Clay and Rice Pudding?

Okay, so I woke up super early today so I could go to a ceramics class. It was awesome.

I love making messes with clay.

Sometimes they even turn out pretty.

I met a couple traveling from Hong Kong around Japan. I didn't know they were foreign at first, so I approached them and asked where they were going, figuring they were from the mainland of Japan or something. Ha! They spoke better English than they did Japanese, and so we chatted in English for a bit, and I showed them a nice restaurant in Takeo for them to stop and eat at.

I went to Mo's and picked up enough ingredients for approximately 8 pies:


Luckily, I only have to make three for Thanksgiving.
The hard part about making pies? Japan is a country where almost no one makes pies, so there are no pie pans. O_O Poor deprived Japan...

Anyway, dinner!



Mary's attempt at Rice Pudding: bizarre but satisfying.

This is the recipe I eyeballed, except I didn't really use the ingredients. (I used 1/2 a cup rice, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 heaping teaspoons of sugar, and a splash of vanilla.) I followed their cooking directions, except it went MUCH FASTER.

It came out more like rice in a weird super soaked breading, not a nice smooth pudding.

Tapioca Pudding Recipe

Look at the instructions on the package of tapioca that you buy. Some small pearl tapioca requires overnight soaking in water. If your package has that requirement, reduce the milk in the recipe to 2 1/2 cups from 3 cups.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup small pearl tapioca (you can usually find it in the baking section of the grocery store, do not use instant tapioca)
• 3 cups whole milk (or skim milk with cream added)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Method

1 Combine tapioca, milk, and salt in 1 1/2 quart pan on medium high heat. Stir until boiling. Simmer 5 minutes, uncovered at the lowest possible heat, adding sugar gradually.
2 Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Mix in some of the hot tapioca very slowly to equalize the temperature of the two mixtures (to avoid curdling).
3 Return eggs to pan with tapioca. Slowly bring mixture barely to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and stir several minutes at a low simmer, stirring constantly until you get a nice thick pudding consistency. Cool 15 minutes. Add vanilla. Serve either warm or chilled.
Note: If you want to make a more light and fluffy, but still rich, tapioca pudding, separate the eggs. Use the egg yolks to stir in first to the pan with the tapioca. Once the pudding has become nice and thick, beat the egg whites in a separate bowl to soft peaks. Remove the pan of tapioca pudding from the stove, fold in the beaten egg whites into the pudding.
Serves 4-6.
link here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tapioca_pudding/