amabie

I learned about Amabie (ah-mah-bee-eh) from Letterpress Meiko , a small business in Osaka that makes relief style business cards the old school way with a printing press, ink, paper and movable type blocks.

(When I saw a piece about this shop on television, it brought back memories of when I took a graphic design class in high school and used a printing press to make cards)

According to Japanese folk lore, a mysterious green light was spotted in the water by villagers.

The green light turned out to be a green creature that had fish scales, long hair, three legs and a beak.

It was called Amabie and it told the villagers that two things would happen...a rich harvest would bless Japan for the next 6 years and a pandemic would ravage the country.

The Amabie said that in order to fend off the pandemic they should draw an image of it (Amabie) and share the image with as many people as possible.

Who knew memes were even around back then?!

Until this recent pandemic, Amabie was forgotten and over the past couple of months has recently taken Japanese social media by storm.

Hoping this pandemic will be controlled soon.

suzunari farm

I ordered another veggie box from Tabechoku.

This time from Suzunari Farm, which is located on the Miura Penninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture.

It came with colorful carrots, leek, turnip, potatoes.

A beet, onion, red daikon, purple daikon, and basil.

I made some watermelon salad with part of the basil. 

Since I couldn't get feta cheese, I used mozzarella. 

I think I prefer feta for the salty bites.

For dinner I made some reishabu, which you blanch thin slices of pork in hot water then stop the cooking by putting it into cold water. 

The farm suggested that you make a leek sauce with their leeks. 

Instead of soaking the leeks in the sauce, I made the sauce and then topped the pork with the leeks and drizzled some of the sauce.

Here is the recipe for the leek sauce from Suzunari Farm.

120 cc vinegar

100 cc shoyu (soy sauce)

60 grams sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced

Mix sauce and add leeks.

Use over reishabu,  karaage (fried chicken) or even cold tofu.

NOTES: I didn't add the leeks to the sauce, but just drizzled the sauce and threw on some leeks onto the reishabu.

I think this sauce could be used as a dressing for somen salad or any salad for that matter.

Since I knew we wouldn't be able to eat everything in a timely manner, I blanched and froze half of the purple daikon and red daikon.

I'll use it to make cold soups during the summer.

I made some pickles using the beet, turnip, red daikon and purple daikon with the recipe came with the veggies.

This pickle recipe doesn't have salt in it, so we'll need to eat these up quickly.

Here is the recipe for the pickles.

Veggies, cleaned and sliced

120 cc water

180cc vinegar

3 or 4 tablespoons sugar

Bring pickling liquid ingredients to a boil and make sure the sugar melts.

Cool the pickling liquid.

Pour over veggies.

NOTES: these pickles do not last long, so don't be like me and make a lot at once.  

For the amounts I made (1 beet, 1 turnip, half the red daikon and half the purple daikon), I used 2 times the pickling liquid recipe.

I only put 3 tablespoons sugar and liked how puckery this was.

With part of a leek I made an omelette for breakfast and topped it with a little okonomiyaki sauce.

I made each pickles of the root veggies separately to keep the colors from bleeding into each other....love the different pinks!

For dinner Thursday night, I  baked potato with the kitaakari (a type of potato) in the fish grill drawer.

Wash the potato well, and cut into 4 without cutting all the way through.

Wrap in foil and put into the fish grill drawer on high for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat down to low and cook for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let sit in the fish grill drawer for 15 minutes.

I drizzled some shoyu (soy sauce) and put a dollop of butter.

It took some time but this was so good!

It's been ages since I've had baked potato.

I washed part of the carrot greens and froze them to make pesto with it at a later date.

I also washed and froze the beet greens to use at a later date.

I grilled the white part of the leeks in the fish grill drawer and with ate this with some Murray River pink salt flakes.

I bought some fried squid and drizzled more leek sauce and topped with leeks.

We ate the colorful carrots as is...so crunchy and sweet!

It was fun to see so much color over the past couple of days.

The humidity is up and weather kind of wonky.

Not sure when our rainy season will start, but we've been laying low.

Satoshi's first week was rather short because he had his birthday and Friday off.

He said the trains are rather packed for parts of his commute.

Since he works in travel, he is hoping business will pick up, though realistically he knows that it will take some time.

Have a nice week.

happy birthday

It was Satoshi's birthday on Wednesday and he was lucky to get the day off.

We went up the street to Vanni to get something sweet.

 He chose their mont blanc.

I chose their Gateaux Fraises.

I was shocked that the shop packed the cakes very poorly, where most shops have intricate boxes that keep the cakes intact and are easily accessible to  slide the cakes out, this one was not and I ended up having to cut/break the box open to slide them out (there was even some remnants of the cakes on the box...boo!). 

Still, we were happy to have something sweet to celebrate his special day.

The temperature has soared and we are in the mid 80s (F) (mid 20s (C)) and the humidity is pretty bad already.

We're already using our a/c...hope you are doing well, have a nice weekend.

akueki taisan

(photo taken from Halekulani (Oahu) 2011) Monday night around various parts of Japan, they had a 5 minute fireworks display.

The areas were not disclosed, if you happened to be at the spot at the right time, you were lucky to view them. (we were watching a movie so we didn't hear or notice any fireworks)

The reason they did this was to prevent crowds.

Apparently Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu first displayed fireworks near the Sumida River as a way to pray for the health of the Japanese after an epidemic in what the Japanese call "akueki taisan".

Since most of this year's summer firework displays have been cancelled, it was a nice way for many of the firework makers around Japan, to "show off" their fireworks.

It was also a nice way to "cheer up" those who were lucky to see them.

A nice way to thank the people working on the front lines.

And most of all, pray for this pandemic to be controlled.

tonkatsu enraku

Saturday, we took out from Tonkatsu Enraku. 

In the past, we've eaten there one other time, but right now, they are only offering take out...so we picked up their katsudon. 

Bummer that the egg has to be cooked all the way through for take out because the slightly runny egg is really good on this! 

I also missed the extra sauce that they usually put on. 

This still came with their tonjiru (pork soup) and pickles. 

It was a little too much for me to eat, so Satoshi got all the leftovers. 

We look forward to eating here, but for now, this was a nice tonkatsu fix.

how are you wearing your mask?

There have been quite a number of people here that do not properly wear their mask.

(photos from a Japanese website) I know it is getting warmer (and humid) but your nose should not stick out above the mask.

If you want to smoke, eat or drink, remove the mask by touching only the straps.

The mask should not be resting on the bottom of your chin/jaw.

Nor should the mask be so big that it isn't fitting snugly around your nose or mouth.

(if possible there should not be any space on the sides of your mask for air to escape)  

Our government has suggested wearing a mask/face cover when exercising and/or jogging. (the reason has  something to do with the heavy breathing) 

With the weather getting warmer, remember to hydrate and try not to overexert yourself.

I am worried about infection, but because I'm vain, a little more worried about the mark the mask will leave on my face from the sun....I think might have to get out and about only in the evenings from now on...

end of may...start of june

On my last post, I forgot to mention that we were supposed to attend a wedding that was planned for that Sunday. 

Unfortunately they cancelled it because of the virus. 

I am not sure if they will have another celebration, or if we should send them something to celebrate...Satoshi said he will ask the father of the groom.

Tried a new recipe for Qīngjiāo ròu sī (which the Japanese pronounce Chin-jao-ro-su).

Qīngjiāo ròu sī by Lettuce Club : Serves 2

150 grams pork, thinly sliced

4 bell peppers

salt

pepper

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Sauce

1/2 teaspoon grated garlic

1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)

1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon sugar

Cut the pork into matchstick strips

Salt, pepper and coat the meat with cornstarch

Cut the bell pepper in half  lengthwise, clean and thinly slice into matchstick strips

In a pan, heat the sesame oil on medium

Cook the pork until it changes color

Add the bell pepper and cook for about 3 minutes

Add the sauce to the pan and once the sauce starts to bubble, coat the pork and bell pepper with the sauce.

NOTES: this was easy and tasty.  

The hardest part was cleaning and cutting the bell peppers. 

You need to adjust the amount of bell pepper because Japan's bell peppers are smaller than those in the US (about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide)...I think you might be able to make this with 1 big bell pepper.

Will definitely make this again.

This past Saturday, we went to the laundromat to fluff up our futon (comforters) and warm blankets.

It took us two trips, but at least we got it done.

This week the weather is kind of sketchy and the weather dude says that our area may start the rainy season on the 7th.

Satoshi goes back to his office today to meet with his department.

They will determine what their strategy will be for the coming months.

Gotta get back in the groove to waking up early to make bento.

Hope you are doing well.

Have a good week.