Melina's Kitchen

Dinner on 20/07/10

2011-09-18T08:06:00.004Z

Menu: Goya champuru, kabocha, okara, miso soup with mozuku, takuan(Japanese pickles) and rice with grains

Here's the photo of the dinner which my mum made on our first day back in Okinawa last summer.

Doesn't all the food look delicious?

I just found out the English name for mozuku. Apparently, it's called Cladosiphon okamuranus!

Cladosiphon okamuranus (水雲; 藻付; 海蘊; 海雲 (mozuku^?)) is a type of edible seaweed in the genusCladosiphon, naturally found in Okinawa, Japan. Most of the mozuku now is farmed by locals, and sold to processing factories. The main use of mozuku is as food, and as source of one type of sulfated polysaccharidecalled Fucoidan to be used in cancer treatment aid health supplements.

(Fromwikipedia)

Looking at this photo makes me hungry and makes me miss Okinawa...

Haitai!

2011-09-17T04:21:00.003Z

Haitai everybody.

I'm still here... So sorry that I have been quiet.

I've been quite busy, but it's about time I updated this blog very soon.

Hope all is well with you!

Love,

Melina x

Mu-chi-(鬼餅) Day

2011-01-11T14:45:00.019Z

We have a tradition of eating mu-chi- on Mu-chi-(ムーチー) day in Okinawa.

I can imagine that most of you are thinking,

"What's that? What's mu-chi-??"

Well, mu-chi- is a type of streamed rice cake wrapped in getto (月桃) leaves. Mu-chi- day is on the 8th of December in lunar calendar in Okinawa, and this year's mu-chi- day fell on the 11th of January. Traditionally, we are supposed to pray for the children's health and well being. There's an interesting story behind this tradition.

*********************************************************

Legend has it that there was a man who was originally from Shuri (首里), our old capital city. He was a lonely man (he lost his parents when he was very young, and his little sister got married and moved to another Okinawan island) and eventually turned into an ogre and attacked animals and children to eat every night. Nobody could do anything about it. His sister heard about this and decided to see him taking his favourite food - rice cake but put iron nails inside. His sister took him to the cliff and gave him the special rice cake. While he was suffering in pain, his sister pushed him down the cliff. So no more ogre! This event happened on the 8th of December (in lunar calendar) apparently. That's how this tradition started.

Mu-chi- day is also called mu-chi-bi-sa, and it's supposed to be the coldest day of the year in Okinawa. (Am I right, my Okinawan friends?)

By the way, kanji (or Chinese character) for mu-chi- is 鬼餅. 鬼 means devil, and 餅 means rice cake.

My family make mu-chi- every year. The photos you can see below were taken back in the early 2009.

Wish I were there to make and eat it..... If you are in Okinawa, you should definitely try it!! If you do, make sure to eat one extra for me and let me know how you like it :)

Dinner on 02/01/11

2011-01-11T00:16:00.005Z

Menu: Ozoni(ish), rice with sweet potatoes, Enoki mushroom wrapped in bacon, boiled spinach with soy sauce

Unfortunately, I was unwell and didn't make proper osechi dishes this year. Well, actually, I attempted to make one of the osechi dishes on new year's day, but I burnt it by mistake :( My husband and our daughter were out that day anyway, and I thought to myself "I can't do it all over again. I'm going to sit down and relax now!" and ate all the unburnt and slightly burnt food from the pot. Can't remember what I made that evening, but I think it was something very simple. The food I cooked on the 2nd wasn't proper osechi ryori, but my family seemed to have enjoyed it, so I was happy :)

Dinner on 31/12/10

2011-01-11T00:01:00.003Z

Menu: Toshikoshi Udon (年越しうどん)、Spring Rolls (春巻き)

We had those dishes on new year's eve. It's not our tradition to have spring rolls though. The yellow bits you can see on top of udon are sliced orange peels. They gave a lovely flavour to the soup!

Click here if you would like to know what toshikoshi udon is.

Happy 2011!!!

2011-01-10T23:49:00.002Z

明けましておめでとうございます。

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!!!

Melina x

Just let you know...

2010-07-10T02:01:00.002Z

Haitai everybody! Sorry I've been quiet here on this blog. I've been extremely busy these days, but I'm happy to tell you the world that I'm going back to Okinawa for the summer!!!!!!! :):):)

Two more days until our holiday starts. We're flying via Tokyo and staying there for a week, then flying to Okinawa.

Hopefully I can update food I will have while in Tokyo/Okinawa.

Until then, see ya!

M x

Okinawa Day 2010 at Spitalfields Market!

2010-06-25T21:46:00.002Z

It's Okinawa Day 2010 tomorrow!!! If you live around London, then do come and join us! It's going to be a fun event. I must be off to get some sleep. I'm getting up in 4 hours' time.

Click here for more details.

Hope to see you tomorrow!!!

Baked on 19/06/10

2010-06-22T22:43:00.003Z

My husband and our daughter made flapjacks that day. He had never made them in his life, but he was inspired to make them after watching a cooking programme. My husband and our daughter both had fun making them together. When we visited my father-in-law on Father's Day, everybody there tried a piece and loved it!

Dinner on 13/06/10

2010-06-22T21:44:00.005Z

Menu: Soki jiru, spinach ohitashi, and rice

That's the soup I didn't take to my friend's on the previous day. It still tastes lovely though. In the soup, I used spareribs, daikon (Japanese radish) and kelp. I made spinach ohitashi to go with it. I wanted something simple like this. I simply boiled some spinach for a couple of minutes, and squeezed out the water. Cut in 3 to 4cm length, and then soaked it in diluted hontsuyu. Hontsuyu is very useful and is commonly used in Japan.

Japanese Hontsuyu Soup Base for Noodle

Dinner on 12/06/10

2010-06-17T22:21:00.005Z

Menu: Goya (bittermelon) champuru, somin (white noodle) champuru, jushi (rice with pork, shiitake, carrots), ninjin shirishiri (grated carrots and eggs), soki jiru (soup with spareribs, Japanese radish and kelp), chicken with marmalade and soy sauce

I treated my local friends to some Okinawan food at one of my friends'. Apart from the chicken dish, they are all typical Okinawan dishes. I don't know why we use the term "champuru" for the noodle dish (we use vegetables, tofu and meat in champuru dishes), but I believe there's an another name for it - somin tashiya (ソーミンタシヤー.) In traditional somin tashiya, white thin noodles, spring onions and salt are used. I would use sliced onions, tuna, and spring onions for the dish. My mum would use grated carrots as well. All the dishes are easy to make, but I will write about them another time.

This is the close-up version of the soup and rice dish. Actually, the soup wasn't a proper one. I used normal pork instead of spareribs. What happened was, I did make the proper soki jiru at home, but I wasn't confident enough to take it around. When I went to a supermarket on the way to my friend's, I couldn't find any spareribs. The soup still tasted nice though.

I was quite happy that my friends enjoyed the Okinawan food. :)

*My writing isn't good here, is it. Sorry, I'm getting tired. Time to go to bed now.

Dinner on 11/06/10

2010-06-17T22:05:00.002Z

Menu: Spinach champuru, miso soup, rice, umeboshi puree

I wanted to have a simple dinner and made champuru with spinach. In champuru dishes, we use tofu, vegetables and some sort of meat (or tuna.) I've never used spinach in a champuru dish, but I thought "why not?" We had lots of spinach which I bought from the street market (three bunches for ￡1!!) I put in dashi stock, soy sauce and black pepper to taste.

Dinner on 07/06/10

2010-06-17T21:30:00.003Z

Menu: Beef fried rice with lettuce

We had leftover roast beef which my husband had cooked, and I decided to make fried rice in order to use it all up. I was a bit lazy and didn't bother cutting onions. I only used spring onions (normally I use both of them.) Anyway, I made scrambled egg and put it aside. Then fried spring onions, green pepper, beef, leftover rice, the scrambled egg, and lettuce. Does it sound strange to you? I love putting lettuce in fried rice! I only used soy sauce and black pepper to taste.

Dinner on 01/06/10

2010-06-17T20:57:00.002Z

Menu: Garlic prawns in tomato sauce with pasta

This is one of my favourite dishes. Not sure if I have put it up on this blog, so I will briefly explain how to make this dish.

Firstly, you make tomato sauce and put it aside. Then you fry garlic in a frying pan, add prawns and fry for a minute or so. Put in the tomato sauce, sprinkle some black pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over cooked pasta. You could mix the sauce with the pasta instead. I think that's how Italian would do.

Baked on 01/06/10

2010-06-17T20:40:00.006Z

Whenever we have enough bread crusts, we make bread pudding!

Okinawa Day 2010

2010-06-16T13:44:00.005Z

I'm happy to let you know that there will be an Okinawan event called "Okinawa Day 2010" on the 26th of June. It will take place at Spitalfields, London. I will be making two dishes for the occasion. If you live around London, then come and join us!

Click here for more details of the event!

Dinner on 29/05/10

2010-06-02T10:10:00.003Z

Menu: Fish and chips

We spent our time cleaning around the house in the afternoon, and my husband treated us to fish and chips for dinner :) As you might not know, if you don't live here in the UK, we put malt vinegar on fish and chips. I found it unusual to start with, but now, I'm used to having it - actually, I love the combination!

Dinner on 27/05/10

2010-05-27T23:43:00.002Z

Menu: Gyoza (pork dumplings), salad, miso soup, rice

I made gyoza today! Shame about the quality of this photo, but we all enjoyed our dinner. My daughter had 5 dumplings! Home-made pork dumplings taste so much nicer than the ones you get at restaurants here in England in my opinion. It's so easy to make as well.

Dinner on 24/05/10

2010-05-27T23:07:00.003Z

Menu: Prawns with sweet chili sauce, rice

I made this dish again! I love this.

Lunch on 24/05/10

2010-05-27T22:22:00.003Z

Menu: Goya champuru, hiya somen

It was a hot day, so I cooked goya champuru again!! I used up tofu, so I didn't use it. I had leftover somen with it. I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch!

Dinner on 23/05/10

2010-05-27T21:50:00.003Z

Menu: Hiya somen (cold noodle with dipping sauce), moyashi salad with Chinese-style dressing, hiyayakko (cold tofu with soy sauce)

It was really hot throughout the day, and spent our afternoon in our local parks. When we came back, I wanted something light. So, I made summery dishes. Hiya somen is a perfect dish for summer. You dip somen (white thin noodle) in dipping sauce which is in a red bowl. You add grated ginger/wasabi, spring onions and nori as toppings. The tofu dish is easy to make. You just cut tofu, and put grated ginger, spring onions and a dash of soy sauce on top! We normally use katsuobushi (dried bonito) as well, but I don't buy it here because of the price. For salad, I used leftover moyashi from two days back, thinly sliced celery, carrots, ham, and I made a quick dressing using Ajipon dressing and a dot of sesame oil. I sprinkled sesame seeds as well.

Lunch on 23/05/10

2010-05-27T20:51:00.002Z

Menu: Chicken rogan josh, basmati rice, salad, vegetable sticks & cheese dip, shloer

What a beautiful day we had that day! We had lunch in our garden. It was an easy lunch as the curry was leftover dinner from the day before. Not sure if that's just our thing, but Friday or Saturday is the curry night for us. I love Indian curries!

Dinner on 21/05/10

2010-05-27T15:15:00.007Z

Menu: Sweet & sour pork, stir-fry moyashi, rice, soup

I was going to cook pork in a different way, but I changed my mind and made sweet & sour pork instead. This is one of my husband's favourites, by the way :) I experimented a bit, and used malt vinegar instead of rice vinegar. The outcome was......I think I would stick to rice vinegar. My husband didn't complain though. I just wanted to see if malt vinegar would be a good substitute. Oh well - never mind. I made the soup using pork bones, ginger, spring onions, dashi stock and a dash of soy sauce. I put in a dot of sesame oil to taste as well. It was alright.

This is the close-up version of the sweet & sour dish. I used too much carrot - oops. If my mum sees this, she would definitely make a comment on the carrot.

Lunch on 21/05/10

2010-05-27T13:49:00.005Z

Menu: Goya champuru, rice

I meant to update my blog sooner, but it's not easy to find enough time to sit down and do so when an active 4-year-old is around.

Anyway, I made goya champuru for the first time this year. It was a hot day, and I picked up a couple of goya while in town the previous day. I used to eat goya champuru all the time while living in Okinawa. We have long hot summers over there, so it's a perfect dish for it. Goya (bitter melon) is a summer vegetable, by the way. It tastes bitter, so it's not so popular amongst kids. I've always loved it though. I still make goya champuru here in England, especially when we have hot days.

I wrote about goya a while ago, click here to see what I have written, if you are interested.

I'm off to pick up my daughter from school now.

Dinner on 17/05/10

2010-05-18T07:09:00.004Z

Menu: Gyoza filling & vegetables on rice, miso soup

I was looking through the freezer and found a bag of leftover pork dumpling filling which I made a few months back. It already had some flavour, so I only added a dash of soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil to taste. For vegetable stir-fry, I used onions, carrots, cabbage and aubergine. It was very simple, but really nice.

Dinner on 13/05/10

2010-05-15T17:17:00.002Z

Menu: Thai-style stir fry on rice

While looking through the freezer, a pack of prawns caught my eyes. I love prawns, and fancied some that evening. Originally, I was thinking of making prawn fried rice along with vegetable stir-fry, but I changed my mind when I saw a bottle of sweet chili sauce in the fridge.

"Might be interesting to use sweet chili sauce in a stir-fry," I though.

I'm not that familiar with Thai dishes, to be honest. I know the basic ones like Thai curry, Pat Thai (my favourite Thai dish!), tom yum soup, but that's about it, I think. I'd had sweet chili sauce for dipping, but not for stir-fry dishes, and thought it would be interesting to experiment.

I fried garlic in a frying pan, added prawns, and then put in celery, lettuce, peas, and the sauce. Mixed all in together and Bob's your uncle! It was really easy, but extremely tasty. I sprinkled spring onions on top (not on my bowl though. I'm not too keen on fresh onions.) You could use coriander instead of spring onions (I'm not too keen on coriander either.)

Dinner on 10/05/10

2010-05-15T17:04:00.003Z

Menu: Penne pasta with Bolognaise sauce

I bought aubergine and courgettes in our last shopping thinking I would be making ratatouille soon, but it didn't happen. We had a pack of mince beef in the freezer, which had to get used to make some space. I used a fair amount of vegetables, so it doesn't look like a proper bolognaise sauce - oh well, never mind. It tasted nice though.

Dinner on 9/05/10

2010-05-15T16:39:00.003Z

Menu: Bread with balsamic vinegar & olive oil and Hazelnut vinaigrette, garlic bread, salad, pasta pesto

We were invited to my brother-in-law's for dinner. As a starter, we had really nice bread dipped in vinaigrette. I like dipping bread in olive oil, but never had hazelnut vinaigrette before. It was amazingly delicious!! I'm sure he said that he bought it from an oil shop in (or near) Bluewater. If it was the one in Bluewater, then it must be this one.

We couldn't stop eating the bread and hazelnut vinaigrette. I like simple food like this.

Lunch on 9/05/10

2010-05-15T16:26:00.002Z

Menu: Welsh rarebit

My husband made Welsh rarebit for lunch that day. He put on cheese, chopped onions and tomatoes on toast and grilled it. WE sprinkled some Worcester sauce to taste. It was really nice.

By the way, how come it's called Welsh rarebit? What does rarebit mean anyway? Any ideas? Rarebit sounds like rabbit, but is it something to do with rabbit at all? It hasn't got rabbit meat on though.

Dinner on 8/05/10

2010-05-15T02:06:00.003Z

Menu: Teriyaki chicken on rice, fried aubergine and onions with grated ginger, miso soup

We got home quite late after helping my brother-in-law that night. I had no idea what to have for dinner. While looking through the fridge, I found enough ingredients to make a lovely meal. The dish with aubergine is really easy to make. You just pan fry aubergine, and sprinkle some grated ginger & soy sauce on top. Onions are optional. My husband was really impressed with this dinner, and enjoyed it very much. Well, so did I.

Dinner on 4/05/10

2010-05-15T01:50:00.004Z

Menu:Yakisoba

I wanted us to have lots of vegetables that day, and made yakisoba. Yakisoba means fried noodles. For the sauce, I used tonkatsu sauce and Wocester sauce. The green stuff on top is called aonori, green seaweed. It's a very popular dish in Japan, and we all enjoyed it.

Dinner on 14/05/10

2010-05-15T01:25:00.002Z

I went to my husband's parents' with my daughter for dinner. She wanted to visit them the previous day, but they had another plan, so we visited them yesterday. I thought I would make something quick and easy for everybody, and made chicken curry using a jar of Rogan Josh sauce. I just fried some chopped onions, chicken and the sauce along with tins of tomatoes and cooked for more than half an hour. I made a quick salad with carrots and celery. As a starter, we had papadoms with mango chutney, and then we had curry with basmati rice, naan bread and salad. We all enjoyed our dinner :)

Time to go to bed

2010-05-13T23:31:00.002Z

I wanted to update my blog more today, but I fell asleep in front of my laptop and thought I should go to bed now. I'll find time to come back tomorrow, so until then, bye!

Dinner on 1/05/10

2010-05-13T23:03:00.005Z

Menu: Vegetable miso soup, oven cooked rainbow trout, rice, umeboshi puree

I didn't take a photo of all the food I cooked that evening, but here's the photo of miso soup. As you can see, I put in aubergine, carrots, onions, cabbage and konbu (kelp). I love miso soup with lots of vegetables!

Lunch on 01/05/10

2010-05-04T22:12:00.004Z

It's been more than a month since I last updated this blog, and I was glad/surprised to know that I now have a follower!!! Thank you so much, Antonio! You are the first one! It's getting harder and harder for me to find time to update my three blogs regularly, but there are always things I want to write about. It's really nice to know somebody does stop by here and read my articles. I always appreciate it when I get comments :) Anyway, when I do update my blogs these days, it's always late at night, so excuse my mistakes. When I'm tired and sleepy, I tend to make mistakes, especially when writing in English, which is my second language.

Back to the subject, on the 1st of May, I went out for walk with my husband and our daughter. The weather was lovely, and we enjoyed our walk. On the way back home, I was telling my husband about my obsession to have a fry-up at a local cafe. I wasn't thinking about a fancy cafe - more like a down-to-earth sort of cafe. Normally, I can go anywhere by myself, but there are a few places I don't have the guts to go by myself. This sort of cafe is one of them. It might be because these cafes are too British. You don't normally see Asian people there from my experience. I feel that I stand out in an awkward way in that kind of environment. Anyway, my husband said,

"Let's have something to eat at our local cafe of your choice then."

So, I picked one and we went inside.

My husband was queuing and came back to the table. I thought "Oh, I was going to choose which fry-up I'm going to have," but he said "you have to be quick in this kind of place." Not sure if it's Japanese/Okinawan thing or just me, but it always takes me a while to decide what to have at restaurants. Knowing what I'm like, my husband ordered one of the fry-ups for me.

When my food turned up, I was disappointed.

"Where are my mushrooms? Hash browns?"

On the plate, there were two eggs, one sausage, salty bacon and beans. Of course, it came with a cuppa and toast.

I was struggling to finish towards the end and ended up leaving some.
I liked the atmosphere though. These kind of cafes remind me of Shokudo (食堂) back home. I will tell you what shokudo is when I get time.

I like having fry-ups every now and then, but I thought home-made was the best.

I don't have an obsession with fry-ups anymore - well, for a while.

*Again, sorry for any mistakes I might've made here. I'm getting sleepy.

Hot Cross Buns

2010-04-02T01:15:00.005Z

It's Good Friday today! Yesterday, I made Hot Cross Buns for the first time. Actually they are egg & diary free. I made them for my daughter who has food allergies. They don't look too bad, do they? I know they are not perfect, but my husband was very impressed with them! We all enjoyed home-made Hot Cross Buns :)

Happy Easter!!!

Lunch on 05/01/05

2010-03-30T23:50:00.005Z

I'm putting up old photos here. They were taken back in 2005 on the mainland Okinawa. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was in the northern part of the island. That place looks like a house, doesn't it? I'll ask my mum to see if she still remembers the name of the place and I'll post it here.

Doesn't the food look nice? They are onigiri (rice balls) and yakitori. They were really nice.

Impressive!!

2010-03-30T23:37:00.002Z

My 4-year-old daughter had a temperature after coming back from school the day before yesterday. We thought she was well enough to go to school yesterday, but her head was quite warm, so she didn't go to school. Her body temperature went up in the afternoon, but she seemed to have appetite, which was good. I asked her what she would like for dinner, and she said "I would like miso soup and rice. I would like carrots, onions, parsnips, wakame in the soup. Also I want nori and shiso with rice please." Wow, she impressed me. She's like a typical Japanese/Okinawan! We love miso soup, and it's very comforting for us. I also put Chinese cabbage in miso soup along with all the ingredients my daughter wanted. Hope she recovers from her cold very soon because Easter holiday is starting tomorrow!

Dinner on 3/3/10

2010-03-03T23:57:00.002Z

Menu: Chirashizushi(ちらし寿司), Karaage (チキンから揚げ) and Miso Soup

It was Hina matsuri（ひな祭り）today, and I made a special dinner for my 4-year-old daughter.

I don't think Hina matsuri is a big thing in Okinawa compared to the rest of Japan, but for my daughter, I made it a bit special. We don't have fancy Hina dolls here in this house - we only have Hello kitty vision of them :) They were given to my daughter from my old friend, when we were back in Okinawa last year.

My daughter loved her dinner, especially Karaage, and we stuffed ourselves.

Here's the link to a youtube video of Hina matsuri song called Ureshii Hina matsuri.

I also found another youtube video of Hina matsuri in Kyoto. Click here if you are interested. I've never known/heard about this tradition.

My daughter and I made hina dolls out of origami paper together!! Her hand-writing is very good for a 4-year-old, I think. She took it to school today and showed it to everybody in class.

Lunch on 27/02/10

2010-02-28T22:40:00.003Z

Menu: Pan fried Salmon, Sauteed Vegetables, French Beans with Sesame seeds, Miso Soup, Rice, and Umeboshi puree

Have you heard about the earthquake in Okinawa? My best friend back home emailed me saying that it was one of the most terrifying experiences in her life. I phoned my family and they were all fine, but my mum said she was really scared. We have small ones occasionally, but not big ones like that. We hadn't had a big one since 1911, so Okinawans aren't used to it. I phoned them just before lunch time thinking it would be just a brief call to ask them how they were, but it ended up a really long one. By the time I sat down and had lunch, it was already 4.30pm.

I really enjoyed my lunch.

Dinner on 2/02/10

2010-02-28T22:24:00.003Z

Menu: Natto & Avocado on Sushi Rice, Miso Soup

I had way too much beef this week, and I didn't want to have any meat. So, I made a simple dish and enjoyed it very much. I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. No photo of the soup - sorry.

Lunch on 26/02/10

2010-02-28T18:00:00.004Z

Menu: Taco Rice with a couple of glasses of Sangria

I had my friends over for lunch and made Taco Rice for them. Have I written about it here on this blog? That's an Okinawan-born dish and very popular with many. Some of you might be familiar with it, especially if you used to live there. It was created near Camp Hansen, one of the United States Marine Corps bases in Okinawa. Okinawa has been influenced by other countries over the years, and this is one of the Okinawan dishes which describe our culture well. Our culture is mixed with Chinese, Japanese, America and so on.

I've just found a good article on this topic. Click here if you are interested.

Personally, I'm not proud of Spam being one of the popular ingredients over there, but it is commonly used in stir-fries and so on.

Dinner on 24/02/10

2010-02-28T17:37:00.002Z

Menu: spaghetti bolognaise and French beans

Looking into the fridge, I found loads of mushrooms to be used, so I made bolognaise sauce. I could've enjoyed it a bit more if I hadn't had much meat for the last few days. It was nice though. I thought I didn't want to have beef for a while.

Dinner on 23/02/10

2010-02-28T16:02:00.002Z

Menu: wholegrain penne & roast dinner with gravy sauce

Does it look strange to you? Well, actually it tasted nice. I just mixed pasta with leftover roast dinner, along with steamed broccoli, carrots, fried onions and fresh mushrooms!

Dinner on 22/02/10

2010-02-28T15:27:00.002Z

Menu: natto, avocado, cucumber and tuna on sushi rice, miso soup

We had a huge dinner the previous day, and I wanted to have something light. I know many people here don't like natto unlike me and my daughter, who love it, but it's really good for your health.

The soup was lovely as well! I put in sliced onions, carrots, parsnips, lettuce and wakame.

Dinner on 21/02/10

2010-02-28T13:48:00.005Z

Menu: Sunday roast!! (roast beef, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sage & onion stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, steamed vegetables)

Traditionally, here in England, they have Sunday roast. I quite like the idea of having simple dinners during the week, and have something special on Sundays. I do love roast dinner!!! Actually it's my favourite British food :) I enjoy any type of roast meat except for lamb - sorry, baby sheep. I'm not too keen on your taste. My friends and family back home would ask me what British food is like, and the first thing I mention is roast dinner. Unfortunately, British food has a bad reputation over there. I think it's because British food tastes the best when cooked at home, in my opinion. Most tourists don't have a chance to try out British home cooking unless they have a friend to cook for them. I always love down-to-earth type of food rather than fancy food. Of course, it's nice to have fancy food every now and then, but I would get bored if I have it too often, and it wouldn't be so special. My favourite food has always been my mum's cooking.

I didn't cook this dinner, by the way - my husband did. I enjoy cooking, but I'm not good at cooking roast dinner... I'm not good at cooking under pressure, to be honest. With roast, everything has to be perfect, it seems. It doesn't matter so much if the meat is ready before anything else, as it can be wrapped up in foil. However, other things such as roast potatoes & parsnips and Yorkshire pudding have to be ready right before the dinner being served. Beforehand, meat has to be carved nicely, and vegetables have to be cooked. Not to forget, gravy sauce as well! To me, it's absolutely madness. My husband doesn't seem to mind cooking roast, so I always leave it to him. Maybe I will learn to cook roast one day.

Dinner on 20/02/10

2010-02-20T20:49:00.006Z

Menu: Sweet & Sour flavoured chicken, sauteed vegetables, fried asparagus on rice, and miso soup (I didn't take a photo of it though. It was still in the pot when this was taken).

My husband wanted something Oriental, but didn't know what to have, so I showed him photos of dinners here on this blog. He pointed at this saying "I might want something like this". Well we didn't have pork, so I used chicken instead. Originally I was going to make chicken teriyaki, but I changed my mind. What did you think I used for the sauce? I used rice vinegar, honey and soy sauce. I browned the chicken with a little bit of vegetable oil, and added some vinegar, honey, some water and cooked for 10 min or so. I put in some soy sauce and cooked for another 15min or so. When the sauce was reduced, I added some more soy sauce and cooked until the sauce became fairy thick.

I lightly cooked onions, carrots, red peppers and cabbage, and cooked asparagus separately. I would've steamed them, but didn't bother today. We all enjoyed our dinner!

Toshikoshi Soba '09

2010-02-16T00:56:00.003Z

I always like having Okinawa soba on the new year's eve, but can't get hold of proper one here in England. Alternatively, I used Korean style noodle.

Click here if you would like to know what Toshikoshi soba is.

It was maasan!

*maasan means delicious in our language.

Dinner on 15/02/10

2010-02-15T23:29:00.004Z

Menu: Grilled trout, fried vegetables, miso soup, rice and umeboshi

We had a heavy meal last night, so I wanted us to have something simple tonight.
I didn't take a photo of our dinner as it looked really simple.

It looked like this.

We didn't have a whole trout each. Three of us shared one. It was more than enough for me and left some for tomorrow. For fried vegetables, I used onions, carrots and cabbage. Oh we did have some boiled green beans as well. We always like our vegetables to be crunchy, and I don't cook them too long.

Happy Belated New Year!!

2010-02-15T11:23:00.004Z

It's been more than 6 months since I last updated this blog. Sorry about that. There are so many things I want to write about, but haven't got round to it. My 4-year-old daughter has kept me busy.

Anyway, I will try to update more often this year. Also I'm thinking of introducing more about Okinawa and Japan here. I know this blog is supposed to be about cooking, but I would like to introduce our culture through music, videos and photos etc. - that should be fun! When I'm busy, I might write in Japanese, which is easier for me.

I still have many food photos which I haven't uploaded here, and I will share them with you every now and then.

Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!!

Today, I'm introducing one of the well-known Ryukyuan classical dances to you.
It's called "Kajadi Fu/Kagiyade Fu(かじゃでぃ風／かぎやで風)".

Click here for the video.

We see this performance on special occasions such as wedding receptions, celebrations and so on as an opening act (Not sure if that's the correct way of describing it though). If you've been to Okinawa, you might've seen it.

I remember dancing "Kajadi Fu" on sports day when I was in high school. All the girls at school danced! It was a long time ago, and I can't dance anymore unfortunately. We didn't wear nice costumes like in the video, by the way.

Okinawa Festival at Cafe Oto

2009-07-10T09:42:00.002Z

Here's the video of the event. Enjoy it!

London Okinawa Sanshin Group Presents Okinawa Memorial Day at Cafe Oto

2009-06-16T15:52:00.003Z

I'm happy to inform you that there will be an Okinawan event in London this coming Saturday. There will be Okinawan performances and cuisine to try.
I'll be cooking some dishes for this occasion.

If you are interested, then come to this event!

For more details, click here.

Lunch on 07/06/09

2009-06-15T09:31:00.003Z

Menu: Tuna, Avocado and Pickles on Rice

Does it look strange to you? I make tuna, avocado and cucumber on rice often, but we didn't have any cucumber in the fridge.
I was looking through the kitchen cupboard thinking

"What can we have with it?? Let's see...",

and the jars of pickles caught my eye.

"Yeah, beetroot and pickled onions might be nice. Why not."

The rice is sushi rice, by the way. To make sushi rice, just mix hot cooked rice with rice wine vinegar and sugar. I will give you the recipe for sushi rice soon.

We love beetroot. Even my three-year-old daughter likes it. I wouldn't let her touch it though - she will make a right mess with it! I always feed her when it comes to beetroot. We've come to eat beetroot more often since I found out that beetroot is very good for your health. Apparently, it's well-known as a blood cleanser. It's always good to know the benefits of food. It helps me a lot when it comes to choosing what food to buy.

Pasta with Fried Vegetables

2009-06-15T09:09:00.006Z

I love simple dish like this.

I just stir-fried onions, cougettes, yellow peppers, baby sweet corns, tomatoes, and served with some dressing.

You can use any vegetables and dressing of your choice for this dish.

I prefer using home-made dressing though.

Lunch & Dinner on 05/06/09

2009-06-06T23:46:00.005Z

Menu: coconut curry with rice

My husband was feeling chilly and needed some warm food, so I made coconut curry with Thai curry spices. Even my daughter loved it.

We had leftover curry and rice for dinner. It's completely vegan dish. I even used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

As I've mentioned before, I was a vegetarian for years. I only started eating beef when I was pregnant with my daughter. I can go without meat easily (well I never stopped eating seafood though). It's nice to have meat-free dishes every now and then.

It was really nice.

Lunch&Dinner on 06/06/09

2009-06-06T23:16:00.007Z

A couple of days ago, we bought two packs of beef (they were on offer - buy one, get one free). We had the first pack of beef with fried vegetables and wraps.

Yesterday, we had meat-free meals.

Today we made steak sandwiches using the other pack of beef
(well I only used a slice for lunch and the other three slices for dinner).

I love the combination of horseradish and beef!!

This was our dinner. Pasta with fried beef and vegetables.

It was quite nice.

But I think I had enough beef and won't be eating for a while.

It's been a while...

2009-06-06T23:01:00.002Z

There are so many food photos I've been wanting to upload here on this blog, but haven't quite managed to find the time to do so.

Thank you for being patient with me. I will try to update this blog whenever I can.

Love,

Melina x

Dinner on 21/01/09

2009-05-12T21:05:00.004Z

Menu: Chicken Curry with Rice, Daikon Salad

I treated my family with my curry. It's really easy to make.
I browned some onions and chicken, and then added tinned tomatoes, curry powder, soup stock and bay leaf in the pot.

My family seemed to enjoy it.

Breakfast on 14/01/09

2009-05-12T18:11:00.003Z

Menu: Rice with Egg & Soy Sauce

This is something commonly eaten for breakfast in Japan. It traditionally comes with miso soup, fish, Japanese pickles, Natto etc.. but I just had that rice and had something else.

I know it doesn't look appetising, but it tastes really good. This was something I was craving for years (I'm too scared to have raw eggs in England), and I finally had it. Yummy!

Dinner on 14/01/09

2009-02-26T17:33:00.002Z

Menu: Beef and vegetables with tofu, miso soup and rice

This is the first time to update my blog from Okinawa!
Sorry it took soooo long.

My daughter and I have been enjoying our time here. It's hot for me though - too hot for winter.

Anyway, this is the dinner my mother made on my second day here in Okinawa. The green vegetables you can see in the photo is not well-known, and I had never had them before. They taste fairy bitter, and my mother thought they would go well with meat and cook them with sukiyaki sauce. We dipped the dish in a beaten egg - it was really tasty!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-04T16:45:00.005Z

Happy New Year, everybody!!!

I wanted to upload all the photos from 2008, but I had been quite busy and couldn't find time for that. Unfortunately, I was ill for over a week as well. I must've had the flu of some sort. I literally spent my time sleeping either in bed or the settee for those days until I lost a track of dates. I thought I did something the day before, but actually it was a couple of days ago.

Poor my little girl and husband got it as well. So we were all ill for days and days.

Anyway, I'm still trying to recover. I still have nasty coughs and stuff, but hopefully I get better by the next weekend.

Yes, I am going back to Okinawa in a week's time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm soooooo happy and can't wait.

I must get better before then. You know, it gets really dry on the plane, and especially I'll be on it for more than 10 hours. This time round, I'm taking my daughter by myself, which will be a challenge for me. I'll have to make sure to take enough toys with us. I've already bought loads of stickers, which seem to be great for kids on the plane.

I'll be updating my blog from Okinawa for over a couple of months.
Hope you have some time to stop by every now and then.
I know I've been quite bad not updating often, but I'll make an effort this year. (I seem to remember I said the same thing last year.....) OK, I can't promise, but I'll make an effort.

Unfortunatelly I was too ill to make New Year's food, but we did have noodle with hot soup on New Year's Eve.

How was your Christmas? Hope you had a good one.

Hope 2009 brings you all the health and happiness!!!

みなさま、今年もよろしくお願い致します。

Dinner on 04/07/08

2008-12-21T15:54:00.002Z

Menu: salad, fried bacon, boiled new potatoes

We bought a bag of new potatoes, and decided to have a very summery dish. I seasoned the boiled potatoes with olive oil, sage and black pepper. When we have boiled potatoes, we always use these three ingredients to taste. We also bought a bag of mixed salad, and sprinkled some fried bacon on top. I made a dressing for salad using olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, mustard powder and black pepper. It was really nice and refreshing!

Dessert on 03/07/08

2008-12-21T15:20:00.003Z

Golden Syrup Sponge pudding

This is one of our favourite puddings! My husband is good at making it. It seems to be easy to make using a microwave. When we want something after dinner, that's something he would make as long as we have the right ingredients.

Dinner on 30/06/08

2008-12-21T15:07:00.003Z

Menu: mince pork & vegetables on rice

This is something I would make when we have a leftover pork dumpling filling. Or if you have some mince meat and some vegetables, you can easily make this dish. I used pak choi, red peppers, carrots and onions for vegetable stir-fry, and pork, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, black pepper for the meat. You can use any type of vegetables, I think. You can use cabbage instead of pak choi. It tastes great, and extremely easy to make.

Baked on 26/06/08

2008-12-21T14:52:00.003Z

This is a Dundee cake which I baked for my husband's grandfather's funeral. Apparently, he used to bake this cake quite a lot, and he was telling me about it as well. When I last saw him at the hospital, I asked him for this recipe, and he told me which recipe book to look for. I told him that I would bake this cake for my next visit, but sadly it didn't happen. So I decided to bake this cake (well actually I baked two!) for his funeral. That's something everybody in the family remember - his Dundee cake - and I wanted to give it a go. I was a bit nervous as I had never tried this cake in my life. The cakes came out really nice, and everybody enjoyed them.

Dinner on 25/06/08

2008-12-21T01:24:00.007Z

Menu: pork with ginger & soy sauce on rice

I simply made pork with ginger & soy sace, fried some vegetables and put them on rice. It was nice and easy. Click here for the recipe.

Dinner on 24/06/08

2008-12-21T00:47:00.002Z

Menu: wholegrain pasta with tuna & vegetables

Well I didn't really know how to call this dish as I just made it up, but it was quite nice. I used pak choi, carrots, onions and tuna. I can't remember what I put in to taste, but I'm guessing I added soy sauce or oyster sauce.

Dinner on 20/06/08

2008-12-21T00:29:00.002Z

Menu: pasta with tomato sauce & prawns

I cooked really nice pasta dish using prawns. I was impressed with this dish :) I made some simple tomato sauce first, and fried some garlic in a frying pan, added prawns, tomato sauce, and fresh tomatoes. I put in black pepper to taste. I sprinkled parsley on top. Hopefully I can write a recipe for it some time. Everybody who tried this dish loved it, so most of you would like it as well.

Lunch on 20/06/08

2008-12-21T00:20:00.002Z

We went to Tesco for food shopping and found this huge loaf of bread. That's huge, isn't it? It was quite cheap as well.

We had a couple of slices of the bread with ham, pickled onions, gherkins and salad. We enjoyed our summery lunch.

Dinner on 05/06/08

2008-12-21T00:08:00.002Z

We went to a pub fairy close to our house with my husband's family, and this is what I ordered. If I'm to choose between meat and seafood, I would definitely go for the latter. I love seafood. When I was a vegetarian, I was eating seafood. I just didn't eat any other type of meat. Prawn is one of my favourite food, and I really enjoyed my dinner. I couldn't eat all of them though.

Dinner on 02/06/08

2008-12-20T23:39:00.002Z

I had no idea what to call this dish. I think I was going to cook something Polish, well it was supposed to be Bigos. I was supposed to use Sauerkraut, but didn't have any, so I used gherkins instead. I used pork, shredded cabbages, leek. I didn't have any while mushrooms, smoked sausages, prunes either, so I just skipped them. I did use bay leaf and allspice though. It was a spontaneous decision to cook this, but I should've planned it. I haven't tried making it properly since. I would like to try real Bigos as I've never tried any Polish food.

Dinner on 01/06/08

2008-12-19T22:56:00.004Z

Menu: kakiage-don (kakiage on rice) and miso soup

I made kakiage-don using the leftover kakiage from the previous night. I simply cooked it in a pan with tentsuyu for a few minutes, and put it on rice. It was nice and easy, and yummy!

Donburi is very popular in Japan, and there are quite a few kinds of it. For more information, click here.

Dinner on 30/05/08

2008-12-19T22:32:00.005Z

Menu: kakiage tempura with dipping sauce, rice and miso soup

I only took a photo of tempura and sauce, but we had it with rice and miso soup. Kakiage tempura means mixed tempura and we would use shredded vegetables for it. On the day, I used carrots, onions, hijiki (a type of seaweed) and burdock. I made tempura batter, and put in shredded vegetables, and scooped some out with a spoon and deep-fried it. In Japan, we have tempura sauce called tentsuyu, and you could make it from scratch, but most of us use already made one. Can you see the sort of bottle in the photo? That's my favourite one. The sauce is very useful, and you can use it in all sorts of dishes.

Dinner on 28/05/08

2008-12-19T22:12:00.004Z

Menu: Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce

When I came back home after seeing my friend, my husband had cooked dinner already, which impressed me. He is better at cooking Bolognese sauce and roast dinner than me. The green on top is fresh basil. I really enjoyed my dinner.

Desert on 28/05/08

2008-12-19T21:07:00.004Z

I went to central London to see my Japanese friend. We met up right in front of Japan Centre. When I want to get Japanese ingredients, I would go to our local Chinese supermarket. However, I can't get all the things I want, so I would occasionally go to Piccadilly Circus in central London. In the area, there are quite a few Japanese shops including Japan Centre, Ricewine shop and Mitsukoshi.

Anyway, my friend and I went to a Chinese restaurant of her choice in West End (it wasn't in China Town). We had really lovely lunch, and thinking what to have for dessert. They had a wide range of cakes, and they all looked delicious. While deciding what to have for dessert, we saw the people next to our table were having a set of Macaron. They were 12 of them in a set, and we decided to go for it. It was quite fun to share them with my friend. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but when I find it, I will post it here. I love Macaron, so I was in heaven!

Dinner on 24/05/08

2008-12-19T20:59:00.002Z

Menu: Indian takeaway

We had a takeaway from our favourite Indian restaurant. I loved every single dish! The food was sooooo good.

Dinner on 22/05/08

2008-12-19T20:52:00.003Z

Menu: stir-fry in tomato curry, white & red rice

Well, I don't really know what to call this dish as I just made it up. We didn't have much food in the fridge, and I was going to make stir-fry, but I wanted to have tomatoes as well. As I was cooking, I realised that the flavour was quite weak, and I added curry powder. It was an okay dish.

Baked on 22/05/08

2008-12-19T20:31:00.003Z

We made apple turnovers. I made the filling with apples, sultanas, raisins, sugar, cinnamon and vanila extract. My husband took care of the rest. We prefered using puff pastry though. We gave one to his grandfather who was in the hospital. He said he would eat it next morning for breakfast. Hope he liked it.

Dinner on 15/05/08

2008-12-19T03:58:00.004Z

Menu: cottage pie

It wasn't my best, but I love this which is one of the classic British dishes!

Dinner on 08/05/08

2008-12-19T03:42:00.002Z

Menu: easy-roast dinner, boiled potatoes and salad

I cooked chicken thigh seasoned with garlic, blackpepper and sage. It was really nice.

Dinner on 07/05/08

2008-12-19T03:21:00.003Z

Menu: sauteed vegetables, red rice, sunomono with wakame & cucumber, umeboshi puree.

I had never tried red rice, but I liked it straight away! You should be able to find it at a health shop or somewhere. I bought mine at the health shop in Wimbledon.

This dinner is like a Macrobiotics style dinner.

Supper on 06/05/08

2008-12-19T02:32:00.002Z

I was shopping in town with my daughter, and as it was a lovely day, I felt like being out a bit longer. Then I decided to wait for my husband at the station and suggested to go to our local park to have supper. I had done shopping beforehand.

As you can see in the photos, we had tortillas with roast chicken, salad and salsa sauce. It was like a picnic, and we really enjoyed it. It makes change if you eat somewhere else every once in a while, doesn't it.

Dinner on 22/04/08

2008-12-19T02:26:00.002Z

I also made this dish using wholegrain pasta, hijiki (a type of seaweed), cucumber, tomatoes, tuna and watercress with Ajipon (a well-known Japanese dressing). It was sooo nice. I love seaweed!

Dinner on 22/04/08

2008-12-19T02:02:00.005Z

Menu: pasta salad with roast beef

Look what I made using the leftover roast beef! I just came up with the idea of this dish thinking "I don't want a heavy meal. I want something refreshing." Then I made this dish.

I used wholegrain pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, watercress, fried onions with home-made dressing. For the dressing, I used white wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard powder and blackpepper. It was really nice.

Dinner on 20/04/08

2008-12-18T23:05:00.008Z

Menu: Sunday roast

My husband treated us a lovely Sunday roast at his parents'. He's good at cooking Sunday roast; whereas I'm quite useless when it comes to cooking roast dinner. It's quite stressful to think that everything has to be perfectly planned well. I'm not good at cooking under pressure.

Anyway, it was a lovely dinner, and everyone of us enjoyed it.

By the way, most of my friends would be surprised to know that I now eat beef. I had been a vegetarian for nearly eight years (well I hadn't had beef for ten years), and when I was pregnant with my daughter, suddenly I thought "I want beef." then I started eating beef. My husband couldn't believe his eyes while I was eating a beef burger for the first time in ten years.

I eat meat every now and then, but not a huge amount every single day.

This was the desert on the night - I didn't have it though. Everybody seemsed to have enjoyed it.

Dinner on 07/04/08

2008-12-18T22:53:00.002Z

Menu: coconut curry with rice

I just cooked a simple coconut curry using mushrooms, carrots, courgettes, moyashi (bean sprouts), onions, coconut milk and Thai green curry paste.

Dinner on 17/12/08

2008-12-18T17:22:00.007Z

Menu: roast pork with apple, roast vegetables, sauteed potatoes, steamed broccoli

As I couldn't/still can't use a knife yesterday, I asked my husband to help me in the kitchen.

I might have mentioned it before - about my condition - here, but I've been suffering from DeQuervain's syndrome for over a month. I've been using a wrist splint which helps for this condition, but having a 3-year-old active girl doesn't help me get better. It was getting better, but she hurt my wrist, and got better a bit, and yesterday morning, an accident happened. I was in bed trying to get up. My hand was up in the air with my elbow on the bed. And then, suddenly my daughter sat back on my hand, and all her weight got on my wrist!! Ouch!! I couldn't move or talk and just curled up in pain for a while. Anyway, I haven't been able to use my right hand much since yesterday morning, so that's why I asked my husband for help in the kitchen.

Anyway, we had sliced pork to use, and I suggested to roast it. We also had lots of apples, and an idea came into my mind. Well, the combination of pork & apple isn't something new, but I just got excited thinking it would be great.

On the pork, we sprinkled some olive oil, black pepper, rosemary, crushed garlic and sliced apples on top and roast it. For the roast vegetables, we used parsnips, carrots and leek, and sprinkled some olive oil, sage and thyme.

Oh my God, the dinner was sooooo good. I was very impressed with the result.

For a pudding, we had treacle sponge pudding and custard. We didn't make the pudding - it was in a tin and by Heinz. It wasn't too bad.

Dinner on 13/12/08

2008-12-15T13:32:00.004Z

Menu: Chicken soup with kelp and vegetables, rice, umeboshi puree, abura-miso, steamed cabbage with balsamic vinegar dressing

It was freezing in the house, and we couldnt't warm up all day. The heating system in our house hasn't been working properly, so I though I would make a nice soup. Yes, my favourite soup - chicken soup with kelp! I decided to add in other root vegetables which are supposed to help to warm up your body if you eat them. I just used pre-boiled chicken (we normally boil the meat to remove fat before using in soup), ginger, Chinese cooking sake, water, kelp, leek, potatoes and carrots. I didn't bother adding in salt as I thought kelp had enough salt.

I had made cheating version of aburamiso, which is cooked miso paste, tuna and sugar. We normally use pre-boiled pork for this, but using tuna makes it much easier to make it. We eat it with rice.

I would normally use leaf vegetables (e.g. pak choi) for this soup, but we didn't have any, so I made a side dish with steamed cabbage salad. Having that extra dish made it perfect combination of the dinner, I think. We had seaweed, animal protein, root vegetables, carbohydrate, green vegetables, miso, umeboshi (they both are good for your health) and vinegar (also good for your health)! A meal should be like that.

Anyway, with the help of soup including sake and ginger, we felt warm after the dinner:)

Lunch on 07/04/08

2008-12-09T20:41:00.003Z

Menu: Hiraya-chi with lots of vegetables.

I used these ingredients to make my style hiraya-chi. Hiraya-chi is like Okinawan-style Okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes), by the way. When we make our normal style hiraya-chi, we would use flour, water, nira (it's sort of like spring onions), and some people use tuna as well.

My daughter loves this!

Dinner on 03/04/08

2008-12-09T18:00:00.005Z

Menu: Indian take-away

It was my husband's birthday, and I treated him with the food from our favourite Indian restaurant.

Before trying Indian food here in the UK, I wasn't too keen on it, to be honest. I still remember the Indian restaurant I went with my sisters near Tokyo about 12 years ago. As some of you might know, I'm a huge fan of Freddie Mercury, and whenever I met somebody from India, I used to get really excited.
My sisters, especially my older sister, didn't like the idea of having Indian for lunch, but I pursued her, and we all went there. The food wasn't too bad, but some of the curries tasted really bad, and my sisters couldn't eat them. My older sister wasn't wise enough to put a little amount on the first plate as I did:) She put a plate full! Then we noticed the sign saying "Please don't leave the food. Otherwise, you'll be charged" (I can't remember the exact price). So my sister tired so hard to swallowed the food down her throat. She was sitting at the table facing the kitchen where the chefs were looking at customers, so she had to keep the straight face, which made it really funny. She was suffering. Then the owner of the restaurant came to us, and I was very excited and asking about India. He showed us some photos and brought Indian desert to us. I can't remember what it was exactly though. My sisters gave me a funny look. I could see in their eyes saying "Oh my God, more food." I think it was dried, so they wrapped it up with tissue and put it in their bag.

Anyway, since that day, they hate Indian food. Shame, isn't it. I would like to change their mind though. Maybe, I can take a jar of curry sauce when I go back to Okinawa, and cook for them.

I really enjoy Indian food here in the UK.

Dinner on 31/03/08

2008-12-09T17:50:00.002Z

Menu: vegetable soup with salmon

Whenever I need to use up the food in the fridge, I would normally make soup. On the night, I used carrots, celery, potatoes, leek, garlic, and added tinned salmon on top. It was really simple, but nice.

Lunch on 06/02/08

2008-12-09T17:22:00.003Z

Menu: Somin champuru

This is one of the typical Okinawan dishes called Somin champuru. In Japan, they have somen (this white noodle) with a cold dipping sauce, but in Okinawa, we fry somin (means somen in Okinawan). We do eat it in a Japanese way as well, but we love this dish!

I simply boiled the noodles (don't boil them too long!), and riced them in cold water and drained well. Then I fried some thin sliced onions and added the noodles, tinned tuna (the one in sunflower oil), and sprinkled some spring onions and a pinch of salt to taste. Some people add soy sauce, dashi stock etc..., but traditionally we only use salt to taste. I sometimes use a bit of dashi stock, but never use soy sauce. I like the simple flavour of this dish.

Dinner on 01/02/08

2008-12-08T11:34:00.003Z

Menu: Stir-fry on rice noodle with hot soup

I stir-fried cabbages, onions, carrots and shiitake, and put on the hot noodle. I will write the details later.

I'm off to do Christmas shopping now.

Dinner on 25/11/08

2008-12-03T22:52:00.008Z

Menu: Roast chicken with lemon & garlic, roast potatoes and boiled vegetables

I made a simple roast dinner using the leftover from the previous night. I was out in central London and bought a pack of roast chicken at Marks & Spencer on the way back home. I was feeling a bit peckish and had a piece on the train :)

Anyway, I heated up the chicken and an interesting idea came into my mind - sort of caramelising with lemon juice and garlic in a pot. I know you can roast chicken with lemon and garlic, but I simmered lemon juice and garlic (I used garlic granules) in a pot and quickly mixed the sauce with the pre-cooked (already hot) roast chicken. I sprinkled black pepper to taste.

As I've been having a problem with my right wrist, I try to cook something easy these days. This was a really easy dinner, and really tasty!

Mushroom salad

2008-12-03T19:10:00.003Z

Before I forget, I will write about the tasty salad I made a few days ago.
We had some white mushrooms which had to get used soon, so I thought of making something interesting, something different.
I know that it's quite common to use mushrooms in salad in the west, but in Japan or Okinawa, we don't eat them row - we normally cook them. Besides, mushrooms are quite expensive there, so we rarely buy fresh mushrooms. Well, as you might know, we have different types of mushrooms (e.g. shiitake, maitake, enokidake etc...); these are quite cheap, and we use them lots, but not the western ones.

Anyway, as I was looking in the fridge, yellow peppers and carrots caught my eyes. Then I thought of making mushroom salad using peppers and carrots. I cut peppers in strips, mushrooms in chunky pieces, shredded carrots, and made Balsamic vinegar dressing. For the dressing, I used Balsamic vinegar, virgin olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper to taste. And then, I thought it might taste better if I put in some fried onions. Yes, my guess was right. It was really nice! Fried onions and the dressing went really well together!

Sorry, no photos and a recipe for it yet.

Dinner on 26/01/08

2008-11-30T00:03:00.005Z

I'm uploading some old photos now.

On that day, we went to a local butcher and bought some stew beef... and made......

Beef and ale pie!

It was really nice!

Dinner on 27/11/08

2008-11-28T02:03:00.004Z

Menu: Okinawan-style noodle in hot soup with rafute

We had a chunk of pork in the freezer, and I decided to use it for dinner. As I mentioned before, we Okinawan boil pork to remove fat before using in cooking. We normally cook it for about an hour, wash it off with water, and use it in cooking. I decided to make rafute (the pork dish). I cooked the pre-cooked pork with dashi stock, cooking sake, sugar, soy sauce for a couple of hours, and added oyster sauce in the last few minutes. As I was boiling the pork, I felt like I might be able to make soup for Okinawa soba, and went for it. It was a spontaneous decision, and I had to use the ingredients in the house. Instead of using Okinawan-style noodle, I used rice noodles. For the soup, I used pork stock, dashi stock, a bit of cooking sake, a pinch of salt and a dash of soy sauce. As my first attempt, it wasn't too bad apart from the noodles. I didn't think rice noodles go well with this soup as the taste of the soup was subtle. The taste of the noodles seemed to be too strong for this soup. Oh well. I won't use rice noodles for this dish again. Next time I will try with Korean-style noodles or I might make noodle from scratch.

Lunch on 30/09/08

2008-10-22T09:03:00.004Z

Menu: Egg on rice

What would you put on fried eggs? I assume you would put on ketchup, but my favourite is soy sauce! Oh yes, it does go really well with fried eggs and it tastes really really nice. Try that with rice, and you'll see what I mean.

I think we commonly use soy sauce for fried eggs in Japan. We use ketchup for scramble eggs and other egg dishes, but if it's fried, then we would use soy sauce.

If you try it, let me know what you think :)

Lunch on 17/09/08

2008-09-17T18:51:00.003Z

We were shopping in town, and getting hungry, so decided to go to a new all you can eat place on Surrey Street. We had been interested in eating there for a while, so we finally gave it a go.

The food tasted really good, the waiters seemed to be nice and friendly, and I was quite happy and enjoying my lunch.

As I was eating, I noticed a tiny green spot on the Naan bread which I had put on my plate. I didn't want to believe that it was moldy, and I tried a bit - yes, my guess was right. It had gone off. Well, I felt bad about telling them as it was only a cheap restaurant.
When I finished my first plate, I helped myself to a second helping using a new plate. I then noticed the sign saying "Use only one plate" on the wall, but I thought my case was an exception. There was no way I would use a plate that had moldy food on it. A waiter approached and said "Use only one plate, please," so I explained the situation. My husband helped me explain to the waiter, but he gave me a small plate to put the naan on and told me to keep the first plate. I kept explaining to him, but he wouldn't understand. After a while, he took the plate, and I carried on serving the second helping. Then the head waiter of the restaurant came and told me that I should use only one plate. I explained again and again until he understood, but he could not understand my point, and said something which made me mad.

"100% of our customers eat these, and they are fine."

That comment got on my nerves. It sounded like it was all my fault.
I can understand and respect their policy and rules - I would have not changed my plate if it wasn't for the moldy food - but they didn't apologise to me for serving gone-off food. Instead, they told me off! What kind of attitude is that? I know we have a very high standard when it comes to customer services in Japan, but I think anybody would feel the same as I do.

Rotten service, and rotten food...

It's a shame. I thought the food was really good for the price (except for the moldy naan of course), and I was going to recommend the place to my friends.

The whole thing really put me off, and I didn't touch my second plate.

Never again.

Dinner on 14/09/08

2008-09-15T01:36:00.003Z

Menu: Pork chop; saute potatoes; broccoli; Brussels sprouts; fried tomatoes.

I wasn't sure what to cook for dinner, and looking through my fridge and freezer. I found pork chops in the back of the freezer, and came up with the idea of making roast dinner type dish. I put sliced garlic and sprinkled a pinch of black pepper, rosemary and olive oil on the meat and cooked it in the oven for 20 minutes or so. It was really nice! I'm not good at cooking roast dinner, but it's quite easy for me to cook cheat version of roast dinner :)

This was our last Sunday dinner at our flat as we are moving out in a couple of days.