Tokyo Tokyo....a destination so great I had to say it twice
Wait, there are contrasts too.
A part of them have a knack of having an item for EVERYTHING. I mean it. They even have little plastic container specially designed to hold you vegetables upright in the fridge. Not to mention a hanger inside the fridge for all your little sachets. They also have a side of them that is of a minimalist nature that there modern and classic architecture have simplicity as their creed and mantra.
Now, imagine both of these contrasting mottos put in the same food culture.
Kind of makes you think huh?
The typical Japanese menu is anything but simple.
First of all, dishes and their presentation follows the season. If the cherry blossom are in bloom then expect to have that flower showcased somehow in their dishes, whether it be a blossom shaped rice and red bean dessert (mochi) or the Chinaware used have cherry blossom patchwork on them.
The "cuteness of the meal" is definitely achieved through the shape of the rice (small sticky "tube-like" shapes divided into 3).
There are no such things as first or second course because meals are best served all together. How the food is displayed all together must be in harmony and that means the meals must complement each other in terms of taste and also of how they look. Colors must contrast in a harmonious way (don't know how else to explain that, confusing yes?)
It must look effortless but be anything but!
Newer or fad foods are always marketed as cute and very child-like. Sweets shaped as cartoon animals are roasted during the colder months and you will find a "Hello Kitty" kind of food everywhere.
It isn't enough that you have sliced or cooked vegetables in your dish but they would also be cut into shapes (carrots or radishes shapes into flowers or cartoons). Kid's meals would not only come in child like proportions but have plates and cups shapes as planes or toys integrated in them. Cute doesn't even begin to describe many of their food habits.
I feel like the more I eat their cuisine, the more I want to eat and know it. High or low brow dishes are all so well presented it is very difficult to decide what I would like to eat most of.
One thing I do agree on is that aside from white rice, Matcha (ground tea leaves) is the staple in every aspect of the word.
It really is considered an important part of the culture that not only do they make it into a formal ceremony (chaji) reserved for the most important occasions, it also makes appearances in their every day life.
This green heavenly powder can somehow be integrated into the main course (matcha mixed into the flour of the noodles), dessert (green tea mochi or ice cream) and even snacks (green tea chocolates)!
I love it so much I had to try everything I could that had even an ounce of green tea in it.
In short, I tried A LOT, and it was GOOD.
06:51 | | 64 Comments
Zatar Chicken
It's not really that salty and it also has a tang of sour at the end. Mostly, it has a light taste that can easily be overpowered by any strong flavor. Due to this it is best mixed or added to other lighter ingredients so as not to overpower the Zatar. Traditionally, it is added to flat bread or Ladneh (cheese from drained yoghurt).
This time though, I decided to add it to some chicken thighs. Pretty simple really. Just rub a little oil and salt on the thighs and then coat it with quite a lot of the Zatar. Pop it into a covered roasting pan and then into the oven for 30-40 min at 200 degrees celsius. After which, take the foil off and then let the skin crisp up for just 20 more minutes. It a really easy dish. For a dip on the side I also make a simple Zatar yoghurt with just a pinch of salt.
You can eat this with flat bread, some rice or couscous. I had it with flat bread and it was yummy. A way to tell if the dish is a success is whether or not there are any leftovers. None whatsoever.
12:27 | | 3 Comments
having one kilo of Baby Back Ribs
Answer: yes! If and Only If it it yummy enough.
That would be worth it in South Africa's Meat Company. In it's hometown where the meat it fresh and grown in a place where the cow (or pig) had fresh air and a lot of space to run on. You just know that it had a happy life by tasting that good slab-o-meat.
I guess the cut had something to do with it to. Just from an Epicurean point of view, blood does contribute to the taste, flavor and texture of the meat.
02:46 | | 1 Comments
the brownie that's not Just a Brownie
There's always room for dessert right? There' s also always room for a brownie. This brownie sort of blows all other brownie's out of the park! It's rich and "fudgy" and just plain old yummy. I may have been on the tad too sweet side and the ground almonds were not a fine as I would have liked. However, even with all those faults, It's still that good. When Nigella Lawson states in her book that this was a real chocolate fix, she was not kidding nor was she exaggerating.
I tried her flour less chocolate brownies. The flour was replaced by ground almonds. I am going to make this recipe again but I may need some time to pass first. It may not require any flour but it was definitely high on all other things not so good for the body. Think of it as a MARS bar that needs those 25hour days to burn it off. You may need even more than that to burn one bar of the brownie. Of course, that may be the case because I made the slices a tad bit too big. All in all, I will definitely make this again.
By the way, the sushi buffet was so worth it! I did not have to become best friends with the toilet at all. I also went to this other place that serves real Peking style duck and I have to say, It was Authentic. It is the only Chinese place here that also serves actual dim sum. All in all, a very successful food tripping weekend.
10:36 | | 31 Comments
Sushi Buffet!
I know how this sounds. It sounds like a future trip to the hospital for food poisoning or at least a full night spent beside the toilet. But this place received really good reviews for fresh fish and stomach poison causing bacteria free....so let's try it and i'll post later to write how it went.
22:54 | | 140 Comments
Spicy Squid
To experiment is sort of the name of the game in my kitchen...I just think of what might taste good then i make it. See if it's good then tweak it to make it better and better. This time it was for the squid. I tried using some Fermented Korean Chili Paste I bought on the border of the north and south Korea some time back. It's salty, sweet and spicy all at once. So this is what went on the marinade...First some vinegar, salt, pepper, and lastly the Korean paste. I let the squid rings soak up the juices for about a day in my fridge. The next day, I let my boyfriend try it. He said it was too spicy...back to adjusting it then.
The following day he said the taste was good but the sauce had too much liquid so my next attempt will be to thicken the sauce after frying the squid. This will have to wait though cause I have been eating squid for a couple of days now so time for something else.
On the side note....a quick "eggy" breakfast turned out great! All I used were two eggs and a few pickled jalopenos. It was all chopped and mixed into the pan...it did a very good job of waking me up in the morning; pleasantly so I might add. I might add some cheese next time but believe me...the peppers were salty enough. The cheese would just make the dish too rich. Maybe if it were the only dish for breakfast and not a side to some sausages and brown rice. Which, by the way, was how I had my eggs this morning.
13:15 | | 0 Comments
Here's what's cooking....
Today I went to do some groceries.
I have always tried to eat healthy but never sacrifice on taste. Bread is wonderful but the whole wheat selection in my area never has a satisfying variety. Now in Australia there are so many varieties! From diabetics bread, heart healthy, fiber conscious, low sodium low sugar to the dairy free! That was just to name a few. When I came back I brought the low fat whole wheat bread with seeds. It was so good. So much flavor that I could eat it alone. No need for butter. Really! But then it was almost finished and I didn't have any Aussie flights soon so I decided to make my own.
Here is what happened, I read all over the Internet on how to make bread and then got the ingredients for it at my local hypermarket. I also remembered a really delicious olive bread from before with bites of juicy black olives in all it's salty goodness so I chose to make an olive loaf! No butter, oil, eggs or salt, plus I only used whole wheat flour; that's the health nut in me swimming up to the surface. The salt came from the chopped olives anyway so no need. Less than an hour to make and it was Good. Not bad for my first try. The smell of bread was all over. It was the perfect choice for when I get those hunger pangs...no need to add anything...well, maybe dip it to some balsamic vinegar and a little virgin olive oil. That would do the trick.
17:42 | | 10 Comments