it's autumn, right?

The days surely don't feel like autumn, I'm talking low 80's (26C) during the daytime. Oh well, I shouldn't grumble, at least there is no humidity.

Since there isn't much happening in my kitchen, I thought I'd share with you some new things I came upon.

Haagen Dazs came out with 2 limited edition flavors--Bitter Caramel and Noisette Chocolat. The Bitter caramel was smooth and creamy, not sure why they called it bitter because it wasn't. The other flavor was Noisette Chocolat, a hazelnut ice cream swirled with dark chocolate ice cream. Both were delicious.

In the beer department, Kirin came out with a stout. It wasn't smokey in taste, but it was very dark and easy to drink.

And to round everything out, there was Koshu grapes. These were a let down--not sweet at all. Plus the skins were tough and bitter and there were tons of seeds.

Oh, well, 3 out of 4 isn't so bad. Hope your week is going well.

odds & ends

Awhile back, I had this bread. Since it was World Bread Day yesterday and since I had some leftover sweet potato from making gnocchi and some leftover an from making anpan...I tried to re-create it. I used the bread recipe that I always use, but didn't have enough filling. And for some reason, these guys came out HUGE and I weighed them as I was dividing the dough! The bread I had tried before was harder, more like a country-style bread. Still, with the slightly sweet potato and the sweet bean paste, it made a great snack.

Remember I made rafute and told you that Satoshi doesn't like it? Well, I fessed up to using his awamori and told him, " I made rafute, but since you don't like it, I didn't save you any." He quickly said, "But, I like rafute!"

So, I made some last night, I couldn't find pork belly and ended up buying the thigh portion instead which had less fat. For dinner we had rafute don (braised pork belly bowl), Satoshi bit into the pork and said, "ooh, what kind of fish is this?".....

Okay....so Satoshi's breakfast was shiru soba (soup noodle). This dish uses the stock from the boiled pork (remember I threw it out the last time?). Here is an adapted recipe from "Shiawase no Okinawa Ryori":

Serves 2
2 bundles of Chuuka soba (chinese noodles)
4 pieces sliced rafute (braised pork belly)
handful chopped green onion
some sliced beni-shoga (red pickled ginger)
500cc (about 2.5 cups) katsuo (bonito) stock
250cc (about 1.25 cups) pork stock (the one from making rafute)
1 tablespoon rafute sauce
3 eringi mushrooms, sliced thinly

Follow the directions on the package to cook your noodles.
In another pot, add the pork stock, katsuo stock and rafute sauce to heat. If your rafute is straight out of the refrig, add it to the stock to heat.
After noodles are cooked transfer to bowl and add the heated stock.
Top with eringi mushrooms, green onions, beni-shoga.
Serve with koregusu (chili pepper water)

Since the nights and mornings are kind of nippy, I figured I should protect all my plants that don't appreciate the cold, namely tomato, basil, strawberry and italian parsley. I bought these plastic sheets from the 100 yen store ($1 store). It is actually a cover for your a/c but I made it into a "hot house", there were 2 in a package, so it only cost about $.50 to make each one! During the day, I take it off, so that they can "breathe" and the bugs and bees can do their thing.

Hope your week is going well, Satoshi is off on a business trip for the next 2 days.

world bread day 2007

In grade school, I was always doing my homework so that I could get it out of the way and go out to play. In college, I was the one who would take a two hour final exam in one hour, turning it in and usually freaking out the others in my class. You might be wondering what the heck this has got to do with World Bread Baking Day? Well, the weather was so warm in September so I took advantage of it and made my entry way ahead of time.

Zorra of Kochtopf is again hosting World Bread Day 2007, which is today. I participated last year and made sweet potato bread and chocolate bread.

This year I made yomogi anpan. I used the same recipe that I used to make regular anpan with the addition of yomogi (mugwort), some green tea, sesame seeds and the an (sweet bean paste).

To make your own, follow the recipe I used here for anpan. I reconstituted a tablespoon of yomogi in warm water and then whizzed it in the food processor. I also added 1/2 tablespoon of green tea powder. I added both of this to the dough before letting it rise the 1st time. You can't tell too much from these photos but the anpan is a light green. The reason I added the green tea powder was to help bring out some of that color.

Hot out of the oven these yomogi anpan had a subdued sweetness. I think the yomogi and green tea had a lot to do with this. Anpan makes a nice treat and freezes well too. Just pop them into a toaster oven to warm them up, the outside will get crispy while the inside gets fluffy.

Check back on Zorra's site to see what others from around the world made. Thanks Zorra for hosting this great event!

satsumaimo no gnocchi kinoko sauce

It is Autumn, though most of the days don't feel like it yet, the evenings and early mornings do. In Japan, there are many veggies in season right now, mainly satsumaimo (sweet potato) and kinoko (mushrooms). There are all types of mushrooms in the stores. The ones I have here are shimeji (on the left--tricoloma/tricholome) and maitake (on the right--hen of woods/grifola frondosa).

I found a recipe that showcases these ingredients of Autumn....Satsumaimo no gnocchi kinoko sauce (Sweet potato gnocchi with mushroom sauce).

The recipe doesn't take many ingredients, just making the gnocchi will take some time.

First steam your potatoes, the ones I steamed came out bright yellow.

Then you need to urakosu (strain) them. This part takes the longest.

Here's the recipe adapted from a local newspaper.

Serves 4 (about 50 gnocchi)

Gnocchi:
300g satsumaimo (sweet potato)
1 small egg
65g flour
35g grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Kinoko sauce:
15g butter
100g diced onion
50g bacon, thinly sliced
100g assorted mushrooms
100cc cream (about 1/2 cup)
20g grated parmesan cheese
parsley
salt to taste

1. Steam sweet potato (about 30 minutes). Peel while still hot. Strain to get sweet potato smooth.
2. Add the rest of the gnocchi ingredients to the sweet potato and mix well. Make into little balls and use the back of a fork to make ridges.
3. Boil some water and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook gnocchi for about 4-5 minutes.
4. In a pan, put the onion, bacon and butter and cook until onions and bacon are slightly brown. Lower heat then add the mushrooms. When the mushrooms start to wilt, add the cream and bring to a bubble.
5. Put gnocchi into plate and top with sauce, cheese and parsley.
6. Enjoy!

NOTES: the hardest part of this recipe was straining the potatoes, but it was totally worth it, all the fibers that are in the potato will be taken out when you are straining it and the result is smooth gnocchi. It was my first time making gnocchi, plus, I didn't read the recipe fully and ended up with larger and lesser gnocchi than the 50. When you put the gnocchi into the boiling water it will sink to the bottom, but after a couple of minutes it will come up to the top. Use a slotted spoon or net like spoon to scoop them out of the water. After the gnocchi came out of the water, I started the sauce. I didn't have bacon but had pancetta so I used that instead.

Not something to make during a busy weekday, but if you make it ahead of time, I think you could probably re-heat it during the week. I think this sauce would go nicely with regular pastas too.

I hope you will try some of the Autumn ingredients where you are. Enjoy the season.

roses and beef

On Friday, Satoshi had the day off and it was nice and sunny, so we packed up some things from the refridge and headed to our favorite park, Aramaki Rose Garden. I've written about this park several times, here, here and here. We love this place because it is free plus you can sit down have your breakfast and just take in all the beautiful roses. There aren't as many roses in Autumn as there are in Spring, so there aren't many tours roaming around the park, which makes it nicer.


On Saturday, we went to Shiga prefecture, which is about an hour away by train from Osaka. Before Shiga prefecture was called Shiga, it was called Omi. So the area we went to can either be called Omi-Hachiman or just Hachiman. Unfortunately, there was a suicide on the rails which delayed our train about 1 hour! When we finally got to Omi-Hachiman, it was almost lunchtime. We went into the tour information center and bought a pass (1000 yen about US $9) which gave us free admission to some of the museums, the ropeway and also discounted bus rides.

Lunch was beef curry made with Omi-gyu (Omi beef) a "brand-name" beef in the area. The curry was disappointing in that there were only bits of beef and nothing else, but they were soft bits. The highlight of our trip was a trip on the canal called Suigo. You get into a boat, take off your shoes and sit on a tatami floor, while the gondolier takes you around the little canalways. There are many yoshi(reed), as you travel through the canal and the wind blows, the reed makes a soft brushing sound. Very calming and relaxing. I think this is a nice thing to do for cherry blossom viewing also, as there are photos of them taking you right under the fully blossomed trees.

The ropeway took us up Mt Hachiman, where you can see the city of Omi-Hachiman, Lake Biwa and the many canals within Omi-Hachiman. Our snack was this mitarashidango (rice cakes grilled then coated with a soy sauce). There were several trees on Mt Hachiman that had started changing colors.

The canals were used to move heavy roof tiles as well as to protect the castle that once existed. As times changed, many of the canals were overgrown with weeds and unkempt. I was surprised to read that most of the canals were almost turned into landfills. The people of the city changed their way of thinking and instead preserved their history. Today the area is used for filming many historical dramas.

Since Winter is approaching, there were many homes and museums having their pine trees trimmed. If you look at the 2nd photo of this mosaic, you might be able to pick out the guy at the top of the pine tree. I think it is so fascinating because these guys climb into the tree to take care of it.

Autumn also brings another favorite flower called kinmokusei (sweet olive). You can smell the sweet fragrance as the winds blow. Most homes in Japan have tiled roofs, the bulk of the tiles are made in Omi-Hachiman. The city also has a museum to showcase all the different tiles. On this mosaic, the top, 5th photo is a tile called agehanocho (opened wing butterfly), it is my grandmother's mon (family crest).

There are many Western styled building that still exist around the city, William Vories is credited for designing them as well as over 1600 buildings throughout Japan.

Another thing you can experience are the historical buildings of the merchant's village. This is where most of the business took place in Hachiman. Walking around this area, you feel like you've stepped back into time.

Dinner was Tiffany's Omi-gyu filet. Served with grainy mustard, coarse salt, matcha (green tea) salt and shiitake (a type of mushroom) salt and wasabi (Japanese horseradish). The steak is cooked to your liking. It was so tender that it actually melted in my mouth. It was a great way to end a great day....or so we thought, we also bought 2 slices of a nice fluffy cheesecake from Andeken. This cheesecake is made from Gouda cheese and topped with a thin slice of pineapple, it was like eating air!

Both Tiffany and Andeken are about 3 minutes walking distance from the JR Omi-Hachiman station.

Tiffany
558 Takakai-cho
Omi-Hachiman, Shiga
Phone: 0748.33.3055
Closed on Tuesdays, Open for lunch 11:00-15:00, dinner 17:30-20:30

Andeken
551 Takakai-cho
Omi-Hachiman, Shiga
Phone: 0748.33.2100
Closed on Tuesdays, Open 9:00-19:30

Have a great week!

odds & ends

I had some leftover cranberry walnut campagne bread (though it was labeled as campagne it was softer and in the shape of a baguette), so for our breakfast the other day I made bread pudding. Besides the cranberry and walnuts, the bread also had orange peel, raisins and blueberries in it too. I cut up the 6 slices I had left, added 1 scrambled egg, 1 cup milk, a couple dashes of cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of sugar to the bread. Then I oiled 2- 8oz. ramekins with olive oil and put the mixture in. I then sprinkled the top with vanilla sugar and pre-heated the oven to 375F (190C). I baked it for 30 minutes and voila! breakfast was served....it reminded me of a warm and fuzzy french toast.

Can someone help me? My strawberries have started to form. It is a nice red color, but a bit too tiny. It is my first time with strawberry plants. How do you know when it is time to pick them? And how do I get them to grow bigger? (surfed the internet and it said I need to feed it more water to get them bigger)

Update: we picked them (weren't they cute??), they were a deep red color and the sweetest tasting berries we've eaten!

Awhile back as I closed our door, I looked up and saw these two mounds of cement which weren't there before. The other day, I scared myself because when I looked up to "check" on them, I saw that one of the bumps was cracked open. Gosh, I wonder what was in it? Well, Satoshi has since smashed the remaining bump with an umbrella and we have no idea what was in it because the bump disintergrated and whatever might have been in there was blown away with the wind. Anyone have any ideas what it could have been?

The other day in the supermarket I found these huge Asian pears (you have to open your hand like a glove to hold it). They are called Nansui (literally south water). They were very juicy sweet and juicy, which was almost kind of wine-y.

I also bought these mini chingensai (pak choy). The Japanese love to shorten the names of products, people's names, just about everything. Most of the words that they shorten are words that they take from other languages like air conditioner is air-con and personal computer is paso-con. So what do they call these? chibichin (chibi means tiny or small) and (chin is short for chingensai), cute huh?

Have a nice weekend!

kowai

Now I don't want to ruin your impressions or memories of Japan, but I do want to tell you a story that is true and kowai (scary).

So, in this story, we'll call the good guy G. Recently, G was seriously injured. Apparently, G was walking with some other friends when a bad guy, we'll call him B, bumped into someone in G's group with his shoulder (on purpose). B turned the situation around and got mad, saying that one of the people in G's group was to blame. B is apparently associated with the yakuza (Japanese mafia) or a gang--they weren't quite sure which.

A fight broke out and in the process G's upper arm (the part above the elbow to the shoulder) was broken. G went to the hospital and has been there for the past 2 months! (apparently there were lots of bones and muscles broken and torn so the healing is slow.)

The ultimate reason B picked the fight was so that he could blackmail G for money.

Here is how B works the situation...B hits G on purpose but makes it look like it was G's fault. A fight usually will ensue and if the police get involved then B gets the personal info of G and threatens to tell G's company about what G did "to him". Since G doesn't want any trouble he needs to pay big bucks to stop B from calling his company.

In this story, B ran away and G's personal info was luckily saved, though no report is on record.

I can't believe that this kind of world exists in Japan but it does. And with the tons of people walking around on the streets, you can't help but sometimes nudge or bump into someone.

It is really nerve wracking trying not to set anyone off. You don't know what they will do or what kind of "weapons" they are packing. There have been incidents in which the criminal senselessly kills someone "just because" they felt like it.

I know most people have a really pristine, do-no-wrong image of Japan, but I wanted to share this story because this kind of thing is happening.

G, I hope you feel better soon!