SIMPLE SOBA NOODLE SOUP RECIPE

I'm always in the mood for anything with noodles and soup. Subconsciously I think I'm trying to train E to like it too. ;) He already loves "udon" (Japanese style noodle) and most pastas like angel hair and farfalle. Over the weekend, I decided to try out some buckwheat soba noodles.

I didn't have a recipe on hand, but just put together a basic recipe for one:

Ingredients
buckwheat soba noodles
2 C water
1/2 tsp chicken broth paste
1 tsp three crab fish sauce
1/2 C dried shitake mushrooms
salted roasted seaweed (cut into strips)
1 tsp soy sauce
hot chili pepper powder & salt (to taste)

bean sprouts, tofu, grated zucchini* (optional)

Directions
Cook the noodles according to the packaged directions. Drain under cold water and set aside.

Soak the dried mushrooms in water until they're plump. Drain the water. In a small sauce pan, bring the water to a boil and stir in the broth paste until it's fully mixed in. Add in the mushrooms and fish sauce. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Bring the broth back into a rolling boil and crack an egg in. Let your "poached" egg fully cook through.

Scoop the noodles into a bowl and drizzle the soy sauce on top. Ladle in the broth mixture with the mushrooms and egg. Top it with some roasted seaweed strips.

Add the chili powder and salt to desired taste. Enjoy!

JAPANESE CHEESECAKE

Hey there, my sweet readers! Hope your morning's off to a good start so far. :) I was up late last night again making some minor tweaks to the blog. I'm still very new at all this and slowly learning about html codes and how they work. Most bloggers would just hire those fantastic blog designers and save themselves from all this frustration. But me...? Oh no... I'm super weird and prefer self-induced stress JUST so I could figure things out myself.

But I have to tell you... that moment when everything comes together and actually WORKS makes it all worth it. :D I've been wanting for months to organize my diy, recipes, and organization pages into user-friendly thumbnail galleries for you all. I tried so many different ways but kept getting frustrated after spending hours going through codes and having it not work. For a while I was ready to just give up.

Then last night I found this AMAZING tutorial by Sweeter Than Sweets and decided to give it one more shot. Not only was it super easy but the code was understandable as well. I can now finally announce to you all that the thumbnail galleries are officially up and running! Yay!!!

Ok now on to this delicious cheesecake recipe... :)

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This past weekend I had the biggest craving for cheesecake. And not just ANY cheesecake, but a soft fluffy and velvety smooth Japanese cheesecake. :P I prefer it over the traditional Western one because it's much lighter and not nearly as sweet.

By Sunday night I was driving myself crazy thinking about it (o.O) and decided to pick up some ingredients and make it myself. I had kept a recipe from one of my Japanese friends in college and adapted it a little to make this:

Ingredients:

1 - 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (softened and cubed)

3 T cake flour

1/2 C whipping cream

3 eggs (yolks and whites separated)

1/2 C cane sugar

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

With an electric blender, carefully mix together the cream cheese, whipping cream, egg yolks, lemon juice, flour and half the sugar.

Clean and dry the mixers thoroughly. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until foamy. Slowly add the remaining sugar and cream of tartar and mix until stiff peaks start to form.

Gently fold the egg white mixture into the cream cheese mixture.



Pour the new mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan. (I was trying to make a little personal size serving too, however the loaf turned out to be too small. Next time I will stick with just filling the loaf pan.) Gently bang the pan on the counter six to eight times to release any air bubbles.

Place your loaf pan into a larger glass pan filled with boiling water until it comes halfway up your inner pan. (Do not fill the water too high or it might spill into the cake mixture.)

Bake for 35-40 minutes on the lowest rack until the top develops a golden crust and a toothpick comes out clean.







There are simply no words to describe that first bite into this soft warm fluffy goodness. The three of us ended up finishing almost all of it that night. We managed to save just a few slices to have with coffee the next morning. :)

Has any of you ever tried Japanese cheesecake or have any tips on making it?  I'd love to hear from you!