Visiting a Shrine ☆

It was a beautiful winter day, and Christmas eve also, I visited Kitano-tenmangu shrine that is well known for the gods of study enshrined.

There hung a big Japanese ema (pictorial offering) on the gate. 2014's symbolic animal (Chinese zodiac sigh), horse! 

We wash our hands to purify ourselves before worshiping at the shrine. Sorry for forgetting to take a picture of main shrine! 

I bought some New Years lucky charm there. 

And....hmmm...What a pity! Food stalls are closed!!  :'(  The fair day is the 25th of every month, so there will be a great crowd tomorrow!! 

No problem! I have icecreams in my freezer ♪♪♪ hehehe 

New Year's Decorations!

I went to nearby DYI store and found this! Wow! New Year's pine and bamboo decorations! Where're Christmas trees?? hahaha 

My grandma sent me a box of mandarin orange(Mikan). 

I gave some to my neighbor and she gave me sweet potato(Satsuma imo)! Wow!! It's purple inside!! I deep fried it. 

Yummy!! :)))

Crab Tomato Pasta!

Hi there!! 

I just got crabs and made pasta. They are already boiled so it's easy to cook. 

The hardest part is to break up the crab meat into pieces. I pricked my fingers on it several times. Ouch! 

Fry chopped garlic with olive oil, add canned tomatoes, crab meat and season it with salt and black pepper.

Need a glass of white wine? Perfect! ヽ(´▽｀)/

Agedashi Tofu ♪

 It's getting cold, and how are you?

 I started wanting to eat something hot. Well...not spicy, so, something warm!! 

I usually have tofu in my fridge. I thought it a good idea to make "Deep fried tofu(soybean curd)  with dashi soup" !

First cut tofu into some pieces. Then coat them with potato starch. 

And deep fry them... 

Eat them with daikon radish, ginger and green onion !! ♫ Yummy! (๑'◡'๑)❤

Pizza pizza pizza ☆

On my way home from field trip, I had a lunch at an Italian restaurant. Pizza Margherita, che buono!! 

The restaurant was on the 10th floor. Can you see the mountains reflected on the wine cellar? 

Back home, I made ニラベタ(Jeon). 

wheat flour+ egg + water + leek 

I can't eat any more! I am fuuuull!♪

Fish and chips...?♪

Didn't know they use ale to make the Fish. So I cooked nomal（...what's nomal?lol）one. Nothing is so tasty as the freshly-fried Fish!! Munch munch....

Only a few pieces were dished up with salad. hahaha

Happy yummy weekend!!

On a Sunny Day ♪

It was such a beautiful autumnal afternoon,

I strolled in the park.　

Colored leaves were dancing in the breeze.

Although my fingers and nose were flozen

(I felt like that...), I found myself excited

like a kid.

It was a little early for viewing colored momiji.

Maybe 20th~30th November is the best timing

to visit Kyoto for momiji ;))

On my way back home, I saw the first Christmas

tree this year in the mall!! WOW!!

Should think about presents already??? LOL!

Back at home, I made a dish with fish my dad

had sent me. (Huge one again!)

Hope you enjoy autumn,too!

 



Edamame, Green soy beans ☆

Did you know these beans go great with beer?
They even keep you from drunken sickness!

How to cook? It's simple! Just boil them with salt. Super healthy ♥

How big!!!

Is this a dish for one person!?
My dad fished and sent it to me.
I sliced it into 3 pieces and grilled one of them with salt.
I ate,ate,ate and ate.....

Yep! It was for one person. hahahaha

Mizuna spaghetti ☆

Oh! I forgot to draw sliced onion!! :))

As for Mizuna.... http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuna

Pork Cutlet Bowl ☆

TERIYAKI CHICKEN (*´∀`)♪

We all love it!! I could eat a big bowl of steamed rice!!! Yummy!!!

Pure White Corn ☆

Hi, matee!!
Today I got a rare vegetable. Or perhaps I should say I've never seen such a vegie.

It is a "Pure Whith Corn".

Usually, they harvest corns in July and August. But this white corn is shipped from the end of August till the end of September! I'm a great fan of corns and I have just started to miss the summer, corn season. And found this!!! Wow!!

The grains look so white and shine brightly like pearls! (Exaggerating? Actually they name it a Pearl-Corn! lol) The skins are very thin. Its taste? Yep, creamy and really sweet!! Someone put its sweetness as melon. (I'm wondering about that...hehehe)

I did a little research and found that it's from Hokkaido,northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectures, where the temperature deference is extreme. There're lots of delicious foods there, I would talk about it some other time!

I peeled the cornhusk and wrapped it with a wet papersheet and microwaved it for about 5 minutes. I'm afraid I can't call it "cooking",but I guess it's the best way to enjoy its sweeeetness! :)))

Gourds!!!

There're various kinds of 瓜 (gourd,Cucurbitaceae) available in Japan.
Among them, these four below are very popular.
*南瓜 (pumpkin, 南=south, 瓜=gourd )
*胡瓜 or 黄瓜 (cucumber, 胡=a region in China, 黄=yellow)
*西瓜 (water melon, 西=west)
*冬瓜 (winter melon, 冬=winter)

I'd like to introduce 冬瓜 today.
Strange enough, 冬瓜 (winter melon) is a summer vegetable. Then why is it named a winter melon? Because it can be stored until winter!! Wow!!
It has no taste itself but when the soup soak in it, it's so delicious!

If you happen to get one, try this recipe. (It's originally cultivated in Southeast Asia)
1. Peel off the 冬瓜's skin thick and cut
2. Cut some slices of pork
3. Fry 冬瓜 with sesame oil until it get toasted color and take them out
4. Add a little more oil to the pan and fry slices of pork
5. Put 冬瓜 back in the pan and pour a cup of dashi (or consomme), salt, soysauce
6. Simmer it until the soup gets low
7. Bon Appetit!!

Octopus again :D

He caught tons of octopuses this summer.(A fisherman
 I know.) And he gave me frozen octopuses. They tastes really good because they grew in the very nutritious sea.
The best way to enjoy them? Just boil and eat as they are. But I happened to have some potatoes and ingen-beans,so I fried them all together!
As you see, you should boil the frozen octopus first. A few drops soysauce in the boiling water add some flavor to it. About 5〜6minute boil is fine. Then cut it.
Vegetables are a little hard for fry, so heat them in a microwave beforehand.
Then fry them!! I seasoned them with mayonnaise!!
Hmmmm! Yummy!! ♪♪♪

In the fridge ♪

Though I love spaghetti simple with olive oil ,sometimes I use sesame oil for the sake of variety. Just changing the oil makes the dish quite different.
This time I seasoned it with soysauce, gochujang (Korean red chili paste),ground sesame,sake and a little suger---asian taste. But simply with chilli,garlic,salt and pepper would be also great.
One of the good thing about spaghetti is you can cook it with anything in your fridge! (I happened to have sweet red and green pepper,shimeji-mashrooms,carrots and thinly sliced pork meat)
What do yot have in your fridge? :)))

Red okura!!

I saw the red okura for the first time! A friend of mine who grows various vegetables gave it to me. She said "You should eat the red one raw if you want to enjoy the beautiful color as well,because it turns green if you boil it :))"
So I sliced it and seasoned with soysauce and put dried bonito shavings on it.
Wow!! It's yummy!! I love the sticky consistency and freshness of it.
I think the Japanese name "オクラ" is a loan word from Western countries, but if you live in Europe and can't find okuras in the market, please visit Asian shop. You may find one :D♪

Hambāgu ♪

i

Here you are! One of my favorite dishes in Japan.
It goes very well with steamed rice and miso-soup. Kids love its rich taste and older people like its soft texture.
Hmmm... For people who loves lighter taste, I recommend grated Daikon or radish (+a little bit of soysauce +a little bit of vinegar) :D♪

A special treat for summer! :))

We call it "Tokoroten". Made from jelly extracted from seaweeds,tengusa (Gelidiaceae). No one can imagine it's seeweeds!!
As you can see, its texture is quite smooth!! Nothing is better than a cool tokoroten in summer. (oh,except shaved ice and icecream)
I eat it with vinegar ,soysauce and sesame. But the flavoring varies . Some people loves it sweet,with brown sugar syrup. Also yummy!! ♡

Dried Octopus :))

I'm staying on a small island. A lot of people come here for swimming.
On the way from the beach to the inn,I ran into them! Swimming in the wind, beautiful octopuses!!
Usually we eat them baked on a low flame. Or tear and steamed with rice.
You can enjoy the nice and savory smell of the sea!!

Guess what？

Kyoto is famous for its pickled vegetables. I am on my holiday and I bought some pickles for my parents.
This is pickled tomato! hmm.. I wonder how they make it. The marinade liquid is soaked in very well. Nice and yummy!
Wanna try some?

Avocado〜♪

Hi! Thank you for visiting my blog!
This is the first page and I'm still learning how to use the writing tools.

First,I must thank all my friends who encourage me to start blogging.
I'd like to make your mouth water and spread happy smiles ♡ Thank you!!