Dinner on 1/05/10

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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.