When I Need Healing...

Home-baked French Bread, Ratatouille and Apple Preserve I have to admit that my work has been pretty stressful. But I also have to admit that I'm better off now -- compared to how I was a year ago... in September 2006. Now I have days off more irregularly but more frequently, and still I'm making more money. And I got used to getting up early. No more insomnia! So I'm not complaining. Nevertheless, there are some days that I feel stressed out at the end of the day, and hear my inner voice saying, "I need healing!!" And I go through the list of "things that heal me" in my mind. Fortunately I have a variety of things included in the list, and yesterday morning I went for two of them: 1) hearing something simmering in the kitchen and 2) enjoying the sweet aroma from the oven. I was lazy to put everything on one plate, but you have to give me credit for making (almost) everything from scratch. Yep, I baked the bread myself, based on this recipe. It turned out flavorful -- very flavorful, and quite chewy. (I guess I got impatient again and my bread was not leavened enough.) :P But the bread tasted very good with both ratatoille and apple preserve, so I was satisfied. I also made this asparagus soup from scratch. You think I got sort of carried away? Maybe. But it was sooooooooo good and worth the trouble! :) Apple Preserve I replaced half of the amount of white sugar with brown sugar, so the preserve turned out brownish like this. And the taste was... Mmmm... It was excellent with yogurt. Yes, I felt so good after this brunch. Taking these photos kept me a little busy, but it was worth it -- they will heal me when I need healing but don't have time to cook/bake like this. Oh, one question to those who are in Japan: Are stores running out of bananas in your neighborhood? I tried two supermarkets last night and two other stores this evening, but all of them were out of bananas! What happened?! Is another health craze going on now? Categories: Western-inspired

TLA #5 After a Typhoon...

Gold-lined Sea Bream Carpaccio, Japanese-style Some anglers say that you can expect a better catch after a typhoon passed. The reason is that when the ocean is rough during the storm, some offshore fish evacuate into ports/bays, and they may stay there for a couple of days. Also, because the rough waves stir up plankton and stimulate the fish's appetite, they will be more active and more likely to eat the bait. On the other hand, there are others who say that you can't expect a good catch after a typhoon. They say that increased river water (from heavy rainfalls) makes the coastal seawater dirty and less salty, which, as a result, makes most fish less active. Only certain types of sea breams are said to be active under such a condition. Now, what I've learned in the past years is that when there are two contradicting theories, both are likely to be partially right and partially wrong, or applicable to certain situations but not all. And there's only one way to find out which theory works in my particular case. Hence, another fishing trip two days after the typhoon Sinlaku. :D And as you can see in this photo, I caught a couple of sea breams! Not bad. Actually I caught four other fish which I didn't want to keep, so overall, it was much better than some other fishing trips in August. I salted and grilled the smaller pink sea bream. The bigger one (called "gold lined sea bream" in English, if I'm not mistaken) is not a very popular fish here. Many people say that this sea bream tastes rather bland. So instead of making typical sashimi, I made "Japanese-style carpaccio" with it. What was "Japanese " about my carpaccio was a couple of Japanese ingredients added to the sauce in addition to the typical ingredients such as olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. The secret ingredients were soy sauce and yuzu kosho. The sliced fish was placed on mizuna leaves and topped with sliced onion, minced shiso (green perilla) and garlic chips. Then the sauce was poured all over. The carpaccio was amazingly good!!! I fell in love with the Japanese-style carpaccio sauce. Oh, but don't ask for the recipe... please. I stole the idea from several Japanese cooking websites, but I was too lazy to measure each ingredient (as usual) when I made the sauce. If you're interested in this sauce, the best I can do for you is listing all the ingredients -- which I already did in the above paragraph -- and asking you to experiment yourself. Sorry! :P Ara-daki (head and bones simmered with burdock) And the head and bones of the sea bream turned into this tai no aradaki on the next day. How nice. I truly enjoyed the pull when I caught these fish (esp. the bigger one), and managed to make three dishes with them. How about that? For some reason, economical lifestyle always seems so attractive to me. ;) Categories: Fishing

Sweet Potato & Apple Cake

Sweet Potato and Apple Cake Just wanted to enjoy the heavenly aromatic harmony of sweet potato, apple, Cinnamon and butter on a Sunday afternoon. I was planning to go fishing this weekend, but the typhoon (Sinlaku) blew my plan. So, instead, I baked this cake, cut it into sticks like this, and enjoyed it as I painted a watercolor and later read a couple of (comic) books. Ah, domestic fun! :P There was a murder in town the day before yesterday. The place was near the bento shop where I often buy bento on my way home from work. When I was riding my bike there yesterday, I was stopped by a detective and asked if I had seen any stranger (with a knife) around there on the day of the murder. Wow! Just like a TV drama! Unfortunately, the murderer has not been found yet. Categories: Sweets

Shy Harvest Moon

Tsukimi Dango (Dumplings offered to the moon) If I'm not mistaken, the full moon tonight is supposed to be the "harvest moon," the most beautiful moon of the year. And we have a traditional custom to celebrate the night -- to admire the beauty of the nature and be grateful for the harvest. Dumplings and susuki (Japanese pampas grass) are the "must haves" for the celebration. ;) Every year, my Japanese DNA tells me to do something special for tsuikimi (moon viewing), but usually I'm busy with work. There were some years that I did try shooting some photos, at least, but I have never made the dumplings myself. Fortunately this year, the special night fell on a Sunday night and I had plenty of time to search for a dumpling recipe, make dumplings and steal pick the pampas grass and a couple of autumn flowers. ;) The dumplings are enjoyed with various sauces and toppings such as an (sweetened bean paste), sweet and salty sauce, soybean flour, sesame sauce and so on. Today I made sweet-n-salty sauce with chopped walnuts and white miso. I thought the sauce was alright when I tasted it, but after I had a couple of dumplings with it, I thought that my nose was going to bleed. LOL And I took this shot when the shy harvest moon briefly showed itself between the clouds. Unfortunately I couldn't get the clouds in this photo. Too bad... It must have looked much more interesting with the clouds. (I might give it a try again later tonight...) Categories: Sweets, Japanese

Buttermilk Pancakes

Buttermilk (Substitute) Pancakes Actually what was used for these pancakes was buttermilk substitute which I made by mixing milk and vinegar, because I can't buy real buttermilk around here. But maybe these are closer to real "buttermilk pancakes" than the ones I usually make with powdered skim milk. Today I don't have to work in the morning, and I wanted to enjoy a lazy morning with a good breakfast. Yesterday and the day before, I had to start working at 6 am. On such busy mornings, I never skip breakfast but I never "enjoy" it, either-- All I do is just stuffing up my stomach so that I don't run out of energy in the middle of the work. So, at least once or hopefully twice a week, I really need to "enjoy" breakfast, actually tasting the food and smelling the aroma of hot coffee! Otherwise I cannot "stay myself." You know what I mean. This morning, while I was still in bed, I thought about the sinful combination of fluffy pancakes, melting butter and generous amount of syrup, and decided to go for it. That's the kind of breakfast I deserve after the two days in hell. And I wanted to show in my photo how beautiful the golden syrup looks in the morning sunshine, but I had to give it up... I couldn't wait until I get the desired morning sunshine, and the syrup was quickly absorbed by the pancakes. :( Anyway, I'm feeling wonderfully lazy right now and wanted to share it with the whole world. Mmmmmm... maybe I should go for another cup of coffee. Oh, I used this recipe, if you're wondering. (I added a pinch of salt, though.) Categories: Sweets

Homemade Pizza!

Homemade Pizza Gee, I'm totally, completely stuffed! No more food, please... Yep, this was my very first time making pizza crust from scratch. This weekend I had both Saturday and Sunday off (which was almost like a miracle), and I wanted to make something tasty and photogenic but not too difficult or time-consuming to make. It was hard to pick one; I couldn't decide whether I should go for homemade gyoza (Chinese dumplings or potstickers) or pizza. So I ended up making both. :D Last night I enjoyed juicy, plump homemade gyoza with ice cold beer, and knew it was a right choice. And today, around 10:30 am, I started making pizza crust based on this recipe. Now, I guess I made a mistake when I measured the water... My pizza dough turned out really soft. I kept adding more and more flour but the dough kept absorbing it until I added almost twice as much as the amount called for in the recipe. But finally the dough came together, and after letting it rest as instructed in the recipe, I had fun topping it. These basil leaves survived the terrible summer heat. Black olive is not my favorite topping, but I added some because I thought the dark color would look nice on my pizza. One good thing about pizza is that I can rely on store-bought stuff for seasoning it. I used Heinz pizza sauce (can) and very affordable shredded mozzarella cheese. Tata～! :D This is how my very first homemade pizza turned out! I know. I should have used bigger basil leaves or should have added them later. The small leaves burned and shrunk pretty soon, so I needed to add more leaves when the cheese started turning golden brown. The crust was really fluffy. I don't know if it is the way this pizza crust should be or it was because of my mistake, but this crust was the fluffiest one I've ever had. (Next time I want to make it a little heavier and chewier. ) Maybe because the dough was fluffy and light, and the topping was not too greasy, I ate so much of this pizza before I knew. I was going to leave half of it for dinner, but now I see only a quarter piece left in the pan. Hahaha... Now it's time for peach sorbet! :D Categories: Western-inspired

TLA #4 - Finally! Fresh Catch Sashimi -

Kasumi Aji (Young Bluefin Trevally) Sashimi As a beginner angler, I have several short-term goals, and "catching a fish that is good for sashimi (sliced raw fish)" was one of them. When you say a fish is good for sashimi, it means that the fish is fresh, decent size and tastes good with not-too-many tiny bones and with no disturbing smell/fishiness. Oh, wait! Let me take back the remark about the size, because we Japanese are meticulous sashimi freaks and make sashimi out of tiny fish like sardines or even silver-stripe round herrings (and believe me, those small-fish sashimi are often so good that it is worth the trouble). But in general, "a fish good for sashimi" sounds much more prestigious than some bony, smelly ones. Now I can hear some angler readers going, "What?! Bluefin trevally sashimi?! Give me a break. You Japanese make sashimi out of anything, don't you?" Well, live and learn. ;) Over here, we can catch young trevallies including Giant Trevally (GT), and some people are crazy about them because they pull hard for their size and taste good. They have a good reputation as sashimi fish. Yeah, I heard that those trevallies grow really big and some of the big ones could cause ciguatera poisoning, so I can imagine how strange this idea of making sashimi out of them may look/sound to some anglers outside Japan. But the young trevallies caught here are not poisonous. Don't worry. :) Anyway, I went fishing last weekend and caught one young bluefin trevally. It was like a joke... I threw in the bait and caught this one right away. Then no more catch... :( I managed to catch just one more fish before going home and that was it. But I achieved one of my short-term goals, so it was worth going fishing that day, after all. BTW, you might have heard that only fresh fish is good for sashimi, and the fresher the better. But if asked if this is true, I would say "Well... yes and no." I've read that the "good taste" of fish is caused by inosinic acid contained in the flesh of the fish, which needs some time to increase after the fish died. So some (not all) fish taste much better as sashimi after they were filleted and left in the fridge for several hours to develop more inosinic acid. That sounds pretty convincing. So I let the fillet rest in my fridge for apx. 10 hours. But I was not too crazy about this sashimi, to tell you the truth. It tasted very good in the beginning, but for some reason, I felt "enough" when I ate about half of it. I don't know why... Maybe I was still worried (unconsciously) about the poison?? Categories: Fishing

Sweet Seasons / August 2008 - Morning Glory -

Asagao (Morning Glory) by Nishigawaya I chose the same theme two years ago. Yes, the same plate, the same background photo but a different wagashi and different presentation. First I thought that those incisions of this morning glory were made by wringing the nerikiri dough with something like cheesecloth. But how did they wring the top of the dough, making a well in the center at the same time? And they didn't forget to put tiny stamens in the center. (Click the photo to enlarge.) I like that. Good work. Categories: Wagashi

Onion Zucchini Bread

Savory Onion Zucchini Bread with Nutritional Yeast Baking zucchini bread (at least once) has been one of my summer rituals for years. And ever since a nice reader mentioned it in her (his?) comment, I had been thinking about using buttermilk for this quick bread. Of course I cannot buy real buttermilk at regular supermarkets around here, but I can try a substitute idea of mixing vinegar with milk or soy milk. So, I thought it was worth trying, and I actually gave it a go the other day. At first I was going to make a sweet version, because the advice of using buttermilk was given to help my strive for a sweet zucchini bread like the one I first had in the U.S. But while I was googling with the key words: "zucchini bread" and "buttermilk," I bumped into this onion zucchini bread recipe, and a crazy idea (again!) popped into my mind -- "What if I make this bread with some nutritional yeast to add a cheese-like flavor?" Then, as usual, the curiosity drove me into an experiment. The result was not bad. Maybe I can say "satisfactory," though I didn't notice any zucchini taste almost at all. Maybe that's the way zucchini bread usually is, either savory or sweet? The funny thing was that the moment I took a bite, I thought, "Gosh I've got to eat some sausage with this!" ... Sausage, or bacon, or ham. So the next time I make this savory quick bread, I'd probably mix in chopped sausages or bacon. And I still need to do another experiment of using buttermilk (substitute) for sweet zucchini bread. ;P ------ Actually I baked this bread a couple of weeks ago... before Yosakoi festival. I took these photos then, but before I finished a write-up, I got busy with the festival, then visited my parents, and a terrible work shift was waiting for me when I got back... And as if it was not terrible enough -- or could be because things got so stressful -- I developed hives last Saturday night. Boy I was scared! I'd never had hives before, and you know how terrible the wheals (welts) look? When they spread all over my legs and back, I thought I was going to die. :O Fortunately it wasn't anything serious and the itchy wheals were gone a few hours after I went to the hospital on Monday and took antihistamine pills. Just like that. So today, since I don't have to work in the daytime, I thought about going to a nearby park or cook/baking something special so that I can post about it. But I guess I'm going to take it easy in front of my laptop, nibbling on something. Categories: Western-inspired

Weekend at My Parents' House and Mom's Fig Jam

Mom's Fig Jam (2008 Version) I was at my parents' house from Friday night till this afternoon and I just came back to my place. Maybe some of you remember that I posted about my mom's fig jam last year? (Actually it was my younger sister who made the jam last year.) Well, the same old thing again this year. More than enough Plenty of figs, mom's shiso (perilla) drink and fresh sashimi were waiting for me there just like the previous year. Mom's Fig Tree ----- Some more pics from the weekend. :) * I posted some photos from Yosakoi Festival here, if you're interested. ;) Categories: Miscellaneous

I've Been Living on Fair Junk Food...

Yakitori (Skewered Teriyaki Chicken) Stand Or maybe I should call it "outdoor festival junk food?" It's time for our crazy outdoor dance festival again, and I've been taking photos like all other crazy photographers. Why crazy? Oh, think about being a spectator of outdoor dance performances from around 12:30 to 21:30, either standing or sitting on the sidewalk and occasionally walking from one venue to another, when the temperature is somewhere around 35 - 36 degrees C in the daytime (could be higher on the blacktop), taking shots of the dancers. Well, actually not all amateur photographers stay that long... but I did yesterday. I know. I'm the craziest. Hahaha... Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) Okonomiyaki (Savory pancakes) Stand Drink Stand To be honest, I felt kind of embarrassed to take shots of the fair food at these stands, because at this festival, everyone is interested in the dance and dancers, not the fair junk staples (and they have nothing but "the staples" in this festival). I noticed a vendor looking at me like "Is this her first time to see food stands at a Japanese festival?" Oh well. Anyway, I'll post the festival photos on my another blog when ready. :) P.S. I take vitamin pills every day, so don't worry too much about my nutrition. ;) O.K. Here let me add one more shot which best conveys the true spirit of this festival. Now how about that? ;) * I posted some photos from Yosakoi Festival here, if you're interested. ;) Categories: Miscellaneous

Blueberry Ice Cream Parfait?

Blueberry Ice Cream Parfait - Obachan's version - It was amazing how fast the ice cream melted in my room... Anyway, for the record -- I got 32 berries from my small blueberry plant (sunshine blue) this year, and they turned into this yummy purple ice cream. The white swirl is store-bought vanilla ice cream which was really sweet. I'm glad that I didn't use too much of it for this dessert. One unfortunate fact is that now some leaves of this sunshine blue plant are gradually turning brown because of the crazy summer heat here. I placed a shading net over the plant about a week ago. Hope it helps. Categories: Sweets

Sweet Seasons / July 2008 - Floating Leaves -

Floating Leaves by Nishigawaya It is no surprise that cool stream is a popular wagashi motif in hot and humid Japanese summer. Especially for the tea ceremony in olden days when there was no air conditioner, wagashi confectioners must have done their best to bring in a touch of coolness with their wagashi which usually accompanies hot (or at least warm) green tea. And the summer motif has been passed down for more than a hundred years and is still favored today. For this type of wagashi, azuki bean paste is often used for the river bottom and kanten jelly for the water. And confectioners often add something of their choice -- such as leaves, small fish, pebbles, bubbles, etc. -- as an accent. I wasn't sure what these leaves in the above wagashi photos were made of, but I did love the color gradation. :) BTW, they usually try not to leave tiny bubbles in kanten jelly wagashi, but I suppose they included the bubbles on purpose in this case. It looks like that the leaves are in a real water, and thus looks more refreshing. Categories: Wagashi

Suntanned Nectarine Cobbler?

Nectarine Cobbler -- believe it or not... No, it's not suntan or cocoa powder added to the batter. What I actually did was that I ran out of flour the other day but forgot to buy some, so for this cobbler I used the whole wheat flour I managed to find in my kitchen. Don't you think this looks terribly brown and gooey? But it tasted better than it looks, and even quite nice with ice cream on top. And more than anything, the color contrast of this brown cobbler and white vanilla ice cream was really nice and appetizing. (Too bad I didn't take a photo of the one with ice cream topping...) Oh, for those who may be wondering: It's my summer ritual to make nectarine cobbler at least once a summer. As I wrote before, nectarines are usually available only for a couple of weeks in late July or early August around here, and in those weeks, making nectarine cobbler has more priority than other projects. ;) Categories: Sweets

Blueberry Ice Cream - Test Batch -

Prototype #1 It wasn't my day off yesterday, but I went for the experiment. Yes, I tried out a blueberry ice cream recipe. I got the basic idea from the recipe Kat gave me, and combined it with another recipe(Japanese) which I found on the net. The latter was actually a "blueberry cream cheese ice cream" recipe, and I was so curious about how cream cheese would work. The result: It was good. But the cream cheese was a bit overpowering, I would say. To bring out the best flavor of my precious and scarce blueberries, I would rather not use cream cheese. Categories: Sweets

Talking about Tempura...

Guess what. My tempura photo from my kaiseki post (2006 Autumn) is now used in a splash screen of a free software. Check this out! To me this was a kind of flattering experience. According to this guy -- a Man in the TERRA as he calls himself-- he had been wanting to use a tempura photo for the software he made recently. He did some net search, found my tempura photo and liked it. Maybe fate played a part in this? Anyway, when I got his email asking for permission to use the photo as a splash image, first I thought it was some kind of joke. But he was very polite, considerate and copyright-conscious all the way through, and I liked the idea of my photo being used for something useful (it's not that my photos are not useful as they are posted on this foodblog, but you know what I mean...), I finally said to myself, "Oh, why not!" :D From now, even those who have no interest in tempura per se would have to be forced to see my tempura photo for several seconds every time they load this free software. Ha-ha-ha. (There seems to be something that flatters my ego here... ) ;) Categories: Miscellaneous

TLA #3 - First Kiss?? -

Kisu (Sillago) Tempura Hahaha... Come on. I’m over 40 y.o., not a teenager. You didn't think that I had my true “first kiss” today, did you? Nope. It’s a fish called “kisu (sillago or smelt-whiting?)” and the name is pronounced the same as “kiss” in Japanese (with a little different accent). What I did today was that I made tempura with the very first kisu I caught in my life! :D Kisu is not terribly big or prestigious, but so many people are crazy about them here because catching them is fun (they pull pretty hard for their size) and they taste so good. The fresh ones are great when sliced raw as sashimi and wonderful when used for sushi, but they are simply EXCELLENT when batter-fried with shiso(perilla) leaves! So, ever since I took up fishing a few months back, I had dreamed about making tempura with the fresh kisu I caught. Yes, I had made tempura with store-bought kisu several times before and I knew its taste. But making it with my own catch is the special part, you know. I really want to experience the “pull” that so many anglers talk/write about. And catching kisu is not like catching sardines in a dirty port. You go to a clean beach and will be surrounded by the sound of the wave. And you throw weight and bait towards the beautiful horizon where the blue ocean and the sky meet. When you do catch some, they are fresh from the Pacific Ocean -- hence, no worry about the pollution. Mmmmm… I like that. I like that very much. That’s the kind of fun I want to have in summer -- or in any season, if possible! Around 5 AM, near Katsurahama beach But in this summer heat, I can never fish around and after noon. So my fishing trip has to be early in the morning on my day off, and to be at the beach in time, I have to leave home TERRIBLY early in the morning. Hahaha… BTW, I had my bicycle repaired so it doesn't wake up the whole neighborhood with its squeak any more. ;) The shot above is the one I took this morning when I came near the beach. And this shot is for those who missed the sunrise today. It was gorgeous. I guess it is an early-bird angler’s privilege to be able to enjoy a view like this. To be honest, this photo above is from my last fishing trip. This blue rod is the one I broke a week ago before it caught any kisu. Now I have an orange-colored fishing rod which is a little longer than this blue one. Finally!! (The fish is not floating in the air. Kinda surrealistic photo, isn't it?) Oh how I wanted to take a shot like this! (I mean, taking a shot of kisu still hanging from the line. So many people took photos of their kisu this way and posted on their websites, and I wanted to do the same so badly.) I caught but released several fish that I didn’t want to keep, and these were the only two I brought back home after all. I know. What a meager catch for all the efforts and preparations and crazy, long bicycle ride! But the important thing is -- I enjoyed all the craziness and my small dream actually came true! And that is much, MUCH better than spending the whole day off in my messy room, thinking that I'm too old to have any fun. OK. The next step is catching enough kisu to make both kisu sashimi and tempura, and posting about them to add to my long-forgotten “sake to sakana” series. There is a sake I have in mind to try with those dishes. :) ... And my blueberry ice cream project is postponed till my next day off. :P Categories: Japanese, Fishing