Plum Jam

 For a while I was wondering what to do with left-over ume from the umeshu I made from 2010 in which I recently finished drinking. And today the idea hit to make ume jam out of it. Afterall, the ume have been soaked in alcohol for over a year so they're soft and plump so they must be perfect candidates to make some kind of perservative right? I boiled them first to get the alcohol out and then took the seeds out once it got soft enough. I then added brown sugar and lemon juice and voila :)

Not only can I put it on toast or in my yogurt, I can also use it as a dressing paste or use it to marinade meat or fish (pectin, a form of amino acid in the plum works as a meat softner) and for stirfries as well. I'm excited! 

Feel of...Monsoon

In Japan, you first realize it's monsoon season when you get on a train and feel stuffy and smell the musky-ness. This is when I like to bust out my favorite summer scents to make it feel like I'm in LA or Hawaii :) I dream of those humid-less summers...!  

Spinach Shiroae

I had it for the first time at my favorite organic food deli in Akasaka and fell in love with it! It's steamed spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and konnaku mixed in with a creamy sesame tofu paste. I've been too lazy to make it but I just had that urge to eat it over this weekend since I had a lot of spinach left over:

Spinach Shiroae (ほうれん草の白和え）

1. Steam spinach, chopped carrots, shimeji mushrooms, and konnaku. Get rid of excess water.
2. Get rid of excess water for 1/2 pack of tofu (150g) and mash it up.
3. Mix 1&2. Add in Tbsb of grinded white sesame and sesame. Also 1 tbsb of miso.

Two Tokyo-esque Iconcs

Can you believe this is what is looked like outside my office after a night of shaking? And I note, it's not shaking from earthquakes but actually by rain and wind. 

I'll also throw in a random pic of Toyo Tower I took while running to the station after I've realized I was drinking past midnight with one of my girlfriends. Oopsy. I just had to share because recently Tokyo Skytree has been stealing the spotlight. I'm definitely a Tokyo Tower fan!

Brunch Time

I can never turn down a brunch offer but it's sometimes nice to do your own brunch at home :) 

Btw, people ask about my coffee mug a lot - I got it from a popular cafe in Seoul of the same name, Mug for Rabbit. They have to-die-for cupcakes and an interesting "wasabi" latte!

Guess What I'm Doing?

Hehe I'm drying my make-up brushes. I love my make-up brushes so I do keep good care of them :)



Tofu Overload Part III

It's obvious by now that I get most of my protein from soy. I just love it.
I like plain tofu, edamame, natto, miso... but my recent favorite is fried tofu (aburaage 油揚げ). Usuall you soak and simmer it in soy sauce/sake/sugar to make inari, but I like it by itself or pan fried. My recent favorite way is to put it in salad:

I chop it up and add it with hijiki, kidney beans, and steamed Japanese mustard spinach (小松菜）. Drizzle on some olive oil and salt and voila! It's healthy and a great source of protein.

Backstreets

I love walking in Tokyo on the weekends (when it's not raining) since there's all these quiet hidden back alleys that can almost get you lost. It's kind of enchanting and definitely makes you forget you're living in the largest metropolitan city in the world!

Morrocco

A long overdue post that I wanted to write about for the LONGEST time :)

So the idea came up randomly. My long time friend Raiman asked me to come out to dinner as a third wheel on his first date (because she's so shy so he needed a buffer girl =me!). She actually ended up not being able to come so we called up another friend and went to eat Mexican food,which is really a treat in Japan. We had such a good time that we got an idea that maybe we should do this once a month as a way for us to make way out of our busy schedules to meet up and enjoy good authenticfood.


Well the entrepreneur that he is, Raiman not only did he make a Facebook page inviting other people, but he also rented out an entire restaurant. And that restaurant was a tiny cozy Moroccan restaurant near Yoyogi Uehara.

Don't you love the atmosphere already?

 


Since we rented out the entire place, it was served in multi-course style and oh my oh my....

Harira Soup - tomato, lentil, and spice soup. A favorite during Ramadan

Mediterraenean-like salad with Moroccan flat bread

Carrot & cilantro salad

 OOoo yes, busting out the Tajine (Eatern African pot)!

 Snatching a glass of Morroccan wine before the main dish arrives...

Moroccan style meatballs..my heart almost dropped after taking a bite.

 The owner, Ayumi was lovely. She studied at a Morrocan restaurant for years before she came back and opened her own! Authenticity is guaranteed.

 Maindish #2: Vegetables and beef stew with couscous. My mouth is already watering as I'm writing this!

The real reason why Raiman selected this place is because this is probably the only place in Japan where you can eat "heaven's pie" or bastilla as it's called. It's such a delicate sweet AND savory pie which is stuffed with cinnamon, almonds, chicken, and other wonderful mix of spices. This elaborate dish takes hours to make and usually only served at weddings or special occasions. He was told that since this is "off the menu",  he needed a party of five and reserved a week in advance. I suppose that's when his lightbulb clicked for this event.






The pie was lovely. It was almost a sensuous taste because it had so much flavor in so many layers. It's definitely worth to come here to eat this one dish!






And how can you NOT end a Moroccan meal with mint tea?

Argan oil ice cream - so rich but at the same time has none of that "oily taste". Very smooth 

    
The event itself was a success since we loosely knew each other through people but were virtually strangers - so it was a good bonding and networking experience. We were so happy and chummy that some of us ended up walking together all the way to Harajuku at around midnight!







 People and food really does make you happy indeed!









Enrique Maruesco

03-3467-1106

3-1-15 Kitazawa  Coop Inage.

Open 6-9:30pm (LO). Closed Sundays

*be sure to reserve beforehand!

Umeshu

June in the US is the season of graduation and start of summer but in Japan it's the start of monsoon aka humidity season which I cannot stand. And well, good spoiled Californianas can never handle extreme weather :P

The one and only thing I like during this season though is umeshu making. People laugh at me when I say this since apparently it's such a country bumpkin thing to do (it's the equivalent as granny making hommade pickles or jam) but it's been a tradition on both sides of my family for generations. Plus what better than to make your own alcoholic beverages?

Ingridients:

The most important one is obvious the ume plums

There's so many different kinds but I like to use Nankobai (南高梅) which are a bit bigger and has more flesh than standard 青梅. [Japanese plums are a bit harder to get outside of the country but at least in California you can sometimes buy them at Japanese supermarkets so be sure to ask them when they get shipped in. They only usually sell the for a very very limited time and it's not that widely advertised or noticeable either.]

You also need 2 distilled containers, "white liquor" (gin or shochu or any clear distilled alcohol around 25~30% would work), toothpick, paper towels, and rock sugar.

1. Take out the stem with a toothpick

2.  Wipe each one with a papertowel

3. Stack the ume and rock sugar in layers

4. Pour the white liquor until it covers the surface and voila!

It usually takes about 3 months for the liquor, sugar, and ume to do its magic and create its beautiful mixture :) But it gets real good and smooth after about a year. My mom has a batch from about 17 years ago (which we only drink on special occasions) and it tastes amazing!

Umeshu is the best to drink on a hot summer day and I cannot wait :)



Tofu Overload Part II: Tofu Nuggets

These vegetarian tofu nuggets are to DIE for. I love 'em!!



I realized I usually like to combine tofu with hijiki. Hijiki has very high levels of minerals, fiber, and iron. I went to the gym today so I felt like replenishing myself with some extra nutrients! 

Again as like all my recipes, very easy to make. Mash up some tofu and add finely chopped carrots and onion, hijiki, cornstarch, and panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Season with salt and pepper. Make them into round shapes and grill thm till the surface browns. It's so much more nutritious, light, and colorful than the normal nuggets huh? ;)

Yogurt Salad

My colleagues were talking about Greek salad today, which may be why I had a craving for salad with a creamy yogurt dressing!

I chopped up some veggies and mixed in some pepper, my home-made yogurt, raisns, olive oil, raisins, soy sauce, and mexican hot sauce (optional). When it comes to salad Japanese people use mayonnaise for everything and while I'm an avid fan of Japanese mayonnaise,  I just can't seem to like the overly richness of it. It takes up all the flavors from the vegetables itself and makes it too heavy. Yogurt is a lot more light but still gives it that creamy texture which is perfect for salads! Yummo

Tofu Overload Part I

As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't really eat that much carbs or meat at dinner because I'm just left with a very sensitive stomach in the morning. Hence, my main source of protein becomes tofu which I don't mind becase I LOVE it. 

Yes, strangely I'm getting used to nonalcoholic beer. It's just like bitter and flavored version of carbonated water. :P

Today's meal: tofu steak, flax-seed crackers with onion anchovie paste, tamagoyaki, assrted pickles, namasu, daikon/seaweed salad

This tofu steak is awesome because it's crispy on the outside and so so soft on the inside! Plus as always, simple to the max. Just rid of excess water in tofu (cover with papertowel and stick it in the microwave so the towel will soak up the water) and coat it with cornstarch. Grill with olive oil until surface browns and hardens. I topped it off with a onion and carrot vinegrette salad but you can top it with anything because tofu is so versatile. Another favorite of mine is to have it with soy sauce and some green onions.  

Bento

People usually tell me it takes too much effort to make bentos. Well, not really. I usually make everything on the weekend and freeze them in little portions so all I'm doing is defrosting and making it look somewhat pretty :P

The tip to making bento is actually mixing up cooked and store-bought food. For my bento, I've added chicken karaage in which I've bought a batch at my local supermarket on sale (oops too muh information!). The sauteed green pepper and rice were defrozen and all I made were the tamagoyaki. All in all, it takes maybe 5-10min to pack everything up. See, not so stressful right?

Home-made Yogurt

So, one of the reasons why my parents came to Japan last month is because my auntie up North who is currently living in the shelters was begging for my mama's "yogurt batch".

It may sound a bit weird to people outisde of the US, but about a decade ago Japan went thorugh a big yogurt fad. And not just the yogurt itself but actually making yogurt yourself.  Yes, as in bacterializing milk.

It's not as gross as you think though. These "yogurt kits" (aka Caspi yogurt, as it's called) come in little powder packages and you just stir it in plain milk, and well...that's all. You just leave the batch in room temperature for 1-2 days and voila!  The amazing thing about this is that if you keep on adding milk to the batch, the yogurt bacteria will reproduce on its own.

It's easy, healthy, and cheap so it was a big hit. My auntie went along with the bandwagon and my mom actually brought back a very small packet about 12 years ago. She added milk to it back in US and has been making yogurt out of it ever since.

Anyhow, my auntie lost everything in the tsunami including her beloved yogurt batch. Of all things, she requested if my mom could bring some over so she can make it herself! Oh auntie, I love you.  And needless to say, my mother has brought some for me too.

 

I added low-fat milk, whiked it well, and left it out for a day and half and this is what it looks like:  

Yum. Caspi yogurt tends to be a little less solidified than store-bought yogurt. Also I must note that it is distinctively more sour; nevertheless it's an amazing combination when you're making banana smoothies! 

 I usually eat it plain or add agave or prunes :)


I'm not so sure if they sell these powdered yogurt kits outside of Japan but I'm sure you can Google it!

Kazan-Kai

It's never fun helping out at company events but the perk is, is that I get to hog the venue, view, and cater food after all the guests leave :)