tako pesto salad

I was able to gather most of the ingredients for this copycat salad that I tried from 7-eleven.

If I am not mistaken 7-eleven sells this as a pupu (appetizer) rather than as a salad.

I don’t have exact measurements so just ad-lib if you do try it.

1 tako leg, boiled, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 small head broccoli, steamed, cut into bite sized pieces

2 small potatoes, peeled and boiled, cut into eighths

handful of edamame, cooked then shelled

2 or 3 tablespoons pesto (basil, mac nuts, oil, parmesan cheese)

After everything is cooled

Gently mix everything together with pesto

NOTES: so easy and tasty! makes about 2 servings

The original dish has celery in it but I couldn’t find any at the market, so I left it out.

Most markets sell tako legs already boiled in the seafood section, so this was easy for me to put together.

When I made my pesto, I made a small batch (2 or 3 tablespoons) using a handful of basil leaves, small handful of toasted mac nuts and a small clove of garlic.

I put everything into a food processor and drizzled in some oil.

Then before mixing it with the tako and other ingredients I added 1 teaspoon of grated parmesan cheese.

Try to make this ahead so everything can meld while it is chilling in the fridge.

I served this on butter lettuce 

If I have all the ingredients together I would definitely make this again.

saturday

Saturday I made some mac nut pesto using the carrot tops that I had kept in the freezer from that time we ordered veggies from Suzunari Farm.

The carrot tops are bitter but delicious in this pesto. (afterwards, an IG friend mentioned that I should blanche the tops before using to cut the bitterness, thank you!)
 

Am thinking to use the rest of this pesto with some pasta.
 

I made the same dough that I used for pizza back in May.

Since the dough was really wet and sticky the last time, I added the water in a little at a time, and ended up using less than what the recipe had listed.

In Elle Gourmet, besides pizza, they also suggest that you use the milk bread dough to make beignets.  So instead of filling them with jam like they suggest, I just fried them up plain and we ate them like savory doughnuts with the pesto and oil sardines.

And since I was frying, I fried up some shrimp chips that I have had in my pantry for ages.

These were so light and fluffy!

We saved two to dip into dark chocolate for dessert...so ono!

 

Since the weather is so hot, will definitely think of another way to use this milk bread recipe.

p.s. Yesterday, most of the Kanto (East Japan) areas hit 40C (104F)...the humidity brings the temps up 10 degrees!

We've been sleeping with the a/c on...can you believe July only had 1 day of sun? Looks like Mother Nature is trying to play catch-up in August.

Stay cool, stay hydrated and stay safe!

pesto

I was recently inspired by Deb's post to try a new pesto.

Her version uses mint and pistachios.

I adapted from it and used kale in place of parsley and I also added some garlic.

Amazingly it tastes like you have basil in there...

I used some on a filet I pan fried.

And I also put some into an omelette to make "green eggs and spam"...ha ha.

A handful of mint leaves (I used a combo of spearmint and peppermint)
A handful of kale
A handful of pistachios (shelled)
1 clove of garlic
a little lemon juice
some parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons of olive oil
a little water to loosen things up

Whiz the first 6 ingredients then drizzle in the olive oil
If you need to add a little water to loosen things up

NOTES: this is a nice way to add mint into your diet, which is supposed to help digestion. my version was a bit chunky, but I enjoyed this. I'm making this again.

happy earth day

I was reminded by the little news area on the Yahoo page that today is Earth Day.

When I think of Earth Day, somehow I think of the color "green".

Coincidentally, last night for dinner we had this...

Tara (codfish) marinated in basil oil served with zucchini & asparagus sauteed in pesto and served over some pasta.

The tara was sold already marinated...98 yen a piece (about US$.98), more than basil oil, this tasted like Italian dressing.

Zucchini is in season here from Miyazaki prefecture...98 yen (about US$.98)

And the asparagus from Kumamoto prefecture was 198 yen (about U$1.98) for 5 stalks...I think there was some from Mexico for 98 yen (about US$.98) for 5 stalks, but I am trying to buy more "Japan" items...I just wish they sold asparagus in larger bunches...

Our weather has turned back to cold...the past couple of days we had rain and the temps went down to like 9C (48F)?!

I'm all for cooler weather because I don't like the humidity of Japan's rainy season and summers, though, I'd really like to start wearing sandals instead of covered shoes and this weather isn't going to help the farmers...

It is Friday here, hope your weekend is a nice one!

grilled cheese

Been seeing tweets about grilled cheese sandwiches so one day for lunch I made a grilled cheese with pesto sandwich.

Brushed on olive oil and "grilled" it in my non-stick pan.

It went nicely with some leftover ginger potato soup.

And then my friend, Deb, posted a review of a grilled cheese cookbook.

One of the recipes she tried from it was a kim chee-se sandwich (great name, yeah??)

I didn't have Gouda nor ham as the recipe she tried recommends, so I just grilled my sandwich with the cheese slice I had with some kim chee.

So good with some instant pumpkin soup.

What have you been enjoying for lunch?

things I'm liking (and disliking)

Here are some things I am liking (and disliking) this week...

So we can end on a good note, let's start with the things I am disliking...The new McFlurry...it is mint with oreo cookies but there is this really fluorescent blue goop that is mixed into the soft serve and doesn't taste minty at all...blah!

Another thing I am disliking is the fact that the a/c that came with our apartment is on the fritz...luckily, in another room we have the a/c that we brought with us to our apartment, only thing is that this room has no tv or access to the computer...sigh.

The super of our building says he will change the a/c for us either Friday or Saturday (yeah!), since the repair guy was asking for almost 100,000 yen (about US$1000), to fix the combuster. (yipes!)

Okay, let's move on to the liking...

Mariage Frères teas...Bolero (a flavored tea using fruits from the Mediterranean), Iskandar (a green floral tea with a hint of mint), Wedding Imperial (assam with caramel flavor). I received Wedding Imperial along with another flavored tea from my blog friend PT! (thank you!) I am enjoying these iced.

Starbucks' walnut fig pound cake...280 yen (about US$2.80). Moist with lots of fig and walnuts.

Macadamia nut pesto with Laughing cow cheese on Moisan's naturelle ficelle. Moisan, a well-known French bakery will be shutting its doors at the end of August, as the department store they are in (SOGO) will be closing. I recently went to pick up some poppy seed ficelle but they were out, so I got this and some hazelnut-walnut rolls instead.

Aoi mikan (green tangerine) from the looks of them they look unripened but when you cut them open they are bright orange! and so sweet too. We recently got 6 of them from my MIL and I squeezed them all for our breakfast the other day. About 3 was enough for a cup.

Boulangerie Monsieur H's breads...we recently received a boxful of assorted breads from my host-sister who lives near this bakery, I had these slices for lunch with some cheese....look at all those dried fruits and nuts! (Thank you!)

Pierre Marcolini's biscuits...we also received these huge biscuits from my host-brother's wife...chocolate chip cookies with ginger infused chocolate in the center...mmm! (Thank you!)

What are you liking (disliking) this week?

pesto egg

Yesterday we went to Kyoto for some "family stuff" (tell you about this in another post), the weather forecasted snow. There was snow but it was just on the mountains, they looked like someone dusted them with powdered sugar. Having snow on the mountains made the wind very icy, cutting through basically anything you were wearing...brrr. (Now this is winter! not like the weather we were having.)

The other day for breakfast we had egg salad on toast. Instead of adding sweet pickles, I added a teaspoon of leftover pesto and a teaspoon of mayo to two hard boiled eggs.

It was delicious on walnut raisin bread. Something different, I'm making this again the next time I have leftover pesto.

We have a 3-day weekend here, hope you are enjoying your weekend!

hesokuri

I wanted to tell you about something that many won't tell you about...hesokuri.

Hesokuri is pin money in Japanese. Many wives keep a hesokuri some running into the thousands. When we were burglarized, one of the things that was taken was my hesokuri. I had actually had some money set aside in my emergency earthquake bag. The first thing the police asked me when I told them what was taken, "can you tell us in front of your husband how much was taken?"

You may be wondering why they would ask this...Many wives keep their hesokuri secret from their husbands.

In most Japanese homes, the wives hold the purse strings. Unlike the States, most salaries are paid monthly. The husbands turnover their paychecks to their wives and the wives give their husbands kozukai (an allowance). The rest of the money is used to pay bills, the mortgage and everyday living expenses. Any money that is left, sometimes "finds its way" into the hesokuri.

This amount that the husband receives as kozukai is often the topic of some news stories. I think this year the going kozukai rate was like 30,000 yen (about US$300).

Anyway, my hesokuri does not come from the money I get from Satoshi (who holds the purse strings in our household), but from my lessons. Usually every month, I usually put some of the money into the bank and then keep some money aside to use or for emergency.

Some things I have used my hesokuri for: something for Christmas for Satoshi, candies for the children at our annual Christmas party, books, a few foodie adventures and more recently, the giveaway.

For Christmas, I bought myself this book with my hesokuri, "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger. I love her recipes, they are relatively simple and very healthy.

One recipe in the book was a pesto potato salad. Since this recipe is meant to be served cold, I changed it to a pesto mashed potato so I could serve it warm. I served this with a pan fried boneless pork chop and onions sauteed with apricot jam and a little ketchup.

Do you keep pin money? What do you use it for?

sakura, sakura, sakura (part 2)

You may or may not be sick of looking at all of these sakura (cherry blossoms), but bear with me, as I truly love this time of year. The weather has been quite cool over the past week, so I have been fortunate to be able to view LOTS of sakura. Apparently, the cool weather has kept the blooms from falling off the trees, which is just fine with me.

Here are some sakura that I found while walking to the gourmet supermarket. There is an area above our place called Sakuragaoka (literally cherry tree hill), this area has tons of trees, especially alongside the Ishizumi river. I ran into some seniors enjoying the blooms.

The nearby Asahigaoka neighborhood, which I posted about earlier was still in full bloom too.

At the gourmet supermarket, I was excited to find basil, which was grown in Okinawa--their climate is like Hawaii's, so for the most part of the year it is like summer there. Since I had a nice amount of basil in hand, I envisioned turning it into...pesto. So, I bought myself a baguette and made pesto this afternoon. If you have a food processor, making pesto is really easy and fast!

Another ingredient that I've been seeing in the markets are lemons. Since I found a nice one yesterday at the market, I made a lemon-oregano vinaigrette. I've made this several times last year and it is also very easy to make using a food processor.

Since I've used the lemon vinaigrette mostly for summery salads, I decided to try something a little different with the vinaigrette for dinner tonight, I used it to saute shrimp with. After cooking the shrimp at bit, I added a tablespoon of the vinaigrette at the end. Then poured the shrimp over steamed beans and asparagus. The perfect warm salad!

Hope your week is going well.

ugh...

Well, I jinxed myself by telling you that the weather had gotten cooler. There is now a typhoon passing over Japan and making it VERY uncomfortable...sigh. I just hope the places that got hit by the tornado will be able to rebuild quickly.

Tonight's dinner was farfalle (bow-tie pasta) with homemade pesto, I added fresh tomatoes and grated some parmigiano reggiano and also had a green salad.

With a food processor, pesto is the easiest and fastest thing in the world to make!

Hope your week is going well.