Strawberry Infused Iced Tea

While in Japan, there was at least a jug of cold tea being stand-by in my house during summer.  The tea is usually mugi-cha (barley tea). Mugi-cha is the flavour of summer in Japan, and everyone at school brought a bottle of home-brewd mugi-cha to drink during the break and after school activities.

I didn’t have a nice jug here, so I bought one from T2 to make cold drinks in coming season.  The jug I bought is Takeya jug, and it’s meant to be for iced tea.  I love this jug, because the airtight lid prevents spills or splashes and locks in freshness, especially when storing in the fridge.  The lid is so airtight that the jug can stand upright or lay down, and is completely leak proof.   This means that we can bring it for picnic too.

D loved the tea he tried at the store, so we made at home too.  Strawberry infused rose tea.  It’s so lovely.

The strawberries I had were red and ripe, and are so sweet.  They gave great sweetness to the tea.  I mashed them lightly so that all the juice and flavours come out and blend with tea.

I made the tea with cold brew method, which you simply fill the jug with filtered water and tea bags (or leaves) then place in refrigerator until cold.

Meanwhile I picked few leaves of mint from the garden.  I thought refreshing mint would go with the tea, and it did. 🙂  Great for lazy afternoon.

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Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Orange Sauce

Although I’m not a big fan of citrus fruits, I push myself to buy them and eat regularly. I don’t mean I don’t like them, I just prefer other fruits. The reason for trying eating citrus fruits is that they are high in vitamins. Especially when I’m sick I eat oranges/grape fruits, or squeeze out lemon juice and drink it with water.

Vitamin C, contained in citrus fruits, works on your skin and bones (helps absorption of collagen, decrease melanin on your skin, etc), lower stress level, helps increasing immunity against virus, and much more.

This hot orange sauce gives a great refreshing taste and it matches with rich vanilla ice cream. Pour the sauce while hot and serve immediately.

<Ice Cream with Hot Orange Sauce> 2 serves

• 1/2 orange
• 100ml orange juice
• sugar
• 1tbs Cointreau
• 2 serves vanilla ice cream

With Pancakes!

I love eating pancakes in the morning!  The soft and sweet pancakes with maple syrup and butter…  I’m sure lots of girls will be happy when her boyfriend or husband makes a sweet pancake for her in the morning.  Or even some guys like pancakes as breakfast.  It’s easy to make pancakes using pancake mix packets, or if you want to make them from scratch here is how.

Now, what do you usually eat pancakes with?? 

The typical accompaniments are maple syrup, butter, freshly whipped cream, honey, ice cream… and some fruits!  I usually make fruits sauce for pancake and eat with maple syrup and whipped cream (and sometimes vanilla ice cream).  I know it’s high in calories, but that’s why I eat it in the morning.  It’s always best to consume “carb” and “fat” in the morning rather than at night.  

The fruit sauce is very easy to make!  I use frozen berries.  

1. Place berries in a micro-safe bowl or a cup.  Sprinkle vanilla sugar (how to make: keep sugar in an air-tight container with split vanilla pod) and heat up in the microwave. (appx 1 ~ 1.5 minutes)   If you don’t have vanilla sugar you can sprinkle normal sugar and a drop of vanilla essence.
2. Once the sugar dissolved, stir with a tea spoon.

Figs – Caramelized and Compotes

My friends gave me a basketful of figs from his garden.  I love figs, they are sweet and nutritious!  Fresh figs should be eaten asap as it drops its nutrition and flavor quickly, so I cooked them up in few different ways to enjoy the best of them.

I caramelized figs with a dash of marmalade jam, and served with cottage cheese + whipped cream and drizzle of honey.  It was a great night time snack.

<Caramelized Figs>

• 1~2 fresh figs
• 1/4 tsp marmalade jam
• 1 tsp cottage cheese
• 1 tsp fresh whipped cream
• honey, cinnamon

1. Halve figs.  Spread marmalade on the fruit.
2. Heat up a frying pan over medium heat, and place the figs face down (the fruit side).  Grill them for about 1~2 mins, or until it’s golden colored.  Do not try to move it around while grilling as it will break the fruit.
3. Mix cottage cheese and cream.  Serve grilled figs on a plate, top with the cheese cream.  Drizzle honey and sprinkle cinnamon if you like.

I left few figs for breakfast tomorrow, and used up the rest to make this fig compote.  This is a great way to preserve fruits 🙂