Takikomi gohan- mixed rice

Hello. Are you interested in hiking? Well, even though you are not, I am sure that you would like it when you know how beneficial it is for your diet!

According to a website that calculates your energy consumption for climbing, basically an 8 hour hike can burn around 5,000kcal! That is equivalent to the energy you need to in-take in about 3 days. Actually that's too much energy to lose in a short time so you need to eat sugar and salt during the climbing. But you can definitely lose your weight.

 You can also enjoy the extraordinary environment that refresh your mind. This photo of Mt. Fuji is a view from a mountain in Okutama, Tokyo.

Ingredients:

rice

konjac

carrot

shitake mushroom

age (friend tofu)

konbu (dried kelp)

soy sauce (2tbsps)

mirin (2tbsps)

sake (1tbsp)

1- Wash the age with a hot water. Cut konjac, carrot, shitake and age finely.

2- Wash the rice and put it in the cooker with the usual amount of water.

3- Add the soy sauce, sake and mirin into 2 and mix it around. Put the konbu and then 1 on top and cook.

4- When it's cooked, stir it around.

Itadakimasu.

Pumpkin salad

On the weekend I went to an electronics store near my place just to have a look. It's surprising that there are always new products coming out. The TVs that I saw half a year ago were discounted about half the price, and newer products with other technologies are already getting cheaper.

This may be due to the big amount of competition between Japanese manufacturers. We can buy good quality products, but on the other side it makes those firms work so hard and put themselves under high-pressure. I cannot believe how all the people keep up with the never-ending-development-war.

Ingredients:

pumpkins

sesame

mayonaise 

1- Cut the pumpkins into 2cm square pieces.

2- Boil or microwave 1 until it becomes soft.

3- Mix with sesame and mayonaise.

Itadakimasu.

Boiled potato with satsuma-age

Yesterday Japan had a record highest temperature in the last three years and Tokyo was over 38 degrees. That means it was over 40 degrees outside the shade. Already 100 people have been killed by heat stroke in a month just in Tokyo, and more than 90% of them died during their sleep at night.

The situation wouldn't have been as bad if night time was at least under 25 degrees. The outside temperature these days in the mid-night is around 27 degrees so it is about 30 inside. It could kill you without A/C and enough water before sleeping..

Ingredients:

satsuma-age (fried fish cake- photo)

potato

carrot

soy sauce (2tbsps)

mirin (2tbsps)

sugar (1tsp)

sesame oil

1- Peel the potatoes and carrot. Cut them and the satsuma-age.

2- Stir fry the satsuma-age with some sesame oil and put it away on a plate. Stir fry 1 in the same pan.

3- Add water till it just covers the ingredients. Put mirin and sugar in, then boil.

4- Add the satuma-age and soy sauce. Boil until it has no water.

Itadakimasu.

Pickled bonito donburi

Last weekend we bought a two people tent for 3,000yen (≒US$35) at a discount shop in Shibuya. The quality is good enough to protect you from 1,000 mm rain, this is very helpful in East Asia!

When we built it, I was surprised how easy you can construct a tent and also how lightweight it is! Well, I have to confess that I'm not experienced at camping as I only went with my family with a 5 person tent that was carried by car...

A good thing about camping in Japan is that onsens (hot springs) are almost everywhere. That means you can try a local onsen whenever you need to get clean. But a source of concern is a place to camp. Usually you are not allowed to camp outside 'camping area'. I recommend you to go to Hokkaido if you want to be more free with your choices.

Ingredients:

bonito (half cooked or raw)

ginger

soy sauce (3tbsps)

mirin (1tbsp)

wasabi

nori

rice

1- Mix the soy sauce, mirin and the grazed ginger.

2- Put the cut bonito in half of 1. Keep another half of the sauce.

3- Put 2 and the rest of the sauce on the cooked rice.

Please eat with some nori and wasabi. You can also put the finely cut spring onion and/or Japanese basil on top.

Itadakimasu.

Yaki udon- stir fried udon noodle

It's difficult to think about your fashion sense in hot conditions as most of your interests are how to stay cool. So lately I really miss the seasons where you can enjoy co-ordinating your fashion. These are early and late winter, spring and autumn.

You can choose a different style dress or T-shirt (for men) to be fashionable in summer but you cannot add as much of your sense. Basically you only rely on the designer's sense. When it's a little colder, you can customize your basic clothes with the combination of layers. These could be a jacket, boots, a scarf, socks etc. This can show the person's sense and character, i find this more fun...

Today I will fry udon with bitter gourd ("goya" in Japanese). The nice bitterness gives you some appetite when you are tired. You can also use canned tuna instead of bacon.

Ingredients:

boiled udon

bitter gourd

onion*

bacon

enoki mushroom*

ginger

garlic

soup (dried fish, 2~4tbsps)

salt and pepper

chili powder

soy sauce

*Anything you like

1- Cut the vegetables, garlic, ginger and bacon.

2- Stir fry 1 with a little salt and pepper. When 1 is cooked, put the udon, soup and soy sauce in.

3- Stir fry for a few minutes then flour some chili powder.

Itadakimasu.

Bitter gourd salad with egg sauce

Today I will cook a salad with this seasonal vegetable called bitter gourd ("goya" or "nigauri" in Japanese). Bitter gourd used to be eaten by people in Okinawa but it has become popular and now you can find it everywhere in Japan, even in Hokkaido.

One of the reasons why it became popular was because its nutrient-richness can help you go over the summer heat. It's too bitter to eat by itself so usually you stir-fry it with meat, another vegetables and tofu etc. As they say "bitter things do good to the stomach", this healthy diet vegetable has attracted people!

This time I want to make a cold salad. I will make it less bitter by microwaving, washing with a cold water and mixing with mayonnaise & egg.

Ingredients:

bitter gourd (1)

egg (1)

mayonnaise

salt and pepper

1- Slice the bitter gourd, put some salt around and microwave or boil for 2-3 minutes. Wash it in a cold water and drain the water.

2- Boil the egg. Crush it with a spoon and mix with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

3- Mix 1 and 2 well.

Itadakimasu.

Harumaki- spring roll

Last week I started visiting a dental clinic again to get some of my bad teeth fixed. Most of the patients at the clinic are kids so the staff seem to be well-trained not to scare you.

There is a screen in front of the seat where you see "Tom and Jerry" and sometimes the dentist uses it to explain the situation with your X ray data. Also they don't say anything about either about "pain" or "no pain". Even if the case does get painful later. They must have thought a lot about how to deal with treating little kids!

Today I'm cooking spring rolls. If you find the layers at supermarkets or Asian shops hopefully. Usually spring rolls are deep-fried but this time I didn't use much oil for less calories.

Ingredients:

starch vermicelli (rice vermicelli is also ok)

capsicum

carrot

cabbage

ginger

garlic

minced pork

layers for spring roll

gochujang(Korean chili paste) or chili

pepper and salt

sesame oil

1- Cut the ginger, garlic, carrot, capsicum and cabbage thinly. Make the vermicelli soft in a hot water, drain the water and cut into 5cm long chunks.

2- Fry the garlic and ginger with sesame oil. Add the pork and other vegetables.

3- When 2 is cooked, add the vermicelli and gochujang, pepper and salt. Stir fry well.

4- Put 3 on a layer and roll it up.

5- Fry 4 with some oil.

Itadakimasu.

Fried meat balls coated with sesame

Finally it rained in Tokyo yesterday after a few weeks of sunny and hot weather. It really cooled down the whole city for a little and it saved us! Unfortunately, it quickly returned to the sunny and humid weather again, but I feel not as bad as before anymore. Hopefully autumn is close?

This summer is historically hot in the world. I heard that even Russia is too hot that foreign ambassadors' families there had to evacuate and go back to their own countries. I hope the situation will get better very soon.

I once had heat stroke. After I walked outside for hours without hat, water or food, I got a bad headache for an hour and then my body felt so cold. Luckily my flatmate made me lie down and gave me a lot of water and sugar. I didn't have any knowledge about heat stroke but that experience scared me after knowing that it could kill you.

Today I will cook something that can give you lots of energy!

Ingredients:

minced pork

ginger

onion

salt and pepper

curry powder

sesame (black or white)

1- Mix the minced pork with grazed ginger, finely cut onion, salt, pepper and curry powder.

2- Place a little of 1 into a table spoon and put it on the sesame. Cover it with sesame properly by using your hands.

3- Fry 2 with some oil.

Itadakimasu.

Porridge

Today I went to the dentist as one of my teeth started hurting too much to do anything! I haven't had a chance to get my teeth fixed for a few years although I knew some of them had problems. It was a little scary as usual but actually I'm happy I went there.

My teeth have had problems since I was a child and I can't remember how much time and money I have spent for them! It doesn't matter how much I looked after them, they are just bad! My brothers who didn't really care are totally fine so I don't know the real reason?

Yesterday I couldn't eat hard food so I cooked porridge. If you can bite, you can also cook some side dishes to eat with the plain porridge.

Ingredients:

rice

water(2-20 times of the rice, depends on your preference.)

*The picture is about 3 times as much water as the rice.

1- Wash the rice and keep it in the water for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2- Boil 1 with a strong heat. When it's boiled, turn it down to minimum and boil another 30-40 minutes. Please don't open the rid while boiling!

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.