water for my tea

Cooking lessons at Prosi

2009-05-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we had lots of fun together in our Brazilian cooking lesson at Prosi.

On the Menu:

Palmheart sald with dulce de leche dressing, shrimps and roasted peanuts

Fish in passionfruit sauce with sweet potato yam puree

Tapioca pearls with mango puree

Tranquilité à la japonaise

2008-06-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday the first happy thought that crosses my mind is: "Today I can go Japan for an hour or so!" In fact that happens on Wednesdays too, for on that day of the week, I can decide when to work and where. No, I don't have a private jet, nor am I flight attendant with ANA (what could be great since in their first class flights they serve Sadahara Aoki pastries).
Ian and I spend our Saturdays at the Naschmarkt, Vienna's largest and most charming open-air market, and after tanking a good breakfast at Deli or Ando, some fresh vegetables, fruits and spices at our favorite Indian store owned by darling Joseph Abraham, we finish our afternoon spending a long hour at Cha-No-Ma. It is a tiny tea shop on the Faulmanngasse, just beside Nippoya, its mother shop.

Time at Cha-No-Ma time has another pace and I relax completely the moment I enter their friendly wide windowed place. The service is generous with smiles and lovely every time. I love to sit there - for hours sometimes - reading and hearing to the sound of water being poured, macha tea being whisked, delightful hundreds of "Konichiwa" being whispered - or for my ears rather "sung". Most comforting.

Yes, I am fan.
They serve high quality sencha and gyokuro. Also traditional macha carefully and individually prepared, of course. One can choose the chawan (tea bowl) you want your macha to be served in. So you are part of the ritual. Here is a short film Ian made the other day:

A Japanese Tea Shop in Vienna
Hochgeladen von cityfilms

You can also have "modern" drinks like Macha Latte or Macha Smoothie, or little japanese snacks like various types of onigiri, manju, sweet pancakes as well as different kinds of miso soup.

On Wednesday afternoons I take some work with me, students' papers to be corrected, classes to be planned, books to read. I eat an onigiri or two, and sip my cups of tea thankfully. When I am lucky I still have the time to close a wonderful, tranquil afternoon by going through the pages of a thick cookbook I carried along in my shopping cart.

go there:
CHA NO MA - JAPAN TEEHAUS
Faulmanngasse 71040 Wien
Tel.: 587 94 06
mailto:06chanoma-tea@chello.at
Anfahrtsplan

baby shower

2008-06-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Living abroad far from my family doesn't allow me to celebrate family traditions so I like when new traditions are established. One of these new traditions in my circle of friends are baby showers at my place. We are a circle of girls in their mid/late thirties so baby showers are very en vogue the last years and I love to host them. These are always nice opportunities to meet girl friends of a girl friend of yours. Since it is a party for women only the host can emphasize on feminine details, flowery accents, cute decos. Pure fun!
I myself also enjoy the situation to host a party for somebody else. I can concentrate on the kitchen-living room-running side, while the mommy-to-be can enjoy the friends and takes care of the guests.
I like to make a buffet balancing salty and sweet, mostly tiny pieces and nothing that has to be served really hot. This way we can keep eating during the whole afternoon without any hurry.
In Brazil the host always organizes the mommy-to-be to write a list before the party letting her know what is still missing in her baby shopping list. This list is kindly forwarded to the guests, so that these don't have to think long about what to bring as a gift and the mommy only gets what she wanted and needed.

I am very keen on small bites, they allow to taste different plates, look great and are so easy to eat at a buffet.

Literature:
Fingerfood by Eric Treuille and Victoria Blashford-Snell