Wonder Bars

In Haleiwa on the north shore, there is a small bakery (Waialua Bakery?) that serves the BEST smoothies and the BEST wonder bars I've ever had. The smoothies are made with REAL, live, delicous tropical fruits, such as passion fruit, guava, mango, and yummy honey. There really is nothing better on a hot day. They also make amazingly delectable wonder bars. Also known as 7 layer bars or magic bars. I had most of the ingredients on hand, so I thought I'd make them. I had to pick up some butterscotch chips, and I admit that this is my first experience with them, but what the heck, right?

I baked this in 2 pie pans so I can give one to my dad tomorrow for Father's Day in a pretty glass dish.

I took my recipe from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/06/17/seven-layer-bars/ after seeing the luscious photo on photograzing.com. It had to be slightly modified, I think because of the 2 pie pans.

The 7 Magic Ingredients (Makes 2 "pies")

1. 2 sticks butter (1/2 lb.)
2. 1 cup walnuts
   
3. 1 can condensed milk
4. 30 graham crackers (how the original recipe called for just 7, I will never know)
5. 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
6. 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
7. 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
8. 1 1/2 cup flaked coconut

How to do the wonder bar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Put graham crackers in a plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin. Or do what I did and use a bowl and a big dowel like a giant pestle and mortar. It takes forever!! Melt the butter. Mix with graham crumbs in the bowl. Grease your pie pans with oil. Press graham crust into bottom.
2. Smash walnuts using the same procedure. Sprinkle on top of crust.
3. Sprinkle on all the chocolate/white/butterscotch chips. Top with coconut.
   
4. Pour condensed milk over the whole thing.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until top is golden brown.

Next time, I will add more condensed milk. Perhaps an entire can. And eat half before baking. I cannot get enough of the stuff.

Cafe Rainbow Bridge

Cafe Rainbow Bridge is a beautifully earthily decorated restaurant in Chatan, Okinawa. You access the place by frolicking down winding (naturally formed?) steps of porous black rock, to reach the door with a little waterfall and fountain just outside. The restaurant appears to be set on the edge of a steep, black rock cliff. However, I have only been there at night, so I cannot say for certain. The setting is lovely, at any rate. It's the perfect place to discuss a good book.

And Rainbow Bridge just so happens to be the location of our monthly book club meeting; this month we discussed Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. I loved it and I still live in its world. Others abhorred its apparent lack of ending. I found it funny that they thought it was inconclusive. For me, the story was like a rope unravelling then ravelling back together again.

The place is made entirely of wood, with raised tatami platforms for guests to sit on in the Japanese style. Interesting Okinawan art decorates the walls, the bathroom sink basin features a fiberglass inlaid rainbow. The entrance has a display of handmade Okinawan crafts such as fabric slippers, keychains, cell phone decorations, hair accessories, and purses. The menu proudly proclaims, "No Smile, No Life!"


Along with entrees and meals they serve Okinawan specialty dishes such as sesame tofu, goya champuru, fuu champuru (250-1000yen), a variety of coffee/latte/milk/fancystuff drinks for 400-450yen, desserts such as raw chocolate gateau cake (420 yen), New York cheesecake (420 yen), honey toast (520 yen), pizzas (1000-1300 yen), sandwiches, pasta (600-1000 yen), and soft drinks. Not your typical Okinawan restaurant. Then again, it is located much further south than where I live, and much closer too the American military base influence.

I had the "Avo Taco Rice" this time, which is taco rice with the addition of avocado. Taco rice is a uniquely Okinawan invention, and a much-loved Okinawan food. It's basically an American taco with rice instead of tortilla. The main components are white rice and ground beef with taco meat seasoning. The better versions will give you shredded lettuce and tomato. If you're lucky, you'll get some shredded cheese (Japanese cheese is so often so disappointing). This one came with the added bonus of salsa, avocado, and a single dorito triangle chip, broken into smaller triangles for decoration. 600 Yen. I did not like the taste of the taco meat. It tasted "beefy" and there were lumps of salt. The avocado and cheese saved it from being completely mediocre.

I was still hungry after my taco rice, so I ordered the honey toast, which cost almost as much as my taco rice (520 yen)! It was delicious. Then again, it's hard to mess up honey toast, which I believe is a Japanese invention. It was not quite like the honey toast at Shokudo in Hawaii, but it was still tasty. There was a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, and small triangles of toast saturated with butter and honey. Please make this at home.



In the past, I have had the Margherita Pizza, the creamy tomato sauce pasta with bacon and mushrooms, and the tofu salad with sesame dressing, and Okinawan sesame tofu.

The pizza has remained popular over the months with book club members because of the stark dearth of pizza in Okinawa. Cheese is hard enough to come by; pizza is an impossibly expensive and mayonnaise-laden exotic foreign food. Here the pizza is fairly reasonable, and is actually prepared in a Western fashion, with tomato sauce, basil, and cheese. The crust is very thin and crispy. 1000 yen. There is also a ham and salad pizza, which doesn't look like it has as much cheese as the margherita, and an Okinawan special pizza.

The Creamy Tomato Sauce Pasta with Bacon and Mushrooms was disappointing. Don't those ingredients sound delicious and promising to you? I have never had good non-Asian pasta in Japan. The sauce wasn't creamy at all. In fact, it was barely there. And I don't think they used tomatoes--it tasted a bit like canned tomato sauce, no frills added. The least they could have done was add some garlic, onions, basil, oregano, anything! I don't think cooking in that fashion is part of the Japanese cultural knowledge base. I don't blame them, they make Japanese food quite well. The mushrooms were disappointingly of the Enoki variety; not what I expect in "creamy tomato sauce" pasta. The bacon was all right, at least it was there. 800 yen. Disappointing, but all right if you're expecting the Japanese version of Italian food.

The best thing I've had at Rainbow Cafe was the tofu sesame salad. It was a bed of greens with chunks of medium firm tofu, covered with sesame dressing and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I love sesame dressing. 650 yen. However, because this dish could have been made at home with only three ingredients (tofu, lettuce, and sesame dressing), I have to deduct points on the goodness scale. Granted, it was very nicely presented, healthy, tasteful and tasty. I would eat it again.


I also enjoyed the tofu with sesame/peanut oil. I'm not sure what the Japanese name is, since it's always in Kanji and I can't read it. The tofu is of a special variety that is a bit like a cross between very chewy mochi and gelatinous tofu. The consistency is a bit gummier and firmer than mochi, because it's actually tofu! They always serve it with this special peanutty oil/sauce. You can buy containers of it of various qualities from all supermarkets in the tofu section here. As one friend said, "It's so weird--but somehow so good!"


Of course, I also enjoyed the Raw Chocolate Gateau Cake (420 yen). Rich, deep, dark, Western -style and delicious. It even had a bit of creme fraiche (or perhaps it was just whipping cream). Maybe it's because I've been starved for real chocolate desserts, but this was great after the fluffy Japanese sugarless cakes I've been eating. It would have benefitted quite a bit from some vanilla ice cream or raspberry coulis. It was a bit dry, and could've used a contrast of tang or lightness from a saucy element. It was still good. However, this time I decided to try the Honey Toast. Next time I may try the homemade New York Cheesecake.

Overall rating: I would go back. Good decor and ambience. Know what foods to order and you'll be golden. Prices decent.

Creamy Rice Pudding

At a lack for what to do with leftover rice? Have a hankering for rice pudding? Need a somewhat healthy dessert? Need a dessert that tastes as creamy as the restaurant variety?


I suffered from all of the above problems, so I made rice pudding! It tastes extraordinarily creamy and rich, and is far easier than other homemade rice puddings that require you to cook the rice in milk.

Surprise! It tastes equally as good with leftover rice, cooked in plain water. It is extremely versatile, and even works with brown rice! Just make sure to use short or medium grain rice. If you're in Japan, like me, then this shouldn't be a problem.

The taste of sweetness and the taste of cream are my two favorite tongue tantalizers. When I get cravings, it is always for sweet, creamy things. This easy dessert hits the bar. I've determined that this penchant of mine is the reason I don't care for Manjula's Indian food recipes--she professes that she loves food sour and hot. Hot sour soup (Chinese) is pretty much the worst thing you could treat me to in a Chinese restaurant. I'm not going to use her recipes anymore. I like my Indian food to have some creamy to balance the bite.

Anyway, this rice pudding recipe is so good I've made it several times. And eaten it all myself! It uses only a few ingredients, all of which are usually on hand in the kitchen:

Ingredients:
1.5 cups cooked Rice
2 cups Milk
1/4 cup Sugar
pinch of salt
1 Egg, beaten
Vanilla Extract

You can also add these optional ingredients, in any combination you see fit (I like them all!):
1 pat butter
Cinnamon (will make the pudding darker in color)
Nutmeg (will make the pudding darker in color)
Raisins (add before last step for plumper raisins)
Almond Extract
pinch of Chili Powder
Bananas (add after the last step)


Directions:

1. Combine rice, milk, vanilla, sugar, and salt in heavy saucepan over low/medium heat. Stir until mixture thickens, about 10 to 15 minutes. If you don't stir, the rice will stick to the bottom and burn! Also, do not boil the milk to death, or it will curdle and result in yucky little cottage-cheeselike curds floating in yellowish watery liquid.
2. Pour some of the hot mixture into a cup with the beaten egg. Mix well to heat the egg a little. On low heat, stir the egg mixture back into the main pot. Make sure to do this step or the egg will cook and create stringy egg white pieces in the pudding! Cook for about 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Isn't it easy?


I also made bread pudding the other day. It features much the same ingredients, except that it is baked in the oven. And it's so easy! Since I wasn't using a recipe, I could make it just the way I like it: extremely moist and dripping with creaminess, with a crispy top. If there's one thing I hate, it's dry bread pudding! Some of the best restaurants have completely turned me off of them with their dessicated bread puddings. A good bread pudding needs to be dripping with milky sauce, and does not need extra saliva to moisten it before swallowing.

Ingredients:
1/2 loaf stale french bread, cubed
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
vanilla extract
raisins
1 egg
pinch of salt
pinch of chili powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Beat sugar into egg. Beat with milkk, salt, chili powder, vanilla.
   
2. Pour over cubed french bread. Turn, mix, shake, and do whatever you have to do to make each bread morsel sopping wet. There should be a lot of extra liquid on the bottom of the pan, at least halfway up. If not, add more milk. Toss raisins inside the mixture (do not leave exposed on top--they will dry out and burn!). Cover.
   
3. Bake covered at 350F (or a little under) for about 40 minutes. Bake uncovered for last 5 minutes for a crispy top.