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.

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.