Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Balls)

This desert was inspired by my deep love for chocolate and endless prowling of Saveur.com. The brigadeiros are traditionally rolled in chocolate sprinkles, I added an additional topping option (crushed almonds) and can’t wait to experiment with more. This desert has a relatively short active time but needs to be chilled mid-process for several hours. The recipe recommends chilling for 4 hours, but you can even leave it overnight.

Brigadeiros

makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. heavy cream
28 oz. sweetened condensed milk (I used one can of non-fat and one regular since that’s what I had in the pantry, still came out great!)
3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips and skipped the chopping)
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 c. chocolate sprinkles
1/2 c. almond chunks (optional)

Instructions
Bring butter, cream, and milk to a boil in a 4-qt saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add chocolate and cocoa powder, and reduce heat to low. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the mix is the consistency of dense, fudgy batter, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Chill until set, at least 4 hours but can leave for longer.

Once mix is set, set up small bowls with your different toppings. Use a tablespoon to portion out the fudge and roll into balls using your hands. Roll each ball in the desired topping until evenly coated. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve (I placed my rolled brigadeiros on a cookie sheet with parchment paper to avoid sticking).

SKLT

I love this photo series by Marc Da Cunha Lopes called SKLT. It has just the right mix of creepy and charming to stay interesting long enough for you to want to actually look at all the images. The images are meant to be a “commentary on the nature of archaeology and how we as humans leave

our landscapes riddled with skeletons of many different sorts.” This makes me really want to have an over-sized skeletal pet of my own. Apart from the inherent need to have carpeted floors (wouldn’t they make more noise walking around?) they would have to be the most maintenance-free pets ever. Win, for pet owners.

NY Magazine Scrutinizes Everything That Makes Up A Neighborhood

A couple weeks ago I spent several nerve-wracking days on the phone with a writer from New York Magazine in hopes of getting the MWA name put in as a source for all things waterfront-related for the current April Issue titled “The Best Place to Live in New York Is…”. And while I haven’t seen a hard copy of the issue to check whether I accomplished that goal, my data did create the “Green Space” characteristic as part of the Livability Calculator on the the New York Magazine website (click on the photo to jump to the actual calculator). Try playing around with the different toggles to see where your true NY neighborhood lies.

After deciding where my priorities are, the calculator told me that the neighborhood of my dreams is in fact Brooklyn Heights…..Not sure what that says about me…

I’m a suitcase half-full kind of girl…

So here I am, Day 1 of Boston. Got one lead on a subletter but nothing has come of it yet. So now its up to me to see how to fill up the rest of my time.

I hate moving back into apartment for awkward periods of time. I have to be here for at least a week which means I need a full fridge (or deep pockets) and that means a large trip to the supermarket, not to mention the other hassles of unpacking and laundry. At least when you’re only in one place for three days there can be allowances, like dirty clothes, take-out, etc. But 7 days is long enough to warrant the necessity to cook for yourself.

So I have just been trolling around on FB and random blogs, as well as finally updating this one. Maybe with all this time on my hands I will actually turn into a decent blogger, or at least one that can keep up with it. As a blogger I feel like that person that daydreams in the middle of conversations and just zones out mid sentence, which coincidentally is also me in real life.

As a nod to my web wanderings I found a cool picture of myself taken by a friend, but it brings to mind the question: Why do I always like pictures of myself that don’t look like myself?

Anything but the Wait

I feel like I’m standing on a precipice waiting to jump into the unknown, but the precipice looks over a scene that is so ingrained and inviting I think I might be dreaming. This feeling of deja vu is so reassuring that I start to think about my day dreams of this experience as reinforcing statements. I will survive this, and I will succeed. The image of Harrison Ford as a younger and attractive Indiana Jones comes to mind as I see myself inching toward the abyss. Although Indie took his steps of faith in search of the cup of christ, mine are equally terrifying as I convince myself that the invisible bridge is indeed just within reach.

I anxiously await my first days at MWA, running over cliche professional scenarios or ridiculous “Office” plots that will prepare me for life as an intern. Despite the gaping hole in my professional experience that does not even begin to make me anxious. Primarily what keeps me up at night is the idea that my room will sit sans sublet draining my bank account all through the cold Boston spring and early summer. Although i wish there was an easier solution, it is the time to take this leap.

Now my only job is to wait it out and hope that i don’t die of boredom first. No telling what i’ll be doing with all this free time. Looks like its time to re-alphabetize my books again…

Halfway Home

I am a shit blogger, i get that now. I’ve never really had the pull to write things down at any other point in my life so sticking to a blog, and attempting to make it half-way readable, is honestly like pulling teeth. However, in the interest of not disappointing everyone at home, i press on.

So to summarize from May 13…

We went to Akihabaram or “Electric Town”. To be frank, I was not impressed; I found it just as stifling as Canal St., and as overly-touristy as Times Square. Nothing was particularly that surprising. Thanks to globalization anyone can get the same electronics at competitive prices all over the world.

Just as we were about to leave we accidentally stumbled on the Kitten Café that Eliza had brought to my attention several weeks ago. The café is very small but we could peek in through the glass front door and see the beautiful cats frolicking with the overjoyed customers. Someone told me that the popularity of these cat cafes has been rising as the Japanese Industry continues to grow. More people, both men and women, and working longer hours at highly demanding jobs and are unable to satisfy their maternal and nurturing instincts by having children, or even pets. The cafes give people like that an opportunity to spend at least 30 minutes with a warm loving animal that needs and wants their love.

The following day (05.14) we went to the Shinjuku area, focusing on the Tokyo Metropolitan Building (TMB). The TMB is the fourth tallest building in Tokyo and is built to withstand sever earthquakes, not only in its ability to stretch, but also to twist at the base, which gives the TMB incredible stability. The view from the top of the TMB was spectacular. You could see all of Tokyo and beyond. I was surprised by how distinct all of the parks looked. From the TMB you could see the imperial palace park as well as the Meiji Jingu Shrine Park, which both just looked like green blobs within the congested building cityscape that comprises the rest of Tokyo. The tree cover is so dense and pristine that it seemed like it was fighting back against the buildings and gaining ground.

This weekend (5.15-5.17) was our much-anticipated trip to the Meiji University Yamanaka Retreat House on beautiful Lake Yamanaka. The trip turned out to be a lot of things that were expected, and many answers that were very surprising: like that the Japanese each fish snacks with EVERYTHING.

I really enjoyed the presentations and the student reactions, especially when we got the chance to talk to them about their experiences and our misperceptions. The weekend was a little tarnished by the presence of the American English professor from Meiji. He has been living in Japan for the past 10 years and during this time has let his ego grow out of proportion. He graced us with such lines as “We are all puppies, of different breeds and types” and “Culture, is like an onion” (yeah thanks for a ‘Shrek’ recap).

The Yamanaka House Building was built in a very strange style. It was mostly concrete and glass with a very industrial feel. Considering that most Japanese architecture and buildings have a much more organic feel, this one almost felt surgical. It was an odd setting for classrooms as well as students and felt a little oppressive.

And we went to Mt. Fuji on the way back, which was incredible. Personally visiting Mt. Fuji was like seeing a mythical creature, you think you know what your reaction is going to be, but the real experience is nothing that you’re prepared for.

D-D-D-Diet…and shrines

Monday, May 10, we visited the Japanese Diet, which is the equivalent of the congress in the United States. I really enjoyed out tour of the building and was extremely impressed with our tour guides proficiency in English. The building itself was very beautiful. It was made entirely out of all Japanese materials, with the exception of the English stained glass ceilings, and the American lock mechanisms. My favorite part was the Emperors entrance hall that contained the statues of three influential Prime Ministers. Of the three, two PM’s had been assassinated for their actions and forward thinking. A fourth block stood in the appropriate place with no statue on top. This empty place is meant to serve as a symbol of incentive for the bureaucrats, and politicians working the Diet, so that they have a standard to achieve if they want to aspire to be as great as the old PM’s.

After that we took a short trip to the Diet Museum, which housed a history of the Diet as well as many portraits of previous Speakers of the House, and Prime Ministers.

Tuesday, May 11,we went to the Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to the war criminals tried in WWII. This is a very controversial site and most of our student supporters felt very strongly one way or another about it. In the past it has been used by PM’s to gain support or to make a political statement. I thought the grounds were very beautiful and it was pristine as all other places we have seen so far in Tokyo. The atmosphere was much more somber and as we walked up to the main tori there were political vans parked down the street. Sometimes the political parties can use Yasukuni shrine as a way of supported their own political position or to try and trump the opposition. One of the main areas of controversy revolves around the fact that it is not only the Japanese that are enshrined at Yasukuni. Some South Koreans, as well as Vietnamese are also enshrined there. Some groups of people in both South Korea and Vietnam are highly opposed to their people being enshrined there, however once this is done, they can’t be taken out, which incites a lot of political controversy over Japan’s right to do that.

At the Yasukuni Shrine I also had the opportunity to get a paper fortune. You must pay 100 yen ($1) and then pick a folded paper fortune out of a box. My fortune said that I had a bad attitude, which I would have to change if I wanted success in my future, and that I didn’t study enough on my exams. Since I don’t like facing the truth I decided that instead of keeping the fortune as a souvenir I would make the smart decision and tie it to a fortune post, which is supposed to make the fortune null. Let’s hope that’s true…

My apologies for the delays, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the whirlwind that is life in Japan.