Category Archives: food

chahan champloo

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Atsushi suddenly had the inspiration to cook chahan (fried rice) for us. He claimed it will be the best chahan in the world. True enough, it rivaled with my favorite chahan in Osho, a famous Chinese restaurant near Sakuragicho Station.

First attempt. Atsushi called it the “Rice of Chaos” because even he himself couldn’t understand its appearance. It may not look much but it sure is really good.

Yes, it-is-sticky. He added mochi kibi (glutinous rice additive) while boiling the rice hence when it cooked it was pretty sticky. We use brown rice at home by the way as (Atsushi says) it is healthier it being unrefined – philosophy is same as brown sugar being healthier than white, refined sugar.

First attempt was for dinner last night. Atsushi made his second attempt for lunch.

Love the taste. If I weren’t worried about my stomach getting bigger by the day (and no i’m not yet pregnant), I would have requested A to make another batch.

What made his fried rice better than the ones I did (and a rival or even better than Osho’s) is that he added this special soy sauce enriched with kombu (sea tangle) dashi which brought out the umami taste – salty and a teeny-weeny  bit sweet and sour. Truly delicious.

More chahan please!

oden!!!

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It was unu~~~~sually cold today because of typhoon Ma On. Felt like early autumn or late spring. The weather was just perfect for – what else??!! – oden!!

I just love oden when it’s cold weather.

I’m not so fond of konnyaku (or konjac) – the black thingy in above photo. I find it weird, hard and yet slimy with undefinable taste. Hence, Hubby ate both konnyaku’s instead of us having a konnyaku each.

My favorite oden choices: tamago (egg), sausage with chikuwa ちくわ (sausage without chikuwa seems not available anymore) and tofu.

And of course, we didn’t waste the broth! I actually had a big smile on as I finished slurping the broth from the big bowl. Yum!

 

breakfast

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I just love breakfast. It’s the best meal of the day for me. One probable reason why I love it is because of its novelty, ergo rarity of having it; especially ever since I lived apart from my parents.

Back at the time when I was just daydreaming for my perfect man, I dreamed of him cooking breakfast for the two of us. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just a few bacon and sausages and sunny side up would be splendid for me already.

And today, I woke up to having that dream come true. I woke up to the smell of my favorite sausages and bacon; woke up to the sound of them hissing on the pan. We ran out of eggs already though but it’s ok. It was still a dream come true.

It felt all the more better because I didn’t ask him to. He did it out of his own volition.

Thanks A for making my wishes come true.

manzanitas or grapes?

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Got curious with how it’d taste compared with normal-sized ones hence I finally bought these mini grapes for our dessert. Look how tiny they are!

One thing with the taste though. They were good. But. They tasted similar to manzanitas sans the minuscule seeds. Given that, I don’t think I’d buy this again. I’d rather buy manzanitas (or pick some from our neighborhood in Philippines at that!) as that will be much cheaper. They have similar taste anyway. 😀

fusion

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Japanese and Filipino food fusion also comes great.

Bicol Express. The coconut milk I bought though is not so creamy.

Shredded nori. Bought it at an unusual price at 102 yen. Unusual because normally, pricing is at 5yens so it should have been 105yen.

Bicol Express peppered with nori. It may not look much, but it definitely tasted great.

Pardon for the blurriness of the pictures.

 

on towel holders, formalities and melons

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On paper towel holders. Scoured the whole of Gumyoji, Bandobashi and Kannai for 100 yen shops but I still haven’t found the paper towel wooden holder I had in mind. Similar to this one, yes.

I bought one during my Japan stint last 2007 in a 100-yen shop but I just couldn’t find a wooden one now (they have the metal and plastic ones). I can buy in upscale malls but somehow I can’t accept that I am buying something that costs more when I can buy the same kind in a 100-yen shop (not all 100yen goodies are of good quality though). The one above sells at £3.49. So, the search continues…

On formalities. Now, whenever an acquaintance, say an office acquaintance you have only just met recently would ask you “how are you?” I think one would instantly reply, “i’m good” or “i’m ok” without really thinking about your current emotional or physical state. For some, the how-are-you question is more like the small talk that’s prelude to more small talk. You don’t really think about what you answer. Anyways, when you’re asked the how-are-you question, etiquette would make you ask the same question back. And if ever you encounter a person who deeply thinks about his/her answer to your how-are-you question and who may answer more than “i’m good” or “i’m ok”, do listen closely. True people like them are hard to find.

On latest craze. It’s the melon season. You can buy a perfectly-ripened-can-eat-immediately whole melon at 200yen. I was afraid to buy at first because I don’t know how to judge if it’s ripe already or not. I took the plunge. And it was worth it. Perfect for our 1st month celeb.