Simmered Tofu Broth

After continuous eating-out at Chinese restaurants, a steak house and a smorgasbord restaurant, I really really needed to rest my stomach with some hearty Japanese food.  In traditional Japanese cuisine we don’t use much oil, fat and meat.  That’s why Japanese food’s known as healthy, good diet among the world.

Some people think they are too bland and plain.  Even some Japanese people (especially men) prefer Western style food such as pizza, burgers and chips to the traditional Japanese food.  Nowadays, however, Japanese diet has been changed and we don’t get to see traditional Japanese food at the dinning table anymore.  We eat more Youshoku – Japanized Western dish everyday.  Some of the dish you know, such as Japanese curry, omu-rice, gyoza are not traditional Japanese food.  In Japan, gyoza, fried rice, ramen and char siu pows etc are considered as Chinese food, not Japanese food.  In Perth there are some Japanrese restaurants which sell sushi and dim sums together.  For me, the combination is really weird!  Dim sums are not supposed to be Japanese :p

Japanese cuisine doesn’t use garlic either.  They are really natural, plain flavor.  And, I love the bland food. 

Tonight I cooked a broth with Chinese cabbage, shiitake mushroom and tofu.  I wanted to add enoki and shimeji mushroom but they are really expensive in Perth…  I love mushroom!

< Tofu and Shiitake Mushroom Broth >

• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp dashi powder (powdered fish stock)
• 2 shiitake mushroom
• 80g tofu
• 1~2 leaves Chinese cabbage
• 1 tbs sake
• 1~2 tsp soy sauce
• salt

1. Bring the water to boil.  Add dashi powder and stir.  Add sake, soy sauce and salt.
2. Place cut tofu, Chinese cabbage and mushroom to the pan.  Simmer for 10~15 minutes.
3. Sprinkle ichimi-togarashi (one spiced chilli powder) if you like.

If the soup is really bland, you can add more soy sauce or salt. Or, you can use ponzu as dipping sauce.  Ponzu is commonly used for Japanese steamboard dish and simmered broth.

Japanese TV Commercial

As some people know, Japanese tv shows are quite different from other countries’.  There are many comedy shows everyday, and the way they produce the shows is very comical (and sometimes I feel that’s too much :p)

Japanese joke is the most funniest, yet sometimes little cruel (that’s what I think).  You know, in Japanese comedy shows, comedians have to use their body to get the laugh (by getting hit, punched, etc) … :p  And I sometimes think that it’s too much.  Especially nowadays…. some of the jokes are not funny at all!

… anyway, when my hubby first visited Japan, he seemed to enjoy Japanese tv shows even though he doesn’t understand any words.  He said that Japanese tv shows, even tv commercials, are very funny.

Here are some of the funny/over reacting tv commercials…

Kurakon TV commercial

Fanta Drinks TV commercial

Kincho TV commercial

UFO Noodle TV commercial

Sapporo Beer TV commercial

Nisshin Cup Noodle TV commercial

…..

Tony Roma’s

This American franchise restaurant – Tony Roma\’s was first started in North Miami in 1972.  It now has more than 200 restaurants in 27 countries, and there are 2 Tony Roma’s in Australia; one in Sydney and one in Perth.

I like the atmosphere of this restaurant.  This restaurant is famous for its Ribs, Seafood and Steaks, and I had a family dinner there tonight.

I ordered Rib Combo – BBQ chicken and half slab of pork ribs with a choice of two side dishes.  The meat was so tender that I didn’t even need to use my knife.

Aunt had Bayou Chicken Salad – spicy red hot BBQ chicken breast on greens, tomatoes, cheese and bacon.  It looked really yummy!  I will try this on my next visit…

This rib dish is St. Louis Sampler; which comes in 4 sauces – Original, Carolina Honey, Red Hats and Blue Ridge Smokies.  Yes you can enjoy four different flavors in one dish.

We didn’t have any entree this time, but Onion Loaf and Potato Skins are really nice.

They also do take-away!

Saigon

Located at the centre of Northbridge, I’m sure that lots of people know this restaurant.  Saigon is a city in Vietnam, and as this name indicates this restaurant serves Vietnamese/Chinese food.

I was still learning English at TAFE (Technical and Further Education institute) when I first tried this place. (6 years ago!)  My classmate (who had been in Perth for few years) recommended a dish called “Saigon chicken rice” to me, and since then I order this dish every time I go to this restaurant, even now.

Besides the taste, the price was also another big factor why I kept eating this dish.  Back then it was just $4.50!  Now, however, it’s about $7? $8?  I’m not sure…  Price’s been gone up.

I usually order fresh spring rolls as entree.  I love the sauce!  shredded carrot and crushed peanuts…

Then, Saigon Chicken Rice…

The sauce is kind of sweet, and you can eat lots and lots of rice with just this sauce.  (which is not a good thing if considering the calorie, actually :p)  The chicken is roasted or fried first, so it’s crispy outside.   This one dish really fill me up, I think men will like this dish.

Ramune drinks

Ramune is a carbonated soft drink which you can find in Japan. Ramune is one of the symbols of summer in Japan and you’ll see this drink during warm festival days and nights.

Ramune’s bottle is known for its very distinctive design: they are made of glass and sealed with a marble.  The marble is held on the narrowest part of the bottle to keep pressure of the carbon in the drink. To open the bottle, a device to push the marble inward is provided with the bottle. The marble is pushed inside the neck of the bottle where it rattles around while drinking.

The flavor of Ramune I know is sweet, it’s almost like sprite.  It’s transparent but it looks like it’s blue color because of the blue colored bottle.  That’s the original Ramune which I used to drink when I was little.

…. now, I found these!

Left: Curry Flavored Ramune

Middle: Wasabi Flavored Ramune

Right: Almond Jelly Flavored Ramune

They are genuinely made in Japan, by the way.

… Would you drink them?  I mean, curry flavored soda drinks?!  Wasabi?  … Almond Jelly may be fine, but other two are not really tempting.

I’m curious though, how it tastes like…

In Perth they are available in some places…  if you wanna try those.