Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
The true origin of food
Sunday, November 27th, 2011 by lewisIt makes sense that we check the packaging of food to find out who made the food and where it is from. But how do we know where the food is really from? There was a story in Japan a few years ago about a famous variety of eel from one of the southern islands. It turned out that the eels were actually Taiwanese and that they were brought into Japan for a very short period so that they could then be re-packaged as originating from that area - and not from Taiwan.
This kind of thing can make you feel that big companies are not completely honest with consumers about the true origin of the food they sell to us. My mother loves shopping at the supermarket, but she still prefers market places. This is because the market stall holders in Japan can tell you exactly where the food was from. In many cases in Japan they produced the food themselves on small lots hear their home.
It really is a huge responsibility to correctly inform people where food is from and how it was made.
How about in your country, do you have any of these concerns?
Japanese Food With Label
Tomono x
Fine Sake, Fresh Sushi and Beautiful Parks -Visit Kanazawa
Sunday, June 12th, 2011 by tomonoOne of the places I would like to go back to one day is definitely Kanazawa in Japan. A few years ago I visited for my friend’s wedding shower. It was also just before I was leaving Japan, so Ihave happy memories of it as a girls trip.
We borrowed my friend’s mum’s posh Range Rover. The car was full of goodies but nobody imagined that this trip will be a long one…. When we were approaching to Kanazawa, it started snowing heavily so we were forced to either get off the motorway or put the chains on tyres. We did not have a satnav so our choice was the chain option…. Two of us were Sunday drives, one of us had no idea about vehicle and Beth was the only person who frequently drove and knew about car but guess where she comes from… Philippines!!! probably she never experienced snow in her country and I’m positive that when it snowed in Japan her husband was driving!
Yeah we used the biggest puppy eyes to get by and made our safe way to Onsen hotel after a long journey.
There is a beautiful park called Kenrokuen http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/siro-niwa/kenrokuen/e/index.html which is located near Kanazawa Castle. Before the long snowy winter, they assist pine trees with ropes to prevent from damages by heavy snow. Some people might find that when they hear that news each year, they feel that winter is just around the corner.
Kanazawa is not only for the pretty park but fine Sake and super fresh fish! So don’t forget to pop in the little fish market called Omicho market and Sushi lunch.
Mouth watering sushi and sashimi
At the fish market
More sake that you can shake a stick at
Happy New Year from Cocoro!
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011 by tomono2011 is the year of the rabbit!
How did you enter 2011? Some of you might have been partying! Not me, I was in bed reading a book with my hubby and nodded off at 12:05! How great to be tired mum!
We have O-sechi Ryori on 1st January, which is traditional Japanese food. It usually comes in a box with three layers. My mum usually serves it with a big plate of sashimi (raw fish) and Ozoni soup (rice cake in miso soup). O-sechi Ryori contains many dishes with vinegar and salt, which helps to preserve it for longer, so Japanese mums don’t have to cook anything once it’s made and can have some rest! What a good idea, hey?
Do you have any traditional food to have on New Year’s Day?
But this year I was in the U.K., so we had some Indian Curry!!
I wish you a happy and prosperous 2011!
Tomono x
p.s. Don’t forget Cocoro sales is still going on till 31 January! And of course no effect of VAT rise!
Traditional O-sechi Ryori
Ozoni - Miso Soup with Rice Cake
And more O-sechi Ryori
Sashimi - Served with O-sechi Ryori
Coffee or Tea?
Sunday, August 29th, 2010 by tomonoAre you a coffee person or tea person, or possibly an espresso addict? For some reason coffee disagrees with me, and I’m not really a tea person either. But I do love ‘doing coffee’ with friends and chatting hours and hours. I love Japanese brown teas such as Genmai cha, Mugi cha and Houji cha, but since they are not easy to find in cafes in the UK, I normally have English style tea with milk (we call it ko cha in Japanese).
When you are pregnant it can be difficult to decide if you should drink any tea or coffee. When I was pregnant I avoided Green Tea as it contains a large amount of caffeine. Regular decaf tea was the obvious choice, but it was a bit boring and I wanted more options to replace all the wine I couldn’t drink anymore.
When I stayed at my friend Aki’s house in Osaka, she made me really nice Indian style tea every morning. She boiled milk and added some tea leaves with some spices and honey before putting the lid on to make leaves dance around, giving the best flavour. It was wonderful.
Do you have any top tea making tips?
Oscar loves tea breaks too!
Aki is great in the kitchen
Tomono x
Lunch is the new dinner (for mums…)
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 by tomonoI love getting dolled-up and dining out but can’t really do that much nowadays in the evening because of Oscar’s routine. But going for lunch solves that problem and is also more reasonable than dinner!
My friends took us to a lovely cafe in the countryside called Kappa 38. They have a lovely room with a wooden kitchen for children, also lots of other wooden toys and a rocking horse. It is so important for me that restaurants/cafe have child friendly facilities.
It was raining so heavily that day but the view from window was absolutely amazing with beautiful vivid green colours.
Lunch came with so many little dishes, in cute little ceramic dishes. We were all very impressed and it reminded me that I used to love playing with dolls houses with miniature tea sets! It was just like that for the children’s lunch at Kappa 38.
And of course, lunch can not be completed without a piece of cake… We had lovely pumpkin pudding and Italian lemon tea with rosemary…
Yumm
View from Kappa 38
Oscar enjoying his lunch
Such cute little dishes
Finished with Italian lemon tea with rosemary
Tomono x
How I love fish!
Thursday, June 17th, 2010 by tomonoOne of things I really wanted to do while we are in Japan is to live on Fish!
My mum is a traditional mum and used to feed me fish for every meal. Grilled fish for breakfast with rice, Nato (fermented soybeans, aka stinky sticky beans) Miso soup and some vegetable. Another type of grilled fish for Obentou (lunch box) then Fresh Sashimi (raw fish) for dinner
So I miss fresh fish everyday…. Luckily I had lovely Morrison’s just around the corner and used to get lots of different kind of fresh ones from the fish counter but I never knew which one I could eat raw.
It took only a second for Oscar to love small fish (with head) for snack and I am on fish fiesta! Also Takoyaki (savory pancake with Octopus) is the best snack after a few drinks just like Kebab for English students?!
Oscar loves snacking on little fish
Lovely Takoyaki!
How I love sashimi...
I don’t really eat dairy products but as long as I keep eating fish, it should cover my calcium requirements. I wonder how other people who don’t eat much dairy get their calcium?
Tomono x
What to do with all this Ginger? Let’s make Gari!
Monday, June 7th, 2010 by tomonoMy dad brought back a box of lovely new ginger. I normally use ginger for cooking but never use a whole box of it within few days. Before asking my dad what to do with that much ginger, my mum started slicing them up and putting them in a jar with plum vinegar.
“Ahh!” I thought, this is how you make Gari!! The one you often see when you eat Sushi!
My friend Rick and Emma would love this!
Big box on Ginger
All sliced up
Add some vinegar
and you have 'Gari'
Tomono x
Feeding hungry baby and hubby within 30 mins!
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 by tomonoFeeding a hungry baby and your family at the same time seems daunting when your little one is demanding your attention and love 24-7…
But I couldn’t possibly feed jar food for my little one unless we are on holiday, but I also dislike being in the kitchen all the time. So I have found a few good, clever recipes where you can cook baby food and yours at the same time - using the same ingredients!
This is one of my favourites (and my family’s too). If you like it please le me know and I’ll post more in the future.
Pumpkin mash with Soboro
- 1/4 pumpkin
- 300g minced beef
- 4tbs soy source
- 3tbs sugar
- sesame 10g
Pumpkin mash
- Remove the skin and slice the pumpkin
- Boil in hot water till it goes soft
- Drain the water and mash pumpkin
Soboro
- Stir fry the minced beef till it browns
- Add sugar, soy sauce and stir very well
- Sprinkle some sesame
The pumpkin mash is perfect for a 6-12 month baby, but mix them together for 12 month+ baby and you!
Making the pumpkin mash
Pumpkin mash with Soboro
I’m holding a Japanese themed playgroup tomorrow at Long Eaton Bumps and Babies and taking this dish with some lovely sushi!
Hope they like it…
Tomono x
Japanese baby weaning recipes
Thursday, November 26th, 2009 by tomonoHi,
I’ve been asked for some Japanese baby weaning recipes recently so I have decided to put some on the blog. They are all simple, healthy and delicious (at least Oscar thought so!).
Pumpkin potage
Ingredients:
30g pumpkin
2 tbs of formula milk
Method:
Remove skin and slice pumpkin quite thinly
Place on flat plate with a bit of water
Microwave for between 30 seconds to 2minutes (depending on your microwave)
Mix well with formula milk
Tofu & spinach
Ingredients:
Tofu
Spinach leaves
Method:
Boil tofu in boiling water for few a minutes
Wash spinach and boil just for a few seconds so they wilt
Put them in a blender and it’s all done!
Broccoli and rice
Ingredients:
Brocolli
Baby rice
Method:
Simmer rice for 30minutes till it becomes easy to mash.
Boil broccoli and then mash it and mix with rice.
Sweet potato mash
Ingredients:
Sweet potato
Method:
Wash and peel all skin
Slice and boil for 20mins in big pan
Drain the water and mash!
Please tell me some of your favourite baby weaning recipes! You can leave them in the comment box below.
Tomono x
Food and babies
Friday, October 30th, 2009 by tomonoWe had a pot luck lunch party yesterday at one of my Japanese friend’s house. I can never leave Oscar when I want to concentrate on cooking so I decided to do slow cooked Chicken the previous night.
I always love chicken with bones and skin. So whenever my mum in low prepare roast chicken, she gives me all my favourite bits on my plate! Nibbling around bones must be such a shocking site for them but for us it is the best bit - with lots of collagen which is good for your skin.
Oscar is spoilt for choice at the pot luck party!
I stewed chicken legs with some ginger, garlic, konbu seaweed, onion and carrots for few hours in the evening. It smelled absolutely gorgeous and tasted good, too. To make little bit more party mood, I did Temaki Sushi (’hand-rolled’ sushi) where you can choose your own topping on the top of Seaweed and vinegary Sushi Rice.I prepared some radish pickle, tuna with Wasabi Mayonnaise, some bonito flakes, ocean sticks, fish eggs, smoked salmon and some cucumber.
My favourite Temaki Sushi was one with cucumber and smoke salmon with hint of Wasabi. The crunchiness of the cucumber and crispy seaweed is just the best combination ever.
What Japanese babies eat
Japanese babies often live on sticky Japanese rice. They love it but usually dislike vinegary Sushi rice , so please do not feel tempted to try this recipe for your baby! All I got from Oscar was yukky face and the daunting job afterwards of cleaning the floor and even walls of semi-dried sticky stubborn rice.
I’m sure every country has own baby weaning recipe, but this is one of the best gift I strongly recommend. 100% vegetable flake so easy to use for early stage of weening. Available in pumpkin, sweet corn, potato and carrot varities.
The first meal
Usually we are recommended to start weening around 6months but in Japan we have ceremony called Okuizome (Okui means ‘eat’ and zome means ‘first’) on 100th day after the birth.
Traditional first meal for babies in Japan
Sea Bream is often used for special occasions
This is a traditon to wish their healthy life always full filled with enough food rest of their life. Family members gather around the table and put teeny tiny bit of food on baby’s lip with chopsticks or just let them have a taste of soup.
Putting rice on Oscar's lips
Do you have any traditional ceremony in your country? I’m very curious!
Tomono x
"I received the kimono. We received the Cocoro package today. It looks great! I felt it was really nicely presented and I'm sure my friend will like it."
Joshua, Sydney
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