Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Happy Hite-uh Day

It's March 14th, and you know what that means, eh? It's Hite-uh Day!!! (Also known as White Day) when the women in Korea (and Japan) finally get theirs, in the form of CANDY! Yah!
I'm thinking of Adam Sandler on SNL's Weekend Update: "I'm crazy one arm man, now GIMME SOME CANDY!!"

Yes, today the girls get the candy from the boys. I'll get candy from my students which I'll redistribute back to them over the next few days. If I remember, I'll take a picture of my bounty tomorrow. I've already gotten 4 lollipops, a little cookie and 4 polo mints handed to me with a sweaty palm. Yummy!

In honour of White Day I made something white:
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It's not vanilla ice cream. It's mock ricotta, and it was very easy to make and turned out really good! (I can't get real ricotta here.) If I had an oven I'd use this stuff to make stuffed shells or lasagna. Instead, I'm wondering if it'd be good in a spinach omelet. I got the recipe from Zen Kimchi who offers a really comprehensive step by step post on how to make it. Check out the cheese blintzes he recently made with his mock ricotta. Looks good!

In other news, I went to see "The Pursuit of Happyness" yesterday. It made me happi! Tonight is musical theatre night. I've got "RENT" and "The Producers" to watch. I best get to it.
Happy White Day!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy happy joy joy! I''ve got to try out that ricotta recipe. Up until now I've been a real stickler for "real" ricotta, but screw it. This is better than not having any ricotta at all, right?

Calzones, here I come!

(Oh, I'm just some weirdo who schlepped over from Kevin's blog. I think I might have posted here before... or not. Anyway, hi!)

Maven said...

What would be another good use for that ricotta, mock or not, would be a filling for a cannoli. You can use this for actual cannolis, or you can use it as a dessert topping for crepes or lady fingers, or even waffles. Sweet Jebus, I'd love to make that! With miniature chocolate chips in it and everything!

whaleshaman said...

hi, jelly, taboo here!

mmmm, that ricotta looks pretty creamy-licious to me. i hope you've saved some for WCB, 'cause i sorta promised everybody we could all get a little bowlful to lap up.

so, please accept this little note to say:

we wanna be included!

our entry is here:

Jelly Pizza: Sunshine on my shoulders...

okay?

whaleshaman said...

i hope this recipe isn't too long for the comment section...i didn't have a email address to send you this ricotta cheese recipe. and you don't need an oven, just make the marinara first:

THE DIVINE SPINACH ~ RICOTTA DUMPLINGS
Serves 4

1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 1/4 cups Progresso Italian bread crumbs
1 container (15-16 ounces.) ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
pinch of black pepper

Defrost the spinach and squeeze dry. Combine well with the rest of the ingredients. Roll into 16 slightly flattened and elongated pieces, and roll around in flour to coat well; place on wax paper covered dish and chill for 30 minutes.

In a non-stick pan, sauté in hot olive oil in several batches until golden brown on both sides; try turning them carefully with 2 forks. They burn easily so keep an eye on them. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil (parchment paper too, if you want to get fancy)in preheated 250° oven for 30 minutes, while you make a quick tomato marinara sauce.

QUICK TOMATO MARINARA SAUCE

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1 large can whole Italian Plum Tomatoes
1 large bunch fresh basil, chopped coarse
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
12 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced thin (or 1 large can chopped mushroom pieces)
1/2 cup water or broth
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)

In a large saucepan, heat garlic in olive oil just until golden. Add tomatoes and their juice after mashing them by hand (watch out, they squirt!). Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, and then lower heat to a bubbling simmer, for about 20-30 minutes uncovered. You can add little more water if it gets too thick.

To serve, place the dumplings on a bed of the marinade. Garnish with a sprig of basil and freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Jelly said...

That recipe sounds YUMMY! I'm going to give it a try~ thank you!

Levi Kaufman said...

Wow, that's sheer genius...ricotta is just too damn expensive here and the last time I bought some at Dandy Grocery in Hannam that stuff went bad pretty fast. A tee-shirt is a good cheap filter...just use a clean one. They work pretty well for Christmas Pudding as well.

Great blog, btw.

ZenKimchi said...

Yeah, cannolis are something I've been meaning to make with the ricotta since I first tried it. You would think the hard part would be finding cannoli shells. Yet I see things that look almost exactly like cannoli shells at Korean bakeries and anju trucks (you know, the ones that sell puffed wheat, styrofoam crunchies, and little crackers).