Lunch on 27/02/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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.