Macaroni Gratin with a pan

 Hello!
Suddenly it has become cold in Japan. It snowed on Mt. Fuji and many other mountains all over Japan.

Last weekend, I went for bike riding for the first time in a few months. It had been too hot to do anything outside so I was quite happy to feel the fresh air.

Whenever I ride along the river, I see many junior baseball clubs playing baseball at the bank with a lot of strict audiences and seniors who criticize them for improvement. I am so impressed by those serious kids and their parents who support them with water, food and other things. However, I wonder if the kids are really 'enjoying'?

Ingredients:

macaroni

chicken

onion

mushroom (shimeji)

dried herbs

salt

flour (2tbsps)

cheese

butter

pepper

milk (2cups)

consome soup (2cups)

1- Cut the chicken, mushroom and onion finely.

2- Stir fry 1 with butter, salt and pepper. When it's cooked, put the flour in and stir well.

3- Add milk. When it's boiled, add the soup and boil again.

4- Put the macaroni in and stir well until it becomes soft.

5- Adjust the taste with salt, pepper and dried herbs. Put the cheese on top and steam with a lid for a minute.

Itadakimasu.

Korean style-pickled and fried beef

Hello!
It has been raining for the last few days and a little cold here. I heard that in Hokkaido people already started using their heaters. It seems like the autumn came by so quickly and is hurrying into the next season.

I think some people have already become excited at Christmas. I don't really understand the feeling of waiting for Christmas as I don't have the cultural background. But it seems fun.

Actually I was really excited and happy when I was in Germany and saw the happy people in the Christmas markets. That made the cold and dark winter so much cozier.

Ingredients:

sliced beef

garlic

onion

(eggplant)

sesame oil

sesame

soy sauce (3tbsps)

sugar (1tsp)

sake (2tbsps)

gochujang (korean chilli paste) (1~2tbsps)

1- Mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, grazed garlic, grazed sesame, sugar, sake and gochujang in a bowl.

2- Cut the onion and eggplant.

3- Put the beef and 2 into 1. Mix all together well and wait for a little.

4- Stir fry 3 on a pan.

You can also cook other vegetables like capsicum instead of eggplant.
Itadakimasu!

Milk stew with summer vegetables

If you are too tired to cook every day, why not prepare a special lunch or dinner once a week? Set up nice dishes and interior goods and enjoy the slow food's feeling with your family or/and friends. Or even by yourself.

It's always fun to eat out at a beautiful restaurant but you can reflect yourself more by home-cooking. You can work together with your company and take your time, being away from the busy world.

Also adjusting your usual diet by home-made cooking is important. Ex. if you had a lot of protein on weekdays, then try to take much vegetables with less salt and butter!

Ingredients:

capsicum

carrot

onion

bacon

milk (2cups)

consomme soup (1cup)

butter

flour (1tbsp)

bay leaf

salt & pepper

1- Cut the vegetables and bacon into about 2cm pieces.

2- Heat the butter and stir fry the bacon and vegetables.

3- Add the flour and stir well. Pour the soup and bay leaf in and mix all well.

4- When the ingredients are cooked, add the milk and adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

Itadakimasu.

Ratatouille

Do you like karaoke? In your place, karaoke may mean a pub where you must sing old songs in front of many people who you don't know. But here in Japan, you usually sing all released songs at a small room just for your group.

The "karaoke box" used to be simple without food or drinks and mainly for the younger generation. However, I was surprised by the latest full-serviced-karaoke system such as family room, free drinks, party room with meal and free alcohol, lunch service for ladies etc. It seems like a total entertainment complex for whole generation to enjoy for a day!

Recently I feel happy to see many fresh summer vegetables this season. One of my favorite cooking styles using summer vegetables is ratatouille. Please add some red wine if you have some spare!

Ingredients:

tomato

carrot

egg plant

capsicum

onion

red wine (or some water)

salt

garlic
bay leaf

1- Cut the vegetables into small pieces.

2- Fry the chopped garlic and egg plant with some olive oil. Then put it away.

3- Fry carrot, onion and capsicum until it's cooked, then add tomato, 2, wine and a bay leaf.

4- Adjust the taste with salt.

Itadakimasu.

German style fried potato

The rainy season has arrived. It feels that the cold time came back again after summer as it was hot last week. They said that the rainy term is growing shorter because of climate change and we will have more squalls instead.

Even though this season makes you feel a little depressed, it has taken an important role for nature, the agricultural system and some Japanese culture. So we should be worried if we are losing it.

Ingredients:

potato

onion

bacon

salt/pepper

dried herbs

garlic

1- Boil or microwave the potato until it is softer (not too soft). If the potato skin is thick, please peel it.

2- Cut 1, onion and bacon. Fry it together with some garlic, salt, pepper and dried herbs.

This simple cooking style can accent every ingredient's taste. Why not try it out?!

Itadakimasu.

Macaroni Salad

Hello!

I'm happy to see more fresh vegetables coming out in this season. Especially the green varieties such as lettuce, cabbage and some of the dark-green leafy vegetables. Of course you can find those vegetables in middle of winter but the non-seasonal food doesn't have as many nutrients and also takes a lot of energy to grow, which is not kind for the earth.

I enjoy going to food markets when I travel as well. It's a pleasure to feel the season by looking at local vegetables at the market. What do you find in your place?

Ingredients:

macaroni 

lettuce

onion

canned tuna

olive oil

horse radish

salt
mayonnaise

vinegar

pepper

parsley (fresh or dried)

1- Boil the macaroni and cut the lettuce and onion.

2- Make the sauce. Mix the olive oil, horse radish, salt, vinegar, mayonnaise, pepper and parsley.

3- Mix 1, tuna and 2 together.

Itadakimasu.

Daikon stew & Vietnamese food report 3

Vietnam is an amazing place for food. The country is just so rich in ingredients because it's full of diversified nature such as jungles, mountains, rivers and the ocean.

This restaurant I visited was over 100 years old and has only one item on the menu, this is the recipe for snakehead fish. The fish is marinated with curry-tasting spices and you can fry it in a deep oil on your table with many types of herbs. Then eat them together with some rice noodles and nuts.

Today's cooking is the stew with daikon leaves. The daikon I bought had healthy looking leaves which had two slugs! So why not eat them?

Ingredients:

daikon leaves

onion

chicken

maitake mushrooms

milk

flour (1tbsp)

butter (or olive oil)

salt/pepper

dried oregano

consomme soup (1cup)

1- Stir fry the cut onion and chicken with some butter. Put the flour in and stir well.

2- Put a cup of soup into 1 and boil.  Add the cut daikon leaves and mushrooms.

3- Pour two cups of milk. Adjust the taste with salt, pepper and oregano.

Finish! Itadakimasu.

Clam chowder

Hello!

I am going to travel to Vietnam this week for 14 days so I can't wait for that. It's always pleasure for me to travel Asian countries and one of the big reasons is due to their polished and deep food culture. Must be careful of gaining my weight.

However, I'm a little worried about another disaster somewhere as we see quite a few of those hapening in the world lately...

Today I will cook an American recipe called " clam chowder" which is popular in Japan as well.

Ingredients:
potato
onion
carrot
clam
bacon
flour(2tbsps)
salt/pepper
milk
consomme(dry)
(cheese)

1- Put the clams in the water and leave it for an hour or more. Boil with a cup of water and get the clams out of the shells. Keep the boiling water.

2- Cut the vegetables and bacon in 1cm cubes and stir fry.

3- Add the flour and stir fry. Put the boiling water from 1, milk and consomme, and boil till all the ingredients are cooked.

4- Add some Parmesan cheese if you want. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

Itadakimasu.

Chicken steamed with white whine

If you happen to be in Japan in the springtime, you will believe that the Japanese national flower is definitely sakura (cherry blossoms). Well, there is no such thing as national flower in Japan. But it's true that sakura has been loved by Japanese people for a long time as you can often see its existence in the literature, paintings and other cultural creations.

Around February to March, the media start analyzing exactly the date the sakura bloom in every part of Japan. This is often called the "sakura front". People care about the sakura front because of hanami which is a party where you have a picnic with your colleagues, family or friends under beautiful sakura trees. These days, sakura spots get full of happy and drunk people!

They said that sakura front in Tokyo this year is 25th of March. So we set our hanami on the 27th. I will report back then...

Ingredients:

chicken

onion

carrot

eringi mushroom

white wine

salt

pepper

dried herbs (rosemary, basil, thyme)

1- Cut the chicken and flour a bit of salt on. Cut the vegetables.

2- Fry the chicken. After the chicken's surface is cooked, add the carrot and onion.

3- Pour half a cup of wine and boil it. Add some water and close a lid on.

4- After it's cooked, add pepper and herbs.

Itadakimasu.

Meat balls in the vinegar sauce

Hello! This weekend I went to Jiyugaoka (map) where I used to live last year. It is in south-west Tokyo and one of the most want-to-live places in Tokyo and Japan.

Jiyugaoka is always full of ladies, couples and families enjoying shopping, food and walking as it's well known as a trendy areas. These are for fashion, cafes and interior design stores. The atmosphere is very relaxed and peaceful but it's a bit of a pity that cars drive through the nice narrow streets.

Things are not cheap here but you can find your favorite style of interior decoration at the highest quality. Stylish, elegant, cute, modern or country... I bought some cups and plates this time.

Today's recipe is stir fried meat balls and vegetables in a vinegar sauce.

Ingredients;

minced pork

carrot

onion

ginger

salt

starch

vinegar (1tbsp)

soy sauce (1tbsp)

sugar (1tbsp)

water (2tsps)

sesame oil

1- Mix the minced pork, grazed ginger and salt well, then make small balls and dredge the starch around. Fry the meat balls.

2- Cut the onion and carrot and fry with sesame oil. Add 1 in and fry together.

3- Put water, vinegar, sugar and soy sauce in 2. Melt starch in a bit of water, add it into 2 and stir well.

Itadakimasu.