ideas

Got this idea from Pinterest, but I ran into a couple of problems...

My bell pepper was too small and my eggs too big...

I flipped them over to make the eggs, over easy.

Still this was good with a toasted bagel.

Another idea I got from Pinterest, was for oatmeal.

I tried the peanut butter and jelly version...my peanut butter is the natural type so it isn't sweet and the jelly I used was my favorite, guava, the combo was kinda funky...I think I may stick to my original way, just adding dried fruits.

tomato laomen

Saturday, the air was still very cold but at least the sun was out.

We went to Umeda for lunch since Satoshi had his German language class afterwards and decided to try Tomato Laomen.

I had to look up the word "laomen" and found out that it is from "laomian" which apparently eventually transformed to "ramen".

Their lunch set comes with a bowl of tomato ramen, rice, cheese and dessert...850 yen.

The noodles are thin and the soup is shoyu based with thin slices of pork and topped with lots of veggies especially tomatoes. The soup is very light and tasty.

After you eat all the noodles and veggies, put your rice and cheese into the soup for a risotto-style dish.

Dessert was sweet potatoes simmered in citrus...refreshing.

With all the soup, noodles and rice, it was very filling! We'll be back.

Tomato Laomen (UPDATE: this location no longer in business)
Osaka Ekimae Dai-san Building B2
Phone: 06.6341.8408
Hours: M-S 11:00-21:30, Su & holidays 11:00-17:00

chocolate finds

Been finding new chocolates to try these days...

Green Dream, a Belgian fair trade chocolate...72% dark chocolate with cranberries, this one had a nice snap and was a little acidic.

People Tree, a Swiss fair trade chocolate, this one was a creamy milk with hazelnuts.

Both could have had a little more "stuff" in them.

From Dean & Deluca Japan, I tried the Mast Brothers 74% dark chocolate with organic almonds, olive oil and sea salt.

This is a bean to bar maker from New York. I really liked this one.

The hot chocolate ball was 60-65% and made for a rich hot chocolate.

Belgian Cafe-Tasse's chocolat noir au thé russe earl grey (a 60% dark chocolate with Russian Earl Grey) the earl grey flavor wasn't overly perfumy and I was trying to figure out if they add crispies to it or if there were actual earl grey tea leaves in there, I think it may be the latter.

I like this one too.

Valentine's Day is coming up, so hopefully there is more chocolate out there to be tasted.

whiz...brr

We had a mini snow storm the other afternoon. Nothing that stayed on the ground for too long, but it was fun to see (from my seat on the sofa).

It is still a bit too cold for smoothies, but since Satoshi was off on business, I made this one for my breakfast the other morning.

I've been seeing blueberries from Chile in the markets lately, and the local strawberries are in the markets too.

Here's what I put in it...10 blueberries, 5 strawberries, 1 small banana, 1/2 teaspoon ground flax seed, 4 tablespoons plain yogurt and 1/4 cup skim milk...whizzed together, even though it looks like only a cup worth, it was a little over, a very simple and delicious breakfast.

datemegane

(photo from the internet) I told you about the pin, and about their shoes...

Well, you'll see young girls/women here wearing big bulky glasses, without the actual lens in them called "datemegane" (dah-tay-may-gah-nay). (I've even seen guys wearing them too)

They apparently wear them because they supposedly make their faces look smaller...well, of course it would, the frames are so big and bulky anyone's face would look smaller.

Growing up, I must admit I used to envy those wearing glasses, because it looked different and "fun".

But now that I actually "need" to wear them, I wish I didn't have to...they fog up in the winter when you go from the cold places to warm. They hurt your ears when you wear them for too long, not to mention they leave marks on your face when the glasses sits on the bridge of your nose.

I think these girls are wearing these glasses for all the wrong reasons.

Oh and you may be wondering why they wear them without the lenses...it is so that they won't smash their long fake eyelashes...sigh!

It's Friday, it is also Setsubun, which I've written up here, have a nice weekend!

baked furikake sweet potatoes

I bought some sweet potatoes recently and wondered how I should cook them.

My "normal" way would be to steam them, but I wanted to try something different.

Bring in an easy recipe from the Peko Peko Charity Cookbook... (Have you bought your copy yet?! I hope so.)

The recipe comes from Barbara Kiebel, who has a beautiful blog (apparently, the blog is no longer online).

I didn't cut the potato into the "strips" like she instructed, my sweet potato was kind of small and skinny, so I just did relatively thin slices.

Here is her recipe: serves 2-3

2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons nori komi furikake

1. Preheat the oven to 425F (220C)

2. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into 1/4 inch wide slices then 1/4 inch wide strips. Cut the strips in half if they are longer than 3 inches. Transfer to a large bowl, add the oil and mix to coat evenly. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the furikake seasoning on the potato strips and mix carefully.

3. Lay the potato strips in a single layer on a baking sheet, do not over-crowd or they will steam and not crisp. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning once to brown both sides.

4. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of furikake seasoning. Serve warm.

NOTES: Since my oven is small and everything has to fit on the turntable to bake evenly, I used one sweet potato which I didn't peel.

For the furikake, I used one of those small packets and divided it in half, sprinkling half before baking and the rest afterwards. Also, the furikake I used was an okaka gobo (bonito & burdock).

Instead of vegetable oil, I used olive and used 1 tablespoon, I think I could have used 1/2 a tablespoon.

They didn't crisp up too much, but they were tasty, and easy. I'm making this again, maybe with some curry furikake next time.

UPDATE: curry furikake on these potatoes are awesome!

ma-go-wa-ya-sa-shi-i

　I learned a new acronym recently...ma-go-wa-ya-sa-shi-i

In Japanese, literally, it means "grandchildren are kind", but when you look at each syllable, they stand for foods we should be eating.

Ma is Mame (mah-may = beans) especially soy and adzuki, for magnesium

Go is Goma (goh-mah = sesame seeds) this includes nuts like almonds & walnuts for vitamin E

Wa is Wakame (wah-kah-may = seaweed) like nori for iodine & calcium

Ya is Yasai (yah-sigh = vegetables) including root vegetables, for beta-carotene & vitamin C

Sa is Sakana (sah-kah-nah = fish) especially those with omega-3 oils

Shi is Shiitake (she-ee-tah-kay = mushrooms) and all other types of mushrooms for fiber

I is Imo (ee-mow = potatoes) including sweet potatoes for fiber and carbs

I think we eat quite a bit from this list already, but could see us upping our fish intake a little more.