Posted August 28th, 2010 in Food | 2 Comments »
Cheese scrambled egg, bacon, sauteed spinach and toast - a typical breakfast, but I love this 
It seems that there are more than 200 people died from the heat in Japan this year. My family and friends says it’s been very hot and humid. There’s one 20-year-old man who passed away because his air-con was broken on that night. It’s around 36°, but the humidity is high. Besides, all the area is stuffy (many buildings)…
I’ve been reading this blog (in Japanese) since last week - she is Korean, and lives near my house in Japan! She’s been in Japan for 18 years now with her husband (Japanese). I always get surprised that many Korean people are fluent in Japanese.
I love Korean food 
But, same as Japanese food here, I can’t find the “real” Korean food in Perth. I really miss the proper way of eating Korean BBQ! And, other Korean food such as komutan soup (oxtail soup), sundubu (spicy stew), kejan (marinated raw crab in spicy soysauce-based sauce) etc… There are many Korean restaurants in Japan, but I believe there’re many in Eastern states too.
Korean cuisine is quite similar to Japanese cuisine, I believe. They use many kinds of vegetables - even the ones Japanese people are not familiar with, such as leaves of sesame and dodoku (carrot-looking roots). I love Korean side dishes - namuru dishes, muchimu (mixed - like salad) dishes, chimu (stewed) dishes…. The roasted and stewed beans ( I remember Hana BBQ had this dish) is my favorite! They goes very well with steamed rice
In Japan, I always order Korean chilled noodle at yakiniku restaurants during summer. I love the texture of the noodle (made from potato starch). I had a funny experience in a Korean restaurant in Perth few years ago. I ordered this chilled Korean noodle, but the waitress kept saying “oh, you shouldn’t order this. I don’t think you’ll like it”. I knew what I was ordering and told her that I used to eat this in Japan all the time. She said “Oh, ok then. You should be fine”. She thought I had never eaten the dish before, and non-Korean people wouldn’t like this dish. I wondered why they’d put this item on the menu… (did I tell this story before already?)
Posted August 27th, 2010 in Food | 5 Comments »
When I was talking to my family on skype the other day, my mum said she was making hiyashi chuka at home. Since then I had a craving for it…. so I bought some ingredients from a supermarket and cooked it last night.
Hiyashi chuka is a Japanese summer dish consisting of chilled ramen noodles with various toppings. Normal toppings are shredded ham, shredded cucumber, shredded omelet and chopped tomato. It has many colours. The noodle is thin egg noodle, and the sauce (dressing) is tangy (vinegary) Some people add more vegetables such as corn and bean shoots, and drizzle mayonnaise on top.
I used somen noodle this time - the key is to cook the somen noodle al dente, so that it has some texture.
Somen noodle also goes well with the tangy sauce.
I used shredded chicken breast instead of ham, as I’m not really supposed to eat ham at the moment.
Pour the sauce (dressing) over the noodle, or dip the noodle into the sauce and eat ♪
<Hiyashi Chuka Somen> Serves 2
- 200g somen noodle (dry)
- 100g chicken breast
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 tomato
- 10cm celery
sauce
- 50ml soy sauce
- 60ml white vinegar
- 70ml water
- 20g sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- roasted white sesame seeds to sprinkle
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- Mix the sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan, and heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and chill in the fridge.
- Bring a pot of water to boil and cook somen noodle. It takes just few minutes, and try not to overcook. Drain, and cool under running water. Drain, and chill.
- Cut chicken for faster cooking. Poach the chicken in the boiling water until cooked, or sprinkle 1 tbs of sake and cook in the microwave (covered). Drain, and let it cool. Shred the chicken.
- Peel the cucumber (partially) and deseed. Shred thin. Slice celery thin. Chop tomato.
- Divide the somen noodle into two serving bowl. Top with cucumber, celery, tomato and chicken. Pour the sauce over and serve immediately.
aa
Posted August 26th, 2010 in Perth WA | No Comments »
Remedy
Remedy has been one of my favorite shops since it opened. Few steps away from the busy Fremantle cappuccino street, this store is secretary but very popular among those people who find joy in collecting nice homeware, kids toys, accessories and gifts.
95 high street fremantle wa 6160 … 08 94317080
131 oxford street leederville wa 6007 … 08 94448818 Read the rest of this entry »
Posted August 25th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »
I got up very early today. 4 am! I didn’t have any work to do this morning, but couldn’t go back to sleep after waking up for the toilet :p I normally have no problem going back to sleep even if I wake up during the night, but this morning I felt so hungry and couldn’t sleep!
What did I eat last night…? Roasted veggies and chicken. I thought I ate a lot, but I guess my digestion system works too good. I got up the bed and started preparing early breakfast.
I had some left over in the fridge, but I decided to cook udon noodle soup. My favorite is to add egg to the soup (tamago-toji udon), but this time I just made a simple one.
With wakame seaweed, sprig onion (and naruto - fish cake). There are many kinds of udon soup in Japan, and I guess I can call this “su-udon 素うどん” = which means “simple udon”. Su-udon normally indicates udon noodle with nothing but soup and spring onion (or sometimes just soup).
Su-Udon (image from wiki)
Making the soup by yourself is very easy! Besides, you won’t need to prepare many things when making su-udon.
<Udon Soup> serves 1
- 1.5cup water
- 1 handful bonito flakes (about 10g)
- 1 tbs mirin
- 1 tbs soy sauce
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- Place water and bonito flakes in a small sauce pan. Bring to the gentle simmer, and turn down the heat to low. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Drain the bonito flake and keep the soup. Return the soup to the pan, and add mirin and soy sauce. Bring to the gentle simmer and simmer for 5 minutes.
aa
Pour the soup over cooked udon noodle. Enjoy with your favorite condiments!
By the way, the bonito flakes you used to make the soup: normally you just throw away, but you can make
Tsukudani (
wiki) with it. Mix with sake, sugar and soy sauce (1 tsp each) and stir-fry until the liquid is gone！
Posted August 24th, 2010 in Japan | No Comments »
I had a very relaxing morning today.
It was just a normal day - get up early and get ready for work-, but somehow I felt so relaxed on the way to the office. Maybe it’s because of the song my husband was listening to from his iPod, or the cloudy weather with white sky; as if it was just about to rain.
aa
To tell the truth, I was kind of having struggling 6 months since the beginning of this year. I knew the reason, but I didn’t know what to do. But, one day, I realised - what is the most important thing in my life? It’s certainly not the money. SInce I was little, I’ve always wanted to do something which I liked, I wanted to get a job which I enjoy - not for money. I actually wanted to go to Africa by myself to live with wildlife by looking after them!
I think I was losing myself while this 6 months. Now, I’m so glad that I’m Ume again. I always loved my unique and weird personality.
aa
I read many books during this 6 months, and I leant that the most important thing to lead a happy life is “be a happy person”. If you are not happy, you can’t be nice to others. You won’t even have a minutes to worry and care about people. But, when you are happy, you can do all of them. You’ll have a big heart and can share it with others.
aa
I am now thankful that all my family is fine and healthy. That’s all the matters, I don’t really care about other stuff!
aa
Oh, last weekend I talked to my mum, dad and bro on skype. We’re all not phone-type of people and couldn’t talk too long, but it was really nice that we did. My mum lives bit far away from my house and she doesn’t usually come to the house, so it’s great that I could talk to three of them at the same time. I wish I was there!
© Librairie Seizan of KYOTO
This time of the year in Japan is Obon : a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one’s ancestors. They wanted to go to the Jizo-bon festival - a festival for children held in especially Western Japan - near my house, but it’s customary to have the Jizo-bon on both August 23 and 24 to coincide with the Jizo Bosatsu fair. This year, 23 and 24 are Monday and Tuesday, so they couldn’t. On Sunday they went to the place anyway, but the festival wasn’t started yet, and mum couldn’t go to the alter of many jizo statues to light the candles. Mum asked the monks to light three candles for bro, me and one more once the festival starts.
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I love the festival.. When I was little, I didn’t know much of the meaning of the festival - just enjoying the stall food such as takoyaki, snow cones, Hiroshima-yaki and crapes. It’s a long way to the jizo alter, and on the way there’re many stalls selling food and toys, and also people enjoying karaoke on the stage. We all head to the alter, and inside we light on the candle and come out, then return back the way we came.
aa
I hope I can be there next year. I’m really starting to think that I should be flying to Japan during summer next time.
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