anniversary dinner

After having to go to work, Satoshi was able to come home in time for dinner (yeah!) 

We had planned to go out (before he had to go into work), but since I didn't know when he would be able to come home, I decided to cook. 

 I grilled a steak filet and some zucchini, carrots, onions and enrigi mushrooms.

Then drizzled some balsamic vinegar and italian spices on top of everything.

I made pesto (for the first time) with my little food processor.

 It was really easy. I got the recipe off the internet at a site called the Reluctant Gourmet.

 I had to cut down the recipe a bit. Plus, I didn't have too much pine nuts, so I improvised and added some onion/garlic flavored macadamia nuts. 

If I do say so, it came out pretty good! For dessert, I melted some dark chocolate and dipped some strawberries into it. Simple but delicious! We also had some Pinocchio Sangiovese wine (a very light but dry red wine). It turned out to be a great anniversary. Pesto recipe 3 cloves garlic 2 cups basil leaves 3 Tablespoons pine nuts 1 dash salt & pepper 1/2 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) 1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese Pesto is supposed to be made by grinding the ingredients with a pestel and mortar (that's apparently how it got its name). I put everything into the food processor and when everything was chopped up really fine, I added the EVOO. It smelled great and tasted even better!! Have a great week!

a foodie kind of weekend (sort of...)

On Saturday, Satoshi had to go to work, so I met my friend, Aya for lunch. 

The weather was awful, raining cats and dogs.

I was early, so I went into the Daimaru Department store to check out their sweets floor. 

They recently renovated it and brought in a lot of new shops. 

Two of the newer shops were Babbi from Italy and Debailleul from Belgium. 

This is what I bought: Babbi's Viennesi, which is a cremini (soft chocolate) wafer dipped in dark chocolate. Debailleul's orangette (orange peel dipped in dark chocolate), citronette (citron peel dipped in milk chocolate) and pamplemousse (grapefruit peel dipped in dark chocolate and then covered with powdered sugar).

Nearby Daimaru Shinsaibashi, there is a Western-style restaurant called Nishimoto. 

This restaurant has been in business since 1934. 

They have a bento (boxed lunch) called Tokubetsu (special) Youshoku (Western-style dishes) bento (boxed lunch). 

You can choose how many bento (dan) layers you want and the foods that go into the bento box. 

We chose the 2-layer bento that had 3 items in it. 

There was a hamburger patty with demi-glace sauce on it, 2 deep fried shrimps and an omelette, there was also some pasta and some potatoes, plus rice and consomme soup! 

Boy, were we full after that but it didn't stop us from having dessert! (he he he)

While having lunch, we talked about the bread shop that I wrote about the other day, Painduce. 

I told her that I wanted to go to buy some bread for our breakfast tomorrow and she said that it was a good thing that I wanted to go, because she needed to buy some bread too. 

So, we walked (in the rain) from Shinsaibashi to Hommachi (they are rather nearby each other, but we still got quite wet!). 

We got to the shop (it is rather small) and there were several people in there shopping. 

This is what I bought: from top in clockwise order--2 cranberry-walnut rolls with chocolate chips and orange peel in it, renkon (lotus root) pan (a cheese roll with chopped up lotus root in it) and a chocolate noisette (chocolate hazelnut danish with orange peel and cranberries in it). (All were great!)

From Hommachi we went to an area called Kitahama (again rather nearby) to a cafe called Gokan. 

Gokan means "5 senses" in Japanese.

This cafe is located in a historical building, so the interior is very old and the lighting is very antique looking. 

We both had the Gokan cake set. I chose a Kinomi (nuts) chocolate cake. 

The cake is made from Belgium and French chocolate. 

There are three kinds of mousse layered on top of the cake. 

And then it is topped with different kinds of nuts. 

There was also some yuzu (citron) sorbet which was a sort of kuchinaoshi (palate cleanser) and a piece of koocha (black tea) chiffon cake with raspberry and cream sauce. 

I also ordered the chef's choice of flavored tea, and was given caramel flavored black tea. 

Everything was so good. 

And the cafe had a really nice atmosphere (plus they don't allow smoking!! yeah!!)

While chatting over dessert, Aya had given me some things that her mother had bought for me while travelling in England.

Some Walker shortbread, Fortnum & Mason Earl Grey tea, a deck of card and a pocket mirror. They were such nice things. (Thank you!!)

After our foodie afternoon, I went to Umeda to wait for Satoshi to finish work so we could have some dinner. 

He called me at about 5 to say that there had been a bus accident in Cairns and some of his customers were hurt. 

He didn't know how long it would take to get things settled. 

So, I went to have some coffee while I waited for his phone call. 

It turned out that a tour bus was driving in the rain and when it tried to stop the bus fell sideways into a pasture. 

2 people were in serious condition, so it would take longer than he expected. 

I bought myself some dinner and made my way home. 

I also came down with a rather nasty migraine, so I went to sleep right away. 

Satoshi came home at about 1.

It's our 6th anniversary today, but Satoshi had to handle some of the arrangements for family members to go to Cairns, so he had to go into work. :( Kind of a crazy weekend, but accidents do happen...we have to be thankful that at least no one died in the accident.

Whew...this is a long post...one more thing: 

Here's a project that I finished in my beads crochet class. 

It's a brooch.

Have a great week everyone!!

Nishimoto
2-2-1 Shinsaibashisuji
Phone: 06-6211-3991
Lunch time: 11:30-15:00
Dinner time: 17:30-21:00
Closed on Mondays.

Gokan
2-1-1 Imahashi, Arai Building
Phone:06-4706-5160
Open 10:00-20:00

okay, I am it (again!!)

Being a newcomer to the food blog world, I was excited when Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice tagged me for a 7 Meme. Then, Zoubida at Kitchen Culture emailed me to let me know that she was planning to tag me for a 5 Meme. What is a Meme? As Rorie of Milk & Honey said, it is "a grown-up slam book" (boy, was that a blast from the past! I had forgotten about those!).

Anyway, since I don't have many recipes on this blog, I'm going to kind of change the questions...here goes, the 5 things I like about my blog:

1) My very first post on my blog: Ekchuah
2) The best dessert (because it was really good!!): "uwasa no kuroi" cheesecake
3) The most comments on a post (total 4): happy new year!!
4) My hit counter (for keeping track of things): Sitemeter & the blog provider(for allowing me to have this blog for FREE!): Blogger
5) And lastly, and most important, all my new friends that I've made since starting this blog!!

Thanks for making me feel welcome to a delicious and intriguing new world!!

Have a great weekend!!

painduce

Painduce is a bread bakery in Hommachi, Osaka (the business district of Osaka). The name is apparently a combination of words, "le pain", French for bread & the English word "produce".

I've been wanting to try this bread bakery, but haven't been able to go. A friend (the same one who gave me the smoked salmon)said she is hooked on this place and gave me an assortment of breads! (Thank you!!)

From the top in clockwise order: croissant, melon pan made with earl grey tea, 2 cream pan.

Melon pan is said to resemble a melon (there is no actual melon in it), some say that the name comes from the "meringue" that is put on the top of the bread dough. "Pan" is the katakana version of the French word for bread, "pain", which came from the Portugese word for bread "pao".

Cream pan is a sweet roll dough filled with custard cream.

All were very good!

Painduce
4-3-1 Awajimachi FOBOS Bldg. 1F
Phone: 06-6205-7720
Open 8:00-19:00 Closed on Sundays
Eat-in area available

i'm it! i'm it??...

I was tagged "it" by Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice. I didn't really know what was going on or what an MEME (does it stand for something?) was...but am happy to be included and will try to answer the questions that she has passed along...

7 things to do before I die:
1. have a child (the clock is ticking rather loudly...)
2. visit Provence (really want to see the lavender farms)
3. visit the Northern most & Eastern most points of Japan (since I've seen the Western most and Southern most already)
4. learn more foreign languages such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (so I can read more food blogs!! and communicate with everyone better!)
5. visit Amsterdam (again! love the tulip fields)
6. visit New Zealand
7. try the recipes in all my cookbooks at least once

7 things I cannot do:
1. go without eating chocolate
2. go into a bookstore without checking out the cookbook section
3. go into a beadstore without buying beads
4. stop thinking about food
5. stop thinking about travelling
6. go into a cafe without ordering dessert and something to drink
7. stop dreaming of food & travelling

7 things that attract me to blogging:
1. the delicious photos
2. the people who write outstanding and interesting commentary
3. the great recipes and ideas you come up with
4. the expansion of my culinary knowledge
5. seeing what others are cooking and eating
6. checking out what cookbooks others have (so I can buy the same ones that they have)
7. the exchanging of food and culture with others from around the world

7 things that I say most often:
1. "Is it dark?" (chocolate)
2. "Ooh, what's for dessert? "
3. "Hmm, what can I buy for dessert?"
4. "Let's try this new cafe I saw on someone's blog/website"
5. "What should we have for lunch?" (during breakfast...)
6. "I'm hungry"
7. "Can I add on dessert with my lunch?"

7 books I love:
1. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
2. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
3. Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris
4. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
5. French women don't get fat by Mireille Guiliano
6. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
7. Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama

7 movies/dvds I watch over and over:
1. Will and Grace Season 1
2. Will and Grace Season 2
3. Will and Grace Season 3
4. Friends Season 1
5. sorry, I don't own any more movies or dvds.... :(

7 tags: (I hope the people I tag won't mind...)
1. Michele at Oswego Tea
2. "Obachan" at Obachan's Kitchen & Balcony Garden
3. Keiko at Nordljus
4. Nicky & Oliver at Delicious Days
5. "Clare eats" at eatstuff.net
6. "NS" at San Francisco Gourmet
7. Amy at Blue Lotus

tonjiru

Again, what to make for dinner? Since it's been so cold, I decided I wanted to make some kind of soup. Satoshi likes "tonjiru" (pork soup), so I decided to try to make it. I looked up the recipe and you need a lot of veggies.

With the price skyrocketing, I was a bit leery about the price I would need to pay...I got lucky...they had a ready-made bag of veggies for "tonjiru"!! Inside are thinly sliced carrots, takenoko (bamboo shoots), shiitake mushrooms, konnyaku (devil's tongue), daikon (radish) & gobo (burdock).

The best part is that it makes 2 to 3 servings. Just add 100g of thinly sliced pork, water and miso (soy bean paste). Since there probably aren't ready-made bags where you are, here's the recipe:

100 g thinly sliced pork : cut into bite size pieces
1/2 gobo (burdock) thinly sliced or shave with veggie peeler
1/2 carrot thinly sliced
1/2 konnyaku (devil's tongue) thinly sliced
1/4 daikon (radish) thinly sliced
2 or 3 shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
2 takenoko (small bamboo shoots) thinly sliced
3 cups water
2 Tablespoon miso (soy bean paste)
2 Tablespoons oil

Put the oil into a pot and brown the pork (I didn't use oil because the pork was kind of fatty)
After the pork changes color, add the 3 cups water
Add all the veggies and bring to a boil
Skim off any fat

When all the veggies are soft, add your miso...add some chopped green onions for garnish (I forgot to)...Enjoy!!

I wanted to also share a housewife story...I have been a housewife for 5 years now and I have come to realize that being a housewife means that you are also part handyman. (I'm not so sure if this is true for other housewives around the world).

Not only do you do stuff like wash clothes, dishes and clean the house. It also means you fix stuff around the place (if you can reach it). And if you don't know how...you try to read the manuals (in Japanese, because your husband doesn't like to) and fix stuff...well, I had to kind of fix this...the light in my range hood died.

I had to figure out how the heck to get the bulb out from under the glass cover. The screw was so tight (I don't think the tenants before us had to ever change the bulb), plus I think the grease and oil from the stove had hardened itself around the screw...so, I looked for a screwdriver that matched the screw (couldn't find one) and pryed the thing loose (all while standing on my step stool, 'cuz I'm not that tall!)

Finally, I got the darn thing open...only to find out that I didn't have a bulb to match it...since I had to go out for a lesson, I bought a bulb on my way back...now that the cover was off, the task was to put it back on...finally after 3 tries...voila!! Hopefully, that will be the last do-it-myself project for awhile. :)

kagami biraki

Today is "Kagami biraki" in Japan. Kagami = mirror, biraki = to open...Open the mirror. This marks the end of the New Years festivities. It is also the day when people take down the "Kagami mochi" (we didn't have one, so I surfed the internet for this) from their altars or tokonomas (alcove).

One large and one small round mochi (rice cake) are decoratively placed one on top of the other with a tangerine, fern leaf and a piece of white paper as an offering to the gods. The round rice cakes represent harmony and the name "kagami mochi" is said to have come from the round mirror used for Shinto rituals.

On the 11th of January, "Kagami biraki" is held. "Kagami biraki" is a ritual where the family shares the "kagami mochi" that was offered to the gods with prayers for harmony in the home. It is said that the samurai (Japanese warrior) family custom of eating rice cakes in hopes for a long life has spread among the general public. During "kagami biraki", the rice cakes are broken by hand or with a wooden hammer. The reason for this is because to "cut" it with a knife would symbolize "cutting ties" with the gods, family, etc. The broken mochi is then put into "o-zoni" or "o-shiruko" (a sweet bean soup made with adzuki (red) bean)).

The way that the kagami mochi is offered also has some symbolism. The wooden stand, "sanbo" is used as a form of courtesy when presenting gifts to someone of respect. The tangerine, "daidai" is homonymous with the word "daidai" which means "for generations", it is considered to bring good luck. The green fern, "urajiro" green on one side and white on the other, symbolizes the purity of heart, as well as living a long life until one's hair turns white.
The red and white colored paper streamer, "gohei" symbolizes the wishes for prosperity, the red signifies warding off evil spirits.

Since we didn't have any "kagami mochi" to take down or to eat, this was our breakfast today, smoked salmon, avocado, tomato & red bell pepper with a vinagrette and some fresh basil, cranberry-lavender campagne bread with cream cheese.