Because sometime all you want is plain sautéed fresh veggies, and it’s so simple and so delicious that you wonder why it’s not what is on the menu everyday!!!!
Lucky day!
Yesterday my undergraduate students presented their research in the department and this marked the end on the year since masters already presented last week. I was particularly pleased with my students, their research results and the way I can see how much they improved their hard and soft skills during their stay in the lab. It’s a very nice feeling and it is very motivating. So this morning I am full of positive energy, and with the beautful blue winter sky, the crispy air And I need to take time to think. There are so many things I need to think about and I am usually too busy when seated in my office to take the necessary time for that. I find that walking outside in the city is a great way for me to sort my ideas (I think I also miss working in the city). I would usually do that when I have meetings in town or more often when I go to practice kyudo, walking there is about 40 min and it’s perfect to arrive in a calm and rested mind, but recently for too many reasons I haven’t practiced, the first one being unable to find the proper time and the proper calmness, the second being all this muscles and joints ache I have had since the beginning of January, that was definitely related to work and forced me to slow down a bit and is getting slowly better. Yet I didn’t take the time to walk.
And I am very lucky because the train was not working properly this morning, if working at all. I know it sounds strange to say that, because usually it’s when I’m in a hurry for class, or appointment, or when it’s pouring and there’s no taxi to be found. But not today. No meetings scheduled, perfect winter weather, no heels so perfectly equipped for a walk, so I decided to skip the Sobu line and walk to my next transfer. Probably nothing more than 30min at my pace. And that was so great. Tokyo is not of of these European old and beautiful city that you just watch, it’s a city beautiful from the small things going on there everyday, and it’s humility. Feeling the city moving around, people going to work, many walking because of the stopped trains, the shops preparing to open, the homeless sleeping like cats in the sun, the tourists in Akihabara waiting for the shop to open… It just boosted me and gave me an opportunity not only to think properly, but also to reconnect with this city I love but I haven’t enjoyed properly recently, and it just confirmed my feeling that I need to take more time to walk outside!
Pasta plate with smoked ham from Karuizawa
As I was mentioning, Karuizawa is a nice place to by cured meat and ham. We bought to types of smoked ham and both are really delicious. Since these are blocks it is not easy to make slices of it, and I found it a good opportunity to use dices, which in my opinion considerably changes the texture and taste, and suits very well to be mixed with other ingredients such as vegetables and pasta. So for this recipe I just boil big pasta, qanything you like is ok. And in a pan with a little of olive oil I heated eringi mushrooms cut in small pieces, then celery, diced ham and just one minute before serving dices tomatoes. I drained the pasta and add them to the pan so that they sunk in the veggies juice, and served immediately.
Valentine drive in Tokyo ;)
After a rainy and windy morning. The sun finally showed up, it was incredibly warm, so we decided to go for a (Valentine) drive ;). You know like they do in the Japanese drama… Ahahah! Except that ours was a little twisted, we always love to visit industrial areas!! So this time we picked a scenic route through the city that leads us to the “dinosaur” bridge, a bridge that was opened a few years ago in the bay and that we’ve never taken so far. Eventually the route we took was a (romantic) garbage and waste collection route since we’ve passed all Tokyo dumpsters that happen to all be on the newer islands in the sea front with a beautiful view all with names that try to conceal the hideousness of their finction: Yumenoshima (Dream island), Wakashu (Young land)…!! Actually Yumenoshima-夢の島 is worth a trip for itself for its little museum on nuclear tests in the Pacific and the sadly famous wreck of the Daigofukuryu-第五福竜. The route we took was passing also right next to Haneda airport, so planes were just flying over ours heads at low altitude! Kind of love that! Finally we crossed the bay arrived in Heiwajima and Shinagawa’s warehouses and containers warf, for the industrial part of the ride, passed the water sewage and recycling plant and drove to Tokyo tower, before heading to Mitsukoshi to buy ourselves some little Japanese sweets: plum jelly and sakura manju and watch the sunset from home. Happy Valentine! Hope your Sunday was a good one!!!
PS: I also prepared the classic chocolate truffles for Valentine!
Karuizawa
We wanted to go to Hakuba for a long snowboarding weekend but didn’t manage to get a room at our favorite hotel: la neige Higashikan, so we decided to go to Karuizawa. Karuizawa is not well known for being a ski resort but rather a summer getaway to get a bit of fresh air and to avoid Tokyo heat. It’s therefore known for being a classy place for the Tokyo well off to have a country house. We really love the forest in Karuizawa and we once considered buying there before we found our house in Ohara. Karuizawa in winter is not a crowded place, most of the villas are closed during the winter, a lot of shops, museums and restaurants too. But the principal was there. There is a little ski resort with enough tracks to spend a whole day having fun there, and it’s steep enough for a few shirt black tracks. The view of Mount Asama, a nice smoking volcano, is really nice from the top of the resort.
There are tons of nice hotels to stay at. We tried the newly refurbished Kyu Karuizawa Hotel and were not disappointed. And since there are some hiking courses in the area we went snowshoeing too, which is also something I really like to do, and I found missing in Hakuba (only found guided tours). I also like very much visiting the old Nakasando-中山道 area of Oiwake with some nice old houses along the path.
Eating in Karuizawa is also nice, there are plenty of local nice products, one being ham and cured pork meat. Miso is also great and I bought a few. I can’t wait to try it!
And if outdoor is not your cup if tea or the weather is not good, there are a few art museums to visit around.
So it was a great outdoor time, with little use of connected devices; I have muscles ache and this time I know it’s not because of work and stress and it feels really good!!!
Short but intense week
Yup!! Today is the last of the week for me!! But squeezing in a whole week of work in 3 days is quite a challenge. Plus this is the end of the year for students in Japan and that means a lot of thesis reading, preparation for presentations and grading. So from 8:00 to 22:00 it’s all busy. Adding a few round-the-world meetings late at night and the cup is full. So we’ve decided to retreat for a few days in the mountains, probably snowboarding, ice skating and hiking. Being so busy is ok for me, it’s kind of normal, but having to break my sleep habits is really the worst for me. My body stops to regulate its temperature and I feel cold often. So last night I wanted a warm and fresh, soft and crispy, colorful, and ready in 10min. It turned out in a one-plate with steamed spinach, sautéed shiitake, raw celery, chickpeas and creamy boiled eggs.
Just because I love them so much!!
Saturday ravioli, Sunday ravioli, this week end I’ve been cooking quite a lot of things but never so many ravioli. I must say that now I’m really well equipped to prepare some and it’s so much easier that’s a real pleasure!!! And since our little neighbor gave us a bag of shiitake, for a bag of natsumikan the filling was all decided! So I made jumbo ravioli with a dough 2/3 semolina 1/3 chesnut flour. Chopped the shiitake and cooked them in oil, I use fat pieces of pork, until golden, then prepared the ravioli. Served as usual with just olive oil. I prepared 6 per person of these giant things (about 4cmx4cm) and that was perfect for dinner!!
Butternut squash ravioli
This butternut squash was definitely a good source of inspiration for making new recipes, and the last thing I tried with it was ravioli, I really have a thing for ravioli. And that was awesome! For the pasta I used the same recipe as last time, and rolled it with my pasta machine. For the filling I just steamed a peeled piece of butternut squash, smash it and add salt and pepper, that’s it. I served it with just olive oil and gratted Parmegiano. The butternut squash sweetness add a perfect touch to the taste of the olive oil, and the simplicity of the preparation is just perfect to enjoy the taste of the butternut squash. It really surprised me how simple it was to make too!!
Saturday one-bowl lunch
I’ve heard often that when I was a kid I wouldn’t eat nor sleep. I remember very well not sleeping and that’s why I had my first robot: robby, a robot that would lit up when, scared I would wake up and cry for someone. Robby would also play with me. My first robot was an interacting robot that would keep me company, basically the kind of robot I develop now. Regarding food, I remember loving only a few things and beetroot was certainly not one of them! Now I quite like it and enjoy a lot when they are added to salads. I like the taste of sweet earth they have. So today lunch was beetroot, carrot, salad, rice, grilled katsuo and a bit of sesame. Have a nice weekend!
