foodie thursday

Thursday I went to get my teeth cleaned (no cavities, yeah!).

Afterwards, I had lunch at Elmer's Green Cafe.

It had been some time since I had been there and I think their menu had changed a bit.

I ordered their Keema Curry lunch...850 yen. This came with a choice of a salad or pickles or dessert and a drink.

I chose their pickles and a cup of earl grey tea.

Under all of that green onion there is a soft boiled egg.

The curry was filling but could've been spicier. The pickles were delicious and puckery.

A couple of streets down from Elmer's is Tikal, a chocolate shop by Broadhurst.

Broadhurst is an English pastry chef, whom I visited about 5 years ago!

I tried 3 of his bon-bons...Elizabeth (crown) filled with lemon cream, Pistachio (rectangle) filled with pistachio cream & Guinness Cake (checker) filled with guinness cream...910 yen.

I enjoyed them all but my favorite has to be the Guinness one.

The skies were really grey but I'm glad I was able to get out and about.

Tikal by Cacao en Masse
3-3-3 Fushimi-machi, Shibakawa Building 1F
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6232.0144
Closed: Sundays

banana ginger chocolate muffins

Have you ever read a book that you could relate to?

That was what happened when I read Molly Wizenberg's "A Homemade Life".

Her book was not only a memoir, but also included some delicious sounding recipes.

One recipe in particular, "Banana Ginger Chocolate Muffins" popped out at me.

I didn't follow her recipe though, I used my go-to recipe for muffins and added crystallized ginger, chocolate chips and banana.

I really liked the addition of the ginger, I could've actually put more.

I'd definitely make this again.

kinoko tappuri curry

Tappuri means lots, full of.

This curry uses lots of kinoko (mushrooms).

Translated from "Hajimete no Spice Curry": 4 servings
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 nub ginger, minced

Spices:
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon coriander

2 teaspoons shoyu
300 mililiters hot water (about 1.5 cups)
2 packs shimeji (used only 1)
1 pack maitake
1 eringi
1 whole tomato, diced (used 6 cherry tomatoes, halved)
10 grams butter

Prep: Cut onion, garlic & ginger accordingly, set aside
remove mushrooms from their "stone" and separate by hand
Cut tomato and set aside

Method:
Heat sesame oil to medium in a pan and add onion, garlic & ginger.
Cook for about 7-8 minutes
Turn heat down and add spices & shoyu
Add hot water, mix well and cover for about 15 minutes
Add the tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes without the cover.
Add the butter and mix well.

NOTES: I ended up cooking this for more than 15 minutes, more like 1 hour!

There was just too much liquid plus covered and at a low heat, it hardly evaporated.

So, I upped the flame to about medium, took off the cover and cooked it down, which took about an hour.

This curry was served with paneer, or what the author calls cottage cheese.

I've never had paneer before, have you?

I didn't want to go out to get some cottage cheese nor did I want to follow his recipe to make some (it used 2 liters of milk!), so instead I used tofu.

I used tofu because the pictures I've seen of paneer certainly reminded me of tofu.

So, I put some tofu onto some cheesecloth and let it sit in the refridge for the whole day.

Then when I was ready to serve this I crumbled some on.

I also sauteed other veggies in a dry non-stick pan and added it to the curry.

Despite the cooking time, this was delicious, I would make this again.

Wow, it's Friday already, have a great weekend!

carrot and seed salad

I was first introduced to carrot salad by Bea and Orangette and then, I found other carrot salads to try like this one.

I really like carrot salad, it is easy to make and really delicious too.

Recently I bought a cookbook written by the owner of the Rose Bakery called "Breakfast Lunch Tea".

Inside there was a recipe for "Carrot and Seed Salad"

The recipe calls for chives but I didn't want to buy the large amount that the market was selling, so I didn't add it to the salad.

Still, I think it was quite tasty.

Here is what I did: makes about 6-1/4 cup servings

2 large carrots, shredded
2 handfuls of sunflower seeds, heated in 150C (300F) oven then cooled

Dressing:
zest of the lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice (about one small lemon)
several grinds of fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oil

After shredding the carrots in a food processor, mix the dressing and toss to coat.
Add the cooled seeds and toss again.

NOTES: the original recipe suggests using either sunflower or pumpkin seeds, since I had sunflower seeds in my freezer that is what I used.

There are other recipes (like scones) that I can't wait to try.

negiyaki yamamoto

I think it was reader Alan who asked me about negiyaki.

Negi is green onion and yaki means to grill/cook.

Negiyaki Yamamoto was started over 40 years ago. The owner used to feed negiyaki to children on their way home from school as a snack.

The adults saw this and wanted to try his negiyaki too and the rest was history.

I had told Alan to try Negiyaki Yamamoto and luckily he said they were good.

Since I hadn't tried them before recommending them to Alan, we checked them out recently.

How cute are their cups?! Negi singing.

We tried their yakisoba (fried noodles)...650 yen

Their "sauce" isn't goopy nor sweet.

I particularly enjoyed the noodles, they are a little on the thick side.

We also shared a deluxe negiyaki, this was topped with beef, pork & ika (squid)....1360 yen

Their "sauce" is lemon and shoyu, that is it.

Simple, delicious and lots of green onion.

I loved how crispy the pork (belly) got too.

We'll be back.

Negiyaki Yamamoto
1-1-48 Fukushima (Dojima Crosswalk)
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.4798.8220
Hours: 11:30-22:00
Closed 2nd & 4th Wednesdays

ghana

Was there ever a time when you couldn't decide whether you wanted an ice cream sandwich or an ice cream bar?

Well, now you don't need to decide, just have them both!

Lotte's Ghana gives you the best of both worlds.

I held the sandwich side while I ate the bar side.

The bar side has crispy chocolate cookies sprinkled on top, the inside is vanilla ice cream.

The sandwich side was delicious too, though the cookie was a little salty.

I really appreciated that the cookie stayed firm and didn't get mushy under my fingers.

semi-rant

The girl working at Sanrio told me that there is no replacement for the ink in their Hello Kitty ball point pens...boo!

You know, these pens cost 525 yen, and when the ink runs out, I'm supposed to throw them out?! I think not.

I was determined to find a replacement.

I brought the used ink cartridge to MUJI and found the same size...ha!

If you need one for your Hello Kitty ball point pen, (and have a MUJI store nearby) look for the ink cartridge with a #2 and 0.7mm on it.

At least now I know, and won't have to throw out my pens after the ink runs out.

p.s. The typhoon was pretty impressive, blustery, the wind whistling and all. Sheets of rain passing by the window. Unfortunately, Satoshi had to work, so he didn't see "the show". Luckily, the rain and wind stopped by the time he came home.