Garden Report - November 2007 -

Parsley My plants are ... well, at least some of them are ... alive. :) Blueberry and sweet marjoram -------- BTW, I'm a little worried now. In November, I emailed some people -- readers of my blog -- to answer their questions and/or to send recipes in English. Usually my readers email me back to say thank you. Well, there were times that the reader didn't respond, but it didn't happen very often. But after November 4th, I emailed 9 to 10 people, and only one of them responded. Now I'm wondering if my emails are being rejected or automatically deleted most of the time for a certain reason... like a virus infection??? (But running virus scan on my PC showed no infection.) I'm writing this in case those who emailed me in November read this post: I did send out English translations or URLs of the recipes (or related info.) for persimmon jam, langue de chat cookies, pumpkin cookies, hanami dango, rakugan (Japanese dry sweets), sweet potato apple pie, frozen persimmon and slow cooker recipes written in Japanese. If you haven't received my email yet, please let me know, because I can send it again from a different email account in case my hotmail account was the problem. Categories: Garden

Earlier Start Than Last Year

Now it's that time of the year again. Yep, time to soak dried fruit. For what? For Christmas, of course! ;) For whatever reason, amaretto was on sale at the liquor section of the supermarket I regularly shop at. I was familiar with the name, and had read somewhere that it is used for cakes, but never actually tried it. Wanting something "different" for the fruitcake this year, I bought a small bottle of the almond based liqueur. When I opened the bottle, heavenly aroma came out, which somehow reminded me of something very familiar. "AH! 杏仁豆腐(Chinese almond jelly)!" I thought. Yes, nice aroma. But for my fruitcake, I wanted a kick of something stronger, like rum. So that's what I did. Amaretto and rum. Did I go off the wall again? I read that some people soak dried fruit with amaretto and add brandy. I also read that there is a cocktail you can make by mixing amaretto and rum. So ... how about 'amaretto and rum' version of fruitcake? I don't know. We'll see... Oh, I found out that the language school I work for does not have a Christmas event. I'll have no chance to share my gingerbread fun with kids. Oh well... I'll make gingerbread people anyway for my own pleasure. Categories: Sweets

Shishito Pasta

Shishito and Shirasu Pasta My colleague gave me some shishito yesterday and I tried out a "shishito and shirasu (dried baby sardine) pasta" recipe. Very simple seasoning -- garlic, olive oil, red pepper and salt -- but surprisingly tasty. I enjoyed it with yuzu chu-hai and 'cheese on baguette' (?). Mmmm.... should I categorize this under "Japanese" or "Western-inspired?" Categories: Western-inspired, Japanese

Sake to Sakana #6 Bijofu

Ever since I found this royalty-free stock photo site – and saw various fantastic images featuring Japanese sake – I had been wanting to shoot photos like them myself. And this is my first attempt. Yep, I said “first,” which means, there’ll be more to come. If you have time, try browsing all 34 pages that the stock photo site shows under the keyword: ”sake”... by clicking on the orange-colored numbers above the thumbnails. You’ll probably see why I got so intrigued. Some of the photos are so simple… just a pair of sake bottle and cup, small portion of appetizers and a few leaves or flowers which reflect the season… AND a pair of chopsticks that tighten up the whole impression with their straight lines! Those are my favorite kind of photos. And when I see something I like very much, I feel the urge to recreate it myself. Hence, these photos here to add a new post to my long-neglected “sake to sakana” series. Hahaha… What I’m going to introduce this time is our local sake called “Bijofu 美丈夫.” The name means –- if I’m not mistaken -- "a beautiful looking young man." I’ve heard that it implies our local hero Ryoma Sakamoto, but it does not sound convincing to Kochi residents who are familiar with his photo. :P Anyway, “Bijofu” is my absolute favorite, and I have written about it a couple of times here on this blog. The reason why I like it is that it goes well with most foods and it never disappoints me. It is dry with the fragrance not overwhelming, and I personally think that it tastes best when gently warmed (body temperature). And I love drinking gently warmed Bijofu with seafood, especially fisheggs, such as kazunoko (herring roe) and mentaiko (spicy cod roe). Bijofu does not enhance the fishiness of the fisheggs, but instead, creates a pleasant sensation with the appetizer, which I like very, very much. So that’s why I did not forget to buy this appetizer this time: Ogon Ika 黄金イカ in sudachi cup The name of this appetizer means “golden squid.” What it is is raw squid strips dressed with seasoned kazunoko (herring roe), and I assume some artificial coloring is added to the roe. Yeah, unhealthy. But still I would never try to buy raw squid and herring roe separately and make this appetizer myself; It would cost a lot more than buying a small pack of ready-made ogon ika, and usually all I need is just a small amount. Other appetizers this time included: ginkgo nuts (Yep! The envelope-and-microwave method again! ;P ), grilled squid with shichimi pepper and small taros seasoned with salt and black sesame seeds. This taro appetizer seems to be a popular autumn appetizer here, but I think it tastes good only when it is warm. My taros turned stone-cold while taking these shots, and even though I microwaved them before eating, still they were not very impressive.　Ginkgo nuts were very good (yet I think Bijofu shows its best quality when combined with seafood). Anyway, I don’t think I have time and energy to have a kaiseki project this autumn, but I would probably try this sake-and-appetizer project at least one more time before winter (hopefully) because it is much easier and less expensive :P. Categories: Sake

I Love My New Grill

Pacific Saury Just to let you know that my new grill did a good job. :) Categories: Japanese

Baked Apples on a Beautiful Autumn Afternoon

Baked Apples Yeah, the weather was gorgeous today. Maybe that's why so many people decided to go picnicking with store-bought bento. And maybe that's why we had to work like hell at the bento shop today. What amused us was three fire trucks that came and stayed in front of the supermarket right across the street from our shop. We saw no smoke, no fire, and had no idea what the fire trucks were doing there, but anyway, they certainly got attention from everyone. I came home around 2:30 pm, exhausted. But the afternoon was still so beautiful, and I felt like shooting some photos of autumny dessert in the afternoon sunlight... ... and of course eating the dessert! You know, I just wanted to be one of those who enjoyed the gorgeous Saturday today. And the baked apples were soooooooooooooo good with vanilla ice cream. :D Well, these photos are the evidence that one can work at a bento shop both Saturday and Sunday mornings (actually until 2 pm and 3 pm) and still enjoy the weekend. (But I won't mind enjoying a gorgeous weekend WITHOUT working at the bento place. Oh, I won't mind it AT ALL!!) BTW, are you wondering why those cinnamon sticks are looking so big? It's not the sticks -- It's the apples. They are tiny apples called "hime-ringo (princess apples?)" here. Cute, ha? Categories: Sweets

Let Me Show You My New Gas Stove (While It Is Still New And Clean...)

My New Gas Stove With Grill (YAY!) No, it's not that I suddenly became rich or I won a lottery. For whatever reason, Kochi city had decided that now the town where I live in should change from the old-type city gas to natural gas. Those who live in Japan probably know that our city gas is classified into several types, such as 6A, 5C, 13A etc. Ours has just changed from 5B to 13A. Our gas appliances had to be adjusted accordingly. I could have kept my old gas stove with the necessary adjustment done, but its left burner was almost broke and the gas company gave a big discount on 13A type gas stoves, so I decided to go for a new one. This one was almost 50% OFF. Good decision, right? ;) On Monday and Tuesday, apx. 1 hour on each day, I had to stay at home while a guy from the gas company worked in my kitchen and the balcony (because the water heater is on the balcony). It was such a bummer, but I guess it was worth it. I'm so happy with this new gas stove, especially this grill! Now I can throw away my old and smelly electric griller which I had to use on the kitchen floor because there was no space for it on the table. :D This past week was not my lucky week, but this new change really made a difference now. Oh, I can't wait to use this grill... Maybe tonight. Categories: Miscellaneous

Tai Meshi

Tai Meshi (Japanese pilaf with sea bream??) Cooked in Donabe I'm not sure if "pilaf" is a proper translation for Japanese "takikomi gohan." When making pilaf, do you always need to saute raw rice (with butter) before cooking it in broth? Japanese takikomi gohan does not require sauteing rice, so maybe it shouldn't be called "pilaf." But I guess, from this translation, you can get some idea of what takikomi gohan is like, right? ;) Here in Japan, tai (sea bream) is an expensive fish which is used for formal celebrations including wedding, baby's "first-feeding ceremony" etc. and also when someone achieved a great success. Thus, tai meshi also sounds like an expensive dish, and it actually was, I think, in the past. But these days young Japanese wives make the dish more casually and economically, making a good use of store-bought sea bream sashimi. Yes, those raw fish slices that come in plastic containers. Usually you see only 7 or 8 thin slices in one pack, but the good thing about tai meshi is that you don't need a whole lot of fish -- the fish is supposed to be mixed into rice anyway... like this. I usually grill the sea bream beforehand, as recommended in many tai meshi recipes. I guess that makes the dish less fishy and more fragrant. The thinly sliced dark-green stuff in the top photo is kombu kelp from making dashi stock. Of course, it was my own crazy idea, but I always don't know what to do with the kelp after making dashi stock, so I thought adding it to this tai meshi could be a good idea -- It might even add extra umami. ;) Categories: Japanese

Sweet Seasons /October 2007 - Persimmon -

"Persimmon" Yes, I replaced the photo. The previous one did show more wagashi on a tray, but just one persimmon in this shot is certainly more impressive, I think. -------- Persimmon is a special fruit for wagashi confectioners. Traditionally, people have dried astringent persimmons to make hoshigaki (dried persimmon). You may think that drying was a desperate effort to somehow make use of the otherwise-useless astringent fruit, but that is not the case. The astringent variety was (and still is) preferred for making hoshigaki because it turns out to be sweeter when dried. I've read that astringent persimmons have a higher sugar content than sweet persimmons (such as fuyu), believe it or not. It is said that a dried persimmon is three to four times sweeter than a fresh persimmon. In olden days when sugar was valuable and hard to get, the sweet dried fruit must have been a beloved dessert. This is a good reason to believe that it was served with tea, and perhaps that is why hoshigaki is often said to be the origin of wagashi: sweets (almost always) served with green tea. But that is not the only reason why the persimmon is a special fruit. There is a principle widely shared by confectioners: "Wagashi shouldn't be sweeter than hoshigaki." Overly sweet wagashi is not considered decent or elegant; it makes you think "Oh, this is too much!" To avoid that, confectioners seem to have chosen the somewhat mild sweetness of dried persimmon as a guideline. Think about that; Japanese confectioners have passed down this guideline for years-- could be hundreds of years. To me, the hoshigaki guideline sounds more... how shall I say... naturalistic? and I like it. It doesn't sound as dry as, "The sugar content of wagashi should be less than XX%. " * Wagashi by Nishigawaya Categories: Wagashi

Looks Like They Loved My Cookies

The last piece of my pumpkin cookies ... Yep, I baked the pumpkin cookies for the Halloween event yesterday. Actually, so many unexpected things happened during the week before the party and I got so extremely terribly busy -- to the point that it was almost killing me, honestly. But I couldn't give up on the idea of baking the cute cookies, and I did bake them. I'm so happy to tell you that at the party, my cookies disappeared relatively quickly and I even got positive comments from a couple of moms. :D Oh, the twists added to the original recipe? To give the cookies more flavor, I replaced apx. 1/5 of the amount of flour with almond powder and about 1/5 of the white sugar with brown sugar. I also added good amount of vanilla extract and a little cinnamon, too. It worked well... I think. The only thing was that the cookies turned out flatter this time, so they looked more like flowers than tiny pumpkins... But they were moister and tastier than before, which I liked very much. And it was amazing how great I felt to see kids eating what I baked. Believe it or not, this was my first time since I started this blog that I saw any kid eating what I baked. Gosh, it felt sooooooooooooooo good! Kids munching on my cookies! Now I'm so very much tempted to persuade the boss to let us do a gingerbread-house making project for the Christmas event. I don't mind baking gingerbread slabs at home and donating them. And, yeah, how about letting kids decorate pre-baked gingerbread people? (But maybe cleaning-up would be a nightmare ... ?? I'd better be careful because I will be the one to do the cleaning.) Categories: Sweets

No, I didn't Go to Canada

Maple Cream Cookies from Canada I wish I were the one who went to Canada, but no, unfortunately not. One of the students of the language school I work for gave these to me as a souvenir yesterday. Yum! :D It must be beautiful in Canada now... with maple leaves turning colors... Categories: Sweets

Preparation...

Pumpkin Cookies ("experimental batch") The language school I work for at night is going to have a Halloween party in two weeks, and I'm thinking about bringing in some home-made sweets. If you are a long-term reader of this blog, you probably know how I have been cooking/baking to celebrate Western -- or I should say, American -- customs for years WITHOUT anyone to share the food and fun. Man, this school event must be a rare chance to make others eat what I bake for my own nostalgic reason. Why miss it? So I've been looking for some "Japanised" recipes (to stay on the safe side) for Halloween goodies, and today I tried out a pumpkin cookie recipe that I bookmarked the other day. The cookies are very cute, easy to make, and more importantly, pretty cost-effective! ;) But to be perfectly honest, I'm a bit worried that they might taste a little too light or bland when eaten with other store-bought munchies at the party, thus I'm going to give the recipe a twist or two ... Good thing that I still have some time to experiment. Categories: Sweets

Chan-Chan Yaki

Chan-Chan Yaki Miso (fermented bean paste) is such a versatile ingredient. And it's amazing how well it goes with some dairy products like cheese or butter. To tell you the truth, I didn't know chan-chan yaki until I read about it in a manga, "Cooking Papa" several years ago. This must be a popular dish in the northern part of Japan, but in my hometown where seared bonito (katsuo no tataki) is almost like a "staple," combining miso and butter to grill salmon was not a popular idea. At least I had never heard of it. But now, thanks to the manga and other medias like TV cooking shows, recipe magazines and the internet, chan-chan yaki is known throughout the country, I think. OK. I'm posting the recipe for the chan-chan yaki I made today. Yes, I modified someone's recipe to make it less sweet to suit my palate, but still it was on the sweet side. Chan-chan yaki ( 1 serving?) 2 pieces of salmon fillet vegetables (carrots, cabbage, onion, green pepper, mushrooms etc., sliced or chopped) 2 Tbsp white miso 2 Tbsp miso 3 Tbsp sake 1+1/2 Tbsp mirin 1+1/2 Tbsp sugar 20 g (or more, if preferred) butter 1/2 tsp soy sauce The original recipe didn't call for soy sauce, but I thought it would enhance -- or give a little Japanese touch to -- the butter flavor, so I added a little of it. This is really easy to make. First, melt a little butter in the frying pan and sear the salmon fillets. Then put the cut vegetables in the pan, place the salmon fillets on the vegetables, put the lid on and cook. Combine miso, sake, mirin and sugar in a bowl to make miso sauce. When the vegetables are soft, pour the sauce all over and cook (covered) for a few minutes. Add butter and soy sauce and cook for a few more minutes until the butter melts. Pretty good with cooked rice. :) Categories: Japanese

Sweet Seasons / September 2007 - Hasami giku -

Hasami-giku If I’m not mistaken, making this chrysanthemum-shaped wagashi is one of the tasks of grade-1 skill test for wagashi confectioners in Japan. This piece of art is called “hasami (scissors) - giku (chrysanthemum),” and as its name indicates, it clearly shows how skillfully the confectioner can use the scissors. There seem to be certain rules about how many rows of how many petals (maybe usually 20 petals?) have to be made. The dough is nerikiri dough, and the special scissors look like these (scroll down). It must take a lot of effort to make the petals beautifully and evenly, adjusting their size properly so that each row has 20 petals… That is something I can never do. At this wagashi shop, they usually don’t have hasami-giku on display, but you can call them and place a pre-order. Ever since I found out about that, I had been wanting to get one, and I finally did so today. This elaborate wagashi was twice as expensive as the ones I usually buy to post about on this blog, but it was worth it. :) *Wagashi by Shingetsu Categories: Wagashi

Sweet Chestnut Financier

Sweet Chestnut Financier When I was a child, Tenshin amaguri 天津甘栗 (Tianjin sweet roasted chestnuts?) were my special favorite food. They were not available in my hometown, and the only time I could eat them was when my grandparents or parents brought some from Kochi city as a souvenir. The sweet smell of the chestnuts was so tempting, and their taste never disappointed me. I kept eating them and didn't care about my fingers getting dirty from cracking the shells. (Their shells are so sticky from the syrup added during roasting.) When reading my favorite books munching on the sweet roasted chestnuts, I was definitely the happiest child in the whole world. Most of my favorite books from childhood have brown fingerprints here and there, showing how often I had such blissful moments. ;) Good thing is that these days, they sell peeled Tianjin amaguri in retort-pouch-like package, so I don't have to worry about making a mess on my books or those checked out from the library. But today, instead of munching on them while reading, I threw some of them into food processor to make ground chestnuts. Yes, to make financiers. Using ground chestnuts in place of almond flour for making financiers was not my idea; it was in a recipe posted on a Japanese recipe site. And the result was a great success! My ground chestnuts were pretty chunky (because I didn't want to spend too much time with the food processor), but I liked them that way. The amaguri chunks -- as well as the golden-brown, caramelized edges -- gave nice accent to the lovely tea cakes. With a nice hot milk tea, the amaguri financiers cheered up my gloomy, cloudy afternoon. (Yeah, I'm still haunted by the bento anxiety, you know.) Categories: Sweets

Mabo Don

Today's Lunch -- "Mabo Don" Dear readers, Yep, I'm still hanging in there at the new workplace (bento shop). Still trying hard to learn new things -- a lot of them -- at work. No, even after work, in my apartment, too! I wish I could show you my bento drawings scattered all over the floor. Yeah, they are artistic... in a sense, I would say. One great thing is that I learned the secret ingredient they use to make their tamagoyaki tasty. It's probably their confidential information so I shouldn't post the recipe, but I might modify theirs and make my own tamagoyaki recipe sometime in the near future. I'll post it if I come up with a good one. ;) Well, today's lunch does not have anything to do with the tamagoyaki story above. I just had a quick lunch with the leftovers in the fridge and these photos show what I had. We call this dish "mabo donburi" or "mabo don" here, because in Japanese, 麻婆豆腐 is usually pronounced "mabo dofu" instead of "mapo tofu." How I made the mapo tofu? ... Just heated chopped silken tofu in one of those pre-made sauce in retort pouch. Easy enough. BTW, I don't use a spoon when I eat mabo don; I can eat it with chopsticks. Great, ha? ;) Categories: Asian-inspired

Crepe Suzette

Crepe Suzette Now I guess I have gathered enough strength to write about my past week and share it with you guys. Oh, no no! It’s nothing serious. Nothing terrible happened. Don’t worry. It’s just that my mind has been occupied with all the new things I have to learn at a new workplace, and it was a bit overwhelming to put my feelings – mostly anxieties – into words. But after experiencing a sort of emotional rollercoaster in the very first week, I’m feeling a little calmer now and able to write about it. You might be wondering what kind of difficult or complicated job I started to feel so nervous? Uh… I’m ashamed to tell you, but it’s just a half a day’s work at a small bento shop in my neighborhood. Actually, it’s not as physically demanding as the work at the izakaya. But I never thought they had such a wide variety of bentos! For the past week, I spent hours and hours every night drawing and re-drawing bento illustrations to memorize what food should be packed in which bento and what kind of sauce/pickles should come with it. The manual with photos shows where in the bento box each food/garnish should be put. Oh, and of course the color, shape and size of the plastic bento boxes differ depending on the type of bento. There are many small plastic cups in several different sizes and colors for side dishes and there are of course certain rules for their combinations. AHHHHH!!! And this is my first time handling the cash register!! Those who have experienced similar job must be thinking, “Oh, come on, Obachan. It’s not such a big deal!” Right? Maybe I’ll feel the same way once I get used to all the work procedures. It’s going to take some time, though. Anyway, that was what my past week was like, and all the worries completely spoiled my long weekend. So yesterday (Sunday), I got to the point where I HAD TO make something -- something sweet -- to heal myself. I’m not quite sure why I chose to make crepe suzette when I was on the edge like that… Maybe I was so stressed that vitamin C in orange juice attracted me? I think it was more than 20 years ago when I first made crepe suzette. I still remember the photo of the dessert in mom’s big, heavy and old cookbook. The French dessert tasted wonderful then even though I didn’t have any liquor (such as brandy or orange liqueur) to flavor it. What I made this time was not bad, and I do think these photos have some healing effect. But the dessert could have tasted much, much better with more orange sauce. My mistake... I had only one orange, and used half of it for making orange chicken the night before. Anyway, dear readers. I'd very much appreciate your emotional support for a few more weeks until I get used to my new job, unless they kick me out tomorrow for being such a slow learner. Please share your experiences, if it's OK with you... I guess I'm more vulnerable now than I was before the surgery last May. Hahaha... One good thing is, though, I can start another series as the sequel to the izakaya and kaiseki chronicles I wrote in 2006. ;) Categories: Sweets

Long Weekend and My Stomach Needs a Break???

Obachan's Very First Boule It's a long weekend with lousy weather here in Japan. Perhaps it's the best chance for a new cooking/baking adventure, but for some reason, my stomach has not been feeling good since the day before yesterday. Udon noodles and rice porridge were my meals yesterday, and today I wanted something different. But what would be a nice dish that is fun to make (to kill time on this long weekend) and does not upset my stomach? Then I thought, "Maybe bread soaked in nice hearty soup would be kind to my stomach... And why not bake the bread myself?" So I picked a french bread recipe (in Japanese) which looked easiest to me and tried it out. The texture of my bread did not turn out exactly the way I wanted, perhaps partly because I used regular bread flour only while many recipes recommend mixing bread flour and cake flour at certain proportion, and partly because the recipe called for melted butter to add to the dough while most french bread recipes, I believe, do not. Yet my very first boule, especially the crust, tasted pretty good when soaked in the home-made vegetable soup, and my stomach seems to be satisfied and not upset after this meal. Categories: Western-inspired

Before the Summer Is Over...

Tomato and Zucchini Pasta Did someone say, "This summer I’m interested in expanding my repertoire of Italian dishes?" Do you remember reading something like that? Oh well, that person must have thought that she had to keep her word and make another Italian dish before the end of summer. Hahaha... Honestly, it's getting cooler here -- FINALLY! I don't need to have the air conditioner on at night any more. And a couple of red dragonflies I saw today told me that the summer is almost gone, which pressured me to cook (and post) at least one more Italian dish before it is officially autumn. So, this was a quick, easy and tasty lunch I whipped up today. I got this idea from someone's blog (Japanese) several days ago. Actually she added things like balsamic vinegar and anchovy, but what I made today was much closer to this English recipe, if you're interested. It was still very good without those fancy stuff, I would say. BTW, I had good luck with my basil this year. The leaves did not grow big like previous years, but the plants were healthier and absolutely no insect problem! :D Categories: Western-inspired

No, This is Not Tofu

Soy Milk Jelly with Kiwi Fruit Sauce Did you think that Obachan went nuts and poured kiwi fruit sauce over Morinyu tofu? No, not yet. I haven't gone that far ... at least at this point. ;) This is all because of a cheap kiwi fruit I bought today. It was sour -- so terribly SOUR! I got mad and immediately chopped up the fruit and threw it in a saucepan with bunch of sugar, a little water and sherry to make sauce. Then I thought, "How about panna cotta with kiwi sauce?" Doesn't it sound like a decent dessert? But when I opened the fridge, I found that the milk was expired. The only alternative was soy milk. Hence... this invention (if I may call it an invention. :P) The jelly did not taste like real panna cotta, and I didn't think the flavor of the soy milk made a perfect match with the kiwi. Still, the dessert was bearable, but I don't think I'm going to make this again. Haha... And I still have some kiwi sauce left. ... Another tart, maybe?? Categories: Sweets