re-vamped

I recently re-vamped cabbage mochi by adding some dried sakura ebi (sergia lucens) and green onions.

Got a thumbs up from Satoshi...I guess I'll make this version again.

If I'm not mistaken, Golden Week starts today...

kodomo yoshoku

Another easy recipe from that quirky show, Kenmin Show, that shows all the different foods from the various prefectures in Japan.

Kodomo Yoshoku literally means Children Western Food, this recipe combines potatoes (western), worchestershire sauce (western), green onions and sakura ebi (sergia lucens)

They didn't give any specific measurements, so I made this one up: (serves 2)

1 medium sized potato
1 tablespoon olive oil
handful of dried sakura ebi
handful of green onions
2 teaspoons of worchestershire sauce

Boil potato with the skin on until soft.
Peel and cut into bite sized pieces
In a pan, heat up oil
Add potato and toss
When it is coated with the oil, added ebi and half of the green onions
Then add the sauce
When everything is coated with the sauce, serve and top with the rest of the green onions.

NOTES: super fast, easy and goes well with beer. I'm making this again.

negiyaki yamamoto

I think it was reader Alan who asked me about negiyaki.

Negi is green onion and yaki means to grill/cook.

Negiyaki Yamamoto was started over 40 years ago. The owner used to feed negiyaki to children on their way home from school as a snack.

The adults saw this and wanted to try his negiyaki too and the rest was history.

I had told Alan to try Negiyaki Yamamoto and luckily he said they were good.

Since I hadn't tried them before recommending them to Alan, we checked them out recently.

How cute are their cups?! Negi singing.

We tried their yakisoba (fried noodles)...650 yen

Their "sauce" isn't goopy nor sweet.

I particularly enjoyed the noodles, they are a little on the thick side.

We also shared a deluxe negiyaki, this was topped with beef, pork & ika (squid)....1360 yen

Their "sauce" is lemon and shoyu, that is it.

Simple, delicious and lots of green onion.

I loved how crispy the pork (belly) got too.

We'll be back.

Negiyaki Yamamoto
1-1-48 Fukushima (Dojima Crosswalk)
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.4798.8220
Hours: 11:30-22:00
Closed 2nd & 4th Wednesdays

dinner

Thursday night's dinner...started off with making "furikake", a topping for rice.

This was daikon greens and jakko (dried small anchovy).

In a frying pan, heat about 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil.

Add a handful of jakko and toss, then add chopped daikon greens and toss.

At the end I added a little dash of shoyu (soy sauce).

NOTES: I only had about 2 handful of chopped daikon greens and a handful of jakko, if you use more of either, I would suggest adjusting the shoyu and sesame oil.

For our main dish, daikon wrapped with pork.

This recipe was in Orange Page's "Fuyu ni Oishii kondate", which I adapted.

Serves: 2

200 grams of pork belly, thinly sliced
1 inch thick piece of daikon, cut into thin sticks

Sauce:
nub of ginger, grated
1/2 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
1/2 tablespoon sake (rice wine)
1/2 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
2 teaspoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 teaspoon sesame oil

green onion, chopped
some canola oil to cook in

Put sauce together and set aside.
Wrap daikon pieces with pork.
Heat canola oil and cook pork pieces well.
Add sauce and let liquid evaporate a little.
Before serving top with green onions.

Top your rice with the daikon furikake, about 1 tablespoon.

Serve with some miso soup.

Dinner is served, a lot of green and a good way to use all of the daikon.

NOTES: the recipe for the main dish actually called for pork loin, but of course I didn't read the recipe well and when I went to the market I just got something that was thin.

I think if I had actually bought pork loin, the wrapping of the daikon wouldn't have been so thick. I should have also cut the daikon more thin and matchstick-like, so that it could cook faster.

I think this would be nice with other veggies inside also like carrot and/or green beans.

This was rather quick and easy. Would definitely make this again.

p.s. another adaptation can be found here.

on the lanai

The weather during this time of year has its good days and bad, but for the most part they are good.

The temps are great, though you need a light jacket or sweater on those windy days. I love being able to take my naps and sleeping at night with the windows open, not having to worry about humidity. (oops I said the "h" word...)

Recently on my lanai, I noticed my green onion had a flower getting ready to bloom. Before it could do so, it was so top heavy, it creased itself literally to the point of hanging on by a thread.

I cut it off and put the flower into some water. It started to bloom.

I also noticed this rather large strawberry in my planter and hope no birds do before I can pick it. Most of the strawberries that I have been picking are so tiny but this one is actually quite large. I should pick it soon...

Awhile back after seeding a raw red bell pepper, I threw the seeds into a pot outside. I think it is beginning to take (crossing my fingers that it is and not something totally different). It will be so cool to grow my own peppers since I am addicted to them as of late.

I noticed that the clover I planted started to bloom also. Satoshi had received these packets of clover seed, so I sprinkled them in two pots and just kept watering them every so often.

There are 3 plants I have inside the house. (If you look at the last photo) During the winter the one with the big leaf and the one hiding under it were actually brown because I had them outside, I think they like more "tropical" surroundings.

So, I pruned them and brought them indoors...they are looking good, though the one hiding under the leaf needs a bit more time. The one in the glass container is a coffee plant, I am crossing my fingers when I re-plant it that it takes. My first coffee plant died with the cold of winter.

I missed Earth Day the other day, so this post is kind of a make-up for it, hope you celebrated the Earth on Earth Day!

Today is the start of Golden Week here, some people will have 16 days off! (some taking vacation, while other have to take mandatory leave due to the economy) though we aren't planning to go anywhere as Satoshi has to work during the middle of it. Just as well though, most places will be packed with people that are out and about. (We are planning a short visit to Kyoto to spend some time with my MIL on some of the days that Satoshi is off though.)