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