-Cut to size and serve.
-Decorate it with chatilly (beaten cream) cream.
-You can experiment with the taste with liqueurs and so on!
Easy, ain't it?
Vegan Japanese Cuisine: Yuki Nabe/Tofu Pot au feu
The Japanese have a very simple and healthy tofu recipe called Yuki Nabe/雪鍋 ("Snow Pot) which can be loosely translated as Tofu Pot Au Feu.
By just adapting the dashi soupstock to a vegan seaweed dashi, vegans and vegetarian can enjoy it!
Before reading the ingredients, check:
Vegan Japanese dashi soupstock recipe
INGREDIENTS: For 5 people
Tofu/Kinudofu/Silk tofu: count 1 block per person (1 block is about 300~400 g)
-Freshly grated daikon: 2 cups/400 cc
-Salt: 2 teaspoons
-Dashi: 5 cups/1000 cc
-Mitsuba/Trefoil/Japanese Honeywort: 1/2 cup/100 cc (Chopped). (if unavailable use fresh coriander or thin leeks, although the taste will be a lot stronger. Chopped shiso is fine, too)
-Lightly press grated daikon to take out excess water.
-In a large Japanese nabe/pot (earthenware pot) pour the dashi/soupstock.
-Heat over a medium fire. Once the dashi starts boiling add the freshly garted daikon. Once it starts boiling again add the tofu cut into fairly bite-sized pieces.
-When it starts boiling again, lower the fire to very low and add the mitsuba and salt (if needed).
-Ask the guests to seve themselves with a ladle into individual bowls. Eat with a Chinese soup spoon ("renge" in Japanese).
-Have some grated lime skin, grated fresh ginger and even grated wasabi ready in small dishes for adults wishing for some more zip!
As I said before, Koyadofu is one kind of tofu that can beasily arranged into all kinds of interesting appetizers in Japanese Homes' Gastronomy!
Here is a simple suggestsion for a yummy lunch to be eaten by all, vegans, vegetarians aor omnivores:
Vegan (Japanese) Tofu Curry!
INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
-Koyadofu: 5 sheets/85 g
-Carrot: 1 medium
-Onion: 1 medium
-Potato: 1 medium
-Shiitake mushrooms: 10 small
-Green peas: the equivalent of 1 small can/60 g
-Curyr powder (of your preference): 1~ tablespoon (I would use 2)
-Soy sauce: 2/3 tablepsoon
-Garan masala powder: 1/2 teaspoon
-Salad oil
-Steamed rice: count a large bowl per person
-Cut the koyadofu into small bits and let them (if dry) soak in lukewram water until they get soft. Press the water out of them and keep in separate bowl. Finely chop the carrot, onion, potato, and shiitake mushroom. Keep in separate bowl. boil the green peas beforehand if necessary.
-Fry all choped vegetables in salad oil for a while until the onions become translucent.
-Add some water and bring to boil. Remove any unwanted matter if necessary. Add chopped koyadofu. Cook until carrot are sufficently soft. Switch off fire. Add curry powder and mix quickly. Add soy sauce and garam masala and mix quickly. Switch on the fire and cook over small fire until you are satisfied withe the consistency of the whole.
On a dish turn over a bowl of rice and surround it like in the toppicture with curry to which you add the green peas at the last second (on directly "seeded" over it) for good effect.
Koyadofu Cheese & Bacon Rolls
Koyadofu is one kind of tofu that can beasily arranged into all kinds of interesting appetizers in Japanese Homes' Gastronomy!
Here is a simple suggetsion for yummy snack to be eaten by all, and with a good beer for adults!
Koyadofu Cheese & Bacon Rolls
INGREDIENTS: For 8 rolls
-Koyadofu: 4 sheets or 80 g
-Sliced cheese: 2
-Flour: as appropriate
-Thin pork belly slices: 8
-Salad oil a little
-Dashi/Japanese soup stock (if unavailable use bouillon of your choice): 1 cup/200ml/cc
-Soy sauce: 2 tablespoons
-Mirin/sweet Japanese sake: 2 tablespoons
-Sugar: 1 tablespoon
-Soften the koyadofu into lukewarm water. Press water out firmly.
Cut each "sheet" into identical halves
-Cut the sliced cheese into 4 identical parts.
-Cut the koyadofu as shown in picture through 4 fifths of it depth. Insert a pice of sliced cheese inside the cut.
-Roll the koyadofu "sandwich" inside a slice of pork belly and sprinkle with flour.
-Heat some oil in frying pan. Place the rolls together with their "tails" down. Cover with glass lid and cook over medium fire until the meat is conpletely cooked and attained a nice colour.
-Add the sauce ingredients and cook turning the rolls 2 or 3 times until the juices have practically disappeare/evaporated.
-Serve on a plate with some chopped thin leeks and if desired sprinkle with a little chili pepper!
Here is another simple tofu recipe you can either serve hot (great in winter) or chilled, although I would go for the former.
Chawan Mushi/Chyawanmushi/茶碗蒸し is a Japanese way to steam a flan/pudding that is not sweet. It makes for great appetizers or full meals if served aplenty.
Great for kids and waistline-conscious people!
Tofu Chawan Mushi!
INGREDIENTS: For 4 ramequins/cups
-Tofu: 1 cup:200 cc/ml (untreated, light type)
-Eggs: 3 medium-sized ones
-Egg yolk: 1
-Dashi (fish or seaweed): 1/2 cup/100cc/ml
-Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
-Soy sauce: 1 teaspoon
-Mirin/sweet sake: 2 teaspoons
-Chicken soup stock: 50 cc/ml
-Water or dashi: 150 cc/ml
-Cornstarch: 1/2 tablespoon
-Water: 1 tablespoon
-Grated fresh ginger (or yuzu kosho): enough for decoration and taste
In a bowl beat the eggs and egg yolk. Add tofu, dashi, salt, soy sauce and mirin. Mix well with an electric whisker. Pass through a thin sieve/chinois. Pour mixture inside ramequins/cups.
You can either steam it in a steamer or cook in a bain-marie. Or proceed as shown in picture above. Once the water has ben brought to boil, switch down heat to low and steam for 12~15 minutes.
While you are steamig the tofu chawan prepare the topping sauce. In a pan pour the soup stock and water/dashi. Bring to boil. Mix cornstarch and water, and add it little by little to soup until you have reache da satisfying consistency.
Check if the tofu chawan mushi is well cooked. Pour sauce over each cup. Serve with a little lump of grated fresh ginger. Serving with chopped thin leeks also makes for good combination in looks and taste. One can also season the sauce according to one's taste and priorities!
"Agedashidofu" or (Tofu first deep-fried, then served with dashi soup" is a very popular Japanese dish that can easily be adapted to fit vegetarian and vegan priorities!
Moreover, whatever dashi/soup is left can be poured onto a bowl of freshly staemed rice for a fillingand healthy suppelementary dish!
Vegan Agedashidofu!
INGREDIENTS: For 2 people
-Tofu (momen tofu) 1/2 a large piece (can of course be increased!)
-flour: 1 tablespoon (whatever flour as this could add an interesting variation!)
-Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon
-Oil for deep-frying
-Freshly grated daikon (to taste)
-Thinly chopped leek (to taste)
-Dashi (konbu/seawed dashi): 100 ml
-Soy sauce: 2 tablespoons
-Mirin/sweet sake:2 tablepoons
-You may add spices of your choice, especially grated ginger and hot chili powder!
1. Press as much water out the tofu as possible. Cut the tofu into large pieces. Take as much as humidity off their surface by wrapping inside a clean cloth for a while. Mix the flour and cornstarch.
Roll the tofu pieces into the flour and cornstarch so as to cover all sides. If you don't have enough flour/cornstarch, prepare more.
Drop in deep-frying oil at 170 degrees.
2. Prepare the dashi soup by heating the konbu dashi with the soy sauce and mirin (and extra spices if wanted).
3. Pour the dashi in individaul dishes. Place fried tofu in the middle. Top tofu with freshly grated daikon and chopped leek.
Boil some cut mushrooms in the dashi before serving them together with the tofu!
Easy and healthy, isn't it?
As I said before, tofu has the great quality that it makes all things lighter, especially cakes.
have you ever thought of combining it with Chocolate?
Tofu Chocolate Cake!
-Light flour: 80 g
-Baking powder: 10 g
-Cooking chocolate or normal chocolate (the higher percentage in cocoa, the better!): 1 standard tablet/bar
-Eggs: 2
-Margarine or butter: 1 tablespoon
-Cocoa powder: 20 g
-Rum: to taste
-Tofu (light/kinu tofu): 300 g
-Sugar: to taste (depends on people!)
-Fresh cream: 100 ml
-Jam: 1 tablespoon
-Whip the tofu until smooth. Pass it through a fine mesh sieve.
In a separate bowl pass the flour and baking powder through a fine mesh sieve.
-Melt margarine/butter and chocolate on a bain-marie (put the bowl inside a larger one over a fire. Add 50 ml of hot water and the coca powder. Keep mixing until misture thickens.
-Separate egg yolks and whites. Beat the whites in to solid meringue.
-Add flour and baking powder, egg yolks, rum and sugar to chocolate mixture. Mix well. Fold in the egg whites in.
-Check taste. Add flour and cocoa powder if necessary. mix in quickly.
-Line your rice-cooker with a little oil. Pour in the whole mix and switch on the rice-cooker. If you do not have a rice cooker, pour the mixture inside a mold and bake for about 20~25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (check from time to time).
-Wait until cooled down completely before taking out.Serve with whiiped cream mixed wit a little jam of your choice. Plenty of variations possible!
It is sometimes a hard world for vegans when it comes to find new ideas and recipes, even you love tofu!
Here is a simple way to prepare and enjoy tofu as it was a big piece of cheese!
Vegan Smoked Tofu!
INGREDIENTS: for ? People
-Tofu: a large piece 300~400g or more
-Miso of your liking, as much as you wish
-Soy sauce, not too much (beware the salt)
-Sake or mirin, a little just for the taste
-Spices, if you wish!
-As the tofu shouldn't be too soft, choose "momendofu", or slightly solid.
-Place the tofu on a clean cloth.
-Top it with a clean plate or board.
-Put a heavy weight on top.
-Leave it like this for half a day. The tofu will reduce to half.
-Smear the whole tofu on every face with plenty of a mixture of miso, soy sauce and other ingredients of your choice. The more, the better.
-Wrap it carefully in cellophane paper and leave it in the fridge overnight.
-Take it out of the fridge and take off the cellophane paper.
-Let it dry for 2 hours at room temperature over a piece of kitchen paper.
-Smoke inside a Chinese smoking set for 1 hour.
-Very practical for smoking small quantities!
-Here you are! Enjoy!
Tofu has the great quality that it makes all things lighter, especially cakes.
Have you ever thought of making a pound cake with it (with a twist added!)?
Tofu Pound Cake!
INGREDIENTS: For a cake 16.5 cm long and a square cut of 7 cm sides
-Egg whites: 2
-Egg yolks: 2
-Sugar: 30 g
-Tofu (after taking some of its water off): 120 g
-Honey (liquid): 2 tablespoons
-All-purpose flour: 50 g
-Baking powder: half a teaspoon
-Soy sauce: 1 teaspoon
-Mirin/sweet sake: 1 tablespoon
-Milk: 2 tablespoons
-Mix flour and baking powder well.
-Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
-In a bowl drop the egg whites with half of the sugar. Beat until solid. Beat 30 more times with a whisk.
-In a separate bowl drop in the tofu, rest of the sugar and egg yolks. Beat with a whisker until smooth. Do not mix too much!
-Add honey, soy sauce, mirin and milk in that order to the egg yols mixture and mix in one each at a time.
-Add and mix in the flour and baking powder mixture little by little with a spatula.
-Add the meringue (beaten egg whites) by folding them in with a spatula in 2 or three sessions.
-Line the mold with baking paper and pour in the whole mixture.
Bake for 40 minutes (the picture above shows the cake baked after 10 minutes)
-Leave the cake inside the oven for 10 more minutes after the oven has switched off after the 40 minutes of cooking. Open the oven, but leave the cake inside for an extra 10 minutes before taking it out.
-Let cool down completely.
Leave inside the fridge for half a day before serving.
You can replace the soy sauce and mirin with cocoa powder (1 tablespoon)!
Tofu and yoghurt are two very healthy ingredients that can be easily magicked into a cake for the delight o children and calories conscious adults:
Tofu Yoghurt Cake!
INGREDIENTS: For an 18cm-diameter mold
-Plain yoghurst:500g
-Tofu (kinu tofu or soft tofu): 300 g
-Eggs: 2
-Sugar: 80 g
-Flour: 30 g
-Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
-Place a sieve over a bowl. Pour the yoghurt in. Let it drain naturally in the refrigerator for a day.
-Place the tofu in a bowl (no need to cover it). Leave it in a microwave oven (500 W) for 3 minutes.
Place a sieve over a bowl. Pour the tofu inside the sieve. Let it drain naturally in the refrigerator for a day.
-Next day, pre-heat oven to to 180 degrees Ceslius.
Throw the yoghurt and tofu water away.
Drop all the ingredients inside a food processor.
-Blend until smooth. Switch off halfway and stir with a spatula to even up the mixture.
-Pour the mixture inside a mold lined upwith cooking paper. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
-Take mold and cake out. Let it cool completely. Chill it inside the refrigerator together.
-Take the cake out of of its mold only when it has chilled well.
-Cut, serve and enjoy!
You can of course serve it with jam and other toppings.
You can also add liqueurs, fruits and so on to the recipe!
Here is another simple Japanese style cupcake recipe made with tofu!
Tofu lemon Cupcakes!
INGREDIENTS: For about 16
-Tofu (kinu tofu or soft tofu): 100 g
-Sugar: 70 g
-Egg: 1
-Grated lemon pel: 1 lemon
-Flour: 160 g
-Baking powder: 1 and a half teaspoons
-Milk (or soy milk): 3 tablespoons
-Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
-Olive oil: 2 tablespoons
-Mix flour with baking powder. Mix grated lemon juice and milk in a separate bowl.
-In another bowl drop tofu and sugar. Mix thoroughly into a smooth paste. Add egg and mix well with a wisker.
-Add lemon juice and milk and mix well until smooth. But don't mix too long!
-Mix in flour and baking powder with a spatula until the floury look has disappeared but don't overmix.
-Fill cups (previously oiled) and bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 16 minutes. If the cups are really small 12 minutes should be enough.
Tofu does have to be food exclusively for vegans, vegetarians and people with special priorities.
I can assure you that monivores like I are very fond of any any combination including tofu!
Here is a simple recipe that will impress your friends:
Tofu Terrine!
INGREDIENTS: For 4 servings
-Tofu (momen tofu, a bit mopre solid than kinu tofu): 300 g
-Wakame seaweed (salted preserves): 15 g
-Carrots: 30 g
-Sugar peas in their pods (or their equivalent. They are called pois gourmands in French, or kinu saya ingen in Japanese): 8
-Salt: a pinch (for boiling the veg)
-Mushrooms (white agarics): 3
-Broad beans (boiled or steamed) for decoration: 4
-Eggs: 2
-Soup stock: 2 tablespoons
-White wine: One and half tablespoons
-Salt: 1/3 teaspoon
-Pepper: to taste
-Salad oil for brushing
-Break the tofu in large pieces. Boil lightly. Transfer into a large clean cloth and press as much water out as possible.
-Wash the wakame in clear cold water. Boil for a little while. Take out and press water out. Put it inside a clean cloth and press out as much water as possible.
-Chop the carrot fine. Boil a little and take water off as above.
-Take the "thread" off the sugar peas, boil in salted water. Let cool completely. Take off water and chop finely.
-Cut the mushrooms very fine (you may fry or boil them a bit if you wish to).
-Work the tofu in a suribachi (mortar and pestle) to obtain a smooth paste. Add eggs and mix with the pestle (food processing is fine, too). Add wakame seaweed, carrot, sugar peas, mushrooms, soup stock, slat and pepper, and mix.
-Coat the insides of 4 ramequins/oven cups with a very thin layer of salad oil and pour 1/4 of the mixture in each. Flatten the surface with a spatula.
-Place ramequins inside a steamer. Steam on a medium fire for 5 minutes, then 10 more minutes over a low fire.
Let cool down completely.
Wrap them in cellophane and keep in refrigerator until you serve them
Decorate with broad beans.
This is the basic recipe. It is open to all inds of variations!
This is a slightly different version of the Japanese style vegan tofu cupcake I introduced a couple of days ago. It will give you an idea of how to play on that idea!
INGREDIENTS: For about 16 cakes
-Tofu (kinu tofu): 180 g
-Sugar (of your choice): 0 g
-Soy milk: 3 tablespoons
-Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
-Olive oil: 2 tablespoons
-Flour (use chestnut flour if you are wheat allergic): 160 g
-Baking powder: 2 teaspoons
-Grated lemon skin: 1 whole lemon
-Dried English tea leaves, finely chopped ( the contents of 1 tea bag is adequate)
-Mix flour and baking powder well.
Mix soy milk and lemon juice separately and and set apart.
-In a large bowl drop in the tofu and sugar. Mix well until you obtain a smooth paste. Add the soy milk, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix the lot thoroughly with a whisker.
-Add the all flour and baking powder mixture and mix in with a spatula until floury lumps have disappeared, but don't mix too much!
-Pour mixture into cups and sprinkle them with grated lemon skin and dried tea.
-Bake inside oven for 16 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius.
If you make mini cupcakes, 12 minutes should sufficient.
keep looking at the colour of your cupcakes!
Cupcakes are the norm all over the world when it comes to bakery and tofu is a must for vegans.
Now, it is possible to make very simple cupcakes for vegans!
Wheat flour allergics can replace the wheat flour with chestnut flour like the Corsicans and Portguese do in their traditional food!
This is only the basic recipe to which you can add fruits and vegetables!
Vegan Tofu Cupcakes!
INGREDIENTS: For 5~6 cupcakes
-Tofu (kinu toufu): 300 g
-All-purpose flour (for substitutes, read above): 100 g
-Sugar (white, cane, or even honey): 30 g
-Get ingrediens ready and pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
-Mix tofu and sugar. Mix well.
-Sprinkle flour over tofu and mix roughly so as to leave a little flour on the surface.
-Bake for 25~30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius or until desired colour.
-Dead simple, aren't they?
Now your skills will reside in what you add!
Tofu & Chicken stuffed Green Peppers
Tofu when mixed with other ingredients opens a door on an infinite number of easy recipes!
Here is a very simple Japanes-style snack:
Tofu & Chicken stuffed Green Peppers!
INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
-Green peppers: 6
-Kinu tofu: 400 g
-Minced chicken: 175 g
-Japanese Sake: 1 tablespoon
-Soy sauce: 2 teaspoons
-Cheese powder: 1 tablespoon
-Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
-Black or white pepper: to taste
-Cornstarch: a small amount according to preferences
-Leave a weight on top of the tofu to drain water and reduce it about two thirds of its volume.
-Wash the green peppers, cut in halves and wipe off humidity.
-In a bowl drop the tofu and minced chicken. Mix well by hand until you obtain a soft smooth paste.
-Add Japanese sake, cheese powder, salt and pepper and mix well.
Sprinkle insides of peppers with cornstach and fill each pepper half with tofu/chicken mixture.
-Place on oven plate and cook at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Serve with a little salt or soy sauce.
I've been in tofu recipe search mode for quite a while, and I finally found one to please my vegan friends who can't boast a carpaccio of their own!
It is ridiculously easy, but it makes for great impression!
Choose the best ingredients!
Vegan Tofu Carpaccio!
-Tofu (kinu tofu/silk tofu): as much as you like?
-Salt (Guerande for example): to taste
-Black pepper (freshly ground only, please!): to taste
-Lemon juice (organic lemon, please!): to taste
-Olive oil (EVO): to taste
-Pink pepper/baies roses: to taste
As you can see, it is basically up to you!
Look for some great organic green leaf vegetables to make a "bed" for the tofu.
-Wrap tofu inside a large piece of kitchen paper.
Put the wrapped tofu inside a tupperware box (no lid, please) and top the tofu with a light weight.
Leave overnight (a full day, if you can) inside the refrigerator.
-Take out the tofu (discard the water).
-Cut it slices and plave it on a bed of leaf vegetables.
-Sprinkle in that order with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil.
-Srop a few pink pepper grains for decoration and taste.
Simple, ain't it?
The Japanese come with some simple and tasty new ideas for Vegans and Vegetarians!
I just discovered this recipe. It is basically a Cabrese-style salad.
The twist is that the cheese is replaced by tofu!
Vegan Italian Tofu Salad:
-Tofu (kinu dofu): half/200g
-Tomato: 1 large
-Sweet basil: 10 leaves
Wine vinegar (white): 1/4 cup
White wine: 1/4 cup
Salt: 1/3 teaspoon
Whole black pepper: 3 grains, crushed
Garlic: 1/2 clove
Fresh red chili: 1/2
Olive oil (EVO): 1.1/4~ tablespoon
Onion: 15 g, grated
-Cut tofu into 1 cm thick slices.
-After taking out the stem part, cut tomatoes into half moons.
-Leave tofu tomatoes in a bowl full of iced water.
-Crush and mince garlic. Mix it with the wine vinefar, white wine, salt, pepper and chili. Cook in a pan until the lot has reduced to half. Let cool.
-Take tomatoes and tofu out the iced water (drain as much water as possible) and drop them in a large bowl. Add onion and olive oil. Mix well.
-Place tomatoes, tofu and basil alternately as shown in picture on a srving dish. Pour dressing all over.
-For calorie conscious vegetarians, tofu has almost none while chesse has loads of them!
Tofu and Egg Dumplings in Sweet and Sour sauce
Here is another very easy tofu recipe for the "Tofu Tribe" (Terecita, Elin, Jenn and Jennifer and all tofu lovers!
INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
-Tofu: 350~400 g
-Eggs: 2
-Soy sauce: 1 large tablespoon
-Dashi/Japanese stock soup. Add a little sy sauce and mirin/sweet sake for taste
-Cornstarch: 1 large Tablespoon
-Trefoil (mitsuba) or available leaves: enough for decoration and taste
-Drain water from tofu. Put in a bowl and break it up. Break eggs in and add soy sauce. Mix well.
-Divide into 4 bowls. Cob\ver ach bowl with kitchen cellophane paper (30 cm wide square).
-Turn over bowl and wrap tofu inside cellophane paper. Secure with a rubber band.
-Bring water to boil inside a lare dep pan. Drop tofu dumplings in boiling water and cook for 15 minutes to make sure they properly coked inside.
-Place each dumpling inside its cellophan paper in a serving dish. Cut top of the cellophane paper and carefully pull out the cellophane paper or turn over (whatever way you feel comfortable with.
-In a separate pan prpare the sweet and sour sauce.
Pour in dashi to which you would have added soy sauce and mirin (Taste varies with individuals. Need for a lttle experimentation!).
Heat sauce.
Mix cornstarch in some water and then add to sauce.
Once ready pour over dumpling and serve it decorated with trefoil cut to size.
Take care that cellphane paper does not get in contact with bare parts of the pan as the cellophane paper might melt on contact!
Here is another very easy recipe to help you and the "Tofu Tribe" (Terecita, Elin, Jenn and Jennifer modify and preserve tofu for all kinds of usages!
I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to Tinako for my past mistake!
Tofu and Wakame Salad!
INGREDIENTS: For 2~3 people
-Tofu: 300 g
-Salt-preserved wakame: 20 g
If bought dried, let it "come back" in lukewarm water first.
If you are worried about the salt, let them rest in water for a while first and drain.
-Kawaire daikon, or any fresh sprouts available: To taste.
-Ponzu: 2 large tablespoons
-Sesame oil: half a large tablespoon
-White sesame seeds: to taste
Leave tofu in clean cold water for 30 minutes. Wash and clean wakame seaweed and cut in bite-sized pieces. Cut sprouts in thirds.
In bowl mix seaweed, sprouts, ponzu and sesame oil.
Drain tofu and cut in bite-sized pieces. Mix in.
Place salad in serving bowls and sprinkle white sesame seeds.
Note: You can use either kinu tofu or momen tofu.
You may use green shiso/perilla leaves vinaigrette instead of ponzu.
In summer add cut plum tomatoes.
I personally like to add a little sweet umeboshi/pickled Japanese plums!
Here is an easy recipe to help you and the "Tofu Tribe" (Terecita, Elin, Jenn and Jennifer modify and preserve tofu for all kind of usages!
Tofu Shiozuke/Salt-preserved Tofu!
-Tofu: 1 "cho"/200 g (Kinu or Momen type)
-Salt: 2g
Take tofu block out of its package and put it kitchen working plank. Sprinkle it with 1 g of salt.
Cover with a sheet of kitchen paper.
Cover the tofu and its kitchen paper with a plastic Tupperware-type box.
Turn box and plank over holding them together.
Take off plank and sprinkle the tofu bottom face with 1 g of salt.
Close paper kitchen over tofu.
Close the box and leave inside refrigerator in the evening.
Next morning there should be about 20cc of water having seeped through the kitchen paper. Discard water.
Wrap again in new clean kitchen paper. Put back into dry Tupperware-type plastic box and close. Put back into fridge until the next morning.
The tofu will have reduced size by half by then.
That's how it would look. Smaller and firmer. More water should have seeped out. Discard it.
On a bowl of freshly steamed rice serve with with thinly sliced raw okra, preserved chrysanthemum leaves. Then pour hot tea on top!
Pickle it with fresh miso for one night and eat it as a snack!
Beautiful in salad with avocado slices!
Served with chopped vegetables and garlic chips!
Stuffed inside Aburaage with boiled beans then grilled and seasoned with seaweed dashi/stock and ponzu!
I was thinking of the "Tofu Tribe" (Terecita, Elin, Jenn and Jennifer) when riding the bu to work this morning. No bicycle these days as we are in the midlle of the rainy season!
The day before the Missus had served a quick snack (see pic above) consisting of tofu on which she poured extra virgin olive oil, coarsely ground black pepper and a little salt.
Very simple. Not very artistic, I admit, but the idea was there.
Now, many vegans and vegetarians like their tofu, but are running out of ideas…
How about, for example, creating a plate (use a large one with "compartments" for better effect!) with an assortment of tofu pieces seasoned with different varieties of oils, ground peppers and other spices, finely chopped vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers for good colouring. I love my tofu mounted with chopped shiso/perilla leaves, umeboshi/Japanese pickled plums meat and a dash of ponzu!
And what about natto/fermented beans with chopped shiso leaves and grated fresh ginger?
You could do the same thing with fried tofu, deep-fried tofu and aburaage.
How about a piece of fsh tofu mounted with freshly cut and fried aburaage, wasabi, grated fresh ginger and ponzu?
Endless bliss!
Will be introducing oils in my next posting!
Tofu recipe: Tofu Manju with Ankake Sauce/Tofu Dumplings in Sweet and Sour Sauce
Here is another simple tofu recipe dedicated to Elin, all tofu lovers, vegans and vegetarians:
Tofu Manju with Ankake Sauce/Tofu Dumplings in Sweet and Sour Sauce!
-Tofu (momen tofu style9: 1 "Cho"/200 g
-Carrot: one fifth
-String beans: 2~3
cornstarch: 1 large tablespoon
-salt: a pinch
For sweet and sour sauce:
-Dashi (Konbu dashi/seaweeed stock): half a cup/100 ml
-Soy sauce: half a large tablespoon
-Sugar:2 large tablespoons
-Rice vinegar: 1 large tablespoon
-Cornstarch dissolved in water: to one's personal liking
RECIPE: For 2 people
Press water out of tofu. Sift it completely. Boil finely cut carrots and string beans until soft enough. Drain all water.
drop tofu and vegetables in a mixing bowl. Mix in cornstarch and salt. Divisde in 4 and make balls. Wrap each individually in cellophane paper. Twist cellophane warap and secure with rubber band or string.
Steam for at least 4 minutes.
Sweet and sour sauce:
Heat dashi stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar, stirring all the time. Mix in cornstarch dissolved in water.
The sauce is ready.
Serve dumplings on plate and cover them with the sauce!
(Aburarage Soup)
Aburaage is basically a deep-fried thin slice of tofu.
It does offer a very versatile option as it can be used as it is, or open as a pouch it becomes the base for inari sushi and many other variations!
Here is a simple recipe:
Tofu (firm Momen tofu type): 1 large piece/block (Icho in Japanese)
Thick Towel
Cellophane paper
Long wooden disposable chopsticks (wari-bashi)
"Piano string", or the equivalent
Water drainer
Oil thermometer (up to 200 degrees Celsius)
Make identations or marks on the chopsticks every 5 mm up to the height of the tofu block.
Tie "piano string" around chopsticks as shown on pic first at 10 mm height (or higher up to 15 mm if you wish), and cut tofu by sliding chopsticks along the cutting table (it should easy, but make sure you cut tofu evenly!)
Tofu being soft, it is not easy to manipulate.
Later, when you will manipulate it, the best way is to first turn over the whole onto your open palm and have each slice slide away.
Before manipulating the tofu, first put a 500g weight (anything over a thin wodden plank if you don't have asushi weight) on top of the tofu for 2 hours to get as much water off as possible.
Transfer slices onto thick towel and leave them there for an hour.
First frying step: fry tofu slice at 130 degrees Celsius (make sure to keep the temperature constant!) for 6 minutes. This will allow for a uniform heating.
Second frying step: bring oil temperature to 160 degrees Celsius.
If tofu contains too much water or if you fry in a single step, it will fail to achieve the right shape and quality.
Aburaage will usually be a bit hard upon frying.
To make it soft, wrap it in xellophane paper and and heat inside electric oven. As soon as water comes out of aburaage inside the cellopahne paper, take the whole out and unwrap aburaage.
The aburaage should be soft by then.
Check if the aburaage needs a second frying (according to your liking).
if you fry it at 130 degrees, it will reduce as the one on the right in the picture.
If you fry it at 160 degrees you will obtain an aburaage like the left one on the picture (longer one).
To properly open it, cut in half, and then cut inside to form a pouch!
Vegetarian Japanese Cuisine: Fried Tofu and Vegetables
The other night, the Missus thought that some healthy food was in order, that is as much for herself as for me, what with her drinking wine and me savouring my Japanese sake!
She used already deep-fried tofu cubes called "nama-age" bought at the nearby supermarket, cut them to bite-size, saute them on a non-stick frypan as they were (no need for oil) with a liberal amount of pizza cheese and served them with a good measure of freshly chopped thin leeks. All the while on another pan she fried slightly boiled renkon/lotus roots slices with eringi mushrooms cut lengthwise and half-cut Brussels sprouts with some olive oil, a litle salt, pepper and a spicy seasoning mix.
Once ready she added themhot on the same plate.
So simple and tasty!
1): Fried Namaage with Cheese and Ponzu
This is I hope the first installment of a long series of simple recipes with tofu. Some will be vegan and vegetarian, some vegetarian like this one, others for omnivores!
This particular one is one one of the Missus' favorites.
She uses on full "namaage tofu", tofu that was deep-fried whole and that you can buy either fresh at a Japanese market or packaged.
She cuts the tofu in equal-sized bite pieces about 1 cm thick and fry them in a non-stick pan. No real need for any oil as what is contained in the surface of the tofu will be sufficient.
The point is that she fries them only on side. While they cook she lay a thin piece of mild/processed cheese over each tofu piece, add some black pepper, and cover with a glass lid. When the cheese has nicely melted over the tofu, she takes off the lid, sprinkles the whole with ponzu and fries for another minute. She serves on a dish with the sauce and liberally sprinkles the lot with chopped thin leeks!
Great snack with Japanese sake or beer!
Koyadofu/Pressed Tofu Recipe
As promised here is the basic recipe to make Koyadofu/高野豆腐 or pressed tofu.
Koyadofu is extensively used in veganand vegetarian food in Japan.
It can also be deep-fried into great crunchy morsels!
-Tofu: 1 block/400 g (actually it is up to you!)
-Place the tofu in a plate/bowl and let rest there for 10 minutes. Throw away the water that comes out naturally. Cut the tofu into 3 "slices" across the width. You may skip that step and proceed with whole block.
-Wrap the tofu into cellophane paper and freeze the tofu inside the freezer of your refrigerator.
-Will be ready once completely frozen.
The trick is to press water out of the tofu once you have thawn it.
The tofu will have taken its colour and consistency naturally.
Recipe suggestion:
Prepare a stock soup with 1 cup of seaweed dashi/soup stock, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a little salt, 1 and a half teaspoons of mirin/sweet sake, and 1 and a half teaspoons of soy sauce.
Cook the koyadofu in it and serve once soft enough.
Koyadofu/Pressed Tofu Recipe
As promised here is the basic recipe to make Koyadofu/高野豆腐 or pressed tofu.
Koyadofu is extensively used in veganand vegetarian food in Japan.
It can also be deep-fried into great crunchy morsels!
-Tofu: 1 block/400 g (actually it is up to you!)
-Place the tofu in a plate/bowl and let rest there for 10 minutes. Throw away the water that comes out naturally. Cut the tofu into 3 "slices" across the width. You may skip that step and proceed with whole block.
-Wrap the tofu into cellophane paper and freeze the tofu inside the freezer of your refrigerator.
-Will be ready once completely frozen.
The trick is to press water out of the tofu once you have thawn it.
The tofu will have taken its colour and consistency naturally.
Recipe suggestion:
Prepare a stock soup with 1 cup of seaweed dashi/soup stock, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a little salt, 1 and a half teaspoons of mirin/sweet sake, and 1 and a half teaspoons of soy sauce.
Cook the koyadofu in it and serve once soft enough.
Koyadofu/Pressed Tofu Recipe
As promised here is the basic recipe to make Koyadofu/高野豆腐 or pressed tofu.
Koyadofu is extensively used in veganand vegetarian food in Japan.
It can also be deep-fried into great crunchy morsels!
-Tofu: 1 block/400 g (actually it is up to you!)
-Place the tofu in a plate/bowl and let rest there for 10 minutes. Throw away the water that comes out naturally. Cut the tofu into 3 "slices" across the width. You may skip that step and proceed with whole block.
-Wrap the tofu into cellophane paper and freeze the tofu inside the freezer of your refrigerator.
-Will be ready once completely frozen.
The trick is to press water out of the tofu once you have thawn it.
The tofu will have taken its colour and consistency naturally.
Recipe suggestion:
Prepare a stock soup with 1 cup of seaweed dashi/soup stock, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a little salt, 1 and a half teaspoons of mirin/sweet sake, and 1 and a half teaspoons of soy sauce.
Cook the koyadofu in it and serve once soft enough.
As promised here is the basic recipe to make Koyadofu/高野豆腐 or pressed tofu.
Koyadofu is extensively used in veganand vegetarian food in Japan.
It can also be deep-fried into great crunchy morsels!
-Tofu: 1 block/400 g (actually it is up to you!)
-Place the tofu in a plate/bowl and let rest there for 10 minutes. Throw away the water that comes out naturally. Cut the tofu into 3 "slices" across the width. You may skip that step and proceed with whole block.
-Wrap the tofu into cellophane paper and freeze the tofu inside the freezer of your refrigerator.
-Will be ready once completely frozen.
The trick is to press water out of the tofu once you have thawn it.
The tofu will have taken its colour and consistency naturally.
Recipe suggestion:
Prepare a stock soup with 1 cup of seaweed dashi/soup stock, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a little salt, 1 and a half teaspoons of mirin/sweet sake, and 1 and a half teaspoons of soy sauce.
Cook the koyadofu in it and serve once soft enough.
So Good Sushi Restaurant in Nice France
Navigating Nagoya by Paige, Shop with Intent by Debbie, BULA KANA in Fiji, Kraemer's Culinary blog by Frank Kraemer in New York,Tokyo Food File by Robbie Swinnerton, Green Tea Club by Satoshi Nihonyanagi in Shizuoka!, Mind Some by Tina in Taiwan, Le Manger by Camille Oger (French), The Indian Tourist, Masala Herb by Helene Dsouza in Goa, India, Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London, Pie
rre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento, Hapabento, Kitchen Cow, Lunch In A Box, Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, J-Mama's Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red's Bento Factory, Ohayo Bento,
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Ichi For The Michi by Rebekah Wilson-Lye in Tokyo, Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Another Pint, Please!, Beering In Good Mind: All about Craft Beer in Kansai by Nevitt Reagan!
ABRACADABREW, Magical Craftbeer from Japan
-Whisky: Nonjatta: All about whisky in Japan by Stefan Van Eycken
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents
HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City