konnyaku patties with ginger ankake sauce

Made this for dinner the other night using my food processor.

First I thinly sliced some sweet potato (like half). Tossed it with 1 tablespoon of oil and cooked it in a 220C (425F) oven for 15 minutes.

When it was through cooking, I sprinkled it with some salt and then stuck it under the broiler for 5 minutes.

For the patties, I put a tablespoonful of ginger from the ginger syrup, a 2-inch piece of zucchini, 1/4 onion, 60 grams of konnyaku and 90 grams of beef-pork mince and pulsed it until I got the consistency I wanted (finely minced).

Then I added one egg and mixed it well in a bowl.

In a non-stick pan, I added some oil and spooned out 6 patties. The mixture was quite wet and I think a lot of liquid came out from the konnyaku, but just be patient before flipping the patties over.

I also made a ginger ankake sauce. Ankake is a thick sauce.

For the sauce I combined 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup, 2 tablespoons of shoyu, 3 tablespoons sake (rice wine) and 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine) in a pot.

I brought the mixture to a slight boil and added a slurry of cornstarch and water.

When the mixture turned clear and the consistency was like runny honey, I took it off the heat.

I added some diced carrots and red bell pepper when I served it.

For veggies, I steamed some broccoli and served it with some leftover sesame dressing.

NOTES: The sweet potato chips weren't all crispy, I think it may be because I didn't coat each one with oil nicely. The patties weren't all konnyaku, but they were delicious with a nice ginger flavor. The sauce would definitely be nice over some rice.

I'll definitely be making this again.

p.s. Have a safe & happy Halloween everyone!

new friend

Met up with a friend from Twitter, H.

We had lunch at Kamizono in Minoo, then chatted at Hashimototei.

The weather was nice and sunny, on the verge of being close to HOT.

H gave me all sort of goodies too...Dilmah Uda Watte Ceylon Tea, Bigot's Vanille Diamanté (delicious buttery shortbread) & some bath salts. (Thank you!)

My first time to meet up with someone from Twitter, I hope she had a nice time too.

kaki

It is kaki (persimmon) season here.

Got a good deal on this persimmon, 78 yen and seedless.

Delicious.

finally!

They are finally changing those covers on our driveway.

Every time someone drives over them, they would make such a loud noise, I don't know how the people on the bottom floor stand it.

The residents in our building know that the cover makes noise but that doesn't stop some of them from zooming over them, making even louder noises.

You can tell when someone comes and goes, kinda irritating especially in the early morning or late at night.

I'm glad the building manager is finally changing these, hopefully it will be a little quieter now.

my tiny kitchen

Our apartment is a 2LDK (That is how they refer to apartments in Japan: 2 rooms with a living, dining & kitchen). It is 60 square meters or 600 square feet.

Of the 2 rooms, 1 is where we sleep and the other is like a big walk-in closet (with our television in it).

Our bath is also where our washer is (can you believe in Japanese apartments that they only have cold water for the washers?! in the winter it is like washing your clothes in ice water...). The toilet is in a separate space, literally a "wash closet".

Thought you might like to see my kitchen. It's about 2 tatami mats big...that's about 35 square feet.

It is in the shape of an upside "U", but only because I made it that way.

Actually, my kitchen is connected to my living and dining area. You don't know how many times, Satoshi and I have moved furniture around to "change the atmosphere".

I think right now, we've got a pretty good layout.

Previously, I showed you the inside of my refrigerator here.

Our refrigerator can open from either the left or right side, which is pretty cool.

But the freezer is quite small, only two drawers.

On the side of my refrigerator, I have a magnetic notepad to write down things I have run out of that need to be replenished.

There is also a calendar and another magnet to hold recipes.

Next to the refrigerator is the sink.

The only time I use that drying basket over the sink is when my other drying containers (I have 2) are full of dishes.

Above the sink and stovetop are some cupboards, I keep items that I rarely use at the very top and some cups and spices in the more accessible areas. Usually if I can't reach something, I try to grab it with a pair of tongs, lazy yeah?!

Also, we don't have a garbage disposal, so I use a basket to gather peels and stuff then empty it out frequently so it won't smell.

I also use an old tofu container to collect the used coffee & tea, separate from the peels so that it won't go down the drain.

Below the sink, is where I keep sugar, honey, vanilla extract on one side.

And cleaning stuff on the other side.

This is my really small counter. See it is only about the size of a folder paper (8" x 11"). Next to it is the stovetop.

I'm lucky because I have 3 burners.

Right below the stovetop is a "drawer" to grill fish, but I've never used it because I really don't want to clean it after using it.

Some gadgets that can't fit into my gadget drawer are hanging along the wall there.

Below the fish grilling drawer, is a cupboard where I keep cooking and baking pans.

I also keep extra saran wrap and ziploc bags there too.

There is also a really skinny cupboard to the left of that, but only trays fit in there...

At the bottom of the "U" is where the oven & rice cooker are.

There are also spices there too.

To the left of that is where I keep most of our dishes, most of which I bought at the 100 yen store.

I made the cover for the rack so that the dishes won't get too dusty.

To the left of the dishes is a rack where I dry dishes (in 2 containers) because they can't stay on the "counter" to dry.

My pantry is also on this rack. I have most items in baskets so that I can pull them out like drawers.

(After I drew that rack in my journal back in 2010, I revised what items are there.) This rack also has a cover but this one I purchased with the rack.

So that's my kitchen, everything has its place.

grand marble

When I'm on the computer, I often also listen to the radio.

This particular station often advertises Grand Marble's danish breads, which sounded really delicious.

The main store is in Kyoto, but they also have a little shop in Osaka.

I picked up their fig and chocolate...1260 yen.

I sliced the bread into 8 slices and froze 4.

We had a toasted slice for breakfast with tea yesterday.

Lots of chocolate and figs in there.

This is definitely not for everyday though it would really make a great gift.

Grand Marble Dojima store
1-1-13 Dojima
Kita, Osaka
Phone: 06.6345.5166
Open weekdays 11:00-24:00

p.s. It's Friday! Hope you have a great weekend.

café tous les jours

Yesterday, I went to the ob-gyn.

I was actually scheduled to get checked out last week when I went for my physical, but it was "that time of the month", so I had to re-schedule.

The clinic they sent me to, was in a not so nice area of Osaka.

I got there at 10:30...

Just to see the doctor, I waited over an hour and then after talking with her for a couple of minutes, it took another hour in the waiting room before I was able to get the exam done.

Even though my BMI is 24, the first thing she says to me after talking with her is, "you need to lose weight"...sigh.

Um, yeah, I know, and I'm working on it...

Anyway, by the time I left her office it was lunchtime (13:00 to be exact).

I went to eat a late lunch (I usually eat at 11-ish) at Café tous les jours, which I've written about before here.

Their lunch special was tandoori chicken...950 yen.

This came with rice or baguette (I chose baguette) and choice of drink (I chose iced chai).

The chicken was very moist and flavorful.

Ugh, but I forgot that they allow smoking in the café...blah.

It will take some time before I get back my results.

All in all, it was a pretty long day...