Can't upload photos... :(

I'm keen to update this blog and have been working on it all morning, but I can't find the way to upload photos from my iPad... I feel silly as I can't manage to do a simple thing...

There must be a way of doing it. 

Time to collect my daughter from school now. 

Have a lovely day, everybody!! 😊

Happy 2017

Happy New Year, everybody!!

明けましておめでとうございます🎍🌅🎍

Many apologies for taking so much time to update this blog. Can't believe it's been well over 5 and a half years since my last post. Just saw my profile and it was funny to find that my daughter was 3 when I started this. She is 11 now and we had a new addition to our family since. I must update my profile very soon.

I would like to update this blog more regularly this year - that's one of my new year's resolutions! There might be some changes in the future, but the main concept of this blog would be the same - updating what I cook for my family. It wouldn't be anything fancy - it would be more down-to-earth style of cooking, but because of my background, some of you might find my cooking style interesting.

I must thank all of you who have visited my blog during my long absence. I really appreciate it.

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

Much love to you all,

Melina xx

Dinner on 20/07/10

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!

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

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.

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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

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

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!!!

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...

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!

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!

Dinner on 27/05/10

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.