curry friday

It's curry friday, it is also the start of a 3-day weekend.

Satoshi's German class starts up tomorrow and we're planning to get out and about Sunday & Monday.

Have a nice weekend!

kurisatsu

Came across a new type of sweet potato at Crazy Pantry called Kurisatsu.

In Japanese, "kuri" is chestnut and "satsu" is short for satsuma imo (sweet potato).

Apparently the aroma is supposed to resemble chestnuts while the texture is like sweet potato.

I cooked some with some rice, shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (sweet rice wine) and sake (rice wine).

It could've used more salt but this tasted just like kuri gohan. (chestnut rice).

I hope Maeshika still has some purple sweet potato next week, I want to make sweet potato salad...

boulangerie un

This apple tarte from Boulangerie Un was delicious.

I especially liked that the apples had a pink tinge to it.

Oh and kaki (persimmon) are in the markets now too...whoo!

Happy Wednesday.

foodie thursday in kyoto

Hiromi had the day off so we went to Kyoto.

We got to Kiln a little early but they wouldn't let us in until noon.

So we went to nearby Murakamiju, a tsukemono shop and browsed. (will show you what I purchased at the end of the post).

Lunch service was super brusque (almost on the verge of rude) but the food came out quite quickly.

We both had the fish burger topped with tartar sauce. The tartar sauce used Murakamiju's shibazuke instead of sweet relish...delicious.

I don't know that I would go back to this restaurant, but am interested in checking out the cafe on the 1st floor...

After lunch, we went back to Murakamiju and bought some tsukemono then headed across the Kamo River to the Gion area and had some sweets at Zen Cafe.

Wagashi (Japanese sweets) maker Kagizen Yoshifusa has several cafes scattered around Kyoto, this one was tucked away, almost hidden.

We shared this kurikinton, a sweet made of chestnuts only...so good!

And we also shared this fig cream sandwich.

I don't know where Japan got this idea from but it is different.

Fresh fruits, whipped cream and bread...when you eat it, it is like cake.

The figs were perfectly ripe, this went nicely with strong coffee.

This cafe is really quiet and a nice place just to chill, it was nice to catch up here.

So, what did I get from Murakamiju? some tsubozuke (like takuan) and namashibazuke (this type is a little more puckery).

I'm glad we had nice weather and that we were able to get out and about.

Thanks for a great day Hiromi!

Kiln
194 Sendo-cho, Murakamiju Bldg 2F
Shimogyo, Kyoto
Phone: 075.353.3555
Closed Wednesdays
Hours: 12:00-15:00 (lunch), 18:00-23:00 (dinner)

Murakamiju
190 Sendo-cho
Shimogyo, Kyoto
Phone: 075.351.1737
Hours: 9:00-19:00

Zen Cafe
570 Gion-cho Minami-gawa
Higashiyama, Kyoto
Phone: 075.533.8686
Closed: Mondays
Hours: 11:00-18:00

p.s. if you are interested in crafts, I finally posted something the other day on my craft blog...

fizzy cold brew coffee

Before it gets too cold here for cold beverages, I thought I should post this.

Since I made carbonated cold brew tea, I thought that I could do it with coffee too.

When I put the instant coffee into the 500 milliliter carbonated water bottle, it started to foam...I should've foreseen what would've happened....

In the past when I had the espresso tonic at Micro Lady Coffee Stand, the barista had told me not to stir the drink too much as it will foam up.

Even the espresso soda from City Bakery had a bit of foam on top too.

So when I opened the carbonated water the next day, I literally saw the bottle erupt...spraying the kitchen backsplash (guess that is why they are called that, yeah?!), leaving me with only a half a bottle of carbonated cold brew coffee.

Still I am glad I tried this, even if I had a lot to clean up afterwards.

If you want to try this, you should dissolve your instant coffee with a little water or use a coffee concentrate in a cup, then add some carbonated water to your drink.

Just be careful, it still really foams up this way too.

I still want to experiment with coffee grains and see what happens, though I may have to wait until next Spring?!

Anyway, did you know that bottled carbonated drinks here have these grooves at the top of their plastic bottles?

I hadn't really paid much attention to it, but recently they had talked about these bottles on tv.

Apparently the grooves help the air escape when you open the drink so that it doesn't go spewing out...I guess they weren't expecting me to make cold brew coffee in their bottle...ha!

Do the carbonated drink bottles where you live have these grooves?

kamemushi

The weather dude taught me something new the other day..."If you see a lot of kamemushi (stink bugs), the coming winter will have lots of snow".

I'm kinda excited to see just how much snow we'll get this winter...(sorry if you have to shovel where you live).

(Use your fingers to zoom in on the photo, OR don't if you don't want to see THAT many stink bugs in one place)

Happy October!

curry gohan

Remember Kaemon's Curry Gohan?

Here's how to make it in your rice cooker.

1 cup rice, washed
1 cup water
1 tablespoon curry powder

Mix well, dissolving curry powder in the water (no lumps) you will cook the rice in.
Cook the rice according to your rice cooker's directions.

NOTES: I used S & B curry powder.

Please make sure the curry powder you use does not have any flour in it, some do so that when you make curry, the curry thickens.

If your curry powder does have flour in it, I am not too sure how your rice will turn out, if possible use the type that have spices only in it.

Satoshi thought it could've had more flavor, but I thought it was just right. Satoshi also thought the rice turned out softer, though I thought the rice was a bit hard/dry.

I topped this with a sunny side up egg and rakkyo (pickled shallots), but you could also add sauteed veggies and or top with your favorite pickles.

I used white rice but if you do use brown rice, you will need to up the amount of water to 1.5 cups of water.

This is definitely picnic/party food, am thinking it will be good as musubi.

I am making this again.