Tomato salad with anchovy dressing

[Recipe]

Ingredients for 2 people:

A
2 big spoons of anchovy paste
1 small spoon of sugar
1 big spoon of parsley
A little bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder
1 big spoon of vinegar

2 big spoons of olive oil
1 bunch of Mizuna
1 tomato
4 or 5 slices of raw ham

1. Mix ingredients A well, and then add olive oil and mix again.
2. Cut Mizuna into proper size and slice tomato. Put Mizuna in water for 5 minutes and drain water.
3. Put Mizuna, tomato and raw ham on a plate and put dressing.


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Caramel Sauce

Caramel is very delicate to deal with since it easily gets burned and quickly recrystallize. But if you know certain tips, it's a piece of cake!


[Ingredients]
3 big spoons of superfine sugar
1 big spoons of water

[Recipe]
1. Put sugar and water in a pan, mix them and cook at high heat.
2. When the sugar starts to turn brown, do not look away from the pan. Right before the sugar turns to your desired taste brown, put the pan on a dump cloth.


"3 points that you have to remind!!"
1. Make sure to cook at high heat. If you cook at low heat, it will take time to turn to brown and more water evaporates. As a result, it recrystallize quickly compared to be cooked at high heat.
2. Do not stir the ingredient while it's heated. It could result in recrystallization.
3. Once the color starts to change to brown, it changes quickly! Watch out!


I made pudding with the caramel I made, but I forgot to take pictures...
So, I upload a picture of Cebu island that I visited in April.



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Traditional Japanese things

I visited place called 馬籠(Magome) which is famous for hot springs.
Also, there were many shops which sell traditional Japanese things.


This is the shop which sells accessories, potteries, stand lights and etc.


The above store sells wood crafts made by elderly people.


Of course, the shop owner is an elegant elderly woman.
She is in her 80s!


Speciality shop only sells Plantae products.

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芝桜(Shibazakura : Phlox subulata)

I visited Mt. Cyausu where we can see beautiful Phlox subulata gardens.
Now is the best time to see their flowers!


Many Japanese people like to see Phlox subulata since it looks like Japanese cherry.
So, there are many Phlox subulata gardens in Japan.


There are some stands which sell something to eat.


We ate char-grilled fish!
It's the best!


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Turkish cuisine

I visited Turkish restaurant the other day.
All the staff in there were so nice!
On this day, we visited the one which had branch shop in expo in Aichi.

オリエンタルの青い月(Blue moon in Oriental)
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/n130700/



When it comes to Turkish food, Kebab, Musakka, Kahve, Dondurma, etc. are famous.
Sadly, there are not so many Turkish restaurants in Japan.
This is my first time to eat real Turkish cuisine!



The restaurant that we visited sells some fancy Turkish goods, as well.



Dondurma (Turkish ice cream) was great!!
My favorite;)


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お寿司(Osushi)

In Japanese supermarket, they usually have packed Sushi like this.



This was 680 yen. Enough for woman, but for man, need bigger one.
The above price includes 醤油(syouyu:soy sauce) and 箸(hashi:chopsticks).

Do you see the green plastic thing?
That is called バラン(baran), which is a partition.
Originally it was orchid leave　葉蘭(haran:leave of orchid), the pronunciation is "Haran", but now we use plastic which pronunciation changed to "Baran".
It is said people in the past used Haran not only parting Sushi, but also for Haran's artistic apparance.


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Philippine food

I'm back from Filippines!!
I missed Japanese food so much that right after I came back, I ate 刺身(sashimi)!!

It had many Filippine foods which were all so delicious.
One of the biggest differences between Japanese food is the percentage of oil that they use.
Filippine food uses so much oil, and Filipinos love it.
Basically, Japanese food does not use much oil.
So, like me who used to eat Japanese food, it was very heavy.

Also, I found out that Filippine food uses a lot of meat and fish.
The percentage of vegetable and fruit ingredients are very low.

There are many more things that I found out, but I guess I'll write them later.

Off to Philippines!

I'm leaving for Philippines tomorrow.
This trip is to see if there is a chance to start my own business there!

However, I will simply enjoy my vacation!


Cherry blossom season is about to end.
Little sad about it...

イカ大根

It's been cold, so I made something warming.
This is a Japanese food that uses squid and Japanese radish.
It's a nostalgic taste for Japanese people.

[Recipe]

Ingredients for 2 people:

1 squid
1/2 of Japanese radish
10cm of dried seaweed
400cc of water
200cc of soy sauce
2 big spoons of Japanese sake

1. Remove inner parts and gristle of a squid, and cut into proper size. Peel Japanese radish and cut about 2.5cm thickness.

2. Boil water and put squid for 20 seconds and quickly take out from the pot. Put Japanese radish, water, Japanese sake and dried seaweed in another pot, and boil them.

3. Skim the scum and put soy sauce. Turn off the heat and leave the pot for 30 minutes.

4. Put squid and stew for 20 minutes.


You can use pressure cooker instead of a normal pod. It makes Japanese radish and squid much softer.


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Samurai William

I love cooking, and I also love reading books!

It took me about a moth to read this book.
This book is about how British people opened the first trading house in Japan and the British who came to Japan.
His name was William Adams, and he became the advisor of 徳川家光(Iemitsu Tokugawa) who was the third 将軍(Shogun) of Edo Shogunate.

This book was written based on the old history book and research.
I could see how it was like to live in Japan around 16th century.
It's good to know how people lived in the old days.
I think, reading through history books, I can gain some perspective and knowledge on how to live a life.

For more detail description about this book, please see the page below;
http://www.britishempire.co.uk/library/samuraiwilliam.htm


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Caramel Mocha Muffin

I often make muffin because it's easy to make, carry and eat for breakfast!

[Recipe]

Ingredients for 5 muffins:
50g of margarine
100g of flour
60g of millet sugar
3g of baking powder
1 egg (middle size)
40g of milk
5g of instant coffee
50g of caramel chocolate morsels

1.Let egg, margarine and milk warm at room temperature. Shift flour and baking powder. Put milk in a microwave, and mix with instant coffee.

2. Beat margarine with sugar in a bowl until cream. Break and beat an egg. Add egg in the bowl in 3 parts and mix the ingredients.

4. Put ingredients and mix them as the following order; 1/3 of powder, 1/2 of milk, 1/3 of powder, 1/2 of milk, caramel chocolate morsels, 1/3 of powder.

5. Put the dough into muffin cups. Heat the oven at 180℃. Bake them for 25 minutes in the oven.


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Photo exhibition

I visited my friend's photo exhibition yesterday, which gave me so much inspiration!!



This is one of the photoes that my friend took.
It's hard to see clearly in the picture, but there is an amazing capture of the river flow which is impossible to see with our eyes. Only a camera can capture this.




Among the photoes, there were some interesting ones.
This is a festival in Historic Villages in Shirakawa-go.
According to my friend, this festival is limited to the village people.
However, a man who took this photo loves Shirakawa-go and he visits there so often, so he became their friend and was invited to the festival!



This photo has a magical power to calm me down.



After visiting the exhibition, my friend told me that there was a cake shop that sells delicious rolled-cake.
So, I visited there! Why not!

I noticed sweet smell from 50 meters away!

PATISSIER LABO TETSUYA
http://www.arkworld.co.jp/labo-tetsuya/



I bought "TETSUYA ROLL" which you can see in the picture.

It was really tasty!
Well burned surface, very moist, but light and airy texture.
I wonder how this is possible.
And above all, perfectly balanced cream sweetness with the sponge.

This was really an exciting day to me:)


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ホッケの開き(Hokke fillet)

My work finally slows down, so I finally have some free time!

I grilled dried Hokke the other day.
Hokke has proper fat, unique texture and rich taste.
However, its freshness easily declines.

We can have Hokke at all times of the year, but the most delicious time is only for 2 weeks in spring and autumn.
羅臼(Rausu) in 北海道(Hokkaido) is famous for Hokke.
Hokke in Rausu is really big and delicious, so Hokke from Rausu is very expensive.
Rausu dried Hokke is about 1800 yen for 500g.
Compare to the cheap one in supermarket is about 200yen...

Anyway, if you like fish, you should definitely try one!


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Muffin cup

I always use Matfer's cup.
Matfer is a company in France established in 1814.
It's famous for its very popular kitchen tools which are used by many ptissier.
http://www.matfer.com

It's made of silicon, so you don't have to put a butter to the cup.
Using this cup, muffin will be baked fine brown and easily removed from the cup!


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お雑煮(Ozouni)

It's really good to be back to this blog.
I've been very busy these days, so I might not be able to update so often this month.
But I'll do my best;)

I was meaning to write a recipe of "Ozouni" since January...
"Ozouni" is a traditional Japanese food which is eaten in お正月(Osyougatsu)



What you put in "Ozouni" pretty differs in each area and family.
My family does not put many things in it, but in other families, people put carrot, potatoes, chicken, spinach and so on.

[Recipe]

Ingredients for 2 people:

400cc of katsuo(bonito) soup stock
50cc of soy sauce
4 pieces of rice cake
3 leaves of Chinese cabbage
1 piece of 油揚げ(Abura-age:deep fried tofu)
Proper amount of かつおぶし(Katsuobushi)

1. Put katsuo soup stock and soy sauce in a pan, and heat it.
Cut Chinese cabbage and "Abura-age" in rectangles.

2. When the soup boils, put rice cake, Chinese cabbage and cook them til rice cake gets soft. Put "Abra-age" in a pan and cook for 2 minutes.

3.Serve in a cup and spread "Katsuobushi".


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ずんだ餅 (Zunda rice cake)

Hey, guys.
It has been a mess at work and I was working all day for the last 4 days.
Sorry, I couldn't update this blog.

Today, I think I'll be away from Japanese Green Tea talk.
Since I had "Zunda rice cake" tonight, I'm gonna talk about it.

It's a local cuisine in Tohoku(north east area of Japan).
It looks like this:


It does not look delicious...kind of, but it is delicious!
The green thing on top of the rice cake is "Zunda".
"Zunda" is paste made of 枝豆(Edamame:green soybean).
There are cake, cookie and shake made of "Zunda" which are all delicious!

The place where I live is far from Tohoku, but sometimes there is an event at a supermarket that sells varieties of food from everywhere.
And that's how I got this "Zunda rice cake" tonight;)


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Japanese Green Tea (Part 2-抹茶:Maccya-)

I woke up and found out that it was 12:00!
Well, sometimes this happens:)
It's weekend! We gotta relax!

Still, the topic is about Japanese green tea.
I'm gonna focus on Maccya today.

Maccya is used for many things like chocolate, cookie, ice cream, cake and so on.
Maccya taste is my all-time favorite!

Speaking of Maccya, "宇治(Uji)" comes to my mind.
Uji is a city in Kyoto prefecture. Its soil and weather was good for producing Maccya, and it was pretty close to Kyoto city where the center of tea ceremony. So, Uji has a long history producing Maccya. "Uji-Maccya" is known as a brand of good Maccya in Japan.
In schools in Uji, as part of the region education, flow from a faucet is tea!
It's amazing.

Then, how Maccya is produced?
It is grown up away from sunlight. Pick shoots, steam them and dry them. Remove the vein, and ground to powder by millstone.

I think this tea talk continues a little more.



When I was looking through my old pictures, I came across this one.
This was 2005, when I visited NY library.
Amazing place!
I'm going to visit here again someday!


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Japanese Green Tea (Part 1)

Today, I chatted about Japanese green tea while at work.
One of my co-workers is from Shizuoka prefecture which is a major production area of Japanese green tea.

A good Japanese green tea is really delicious, and I love it!
In our conversation, he told me that he could not drink other tea like we buy at a convenience store. Since his grandfather has a tea farm, he was grown up drinking delicious tea.

I sort of understand what he says. It obviously tastes different when you drink bottled tea. Once people get used to good stuff, it's really hard to degrade.

Anyway, our conversation reminded me that there are so many kinds of Japanese green tea that we have here.

Japanese green tea is classified into many kinds by cultivation method, plucking timing and production process.
Here are some popular teas:
抹茶(Maccya)
煎茶(Sencya)
玉露(Gyokuro)
ほうじ茶(Houjicya)
玄米茶(Genmaicya)


I'll talk about more next time.



Japanese green tea farm!

お好み焼き(Okonomiyaki-sour cream sanded-)

Requested by "ProgramMax", I made Okonomiyaki with sour cream sanded.

[Recipe]
For 2 people:
*150g of flour
*1/2 small spoon of salt
*2 big spoon of sugar
1/6 of cabbage
100g of sliced pork back ribs
150cc of bonito and seaweed broth
Proper amount of dried bonito (shavings) and green laver
Proper amount of smoked cheese and sour cream


Sauce;
Worcester sauce:Ketchup=3:2


1. Mince cabbage. Cut sliced pork back ribs and smoked cheese into proper size. Mix *marked ingredients.

2. Put mixed *ingredients and broth in a bowl, and mix them. Add cabbage and pork in a bowl and mix them. In a small bowl, put smoked cheese and sour cream, and mix them. In the other small bowl, put worcester sauce and ketchup, and mix them.

3. Heat a pan, and put oil. Pour the dough in a pan and cook until brown. Flip over, put a lid and cook the other side until brown. (make 4 piece)

4. Sand mixed cheese and put sauce on the top. Spread dried bonito (shavings) and green laver.


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My favorite cake shop!

I visited my favorite cake shop on the weekend.
Unfortunately, they do not have a home page.

L'ATELIER DE T
0532-47-5755
Vertecourt minami sakae 1F west, Minamisakae-cyo karaike 67-3, Toyohashi city, Aichi 441-8107

Grand patisserie is so nice and he makes delicious cake!


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Jijim

It's really cold outside!
The place where I live now, it rarely snows, but it snowed this morning!


[Recipe]

Ingredients for 1~2 people;

Dough
100g of seafood mix
1/2 bunch of chivee
50g of flour
1 egg
1 potato
1 small spoon of instant bouillon
50ml of water
A little bit of sesame oil, salt and pepper
1 big spoons of sesame oil

Sauce
50ml of soy sauce
1 small spoons of sugar
1 piece of grated garlic
2 big spoons of roasted sesame
1 big spoons of red pepper
4 big spoons of shredded long green onion
A little big of sesame oil


1. Thaw seafood mix. Put ingredients of the sauce and mix them.

2. Cut chivee into proper size. Put ingredients of the dough in a bowl and mix them.

3. Heat a pan and put 1 big spoon of sesame oil. Put dough in a pan and cook at high heat for a while.

4. Turn upside down and cook thoroughly at a medium heat.


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あったかスープ(warming soup)

I had a really busy week, so I'm having a slow weekend.


[Recipe]

Ingredients for 4 people;

1 canned crab
1/8 of Chinese cabbage
1/2 of carrot
1/4 bunch of cryptotaenia
1/2 bunch of enokidake mushroom
200cc of crab soup stock
600cc of water

1. Cut Chinese cabbage, carrot, cryptotaenia and enokidake mushroom into proper size. Put water in a pot and heat it.

2. When the water boils, put Chinese cabbage and carrot. Skim the scum and put canned crab, enokidake mushroom and crab soup stock. Simmer the soup in medium heat for a while.

3. Stop the fire and put cryptotaenia in a pot.


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Yukhoe (Japanese tuna-style)

[Recipe]

Ingredients for 2 people:

100g of tuna
*2 big spoons of soy sauce
*2 big spoons of Mirin
*1 big spoons of sesame oil
*1/2 piece of grated garlic
*1/2-inch piece of grated ginger
*1/2 small spoons of sweet bean sauce(甜麺醤) and Gochujang(苦椒醤)
*2 small spoons of ground sesame seeds
*A little bit of powdered hot pepper
1 egg yolk(if you want)
A little bit of shredded long green onion


1. Mix *marked ingredients.

2. Cut tuna into proper size and mix with the sauce that you made in #1.

3. Put #2 on a dish, and spread shredded long green onion. (Put egg yolk if you want.)


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Maple Banana Muffin

A happy new year!!

I made Maple Banana Muffin for my friend the other day!


[Recipe]

Ingredients for 4 muffins:

50g of margarine
80g of flour
3g of baking powder
30g of millet sugar
1 egg (middle size)
10g of milk
90g of banana
A little bit of lemon juice
30g of maple syrup

1.Let egg, margarine and milk warm at room temperature. Shift flour and baking powder.

2. Put banana in a bowl and mash it with a fork. Add lemon juice and maple syrup in the bowl.

3. Beat margarine with sugar in a bowl until cream. Break and beat an egg. Add egg in the bowl in 3 parts and mix the ingredients.

4. Put ingredients and mix them as the following order; 1/3 of powder, 1/2 of milk, 1/3 of powder, 1/2 of milk, banana that you prepared at #2, 1/3 of powder.

5. Put the dough into muffin cups. Heat the oven at 180℃. Bake them for 25 minutes in the oven.


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