Japan

Iron Chef Chen Kenichi is my NEW BEST FRIEND 4 EVA!

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It’s true, check out my photo below to believe it. OK, So that’s not really true, but I couldn’t withhold my excitement!!! I also know I was meant to post the second part of my Shirakawa-Go trip, but this is way too exciting not to announce to everyone and anyone. It’s on par with I touched Prince Williams hand when he visited Australia. Or my cousin’s friend’s uncle knows xxx D grade celebrity.

As part of our somewhat haphazard Anniversary Celebrations, R and I went to the Iron Chef Si Chuan Restaurant in Nagoya. For those of you that don’t know what Iron Chef is – Shame on you, only the most entertaining show EVER! For those of you that do read on to be awestruck and jealous stricken. About a month into arriving in Nagoya I found out that Chen Kenichi – Iron Chef Chinese, had a restaurant in Nagoya. Some friends told me that he would actually be cooking on the 18th August, because of that we decided to book in as a special treat for the day. We didn’t really expect it to be any different than a normal outing to the restaurant but thought they might have some specials that they didn’t normally run. BOY were we surprised!!!! Here’s a little wiki on Iron Chef Chinese himself. You’ll be glad to know that -the special ingredient seemed to be SEAFOOD. Maybe not sure, but everything was quite seafood themed, it was 7-8 courses in total.

When we got there we were graciously shown to our spots, the service was friendly and nice from the get go, and the menu of that nights dinner was placed at our seats. The Restaurant is actually smaller than it seems from the outside, but you get to have a lovely view right into the kitchen through a special clear window. We sat next to a suspiciously Yakuza looking couple, the guy had massive tattoos all up and down his arm, neck everywhere. I know it’s a complete stereotype, but he did whip out an expensive VERY black looking fan to occasionally fan himself……. JUST like in the movies. They were actually a nice couple.

Halfway through our meal, Chen Kenichi popped out, he was quite gracious. Stopping at every table, asking if we enjoyed our meal. Having a chat, and assuring people without meals that a tasty treat would be coming their way! He was surprisingly jovial and friendly, I was so awestruck and starstruck that I could only mumble pigeon Japanese at him. He must surely have thought I was a special needs child. He kindly took a photo sitting next to me and later at the end of our meal, he personally brought out our dessert plate and wished us Happy Anniversary! As we left he came back and signed our menu before leaving, he has a beautiful handwriting btw! Reminded me of my Grandfather’s calligraphy. The food was amazing as well, although probably not strictly Chinese in some dishes, it definitely had Chinese influences and is probably the best Chinese food you can get in Japan (Japan having almost no authentic Chinese Cuisine outside of Yokohama). It was also great value (comparing it to back home), the ingredients were all fresh and quality stuff. Although it was by no means cheap for Japan, I was conscious that the same meal could easily cost us double this back in Australia considering the ingredients used.

Their normal menu when Iron Chef doesn’t make an appearance is cheaper, and I would definitely recommend it as a special treat for Chinese food lovers. Just don’t go expecting an orthodox recreation of your grandmother’s Si Chuan Recipe. The only gripe I have is that the Chinese Tea (Fragrant and plentiful), cost about 1,000 – 1,500Yen, you wouldn’t even pay for this at most restaurants, but they did serve quality tea at least. Like many Japanese restaurants they offer a lunch course which is great value, starting from around 3,880 Yen you can get often almost the same menu for half the price! Book ahead though as these restaurants are often booked up a few months in advance.

The MENU for the night as below –

– Amuse bouche of a light sashimi, with a delicious sesame dressing on a bed of pickled cucumbers, tomato

– Then a selection of 3 Cold Entrees, I haven’t uploaded a photo yet, but it was pickled jellyfish, seared beef and a tofu with szechuan sauce.

– Scampi, light stirfried with Uni in a Ginger Sauce

– Abalone poached and served on Seafood Consomme

– Shark Fin and Crab Soup

– Poached Japanese Sea Bass in Hot and Spicy Soup

– Handmade ‘Ban’ Noodles with a Dan Dan Sauce 

– Peach Jelly Panacotta with Honeydew Ice Cream and Fresh Fruits.

My favourite was probably either the Scampi or the Noodles, the entree was just the perfect to whet our appetites! I was deliciously hungry for more after consuming it. The dessert was also amazing, I have to put up a photo of it, it was so refreshing! I think it’s safe to say, Iron Chef Chinese CUISINE REIGNS SUPREME!

Eat with Bea Rating – 4.5/5 Stars

Cost – 10,500Yen for Special Set Course and expect to pay around 850 – 1,600 Yen for a pot of Chinese Tea. Lunch Course from around 3,880Yen

Contact Details (Reservation suggested) –

http://www.sisen.jp/

〒 464-0073
, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya Takami 2-9-12 Nagoya Central Garden
TEL :052-753-9101
Fax :052-757-5250

OR

〒 450-6012
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Nakamura Meieki 1-1-4
JR Central Towers 12th Floor, Plaza Towers
TEL :052-566-5501

I have the attention span of a 3 yr old faced with 100 different types of cupcakes

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It’s true, how terrible am I? I started this blog almost 1 month and a half ago and after diligently posting about my adventures in Japan, I promptly lost interest in less than 10 days. Does everyone go through this with blogging? Maybe it’s because I’m from the instant gratification generation. Or so my parents insist on telling me quite regularly.

Since it’s been a while since I said hello! So much has happened that I’ve wondered. What should I blog about exactly?? I’ve done so much and EATEN SO much that there’s just too much to contain in one little post. And to be fair, you’ll all be bored stiff reading as it is. Well instead of posting ridiculous high-calorie-arteries-clogging food photos I’ve decided to change it up a bit. With Obon upon us this week ( a period in Japan where a bunch of public holidays fall one after another and the Japanese honour their ancestors) R and I have decided to go and explore a little of the Central Japan Area. Everyone and anyone get’s in their cars, jet off somewhere and it gets congested and overpriced. But if they didn’t have this block of holidays Japanese people would probably work too much!

I should probably mention to make up for the lack of posts that I’m sure the world wide web has been eagerly anticipating with bated breath, I have decided to split my post into two. WOAH I know. If anyone actually sticks around to read the second one…

Sadly this region we live in seems to be just a quick post-note in most guide books. I’m not sure if this is because it is not as convenient a route for most 1-2 week holiday trips in Japan. Most people do the Tokyo – Osaka/Kyoto – Hiroshima route, and just bypass anything facing the Japan Sea side. (Which I myself have done the last few times in Japan too) Having said that there is a huge domestic market for it, just that I can barely string a sentence to say “I’m going on holiday” in Japanese.  Actually I think that this region is just as beautiful, and I’m enjoying finding out more and more about it and it’s ‘off-the-beaten-track’ charm. Well enough of that, I’m sure you’re all dying to know where I decided to go.

After some talk we decided that we wanted to visit the Gokoyama Region, although by far the most famous village in this region is Shirakawa-go (A Unesco Heritage site), there are other lesser visited places in the area. I’m not going to go on about it, because to be honest you can google the hell out it. There are three villages in the area that make up the Gokoyama Area, although half is in one prefecture and the others in another. Our plan for the day was to start at Ainokura (the furthest away) and end at Shirakawa-go before heading home with a quick Onsen dip on the way home (although this didn’t happen, we were just too tired!) Although we initially wanted to stay in a Ryokan up there, it ended up being too much of a hassle because of the busy holiday period so we decided to save it for later.

So the day arrived and R and I, with two of our friends K and M decided to leave our house at 9ishAM. I say 9ish, because if any of you know me well, you know I am a terrible time keeper. We all piled into our car and left, after about 30 mins, we already hit our first road block. The dreaded TRAFFIC JAM, it took us 30 mins to clear 250meters at one point! But then it all miraculously cleared up, it did add an extra hour to our travel time though.

How to Get There

For those of you who are thinking about driving there yourself, it takes between 3 to 3.5 hr from Nagoya on the zippy Express way depending on how fast or how careful a driver you are. The Tolls cost about 5300 Yen (Around $55) Each way, plus Petrol, per car. BUT if you’re planning to do this by Public Transport, it can take you HOURS (Around 6 to be exact), this is because there aren’t great connections heading up that way, but it means you probably will get slightly less tourists  (a small bonus). You will have to train from Takayama and from there Bus to Shirakawa-go, if you want to go further to the higher areas, you need to take an extra bus from Shirakawa-go to Ainokura. All up this can cost around 12,000 Yen each way/per person or more (Around $120 I’m bad at maths too), so you can imagine that if you have a car it’s a lot more convenient not to mention cheaper to get up there!

We Have Arrived At –

Ainokura

Ainokura is probably one of the quietest villages as it’s the furthest away, All you need to pay is a 500yen parking fee and you’re free to wander around. It’s also one of the most secluded, proper roads and electricity didn’t even really get there until the mid 1900’s. Even now you can still see a lot of rural quaintness in the area. I would have loved to stay up there! You can see a lot of the villagers are self-sustaining growing their own crops and harvesting wild forest vegetables for their dinner table. In fact a famous dish from the area is tempura vegetables with vegetables found only in the region. They also sold some of their vegetables at a little booth next to the car park, although I didn’t buy any they all looked amazingly fresh and cheap. A big bag of eggplants, roughly 5-6 baby ones in a bag went for 100Yen!! We decided to walk up to the look out point in Ainokura which only took a scant 5-10 mins at most. Even so it was a dirt road, and I was surprised to see a Japanese Girl wearing 3 inch stilettos, I soon realised by the end of the day, this was quite de rigeur amongst the younger girls. THE PAIN!!!! How can they DO THAT??! I just know that I don’t want to have Sarah Jessica Parker’s veiny heel worned feet/claw/hooves. We were rewarded after our ardous 5 min hike with a beautiful view of the village. The houses here are built slightly different from their neighbours as they get larger snowfall, and we were given a pamplet in english that proudly told us of the construction that required the whole village to join in and help ceate the Gassho Houses. I could probably tell you what a Gassho house is but here’s a link instead. It also details the differences in construction.

If you’re interested in just having a cup of tea and watching the world go by in a quiet Japanese town you can do this. Or you can make yourself a cup of tea and check out this link to a LIVE FEED of Ainokura Village,  from the safety and comfort of your own couch. You can toggle the buttons on the left to get a 3 different view points. I feel sorry for these people, it’s like they live on the Truman Show, people traipse through their street staring at them gardening, now they have a camera just pointed at them ALL THE TIME!!!! There’s definitely no wandering around the house naked for these people…. not that you would I’m sure.

Below is one of the best kept houses in Ainokura, although on further reflection I felt it surely looked like the evil witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel. hmm….

One of the shops also sold their own home made ice cream, which after walking around in 35 degree heat, R and I decided was a great idea! We got one each of the Black Sesame (Goma) and Yuzu (Japanese Citrus fruit). Although I was a bit hesitant to try a citric milky cream confection, I was pleasantly surprised. This was delicious, the ice cream was soft and creamy too, which if you’re used to Japanese ice-cream, it was a surprise too.

There are a few points of interest in the village apart from the amazingly cute cottages. 

Other Things to do in Ainokura –

– There are 2 folk museums which allow you entry to see what a Gassho house is like inside (1st floor only) as well as explanation of the local music instruments etc, We decided to skip this and save ourselves for Iwase House (Which I’ll talk about later) Iwase house being one of the biggest and oldest Gassho houses in the region, plus you get to go up the the 3rd floor. You might as well go big or go home!

– The map marked out an impressively named 20 Day Stone, it told us that when the snow on that stone melted, the remaining snow in the village would dissipate within 20 days. We excitedly rushed to see it, it turned out to be a very uninspiring green covered rock in someone’s backyard, in fact what was more exciting was this cute little dog house right next to the rock, in fact you can see the 20 day rock to your right and judge for yourself on how impressive this is.

– There is a cute little shrine with a beautiful cypress tree by it’s gate entrance, you can see this in the photo above. I can’t remember the name unfortunately!

So I’ve rambled for long enough so this ends my post for today. The village gave us just a sample of cuteness to come, trust me the rest of my day was punctuated with cries of OH THAT IS SOOOOOOO CUTE! I hated myself, I sounded like a 16 yr old Belieber and a Bieber concert, but I couldn’t help it. Ainokura is definitely worth the visit if you have a car, it is a mere 30 mins away from Shirakawa-go, it is less touristy and you get to wander around the village without too many other people trying to get in your photos ( a common disease that affects most snap happy people). I could easily see myself coming back to spend a night in one of the Ryokan or Guest Houses here. Although I’ve heard that they play a loudspeaker message and music at 6.30am right through the village for 10 min intervals for half an hour……. so not for the early risers I’m guessing.

oh the shame…My Burger Weekend

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How lazy am I?? A few days in and I got distracted living life! Well… I think the truth is I was trying to avoid telling everyone the truth. Please forgive me.

I didn’t get to eat THE TRUFFLE BURGER. After I had told everyone about my excitement, I went down to McDonald’s (after an hour of of to and froing with my bf, and ignoring his desperate pleas to please not give in to the EVIL Clown) only to be told. Sorry we’re sold out. WHAT?!?!?!?! How can they be sold out at not even 2pm in the afternoon? That’s right everyone the burger was sold out within 4 hours. Sad tear in my eyes.

And triumphant boyfriend in the background. He thought he had won! I was so hungry from talking about eating this burger the whole day with my bf that I just bought something else in the end. Quarter Pounder! Ha! He wasn’t so triumphant any more.

Well apart from eating my burger, my weekend was very low key. Originally, we had great plans to go to Okazaki, see the castle and Miso factory. I tell everyone that I want to go because of the amazing history. But the truth is, Okazaki was a key location in the game Samurai Warriors, one of my favourite all-time games. Ok the truth came out, I love THIS GAME. (click on the link to learn more). To be fair I am interested in Iyeyasu Tokugawa, and his history. Blah blah. So all you need to know is I’m excited about Japanese history. Unfortunately helping out our friend, and by the time everything was done and we were ready to leave it was already 4pm. So…… Okazaki another day.

One of the bad asses from my much loved game.

I know you’re thinking, what does this have to do with burgers? Well, instead of going to Okazaki, we decided to go to this little cafe instead.

The Little Best Cafe

〒 466-0064 愛知県名古屋市天白区平針2丁目1111  A2ビル1F

TEL:052-842-8686

http://cafethebest.jp/little

Cafe – The Little Best

Look at it! It’s so cute!! I highly recommend it! My bf picked it out, and it so happened a lovely random person had recommended it as well! Perfect it was meant to be. Although it was essentially a burger, they called it a  ‘Sando’ サンド. They make their own buns in this cafe, and surprisingly it’s not the sugar sweet bun that you get at a lot of Japanese places. The bun is almost like damper (for the aussies out there). All the burgers come served with wedges and 2 onion rings, as well as some pickles. The prices start from 780円　and you can add an extra 500円 to get the drink and cake set as well. Considering that most drinks on the menu are already 400円 and cakes start from 380円 it’s quite good value to add the cake set. The funny thing is that I noticed they only had one chef in the kitchen, but they had a completely separate cake kitchen which had 3-4 patisserie chefs. Their cakes must be super popular! Below are the yummy things that I had. I went with their ‘special, which had okra, mozzarella, a meat sauce, tomato, lettuce and their home-made patty. It was delicious, although their ‘special’ burger is a bit more it’s still worth it! All the burgers are quite large and both of us were absolutely stuffed after. For a Japanese home made burger it’s not bad at all! I would definitely recommend going back again if you had a burger craving any time soon. All I can say is – It’s a good burger.

If you collect Hot Pepper coupons etc, you can also use them at the cafe. They also have parking if you need.

The ‘Special’ Burger

 

The cute cake I had. Blueberry Mascarpone Short Cake

Well until my next food adventure! Sayonara!

Dinner Only! Truffle Alert (the dirty kind, not the chocolate kind)

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I just thought I would share my pictures from my last dinner. There’s nothing too exciting about them, but last night I was seriously craving Polenta with mushrooms. It’s such a comfort food, and normally this is my winter special(despite the sweltering 37+degrees in Nagoya). But I think I had truffles on my mind.

I’ve actually talked about this on Facebook because I’m not sure if it’s something I will get ostracised for! Or perhaps it’s something that’s SO WRONG it’s just SO RIGHT. I love truffles (the mushroom although the chocolate type does just fine too), and I even made a point to bring a good bottle of truffle oil with me from home. Although I know you can get it here too! Now I’m clearly just dancing around the issue.

Well the thing is McDonald’s Japan is launching a NEW TRUFFLE BURGER tomorrow!!!! It looks amazing ….. I say quietly. My boyfriend HATES McDonald’s, so much so we’ve actually had a fight about it! It ended in me sullenly eating my McDonald’s cheeseburger whilst we stared defiantly at each other. Check out the ad below, frankly the other’s look pretty average. I’m not going to be paying $10 for some chorizo in a mediocre bun. And Pineapple in a bun? Hello we do that on everything in Australia. I even remember the ham steaks with pineapple my mum used to serve when I was a kid! (you Aussies know the one!) But I have a serious weakness for all things truffle.

The “Black Diamond” Truffle Burger

Just to top things off, we actually live less than 1 mins walk to a McDonald’s. I feel it’s my calling, that God is telling me that this truffle burger and I, we are meant to be!

Well subconsciously I sautéed up a bunch of balsamic mushrooms to have with my polenta. All with a generous dollop of truffle oil on top. My boyfriend’s thing is the steak, I always let him cook it, because he does a pretty good job, and also there’s something about Meat and BBQ that make men roar and say I’m the king of it. So anyway if anyone is thinking of doing this, it is literally the easiest and quickest meal you can cook up and can help stave off your truffle cravings in less than 15 mins!

  • In my polenta at the last minute I always stir in a generous cube of butter, and sprinkle cheese in it. Fresh Parmigiano Reggiano is faboulous, but sometimes you just have to make do. I also always make mine with stock and milk/cream, but I know there are others who prefer just water. I just think the stock adds an extra layer of flavour.
  • I just grabbed a bunch of mushrooms sauteed with some olive oil and butter. I love a variety of mushrooms, and Japan is the land of mushrooms. It’s nice to chuck a variety in there, I also just put a quick sprinkling of Italian or Herbs de Provence and a splash of Balsamic oil at the end to finish it off. Top your polenta with this, and it’s yummy juices.
  • Next finish off with a generous drizzle of truffle oil over everything. I popped some watercress on top as I had this left over from the other night. Waste not want not! Or you can also garnish with extra parmesan.
  • Voila, if you’re vegetarian, this is a ‘meaty’ delicious way to fill up.
  • Serve with steak! (For non-vegetarians)

Just so you know I will be at McDonald’s at 10.30 tomorrow morning. See you there!

No egg, No Dairy and No Gluten. Chocolate anyone?

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So when I first got to Japan I went along to a “Meet and Greet”. It’s sort of a social group for WAGS of Nagoya. Unfortunately I haven’t been to any more as yet, and although probably about 95% of the people there have kids (which I definitely don’t, this shop is closed). I found most people to be super welcoming and friendly. Which is nice when you get to a new city, and know NOONE! Unfortunately you do have to be free on a weekday lunch to really attend these things, which might be hard for most people. BUT I digress.

At the meeting I met a lovely lady called Izumi, now poor Izumi, actually her poor son, has a severe allergy to anything egg, dairy or gluten. Which really sucks for the poor thing. I really feel for him as someone who couldn’t even cut out carbs for a week on some health challenge! And Chocolate?? NO Chocolate for him. But Izumi, being the clever woman that she is, has become something like a Heston Blumenthal of sorts, to devise new ways to cook so he can still enjoy some sweets. She’s worked on adapting some recipes so that he can try to enjoy life. Obviously she could have just stuck him on some boring diet, but I really admire that she has worked hard to use her imagination and creativity to help him enjoy his delicious meals in a healthy way. It must be healthy, because Izumi told me she tests the sweets herself quite regularly, and she is still as thin as a reed. If only eating cake made me that way too.

Izumi runs some cooking courses so that she can share her recipes with other mums and other cooks. I was quite intrigued, and truth be told, I’ve never met a cake I didn’t like so I decided to go. So this meal that I’m talking about is actually the second class of Izumi’s I’ve gone too. On the menu was Salmon Chirashi (a sort of sushi rice) and for dessert Lica-chan doll Chocolate cake.

Now the piece de resistance of the whole class was really the Lica-chan doll. If you’re wondering “What is Lica-chan?”. Check this link out. She’s sort of the Barbie of Japan, but she has a much cooler back story than a convertible and an anatomically incorrect boyfriend. I asked Izumi why she doesn’t use Barbie instead? She said Barbie’s legs were too long for the cake and didn’t sit quite right. See! it just shows that Barbie’s not realistic. Actually I loved Barbie growing up, and desperately wanted to get her convertible.

Anyway below is the finished product. Tada!

Now just to run you through a few things that Izumi did, if you really want the recipes she has a website she updates (unfortunately only in Japanese) regularly. She does update it with photos step by step as well. I’m really sad that I didn’t take a photo of the inside, but it was chocolate cake filled with coconut creme and blueberries, and a layer of coconut chocolate mousse. So this cake can be time consuming, but has a great visual effect. It really came down to making four components to assemble; chocolate cake, coconut creme (with fruits), chocolate mousse, sweet potato icing.  I can also imagine that if you didn’t want to do the doll shape, you could easily make a normal cake with layers and cover the outside with either the chocolate mouse or the coconut creme. If you wanted to include fruits like Izumi did in this one you can layer the fruits inside the cake. My favourite part was the coconut creme, you could also use the creme or the mousse as ice cream when frozen.

  • To make the chocolate mousse, we used tofu pulverised with beet sugar(more natural) and coconut milk (organic), pure cocoa powder, mixed in some agar agar (natural occurring gelatin made from seaweed) and then chilled it. Before this I was always firmly in the Tofu and chocolate shall never meet, but really if you hadn’t told me it was tofu, I would have realised.
  • To make the coconut creme, we whipped up some coconut milk until it was fluffy with sugar and vanilla essence. Then the magic touch was a splash of lemon juice. Once the lemon juice went in there the mixture (which was previously quite milky and liquid) seized up and started showing a glossy, smooth, thick dollopy texture. It looked very similar to a meringue cream. She then mixed in some frozen blueberries and mangos and chilled. This was delicious, I could have eaten this by itself! Again wish I had a photo!
  • The icing on the doll was made from sweet potatoes and pumpkin! Sweet Potatoes were boiled down and blended and chilled before being used as icing. To create the purple brown colour, we used purple sweet potato powder, and a combination of lemon juice to alkalise it. You could probably experiment with your own natural occurring colours!

The inside of the cake!

The above is a picture from Izumi’s website to just show you what the inside looks like. (credit to Izumi)

Some poor highly allergic kid out there is going to be extremely happy. Perhaps you would like to share your feelings to??

The Salmon Chirashi ,the main below, had me truly interested, although a lot of the ladies being Japanese were probably already familiar with the ingredients, but I was furiously writing down all the ingredients, as I didn’t realise so much went in there. Again completely gluten free!

  • First the rice is boiled with Kombu (a type of seaweed), so that this isn’t wasted, she also finely chops this up after and mixes it in the rice.
  • Then a mixture of mirrin, (beet) sugar, sesame seeds, sugar and rice vinegar is all vigorously stirred up and thoroughly mixed in the rice.
  • Finally,  Izumi explained how she makes her own dashi (japanese stock) and soaks, baby bamboo shoots, lotus roots (burdocks), mushrooms and carrot in there, she then flakes up some salmon and stirs that in the rice thoroughly.
  • The finishing touches, were some smoked salmon roses she placed on top, and sugar peas that she had finely sliced up to resemble a garden.

This was such a simple recipe to make, and Izumi explained that when she doesn’t want to cook, this is what she makes. As you can see it was a HUGE serving (I always come away staggering and bloated with the food consumed after her classes), we also made onigiri from the remainders.

Although I would always still pick the pure chocolate (my true weakness), Izumi has opened my eyes to a completely new kind of cooking. Just examining the different ways that we can still enjoy food, has blown my mind. My favourite by far is the coconut creme with fruits which was SO Easy, and so tasty. Could easily be whipped up in 20 secs. So there you have it, the secret to eating something yummy and delicious without ANY diary, egg or gluten. If you asked me earlier I would have laughed in your face. Me! Who’s catchphrase is ‘Butter makes everything better’, but an old dog can still learn new tricks!

If you really want the recipes, just drop me a comment below or let me know and I’ll see if I can be a bit less lazy. Until next time. Adieu!

***Just a quick edit to let you guys know that if you’re interested in attempting this recipe. Izumi has kindly translated it into English! So Just click on the link above.

Miso Hungry!!

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I know the title of this blog post is such a cliche, but I couldn’t help it!

And truth be told I was very hungry. Most weeknights my boyfriend comes home quite late from work; around 10pm-11pm. Whahhaa?! You say! I know. But such is the working life in Japan, and I can’t complain because I know that some of his colleagues have it worse! Even working weekends.

So I wait at home most nights, like a good ‘ wannebe- house-wife’ and think about what I’m going to cook for dinner. Most nights when he gets home we’re both starving! I’ve learnt new ways to work around this, for example I always try to have a late-ish lunch around 2.30pm to 3pm, but by around 6pm I have a snack. I actually think this is getting a little bit unhealthy because I don’t always eat the healthiest food. Especially when I’m the only person around. I think the problem is that I love eating food with other people, and it’s so social that when I’m the only one eating half the fun is gone!!!

Now one of the ladies that I met at the Okonomiyaki Party, (you can read this in my last post), told me about a Miso glaze recipe that she had used from Harumi Kurihara. Billed by her PR team as the Martha Stewart of Japan, her books are available in English as well as Japanese. I read on her website that she does change some of the recipes in her English book to make the ingredients and cooking more accessible to a Western Audience. This makes sense, as not all Japanese ingredients are readily available elsewhere. That aside, this was actually the first time I’ve hear of her, and it seems like you either hate or love her from what I’ve read online. These ladies loved her. Both the ladies had tried the miso glazed recipe and it did sound NYOM! NYOM!

Harumi Being Happy Cook

 

For those of you who are interested and want to try it at home, I got this recipe from the lovely lady, but after typing in ‘Harumi Kurihara Scallops’ in Google I came across this link. Which is almost the same recipe I used.

But the proportions I used were slightly different, the recipe I had called for larger spoonfuls of the sauce and more scallops. I might try a variation of the recipe in the link next time.  I’m not going to type it out, you can easily click on the link, and really that’s the boring part. Jokes. Instead I’ll share the changes!

I had already decided that the scallops itself weren’t quite enough for a whole meal ( I know, what a pig I hear you say!), luckily I had some baby asparagus in the fridge (on sale! Win!), and thought I could get some Salmon to go with it. The salmon fillets in Japan tend to be a much smaller serve than this back home in Australia. This is because we big western-eating people like to eat one big meal, but most Japanese will serve the fish PLUS at least 2-3 other dishes with their rice. Which works out well because I love eating a bit of everything. I’m that annoying person who, when you go out, says ‘Oh can I try a bit?’ their forks already hovering over that favourite bit you saved for last. Yes, that’s me.

Whilst at the supermarket I saw Asari Clams on special and couldn’t help myself. Even though I already had quite a large dish, I thought, well, it’s on special!! I can’t resist a good bargain! AND I LOVE Asari Clams. Some of you may know them as Manilla Clams as well. So they went in my trolley too. I decided to serve this in an Asari Miso Soup, the recipe I have is SO simple, it’s quicker than instant noodles. It takes me about 5 mins from start to finish. It’s so delicious, I couldn’t help but take a picture and taunt some of my friends on Facebook with it. Voila!

Asari Clams and Mushroom in Miso

Now if you want to cook this, the recipe I use is from another Blogger’s website. Click on the link to try yourself. Some things that I do differently are –

  • Up the Clams, there are NEVER enough clams
  • Try tofu and seaweed as well to add more flavour to the soup.
  • DEFINITELY give the Clams a good soak with the salt water. Clams sometimes have a crunchy taste and the salt water helps them release the salt and spit out all the crap they might have been holding on to.

Now for the next Miso dish! I decided to serve my Seared Salmon and Scallops on a bed of Baby Asparagus and Rice.

Again, I’m just going to run through the things I did differently the link is above anyway. Note the recipe is only for Scallops with Sauce.

  • I use red rice, I love the flavourful crunchy texture of this. You can mix this with normal rice, the colour is really rich so I proportion it 1:3 – red rice:normal rice. Back home in Australia you can find it in most Coles or Safeway, for some silly reason they call it ‘Forbidden Rice’. A bit of a marketing gimmick if you ask me! In Malaysia, we serve the red mixed with brown and white for a different flavour as well.
  • I blanched the asparagus in salt, olive oil and boiling water, very quickly.
  • I skipped the flour. I didn’t really think it was necessary and the miso adds a heaviness to it anyway.
  • The recipe I had called for larger Tbsps of Mirin, Soy etc. (2-3 tbsps of each) I actually think that the smaller quantities on the link is better as I ended up with a lot of extra sauce which unfortunately went to waste. Mottainai! (as the Japanese say, it means what a waste!)
  • I would also suggest reducing the Miso, depending on which Miso you decide to use. I’m not sure if my Miso was too strong, but I found the flavour to be VERY heavy. I also cut a bit of the sugar, as Mirin already has a natural sweet taste to it. Although it was delicious to start with, I found that the glaze overpowered the natural sweetness of the scallops and ended up scraping some of it off, again this might have been because of the type of Miso I used (mixed).
  • I used yoghurt instead of cream, as I had natural organic yoghurt in the fridge and couldn’t be bothered getting cream. Cream in Japan has a very low fat content anyway.

In conclusion, I really liked the flavours of the dish, BUT I think I’m going to try it again with some tweaks. I’m not sure if I did it quite right, the Miso Glaze/Sauce was very heavy and when paired with the delicate scallops, the scallops lost out a bit. It also left me with a bit of a salty aftertaste. If you have had Nasu Dengaku ( Miso Grilled Eggplant) you will find that this has the same flavour ( in fact I’m going to try this glaze with the nasu)  I’m going to retry with smaller quantities and less Miso next time. I’m positive it’s going to be even tastier.

My boyfriend had already gulped down half the meal by the time I took a photo! He agreed as well that a little of the sauce goes a long way and volunteered his opinion with no prompting.

Japan Cooking Mission Complete!! Miso Happy! (I couldn’t help it)

Any questions or comments? Let me know below!

Losing my blog virginity

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Nagoya, JapanAnd in the beginning….

I was completely CLUELESS! I am when it comes to technological things. The fact that I’ve managed somehow to actually post something and get a blog just completely boggles my mind!!

I should start with my little intro, it’s nothing you can’t read or find out about me quite easily. I’m still amazed at how many complex levels of information you need to give before you can start a blog. Well, hopefully I can still preserve an image of grace around me, and not reveal all my terrible bad habits. After all everyone has bad habits right?

I started this blog, because I’m quite determined to eat my way through Japan, and have had a people ask me about my recent eating haunts. I also think that everyone on my Facebook page would like me to stop bombarding them with the food porn. I love cooking and eating, but I like to constantly try and cook new things. Which means that sometimes when I have to cook on a daily basis, I can get a bit exhausted because I hate doing the same recipes again and again. That’s not to say I don’t have some absolute faves I trot out on a regular “oh-we’re-so-grown-up-dinner-party”.

Most importantly this blog is going to be about my adventure through Japan eating and learning to cook, international and Japanese foods. I don’t believe that just because you paid $2 Bazillion dollars for a meal it must be amazing. I’m interested in getting the best deals! But also for the best tasting meals.

Because of my location (I recently moved to Japan, I’m roughly somewhere halfway between Nagoya and Toyota City. And to all the loud exclamations of “There’s a TOYOTA CITY?!” Yes, yes there is. And it’s all about Toyota. Wow what a long parenthesis this has turned out to be!), my explorations are going to be based quite heavily around a specific area. I hope I can help people realize that there is great food all through Japan.