soup weather

It's definitely soup weather over here.

The other night I made a vegetable bean soup with veggies from my fridge (carrot, daikon), veggies from the pantry (onion, potato, dried beans), some pearl barley.

And then just before serving I julienned some kale from the lanai and sliced some cherry tomatoes.

Spices were an Italian seasoning blend and a consomme cube.

Super simple, and a great way to warm up on an icy night.

Is it soup weather where you are?

salarymen pride

Did you know Japanese salarymen (business men) have pride? I call it "stupid pride".

They refuse to wear their coats when they go out for lunch. Hands stuck deep into their pants pockets they run across the streets to eat lunch shivering all the way, no jacket on, just their dress shirts.

When the temperature was changing between Fall and Winter, I suggested to Satoshi that he wear his coat to work.

He said, "it's too early in the season to"...um, who said?

I told him, "but if you're cold, you should wear something, otherwise you'll catch cold"

(and secretly I was also saying, "if you catch a cold then you'll give it to me....")

But nope..."stupid pride"

Right now, he wears thermals over his underwear, which tends to bunch up.

Not very nice when wearing a suit.

And then I told him about these boxers for men that have haramaki attached to them. Haramaki literally means stomach wrap.

I told him, if he got a pair he wouldn't have to wear the thermals over his underwear and it wouldn't feel so bulky under his suit.

He scoffed at me.

Still, I dragged him over the New Years break to the store and convinced him to buy a pair.

He wore it the other day and came home saying...

"Kat, this is the best thing ever!"

Guess who was laughing now...

It's Friday here, and a 3-day weekend.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

konbu & okaka tsukudani

Yesterday was rainy all day long.

Perfect for cooking projects.

I've always wanted to find a recipe to use the konbu (kelp) and katsuobushi (shaved bonito) after making dashi (stock)--instead of just throwing it out.

Well, I found a recipe in Masakichi's book.

Super easy and relatively fast too.

Konbu & Okaka Tsukudani adapted from "Bento no hon by Yorino Masami"

Kelp after making dashi, cut into 1 centimeter squares (.39 inches)
Katsuobushi after making dashi
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 teaspoon honey

Put everything into a pot and heat on low and cook for 20-30 minutes
When most of the liquid has evaporated, turn the heat up to high for just a moment to get rid of any liquid*
*be careful as this is when everything can be scorched (burnt) easily

NOTES: this recipe actually calls for 2 teaspoons of kakijyoyu (kah-key-joe-you: oyster soy sauce), but I didn't have this so I just used all shoyu.

For your info, kakijyoyu is a soy sauce that is infused with oyster essence.

This recipe also asks that you use kelp & katsuobushi that has been used 3 times for making dashi.

When making dashi, I usually don't use my konbu/katsuobushi this many times, so I just made this with kelp & katsuobushi that was used once to make dashi.

The konbu was a little tough but still delicious with rice. Next time I think I'll cut the konbu into thin strips.

real fake cheese

I've told you about the ketchup-mustard squeezy thing at the convenience stores, here.

Well, the other day when I ate lunch at McDonald's, I was surprised at their cheese fries.

The McDonald's here recently came out with an American Vintage Series, the sandwiches they are serving are a honey mustard chicken and a double beef burger.

And their classic fries are served with "cheese and bacon"...

Well, the real fake cheese comes in a squeezy thing.

Perfect if you are taking out because your fries won't get soggy with the goopy cheese sitting on your fries while you go back home.

They could probably do without the real fake bacon bits though, they were hard.as.rock. and I personally would've preferred a spicy chili instead. I think that chili is more "American" than bacon bits...

And the most funny part were the direction on the inside cover of the box...1) Please drizzle the cheese sauce over all the fries 2) Please sprinkle the bacon flavored topping over everything 3) Please eat them with a fork

Is your McD's serving anything exciting?

nanakusagayu

Today is the 7th of January which means we eat nanakusagayu.

This year I almost forgot about making this. Luckily, when I went to the market yesterday they had the nanakusa (7-grass) sets on display.

I hope this year we'll all be healthy and happy.

the past couple of days

Sorry it's been quiet here.

Satoshi went back to work today, so I'm back blogging...

On the 2nd, we visited MIL, she was in good spirits and was very chatty.

I'm glad we got to have lunch (sushi) with her and spend some time with her.

On the 3rd, the weather was nice so we went to our neighborhood cafe, Hiro, for breakfast.

This is my favorite at the moment at this cafe...egg toast & salad. The bread they use for this is called "English bread". The slice is quite a long rectangle, the outside crisp, the inside is quite soft.

They add egg salad and toast it with a drizzle of mayo. It isn't overly goopy with mayo, just enough.

This was how the skies looked on the 3rd.

While walking home, we got to see a Kawasemi (common kingfisher).

I had often seen posters boasting that they were around near the Minoo river, but never saw one for myself. I'm glad we got a glimpse at one, they are quite teeny! and fast!

That night we had pizza. We bought the crust and I topped it with salami and lots of onion and cheese.

Before baking the pizza, I sauteed the onions and salami...so good!

On the 4th, the weather was cold but tolerable.

For dinner we had lemon chicken using my recipe for lemon sauce.

I used pre-made karaage (fried chicken) and served it on some broccoli, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, carrots & onions sauteed in olive oil.

Yesterday the wind was icy and it was overcast for most of the day.

I wished it would snow or at least have flurries but Mother Nature wasn't listening to me.

For dinner we had beef broccoli.

Can you believe it was the first time I've ever made this?

I found a pretty easy recipe in "Hawaii's Best Local Dishes" by Janet Watanabe Hee.

I steamed my broccoli and set it aside.

And then I marinated my meat in this:
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon ginger, crushed
2 tablespoons sherry or whiskey
2 tablespoons flour

NOTES: these measurements for the marinade are for 1 pound of meat and 2 pounds of broccoli and is supposed to serve 4.

I think I either marinated the meat too long (6 hours) or using whiskey was too strong or the amount of marinade was too strong for the amount of meat and broccoli I had because it tasted a bit boozy.

Before I cooked the meat, I sauteed some thinly sliced onion in some sesame oil, then added the meat to cook.

Since the meat was quite thick from the flour I kept adding water to keep things "loose".

Then I added the broccoli at the end just to heat through.

I would make this again but cut back the marinade to half.

So that's what we've been up to the past couple of days, how is your 2014 going so far?

year of the horse

2014, the year of the horse.

Wishing everyone all the best this year.

We went to pay our respects at various shrines this morning, this is called hatsumode (hah-tsu-mow-day).

The weather was overcast for most of the day.

We'll be visiting MIL tomorrow.

I hope your year is starting off nicely!