7 blue things

Do you have 7 blue things around your home? That was the topic on Rowena's blog recently.

I actually had more ...here are 7...



Daiso (100 yen shop) stapler

curtains

Casio calculator


dishes (actually lots of blue/white dishes)


cafe cup (Italian)


Sony walkman


Franco Sarto sandals

bonus shot: a glimpse of the harvest moon

Great meme Rowena!

bento

In Japan, you can find lots of okazu or sozai (prepared foods) at the supermarkets and department stores.

Most times bento (boxed foods) have lots of deep fried items because they supposedly last longer.

You can also find simmered items called nimono. Whenever I look for bento, I try to find one with more nimono items than fried.

Of course, making your bento from scratch is the best way to know what goes in them, but if you don't have a lot of time (or are feeling lazy), then prepared foods are the way to go.

Nowadays, bento can be Japanese, Western or Chinese, as the Japanese say, Wa-Yo-Chu. In the States, I think bento are mainly eaten for lunch, but here, they are also eaten at dinnertime.

In Japan, whenever you are trying to decide what to eat for a meal, usually the first thing the other person says is "Wa-Yo-Chu?" Meaning...Japanese, Western or Chinese foods.

Anyway, this was a pork bento I bought a couple of weeks ago from a department store...871 yen (about US$8.71).

Larger than most bento I normally pick up, this was really filling!

From Daiei (a supermarket)...stir fried goya (bittermelon) 217 yen (about US$2.17), 5 spicy chicken wings 180 yen (about US$1.80) and a musubi 98 yen (about US$.98)..total 495 yen (about US$4.95). (These actually came in stryofoam trays and I transferred them to a bowl before eating.)

The bittermelon was delicious, it had scrambled egg, kamaboko, kikurage (wood ear) and a thick, clear gravy.

I like these chicken wings, they are spicy with a little sweetness to them.

As you can tell, the price of foods from the supermarket are way cheaper than the department store.

Both were equally delicious.

What did you have for lunch/dinner?

find a penny...

You will almost never find money on the ground here.

If you do, it will probably be 1 yen (about US$.01) or 1 yen that someone has glued to the ground as a prank (yup, I found that one! and tried to pick it up, almost broke a nail while trying to...)

Today, as I walked to the train station, I walked pass this on the ground...50 yen (about US$.50)

It took a split second to register, then I walked back to pick it up.

I think the "rule" is if you find bills you are supposed to turn it into the police...(though Satoshi says unless it was a huge amount, most people don't turn it in at all...)

On another positive note, I answered a questionnaire in a Japanese foodie magazine that I subscribe to. When you answer the questionnaire, you can indicate what prizes you would like to win.

I was aiming for the 2 bars of chocolate from La Maison du Chocolat, but received a bottle of peach jam from L'ami de Ble.

I was happy just to recieve something. This jam is made from white peaches. If you have tasted white peaches in Japan they are juicy and very sweet.

This jam was just that, with lots of big peach pieces. Unfortunately, this jam's carbon footprint wasn't too good though, it went from Kobe to Tokyo back to Osaka.

I checked my archives and realized that I have won 2 other prizes from this magazine...a Cuoca chocolate tasting set and Pukka tea.

It is Friday here, hope you have a great weekend.

sweet potato hummus

While the weather is trying to figure out whether it is Autumn or Summer, the markets are saying that it is Autumn.

Sweet potatoes are in season here. I love steaming them. The satsuma imo (sweet potato) turns a bright yellow.

In July, while I was in Hawaii, I found this recipe in "Body and Soul" for hummus using sweet potatoes.

Since I had some leftover sweet potato, I bought a bottle of garbanzos and tried this recipe.

I've put the amounts that I used in (italicized parentheses).

Sweet Potato Hummus from "Body and Soul" July/August 2009

makes about 4 cups (made a little over a 1 cup)

1 pound (about 453 grams) of sweet potato, steamed, cubed and peeled (150 grams sweet potato, steamed and cubed, I didn't peel all the pieces)
1 can (19.5 ounce) chickpeas, drained and rinsed (220 grams garbanzos about 7.5 ounces)
1/4 cup lemon juice (3 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/4 cup tahini (2 tablespoons tahini)
2 tablespoons EVOO
2 teaspoon cumin (1 teaspoon cumin)
1 clove garlic, chopped (1/2 clove garlic, chopped)
salt & pepper (I didn't add salt nor pepper)

Steam the cut sweet potato about 10 to 12 minutes
Whiz everything in a food processor
Add water if necessary (I added 1/4 cup of water)
Serve with pita and/or veggie sticks

NOTES: I think if I used more sweet potato, the flavor of the hummus may have turned out a little sweeter. While peeling the steamed potato, I thought it was a waste to throw out the skin, so I left the rest of them and found that it added some nice purplish flecks here and there.

My food processor is quite small, so there were a lot of "unprocessed" bits. Still I liked this, and would definitely make it again, maybe adding more sweet potato the next time, just to see if the flavors would be different. I served this with carrot and celery sticks.

italia

When I first came to Japan, I realized that they pronounced names of countries different from the US. For example, in the US we say "Italy" but here they say "Italia". Germany is "Doitsu" meaning Deutsch.

Takes some getting used to but definitely good to know.

Anyway, recently Hanshin Department store had an Italia Fair (Italian Fair).

Last Wednesday, I had some time to spend before meeting Satoshi for dinner, so I went to check it out. They had Italian pottery, cameos, rugs, a huge Italian wine and market area.

I came across these chocolates in the market area.

Barratti & Milano--I've tried some of their chocolates before. They are from Torino. The guy at the counter was nice enough to give me a sample, so I bought 3 types of chocolates.

Pinguino--a cream filling covered with dark chocolate. Pistachio--pistachio cream sandwiched with gianduja. Gianduja--hazelnut milk chocolate. The chocolates were 126 yen for 10 grams, my bill came out to 433 yen (about US$4.33)

My favorite was the Pinguino, I liked the contrast of sweet cream and dark chocolate.

Just a couple of counters over was Silvio Bessone--This chocolatier was from a town outside of Torino.

I got the Marron Glace--a chestnut paste with meringue bottom covered with 70% dark chocolate.

And Nej--a dark chocolate mixed with gianduja. Both were good but on the bitter side, I think these might have gone better with red wine or a malt whisky instead of coffee. 210 yen for Nej (about US$2.10) and 315 yen (about US$3.15) for the Marron Glace.

The lady in line before me bought 10 Marron Glace and 10 Nej, I was actually kind of embarrassed to buy something after her.

After more browsing, I met Satoshi for dinner at E-ma. There is an Italian restaurant that we like called La Botte Piccola.

Whenever we eat at Italian restaurants, we always order a salad, pizza and pasta to share.

I had a glass of Bellenda Contrada di Conceniqo, a full body red made with cabernet, merlot & marzemino grapes...800 yen (about US$8) a glass. I really liked this wine and hope to find it online or at the gourmet shop.

Satoshi had a glass of 2008 Rivera Terra al Monte Sauvignon, a crisp white...700 yen (about US$7).

We chose the seasonal salad...endive, baby greens, proscuitto and ricotta...1080 yen (about US$10.80). I loved the light texture of the ricotta.

Satoshi chose the seafood pasta...1400 yen (about US$14), this had clams, shrimp, scallops with a garlic butter sauce.

I chose the 4-cheese pizza...1400 yen (about US$14). This place always had a nice thin crust, which I love. They used mozzarella, gorgonzola, ricotta and parmesan. A little olive oil and parsley. Really simple yet oh so good!

After all those days off, Satoshi was kinda bummed that he had to go back to a full week.

La Botte Piccola (update: 2014 this shop now called Gnocchi, phone number now 06.6343.0707)
E-ma 6F
1-12-6 Umeda
Kita, Osaka
Phone: 06.4795.7510
Hours: 11:00-23:00
Open when E-ma is.

trying new recipes

After all that feasting the other day...Sunday's dinner was simple...salmon with sweet and spicy rub. To go along with the salmon, I tried Ellie's oven baked onion ring recipe.

This recipe was easy to put together. I didn't have baked potato chips, so I didn't put the cooking spray on the rings before baking like the recipe says to do.

If you make these, you have to eat them straight out of the oven. They are crisp, delicious and you won't miss that they aren't deep fried.

We had this with some leftover spiced mixed nuts, a salad and Monteith's Hearty Black Beer, a smoky, smooth dark beer from New Zealand. 330 mililiters, 5.2% alcohol, 430 yen (about US$4.30).

It was a great way to end the weekend.

happy 4th birthday!

Today is the 4th birthday of this blog...I cannot believe how fast time flies.

I cherish the friendships made through this blog.

The vast amounts of information learned and shared from blog to blog.

Drooling over photos on other blogs, inspires me to take photos just as delicious.

Thank you for reading my blog, it is the first journal I have kept going (for so long).

Here's to another year of travels, adventures and food! Kanpai! (Cheers!)