Month: November 2016

Kabuki-za

Curtain celebrating the Nakamura family
Curtain celebrating the Nakamura family

A few years ago one of the main kabuki theater in Tokyo, the Kabuki-za in Ginza closed, was demolished and rebuilt. It reopened a year ago and since then we’ve been a few times to see performances. The theater completely renewed still has a very old style flair, the outside being almost untouched (expect for a tall tower on top of the old-style theater. The inside has been improved a lot but is still very traditional. The performances have also been dramatically improved, probably thanks to the renewal and the media covering of the Nakamura family, one of the kabuki actors group at Kabuki-za, with more attractive plays and even new compositions, more beautiful costumes and makeups that refer directly to Edo era period. This time we went for one of favorite plays: renjishi, or the lion dance. It is always a beautiful play, with a lot of shamisen playing and a very energetic dance, beautiful costumes. Since pictures are forbidden during performances I can only recommend you check by yourself. As usual there are 3 or 4 different plays in one session and all are really very interesting and different in style, acting and purpose. If you are not a Kabuki amateur you may be tempted to buy cheap tickets with poor view, if you do so be sure to bring some binoculars. Kabuki is not just about the music or the overall performance, it’s about facial expressions and costumes. Details matter, so to enjoy the performance you want to see them. That’s why I would actually invest in some better seating, even for a first time, the experience is all the more interesting. Finally, with all these renovations at Kabuki-za, they implemented a system of personal subtitles device. Contrarily to opera their was no subtitles in kabuki. These devices can berented fir 1.000yens, and are really worth. Much better than the audio system they do not impede with the enjoyment and they provide much more than the subtitles, they explain context, history if the play, characters and cultural features. 

Hanamichi and stage
Hanamichi and stage

Bread making

The temperature is getting low at night these days; and mornings, though sunny are quite chilly. I love then more than ever to have hot bread, freshly baked, for breakfast. But because temperature in the house is much lower controlling the bread making is also much difficult. Yet, with more experience each year, I start to really manage to make bread with a more consistent result. A. loves white breads for breakfast so I prepared a big gâche bread this time.  just 250gof white flour, 175g of water, 7g of salt and 5g of dry yeast. Kneaded until soft and smooth, then proven for a few hours (the house is barely 15deg inside) and shaped as a flat ball. I bake it the following morning for 30min (or until golden) at 230deg. 

Okonomiyaki

“Grill what you like” could be a direct translation for okonomiyaki, this very popular Japanese dish from Kansai as I explained in a previous post. And it is one of the first Japanese dish I’ve ever prepared after we first travel to Japan. Indeed, okonomiyaki is easily found as stall food for festival and is always high impact with the bonito flakes that seems to dance feverishly on top, the white and black stripes of the mayonnaise and the bulldog sauce, and the base so easy to eat! And it is very easy to make at home and always impresses foreign visitors! For one okonomiyaki for 4 people here is my recipe again: you need half a cabbage or chinese cabbage shredded, some pork meat, ground and seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, 4 eggs, 1/2 to 1 cup of flour depending how thick you want the base, mayonnaise, bulldog sauce, and two handful of bonito flakes. In a hot and greased pan cook the cabbage until soft; add the meat, stir well. In a bowl mix the eggs snd the flour. Add the mixture in the pan and even the surface. Cook at low heat under cover, flip when the surface is almost done. Cook a few more minutes, serve in a dish, add crisscross mayonnaise and bulldog sauce, finish with bonito flakes topping. Enjoy the motion of the flakes while it’s still hot.

Back to “normal”

After one full week of reunited Tokyo Paris sisters, it is time to part again, not for too long, since we’ll reunite with our whole family for another Christmas in Sicily, which I am very much looking forward too!!!

Shibamata
Shibamata

One week with guests at home and usual work is always quite intense. Dining out, waking up earlier to spend sometime together in the morning, and using our days off to travel the city. Yesterday was Culture day 文化の日 and we had quite a full day to enjoy the beautiful autumnal weather: we went to Shibamata to see some old shopping street and beautiful temple, then head to the new Otani hotel for a teppanyaki lunch and stroll in the Japanese garden. Spent part of the early afternoon at Dailanyama T-site, stopped on the way back at the Aman hotel, and finish shopper in Asakusa for some order-made paper lantern P. wanted for a very long time. Back home just in time for sunset and mount Fuji!!! (Don’t think of this kind of schedule if you are not motorized!)

And then by dinner our guests were gone, going back to Paris. And a sudden emptiness and quietness st home! Time for us to catch-up with our regular habits and in particular with our veggie-based dinner! So I prepared a very simple soup with butternut squash, potatoes, burdock, lotus root, cabbage, a large piece of konbu for the broth and finished with a little of soya sauce and sesame seeds. So simple and very Japanese in flavors.

My new favorite desktop lunch

After reading that the trend for avocado as an healthy food (like we didn’t know that before, stupid magazines that said for so long it was too fatty… pfiuu) and the resulting worlwide frenzy for avocado toast and other recipe based on avocado  (stupid magazines again), is causing deforestation in Mexico, one of the major producers of avocado, and as caused local avocado prices to skyrocket, I had to change my 7 year long habit of eating a lit of avocados. It is not easy to compete with such ingredient: super easy to find, super easy to prepare, versatile and delicious. But recently with the chilly autumn days I’ve started to use mushrooms quite intensively. Mushrooms are good raw or cooked, they require little preparation and are quite versatile too. Right now my favorite lunch is rice with melted cheese and mushrooms sliced on top, finished with a few pumpkin seeds, salt and pepper. 

To prepare that lunch I usually use leftover rice I’ve cooked for dinner. If I opt for a warm option, to cook the mushrooms I use a microwave (though I hate microwave, that’s the only “cooking” gear I have at work). I wash them and slice them, then cook them for one minute in a plate in the microwave, remove the water (don’t cook them directly while warming the rice, you’ll end with a rather disgusting soup!!!), warm the rice and cheese, add the mushrooms, salt, pepper and pumpkin seeds. It’s ready in less than 5min, warm, melty, crunchy, tasty!!! What is your favorite desktop lunch in autumn???

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