whew

We had a little "scare" over the weekend.

Friday, a co-worker in Satoshi's work group got a call from a family member.

Apparently the co-worker's father had a slight fever and also fell and hit his head.

They were both going to get tested on Saturday to see if they had COVID...

Luckily the co-worker and father were both negative and the father's head injury was nothing serious...whew!

This time around we were definitely lucky but this pandemic is definitely getting closer to home.

Changing subjects...during this pandemic, we've been trying all sorts of places for takeout.

Last night, we took out from Yoshinoya.

Their gyu suki (sukiyaki).

It was my first time to eat from here.

I liked the flavors, not overly sweet or overly salty and the rice wasn't mushy.

Eating takeout from all these places definitely haven't been good for our cholesterol, but at least this gives us some variation.

Have a safe week everyone.

 

nostalgia

Remember that blue can of danish butter cookies?!

Growing up we would sometimes receive a can at Christmas, probably from our relatives on the mainland?!

After looking online, I think it was the "Royal Dansk" brand.

They had a chocolate chip cookie with tiny bits of chocolate in there that I loved.

I saw a small can of danish butter cookies at the store recently, bummer though this one did not have the chocolate chip cookie in it.

Still, the flavor and texture was similar to what I remembered.

Even with a vaccine coming, I hope everyone's case numbers will start to go down.

Stay healthy and have a safe weekend.

 

trying new recipes

Tried some new recipes yesterday.

Mio's Sauce by Mio Matsui

6 tablespoons sesame oil

10 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

6 tablespoons sake (rice wine)

4 tablespoons sugar

2 cloves garlic, grated

salt & pepper

Heat the sauce until the sugar melts.

Cool and put into an airtight jar.

I marinated 200 grams of beef with half of this sauce for 30 minutes.

NOTES: super tasty and easy, will try this sauce with chicken or pork next.

Hakusai and Kaki Amazu-ae from 3-pun Cooking

200 grams hakusai, weighed, cleaned then sliced thin

5 grams salt

180 grams kaki (persimmon)

Sauce

3 tablespoons vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon shoyu (soy sauce)

After slicing the hakusai, sprinkle the salt and set aside for 10 minutes.

Squeeze out the water from the hakusai after 10 minutes.

Peel the persimmon and cut the fruit into bite sized pieces

Add the hakusai and persimmon to the sauce.

Mix well and chill before serving.

NOTES: delicious! great as pickles or salad. Will definitely make this again.

 

new month new things

Beaver Moon this morning, so bright!

We facetimed on Thanksgiving...so grateful for technology and thankful that family always invite us to join in on these calls.
 

There has been a lot of noodles of late...Pad Thai from 7-eleven.

A little too salty for me but lots of shrimp flavor.

Napolitan from Kitchen Sumikko.

This was "fancy" with lots of shrimp, a little bell pepper and some mushrooms (and egg).

The sauce wasn't cloying sweet, I would get this again.

Biang biang noodles...I love saying it!

The noodles are flat and wide.

This is a rather spicy dish with a hint of 5 spice.

I would get this one from 7-eleven again too.

Our temps have dropped, our lows are in the mid-40sF (single digits C) and highs are low 50sF (double digits C).

Still hoping Japan's main government comes up with a "plan"...to stop our numbers from rising.

Hope you are doing well.

this and that

How cute are these teeny anpogaki from Fukushima prefecture?!

Where most anpogaki are gelatinous, this was more dried and firm.

Still delicious though.

On one of my trips to Shinagawa that I wrote about earlier this month, I had bought a small bag (33 grams) of these snackaballs made by Tom & Luke, a New Zealand company and had posted a picture on Instagram.

They contacted me and sent me two large bags (88 grams) of their snackaballs.

These are made from dates, cacao, almonds and coconut. 

They are gluten free and vegan, are great as snacks and I'm sure it will be nice with wine.

Thank you!

1st time making chikuzeni, which is similar to nishime.

It was pretty easy and fast to make because you cook everything in a shallow pan.

Chikuzeni adapted from "Aiba Manabu" : serves 4

100 grams gobo (burdock root)

150 grams renkon (lotus root)

1 carrot

250 grams boneless chicken thighs

150 grams konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly)

60 grams dried shiitake mushrooms

400 milliliters katsuo konbu (bonito & kelp) dashi (stock)

100 milliliters stock from reconstituted shiitake mushrooms

2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon oil

Cut the gobo and carrot into bite sized, rangiri style (which means random cutting), here is a link to show the rangiri cutting technique.

Cut the renkon into bite sized pieces.

With a spoon, cut the konnyaku into bite sized pieces.

Reconstitute the dried shiitake mushrooms, then cut into bite sized pieces.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.

In a pan, heat the oil and then toss everything in to coat with the oil.

Add the stock, reconstituted shiitake liquid, shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar and bring to a boil.

Put an oshibuta (drop lid) on, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, longer if you want your veggies more tender.

NOTES: super easy! I didn't have dried shiitake, so I just used the shiitake stems I had in the freezer.

I didn't read the directions well and cut the konnyaku with a knife instead of using a spoon...oops!

Will definitely make this again.

Our numbers have sort of taken off, there is talk of another state of emergency “shutdown” but the main government wants to wait 3 weeks to see if our numbers can come down a little (they do not want to pay for another state of emergency)...for now Satoshi still goes into the office but on weekends and the weekdays he is off, we try to lay as low possible...take care everyone and have a safe weekend.

no waste leek top soup

How are you doing? We are hanging in there.

We had our Thanksgiving yesterday since Satoshi had the day off and we would be able to eat dinner together.

Satoshi also had his German lesson in the evening, so we didn't eat anything special and only he had some beer.

It is soup weather over here, Mother Nature decided to slam us back from the Spring like temps we had over the past week to the fahreezing temps of December?!

Anyway, to use up the green parts of some leeks, I cooked it down with some potatoes and a little bacon then added a little milk, pepper then whizzed it.

Super simple and good way to use up all parts of the leek.

This year "celebrations" will be different, hopefully everyone can get their case numbers down so that we all can return to travelling, eating out and hugging each other.

Stay safe, keep healthy and continue to think positively.

We are thankful for relatively good health, enough food to eat, a roof over our heads and that Satoshi has a job.

Be well and be kind.

shiofuki piman

Super easy recipe that I saw on a television commercial.

It uses piman (bell pepper) and shiokonbu (seaweed that is seasoned then dried).

The bell peppers in Japan are very small like 4 inches long and 3 inches wide.

Shiofuki piman : adapted from Fujikko website : serves 2

3 piman (bell peppers), cleaned then sliced thin lengthwise

1 tablespoon shiofuki konbu

1 tablespoon sesame oil

sesame seeds

Heat the oil in a pan then add the bell peppers

When everything is coated with the oil, cook the bell pepper to your liking

Add the konbu and cook until the konbu's seasoning turn from white to black.

Sprinkle some sesame seed and serve.

NOTES: super easy, great for a side dish, for bento, for pupu (appetizer)/beer chaser.

The recipe actually uses a combination of red and green bell peppers, but I only had green on hand so that is what I used.

Since the bell pepper in the US are bigger you could probably use just 1 for the amount of shiofuki konbu I have written above.

You can alter the amount of konbu and bell peppers to your tastes.

I'll definitely make this again.