Okinawa Day 2010 at Spitalfields Market!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okinawa Day 2010

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

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!