Honey ginger ale

All natural ginger ale.  If you try homemade ginger ale, you can't go back to commercial one and no need to pay $3 at farmers market!

Ingredients
Ginger, peeled and sliced
Honey
Sparkling water
Lemon

Directions

1. Put peeled and thinly sliced ginger and honey into a glass jar
2. Let it sit in the fridge for couple of hours until ginger releases its juice
3. Mix ginger syrup and sparkiling water in the glass, add lemon juice to your taste

You can mix this syrup with black tea or sprinkle over yogurt.

Tabouleh

Tabouleh that Emre made last night was soo good, so I decided to post the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 bunches of fresh parsley (finely chopped)
Half bunches of fresh mint (finely chopped)
Half bunches of green onion (finely chopped)
3 small tomates (chopped)
1/2 cup Bulgur
1 Lemmon
2 table spoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste



Directions:
1. Soak bulgur in hot water for 1 to 1.5 hours until soft, then squeeze out excess water
2. Combine lemmon juice and olive oil in a bowl
3. Add parsley, mint, green onion, tomates, and bulgur to the bowl and toss
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper


He also made Humus from scrach, so I made pita sandwich with Tabouleh, Humus, and chiken. That was also DEH-LI-CIOUS!!

Bulgur Wheat

Emre will make Tabouleh tonight. Tabouleh is a salad made of bulgur, tomato, parsley and mint. This salad originates in Lebantin cuisine and widely eaten in Mediterranean area.

I didn't know about Bulgur wheat. It looks very much similar to couscous　but it is totally different, he claims.

Bulgur is a whole wheat that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried and ground. It is very nutritious; high in fiber, calcium, vitamin B, and folic acid, but LOW fat and LOW calories!! Whereas, couscous is a small form of pasta made from semolina.

In Turkey, best known as an ingredient in salad, bulgur is also a tasty ingredient in rice pilaf, bakery, soup, or stuffing.　

If he succeeds in making Tabouleh salad tonight, I will put the recipe tomorrow.

Cream cheese and white chocolate truffles

I made cream cheese and white chocolate truffles for this year's valentine's day. Chocolate truffles? Sounds complicated? No, the recipe is super simple!!

Ingredients:
1box Philadelphia cream cheese
40g white chocolate (melted)
3 table spoon sugar
1 tea spoon rum
1 table spoon dried fruits　
1 table spoon walnuts (roughly chopped)
Unsweetened cocoa powder




Directions:
1. Mix well all ingredients but cocoa.
2. Cover and refrigerate the mixture until firm, at least 2 hours.
3. Using a small spoon, roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and roll each ball into the coco powder. Ready to serve!!

Hawaii Symphony Orchestra

We went to Hawaii Symphony Orchestra last night.

Hawaii Symphony Orchestra is used to be called Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, which filed for chapter 11 in October 2009 and silenced its 110 years history. But finally, they've come back after two years absence!

Last night's performance was exciting and touching. Since the old musicians stay and perform at Hawaii Symphony orchestra, they seemed to perform with happiness and joy that they made a magnificent return!

The conductor was Mr. Naoto Ooki, and they performed Weber Overture to “Oberon”, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20, and Beethoven Symphony No. 5. The Symphony No.5 started with dramatic opening with its suspenseful pause, followed by the melodious second and mysterious third movement, and finished with the powerful and delighted finale, which, I think, represented the story of closing Honolulu Symphony and the birth of Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.

I believe, even though the size of the orchestra is small, the role that Hawaii Symphony plays in Hawaii is culturally important. I hope the orchestra will be well supported to create rich and matured culture here in Hawaii.

Hawaii Symphony Orchestra:
http://hawaiisymphonyorchestra.org/

Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Oven Method

Ingredients: 

Tomatoes (cherry or Roma)
salt to taste
4 or 5 cloves garlic (roasted and cut in quarter) 
Fresh basil
Dried oregano
1 Table spoon vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil

Old-Fashioned Pancakes

I bought coconuts oil yesterday, so I wanna substitute it for butter. It's gonna be tropical pancakes!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups soy milk (or milk)
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted