down to earth

Met up with my friend, Rex at Down to Earth for lunch, after running an errand.

Take a plate and fill it up with hot and cold items then get it weighed.

I chose their curry fried rice and some cold salad items.

I really enjoyed their food. I think most items are vegetarian, and even if I'm not, I thought that their food was tasty and well flavored.

I also tried their chocolate chip cookie, really chewy and loaded with chocolate chips and walnuts.

It was nice talking story with Rex and I'm glad we got to have lunch together.

Thanks Rex!

fried rice

I recently bought a packet of Muji's fried rice taco. It is taco rice and fried rice all in one dish.

You need to add your own rice and toppings.

The sauce contains a little ground beef, olives, beans and the taste kind of reminded me of chili.

Unlike fried rice which uses cold (old) rice, this version uses hot (fresh) rice. You first heat some oil in the pan and put your rice in, coating it with the oil. Then add the sauce and try to coat everything well.

Dish it up and add some toppings.

I put some iceberg lettuce, mini tomatoes, cheese, a dollop of salsa & some crushed tortilla chips.

This was good and though the packet says it is for 2 servings, I added more rice and got 3 nice servings from it.

I would get this again for a quick throw together meal.

With the xiang chang I got the other day, I used some of it in some fried rice yesterday for breakfast.

I used some cold rice, chopped onion, char siu, xiang chang, a scrambled egg, some oyster sauce, rice, green onions and black pepper.

It was good and I'm glad the xiang chang tasted like what I thought it would, a little sweet, a little salty.

Next time I make this, I'm added a runny over-easy egg.

kimu-taku yakimeshi

If you are familiar with popular singers in Japan, you'll know that "kimu taku" is a nickname for SMAP's Kimura Takuya.

Not to disappoint, but this post has nothing to do with him.

On a recent television show, which showcases the odd & mysterious cuisines from different prefectures in Japan, there was "kimu-taku gohan" = kim chee takuan gohan.

In Nagano prefecture, this is a really popular dish with school kids, especially when served as part of their school lunch.

On the program, they briefly went through how to make it, I ad-libbed and came up with my own recipe.

Kat's Kimu-Taku Yakimeshi serves: 4

150 grams thinly sliced pork, cut into bite sized pieces
70 grams tsubozuke, chopped chunky
100 grams kim chee, chopped chunky
about 1.5 cups day old rice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
green onion, sliced
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed

Heat a pan with the sesame oil
Add the pork and brown
Add the rice and break up in the pan
When the pork is cooked and rice broken up, add the kim chee and tsubozuke, mix well.
Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds
Enjoy!

NOTES: Tsubozuke is a type of shoyu-based takuan (pickled daikon) that is kind of sweet. If you cannot find tsubozuke where you are, I would suggest using takuan and add a little shoyu (maybe a teaspoon).

This dish is sweet, salty and spicy, perfect with beer. I used cold rice and made this like fried rice though the original version used fresh rice.

I would serve this with suimono (clear broth) or an egg-drop soup, I think miso soup would be too salty with this. Also, I think putting an over-easy or sunny side up egg on it would also be delicious.

I'm making this again, especially when beer season starts.

cha han

In Japanese, fried rice is called cha han.

They use bits of savory char siu, shrimp, egg, and other goodies. And while this version is delicious, you just can't beat the version we have in Hawaii.

Hawaii's fried rice uses the sweet, red char siu, egg and veggies.

Sometimes you can find fried rice in Hawaii with bits of portuguese sausage or lup cheong (a type of chinese sausage) too.

(My friend on Flickr also told me that she can get these NOH packets in France! which pleasantly surprised me.)

For my fried rice, I sauteed some diced onion and diced carrot in a little oil and then added the diced up char siu.

Then I added the cold rice and broke it up in the pan.

Then I added a scrambled egg and mixed it letting the liquid evaporate.

Add a handful of chopped green onion and a couple of grinds of pepper.

Since I was having this for dinner, I added an over easy egg.

It was a nice way to use up the char siu I had made.

leftovers

This post is a bit old, as old as the leftovers I used?...Anyway, I had some leftover curry furikake, so I made fried rice. I scrambled an egg, and added some green onions. When the egg was cooked, I added in some rice that had been in the refrigerator.

When the rice was warmed up, I added a dash of tonkatsu sauce (a thick sauce similar to worcestershire, used on tonkatsu (pork cutlet)). Then I added the curry furikake.

The only mistake was that I left this in the pan too long, so everything dried out. It was tasty, but dry.

Another dish I did was with leftover pasta sauce and it is called doria. I'm not too sure of the origin of this dish. Usually when you eat it, there is seafood or chicken in it, rice and lots of white sauce, not tomato sauce.

If you order this when eating out be prepared to wait, it takes some time to bake. When it comes to your table, it is bubbly and usually is so hot that I burn the roof of my mouth and tongue and can't taste anything for the rest of the meal.

The other casserole type dish they have in Japan is called gratin, this is usually made with macaroni, seafood or chicken and lots of white sauce, this also takes a while to bake and I usually burn the roof of my mouth and tongue also....

What are you having for dinner?

leftover bi bim kook soo toppings & popcorn

Since it is nashi season, I wanted to try the bulgogi recipe I have with some grated nashi. I got the recipe when it wasn't nashi season, so I was substituting grated nashi with grated apple. The bulgogi came out really soft and tender, and a bit sweeter. Since the weather is still warm, I used the bulgogi for bi bim kook soo. But by mid-week, I was getting tired of eating it with noodles.

So, for lunch on Friday, I mixed 1 teaspoon of the bi bim kook soo dressing with mayonnaise (Best Foods, of course) and stuffed two sesame rolls with the bulgogi, shredded carrots and cucumber and put a little kim chee. It reminded me of the teriyaki burgers in Hawaii, with a little zing from the kim chee.

Then for breakfast on Saturday, we had bi bim kook soo fried rice. I heated the bulgogi up in a pan then added leftover rice. I sprinkled some water over the rice to steam it. When everything was heated, I scrambled 1 egg and poured it over. When the egg was cooked I divided the fried rice into bowl and topped with shredded carrot and cucumber and a little kim chee. Since I still had some of the dressing left over too, I drizzled a little over each mound....Ono!

While watching a baseball game on Saturday afternoon, we ate the last of my Hawaiian popcorn stash. This one was Kim Chee flavor. When I bought it, the guy at the snack shop said that this one was HOT, so when I put in the spice packet, luckily, I remembered and didn't dump the whole thing into the popcorn bag. The main spice is cayenne pepper, so only a little of the packet (about a teaspoon) was enough for Satoshi and I. We also added our own arare, since the one that comes with the package is always stale. We liked it, but agreed our favorite was Li Hing Mui.

Today is Keiro no hi, Grandparent's Day. It is a National holiday, many offices and businesses are closed. I'm taking some time out to think about my grandparents--remembering them and appreciating all that they have done to give me a better life.

Have a nice week.

did you file yet?

Today is April 15th. In America, it is the day that Federal taxes must be filed. I was quite surprised when I asked Satoshi about their taxes. In Japan, as long as you work for a company, they file taxes for you. How great is that? No need to figure anything out, no need to stand in line at the post office at midnight, just sign a release form and let them do all the work for you (well, you are working for them, right?!) In Japan they don't get to itemize any type of deductions, but if it saves you the headache of filing yourself, how can you complain?

So, lunch was a mixture of leftovers that turned into kim chee chahan (fried rice). Heat your assortment of veggies in oil and when everything is slightly cooked, add your leftover rice. If the mixture is a bit dry, add some stock then add your kim chee at the end. Lunch is served! Fast and easy!

The only problem with eating a lunch like this is that you get hungry quite quickly. We had some popcorn that I brought back for snack. This popcorn is made by the Hawaiian Popcorn Company. In Hawaii, you can usually get your popcorn with a side of furikake (dried seasonings like nori (seaweed)) and kakimochi (rice crackers) at the movies. This is mixed in with the popcorn and eaten. Some people actually sneak in this mixture at the movies so that they can mix in their favorite kakimochi.

I bought several interesting flavors while in Hawaii. One of which was Li Hing. Li hing is a sweet/sour flavor that is added to dried plums and is of Chinese influence. (If you are from Hawaii, you are probably salivating at reading this part of the post.) Actually, if you look for li hing in Hawaii, they have added the powder to almost anything and everything, even to frozen margaritas (yum!) and cake frosting (blah!)! When we eat the others I'll definitely share them with you.

Hope you have a great week!