La vita è bella

Dinner at a Peruvian Restaurant

2008-10-22T14:58:00.001+09:00

Hi there. It's been a long time since I updated my blog last. It must have been boring for you who checked out my blog almost everyday and nothing had been changed till today. But finally I'm back again. So I hope you will check it out again from time to time :)

My friend and I ate out at a Peruvian restaurant (or the cuisine from Andes and Mexico) called "Los Inkas" in Umeda (It is one of the downtown areas in Osaka.) the other day, almost a month ago. It is a small place, but cozy and the people are friendly. (The owner/chef and the staff I met that night are all from Peru.) We had some dishes and drinks. I had a cocktail called "Ecuador", which had the colours of the national flag of Ecuador. (There was no blue in between, but as you can see, there are the yellow on top and the red at the bottom.)

Creative Japanese Cuisine

2008-09-16T14:39:00.001+09:00

It's been more than a week since I updated my blog last. I hope you, the readers of my blog, have been well :)

Today I'll show you the photos of the food I took at a restaurant at the end of July. These are the photos of a Creative Japanese Cuisine.

It is obvious that it's important to keep the tradition in food culture. But sometimes, I think that the traditional cuisine needs to be improved in line with the times; Cooks need to have "Creativity" and "Passion" to entertain customers and make them happy, when they taste their food.

Japanese cuisine, same as French cuisine, places great value in the beauty / the representation (beautiful to look at the food), good taste (needless to say), hospitality and feeling.

Please enjoy looking at the dishes. This was the course of a Creative Japanese Cuisine I had in summer at a restaurant in Kansai area.

Aperitif - Umeshu (Plum Liquor)

Summer Vegetables with Jelly (made from their original Japanese taste soup stock) and White Miso (soybean paste)

Assorted Sashimi(thinly-sliced fresh raw fillet of fish)

Charcoal Broiled Eel with Sourish Vegetables (in the gold & black plate), Pot-Steamed Hotchpotch, Sweet Cheese & Egg a la Castella or Sponge Cake, and Lotus Root dressed in a Sesame Sauce

Japanese Seaperch Saute with Zucchini and other Summer Vegetables, with Sauce

HAMO (Common Japanese conger) with JAPANESE PLUM SAUCE on top and SUMMER VEGETABLES in their original Japanese Taste Soup Stock surrounded by Ice. (eat it cold) --- It was very delicious!!

Eggplant (it was so tasty, this eggplant!) and Aroid. The soup was so good, I can't describe in words how tasty it was!

Rice, Soup and Tsukemono

YUBA no ANKAKE GOHAN with WASABI (Soy Milk Skin and AN sauce with Wasabi on Rice-hot)	AKADASHI (Red Miso Soup)
TSUKEMONO (Japanese Pickles)

DESSERT

Tomato Mousse with Fruit Tomato, Watermelon, Grape and Sudachi Slice

Japanese Basil Ice-Cream with Japanese Plum Sauce on top

Coffee

Bon appetite!

Brunch at Swissôtel

2008-08-19T23:19:00.001+09:00

I went out with my friends for brunch at Tavola 36 (Italian Restaurant & Sky Bar) at Swissôtel the other day. I didn't take photos of the meal (because it was just a buffet style.), but I took some photos of sweets and the chocolate fountain at the restaurant. I enjoyed watching children having fun, when they were "playing" at the chocolate fountain or making their own sweets or fruits covered with the chocolate.

I had a marshmallow, strawberry and a piece of sponge cake to put in the chocolate fountain. Like the children, I also enjoyed doing it :D

And here are my another sweets except for the cakes you saw at the beginning of this post :) Buon appetito!

White Chocolate Cake with Mango Cream on Top

2008-08-16T23:28:00.000+09:00

My aunt brought this cake for me and my family from one of her favourite patisseries. The base is a sponge roll, and it is decorated with white chocolate cream, and there are mango cream and rolled white chocolate bars on top. I had a piece of it. It was quite good. I might bake a cake next weekend :)

Kannonya 観音屋

2008-08-16T14:11:00.003+09:00

My friend took me to "Kannonya" in Kobe city for lunch and afternoon tea, which is one of her favourite cafes.

The cafe specialises in cheese. Their specialty is the cheese cake which is made of certain cheese imported from Denmark. Their cheese cake was quite interesting. They melt the Danish cheese on top of a sponge cake and serve it warm. That was my first time to have such a cheese cake.

Anyway, I had a lunch set (Hamburger steak with Danish cheese on top + vegetables, a salad, breads and a glass of iced lemon tea.) and after the meal I had their specialty "Cheese cake". There was also a cheese fondue set, but my friend and I didn't really feel like having it, as it's summer right now and was very hot then. (over 38 degrees outside!) Maybe next time, when winter comes ;)

Afternoon Tea

2008-08-14T22:21:00.005+09:00

As you already know (if you know me in person.), I love to enjoy a variety of cuisines, sweets, tea, coffee, drinks etc. Today I will upload some photos of cakes. I was invited for afternoon tea the other day, and I had Earl Grey tea and a cake.

This is the lounge at Rihga Royal Hotel Osaka where I took afternoon tea.

Mont Blanc and White Chocolate Mousse with Berries (I had this cake.).

Hmm, tres bon :)

Pillow Watermelon 　枕西瓜（まくらずいか）

2008-08-10T00:00:00.001+09:00

今年も我が家に枕西瓜が届きました。草鞋を履いたジャンボ西瓜です。これまでにも数回購入したことがあります。久しぶりに見ましたが、やっぱりかなりおっきかったです。何か比較するものがなければわからないので、今年は写真を撮ることにしました。ということで、今回我が家にやって来た枕西瓜君は、10円玉＆ニュージーランドキウイと共に記念撮影することになりました。

A pillow watermelon or a jumbo watermelon was delivered to my home! It is pretty big. Since it might be difficult to figure out how big it is, I put a 10 yen coin and placed a New Zealander kiwi next to it.

Pillow Watermelon Cut 枕西瓜カット

見事綺麗に枕西瓜が半分にカットされました！（母が西瓜カットしました。）普通の包丁でこれだけの大きな西瓜を綺麗に切れたのはちょっと感動☆でした。それにしてもでかい･･･！！大きいから面白いとおもってついつい購入してしまうのですが、その後けっこう大変なのがその西瓜を食べつくすことです。これからスイカ三昧の日々が続きます。

Japanese Curry Rice

2008-07-16T22:16:00.000+09:00

What we call "Curry Rice" in Japan is this type. The taste is quite different from Thai green curry or any other sorts of curry rice in Asia. We have our own taste. I think you can find Japanese curry roux in a box, retort curry or curry sauce in supermarkets or Asian shops without problem. This time I used minced pork and minced beef.

Omelette and Baked Eggplant with Pesto Genovese

2008-07-15T21:25:00.000+09:00

I cooked omelette, baked eggplant with pesto Genovese and potatoes for today's dinner.

This eggplant dish might be good for appetizer. This is what I made up for my boyfriend who isn't a big fan of eggplants. In this way, he can eat eggplants and he loves to eat eggplants since then.

The preparation is simple. You just need an eggplant, pesto genovese (home-made one or something you can get in a shop. I recommend Barilla Pesto Genovese.) and cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, or a cheese which easily melts is recommended.). Slice the eggplant to your liking. Put an alminum foil on an oven plate, place the sliced eggplants, spread the pesto genovese on them, add the cheese on top, and put the oven plate in the oven and cook until the cheese becomes a little bit brown and the eggplants are ready. Buon appetito!

Chocolate Muffins

2008-07-14T23:41:00.000+09:00

I baked chocolate muffins using a muffin mix which we bought at a shop. It was my first time to make them using the mix, and I was wondering what they would be like. They turned out well, but the only thing I didn't like was that they were too sweet to my liking. It seems Australians like them very sweet, not only muffins but any sweets ;)

Thai Green Curry

2008-07-14T23:05:00.000+09:00

Today's dinner is Thai Green Curry. This is one of our favourite menus at home. I used a green curry paste, a can of lite coconut milk, sugar, and chicken for the curry as usual, and added various vegetables such as baby corn, champignon, zucchini, eggplant, onion, snow peas and coriander. (I think that's all.) This is just my opinion, but the adjustment of sugar is the key to make a tasty Thai green curry.

Tomatoes, Mozzarella Cheese, Salami on French Baguette

2008-07-14T15:06:00.000+09:00

I prepared a light lunch today. It is something like a bruschetta, though I didn't use any garlic today. (So I can't really call it a bruschetta.) I put some dill on top as a decoration.

Fluffy Baked Potatoes with Cheese

2008-07-10T22:31:00.000+09:00

I found 2 potatoes in the pantry, so I made "Fluffy Baked Potatoes with Cheese", which is one of my recipes that my friends like. I was a student living in a dorm in Germany, when I first made it. I remember my friends from Southern Europe and East Europe, and also from my country Japan had my fluffy baked potatoes, and they liked it a lot.

You just need potatoes, a little bit of butter, salt and pepper to taste and some cheese, that's it.

Put some cheese in the middle of the mashed potatoes, then make it nice, flat, and put some cheese on the top of it. Bake them in the oven until the cheese on top will get a little bit of brown colour. Bon Appétit!

This time, the cheese I used (which I had in the fridge) didn't really melt well on the top of the potatoes. The cheese inside was fine.

Pumpkin Croquettes

2008-07-10T00:58:00.000+09:00

As I wrote in the post of today's lunch, I needed to use the ingredients left in the fridge. I found these ingredients below, so I decided to make Pumpkin Croquettes. This is something that my mum makes sometimes at home in Japan, and this is one of my favourite home-style dishes.

Serves 2 - 3
* Oops, I forgot to put an egg there in the photo on the left.

Pumpkin Croquettes

1/4 Butternut Pumpkin (or normal pumpkin)

1 Potato

1/2 Onion

* 1/2 Carrot (I usually don't use it, but since it was left in the fridge, I added it)

100-150g Minced Pork

Salt and Pepper

Fresh Bread Crumbs ---> Using fresh bread crumbs makes the croquettes more crispy.

(I had 2 slices of white bread left, so I put them in a food-processor to make fresh bread crumbs.)

Plain Flour (or just normal Flour)

1 Egg

Oil to fry the croquettes

1. Put the pumpkin and the potato in the microwave to soften them. (3 - 5 min. in a 1000W microwave.)

2. Chop the onion and the carrot into fine pieces. (You can use a food-processor to do it too.)

3. Fry the minced pork in a fry pan, then add the onion & the carrot, and saute them until soft, and until the minced pork is cooked. Put a little bit of salt and pepper to taste.

4. Take the seeds out of the pumpkin, then take the pumpkin from the skin with a spoon.

Put the pumpkin and the potato in a bowl, and mash and mix them.

5. Add 3. in the bowl and mix it together with the 4. Put some salt and pepper to taste.

6. Make a ball of croqquette from 5., dredge it in the flour, coat it with the egg, and lastly roll it in the bread crumbs.

Make the croquettes flat, so that they will be fried quickly, just like them below.

7. Prepare the oil in a pan, and deep-fry the croquettes until golden brown.

8. Finito, done! Eat the freshly-fried croquettes straight away!

They were delicious as usual :)

In Japan we have a sauce for Tonkatsu (豚カツ) or Pork Cutlet, and it goes pretty well with the croquettes. I had an *Okonomiyaki Sauce left in the pantry, so I used it to have the croquettes. The brand of this Okonomiyaki sauce is OTAFUKU オタフク, which is made in Hiroshima prefecture Japan.

*Okonomiyaki is one of the specialties (cuisine) from Osaka Japan. You should definitely try one, if you ever go to Osaka or to Japan. You would love it :)

Curry flavoured Sausages and Veggies with Turkish bread

2008-07-10T00:28:00.000+09:00

I decided to make a menu for today's lunch and dinner that I could use all the ingredients which are left in the fridge. (ex. Half-left veggies, meat in the freezer, bread etc.)

For lunch, I prepared "Curry flavoured Sausages and Veggies with Turkish bread". Easy and quick to prepare. Cut the veggies and put them and some sausages on the aluminium foil (I recommend you to put the aluminium foil on the conventional oven safe plate.), add olive oil over them, sprinkle salt & pepper and curry powder. Put the plate (veggies and sausages) and also Turkish bread in the preheated oven. I covered the veggies with another aluminium foil, so that they wouldn't be dried up. Wait until they are cooked. Buon appetito!

I baked it again...

2008-07-07T00:58:00.001+09:00

I knew I shouldn't have baked a cake this often (as it would make me, my boyfriend and others gain weight.), but I did it as I had found some bananas left in the fridge... I just couldn't help it! Oh well, I will not bake a banana cake for a while from now.

Anyway, here is the recipe of my banana cake, if you are interested. I bake it based on the recipe from the cooking book "Off the Shelf - Cooking from the Pantry" by Donna Hay (She is an Aussie food stylist, who, I think, is quite popular among Australians.), which some friends of mine in Australia gave me last Christmas. I usually cut down on sugar in most of the sweets recipes (and cut down on salt in diet) which are written by foreign cooks or food stylists. (They end up usually too sweet or salty to me, to a Japanese.) So you might feel that something is missing in the recipe below. In that case, just add some sugar or more. This is a very easy + quick recipe of a banana cake.

Food-processor Banana Cake

Place 1 cup caster (superfine) sugar,

(Actually, I place just 3/4 cup caster sugar, and a bit of sweetener.),

2 cup mashed banana (or more, if you want more "banana flavor". I used 4 bananas.)

125g (4 oz) melted butter,

3 eggs

and 3/4 cup (6 fl oz) sour cream

in a food processor and process until smooth.

Add 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

and process until combined.

Spoon the mixture into a 25cm (10 in) fluted ring tin,

and bake in a preheated 180°C (350°F) oven for 40 minutes or until cooked.

*In Donna Hay's book, you place the 1 cup caster sugar plus 1/4 cup brown sugar, and just 1 cup mashed banana.

It is easy and quick to make. Why don't you bake one for your family, friends or yourself, when you have time or when you just feel like it? I hope you'll enjoy baking and tasting it. Have fun!

Pumpkin Soup, Hamburger Steak with Veggies and Rice

2008-07-05T00:00:00.001+09:00

Here is today's dinner.

I used 1/4 of a butternut pumpkin for the pumpkin soup. It didn't taste really sweet as usual, so I needed to add a little bit of sugar and sweetener. I put some crouton which I prepared in the oven (cutting a white bread into pieces) last night. It tasted really good. Yumm :)

And here is the hamburger steak and vegetables. Pork minced meat and Beef minced meat were used in this hamburger steak. I had the hamburger steak dipping in Japanese soy sauce with Wasabi. This was my first time that I had soy sauce and wasabi for hamburger steak, but when I have a beef steak, I usually eat it in that way. I learnt it from some French restaurants in Japan. It is a good combination, so please try if you are interested.

Panini di Pollo alla Griglia

2008-07-04T23:30:00.000+09:00

Ciao tutti! Questo e' il mio pranzo di oggi.

Ho preparato dei panini di pollo alla griglia con pomodoli e mozzarella. (con un po' di salsa, pepe e olio d'oliva.) Ho messo anche coriandolo che stava ancora in frigo. (Dovevo usarlo al piu' presto.) Erano buoni :)

Banana Cake

2008-07-03T23:21:00.000+09:00

A me piace cucinare. Se ho tempo libero o non ho niente da fare, cucino :)

Quindi, ho fatto una torta alle banane dopo aver finito la cena. Non so come si dica "Banana cake" proprio in italiano pero', sapete quello che voglio dire. Eccola, la mia banana cake per oggi.

Tempura

2008-07-03T23:00:00.000+09:00

Per la cena di oggi ho fatto "Tempura", una tipica cosa da mangiare dal Giappone, dal mio paese.

Sono le patate (la foto che si vede sopra.). Stavolta non ho preparato dei gamberi perche' c'erano alcune persone a cui non piacciono. (sigh... a me piacciono molto, tutto del mare, si'!) Comunque ho fatto alcuni tipi di verdura e pollo.

Sono le patate ed i asparagi.

Buon appetito!

La vita è bella

Dinner at a Peruvian Restaurant

Creative Japanese Cuisine

Brunch at Swissôtel

White Chocolate Cake with Mango Cream on Top

Kannonya 観音屋

Afternoon Tea

Pillow Watermelon 枕西瓜（まくらずいか）

Pillow Watermelon Cut 枕西瓜カット

Japanese Curry Rice

Omelette and Baked Eggplant with Pesto Genovese

Chocolate Muffins

Thai Green Curry

Tomatoes, Mozzarella Cheese, Salami on French Baguette

Fluffy Baked Potatoes with Cheese

Pumpkin Croquettes

Pumpkin Croquettes

Curry flavoured Sausages and Veggies with Turkish bread

I baked it again...

Food-processor Banana Cake

Pumpkin Soup, Hamburger Steak with Veggies and Rice

Panini di Pollo alla Griglia

Banana Cake

Tempura

Pillow Watermelon 　枕西瓜（まくらずいか）