Special Japanese Milk; A Lesson on Luscious Tomatoes
Hokkaido-Style Soft Serve in Wallingford, Inspiration from Domenique Crenn's Masterclass
Summer Soft Serve! With Mochi Balls!
Yesterday I checked out Indigo Cow in Wallingford (a cute and busy neighborhood in Seattle). Keisuke Kobayashi—the owner of Indigo Cow as well as the attached restaurant, Yoroshiku—wanted to open a soft serve joint that had the rich, creamy taste that he associates with Japanese soft serve. It’s all about the cows and their sweet heavy milk. I have no complaints except for the fact that the delicious syrup started leaking out of the bottom of the cone, so I walked almost an entire block with a blue waffle megaphone sticking up out of my mouth while my family walked ahead to the park. That blue cone is stunningly delicious but a bit delicate. :)
A Deep Dive into a Magical Tomato Dish
Meanwhile late last night, I watched a video on how to make a luscious, layered tomato dish with different techniques. In my podcast on Rebel Chefs from a couple weeks ago, I noted an appreciation for Domenique Crenn’s personality and my desire to find out more about her style of cooking. I signed up for a Masterclass account, and stayed up late watching her finess flavors and make orgasmic faces while tasting the results. Domenique is a big fan of low, gentle and longer cooking methods to bring out the flavors of vegetables. I never thought about slowly cooking veggies in an oil bath (confit is the technical term..) but it looks quite easy and was one of the parts of a dish that looked feasible from a busy mom that has to make dinner perspective.
Will I create a 5-step tomato dish to impress friends and family that probably takes 2-3 hours to complete? Maybe once the local heirloom and cherry tomatoes really come into their own up here in the Pacific Northwest. In the meantime I will likely play around with blanching and dehydrating juicy Early Girl tomatoes more than creating textural jellies of interest with agar-agar. But I suppose I have to try it to find out how good it really is, because Atelier Crenn is far away.
Admire you for trying watercolor in the first place!