Insects

We’re not talking about food here! Though there is this trend that eating insects is good for the planet and healthy, and actually there is a tradition in Nagano prefecture to eat a type of grasshoper that lives in the rice paddies, prepared with soya sauce, mirin, sugar, I pass. I can’t eat anything that has the shape or features of a living animal. No here I talking of a little DIY. When Prunellia was here and found these metal broches at a nearby old shop, I immediately though of using them to make an insects collection. And here it is. I’ve made several and these are my first boxes so maybe not the best.

I bought thick frame boxes, colored paper for the back, I punched two small holes in the metal broches and pick a pin in each hole, fixed it with a drop of liquid transparent glue, and ready!

June 10, 2015

Tea time

OK we’re talking a lot about food, but what about drinks?

I’ve always been a heavy tea drinker may be because in my teenage years I wanted to be British for the pony rides in Hide Park and the tea-time at the Brown’s, the check pants and the Dc Martens boots for Carneby street, and the cabriolet as soon as the sun is out! I have had all of it, but my overall favorite drink is still definitely Earl Grey tea. My taste varies with years and seasons but it is always what I go back to. I had a post earlier about one of my favorite Earl Grey from Marks and Spencer, but I also like very much the Clipper organic Earl Grey, and the Mariage Freres Imperial Earl Grey. The Tazo Earl Grey is nice but never in a paper cup and it has to be lightly infused and is better with milk.

Loose leaf new green tea-新茶 from Miyazaki prefecture

Of course being in Japan my taste for green tea as developped a lot and I am quite picky with it too. If black tea works well for me all year round, I find green tea much better in warmer days. Because the water should only be around 60deg, and it has a fresh taste I find it less warming and comforting in winter. In Japan buying green tea is really simple. There’s already a lot of loose leaf tea in supermarkets, but tea shops offer a greater variety in quality. One delicious tea is “new tea” (新茶=shincha) the tea freshly collected, it’s much sweeter and soft than regular tea and can only be bought in spring and needs to be quickly used. There are many regions in Japan producing tea: Shizuoka, Uji, Miyazaki to cite only a few. Luckily we have friends with family everywhere in Japan and receive gifts from them often. This time it’s delicious shincha from Miyazaki that I enjoy every morning! But if you don’t have this chance I really love the tea from Mikuniya Zengoro which original shop is from Fukui prefecture.

What is your favorite tea?

Freshly prepared new green tea (tray from a flea market, the teapot from Kappabashi dori, the tea bowl a present from our Japanese teacher)

June 9, 2015

Lyla restaurant

Chef Narikiyo (picture from Figaro Madame Japon)

Since Prunellia has written a post about the restaurant Abri in Paris, I couldn’t help writting a post about the restaurant Lyla in Tokyo, which was recommended to Prunellia and Aurore by the chef at Abri when they came to Japan last February. So we went there together to discover and really appreciate the refined, delicate cuisine prepared by chef Narikiyo. And since then went again to enjoy some more seasonal food.

Each time the food was perfect, with special attention to each member of the party likes and dislikes and with a genuine style to prepare vegetables mixing French cuisine and Japanese kaiseki. The plating is also a delight, and desserts are as good as the rest. As a personal policy I don’t take picture of food in this kind of restaurants and prefer to remember the taste and colors, so you won’t see anything I have eaten there. I can only give you hints like bisk sable, greens with carrot leaves jus, lemon curd in kuzumochi…

Since I’m not a big eater I always picked the “carte blanche” menu which was just perfect in proportion, and allow you to enjoy everyhing from start to end.

Even though Lyla has received a lot of attention in the press, the chef is always there to say good bye and chat with you, and for the moment it is still possible to book a table on late notice which is really apppreciable.

http://www.lylatokyo.com

Once the booking’s made the staff will call you back to verify your likes, dislikes, allergies, special diet etc… because there is no menu, it’s all up to the chef.

Sardines, radish and comte cheese (picture from Asahi)

June 5, 2015

Back to the basics

After a whole week in Seattle, it’s good to be back home. Though the city has numerous farmers markets, with very attractive food, the hotel life allows only for limited purchases and preparation. There are also a lot of food trucks but honestly the idea of having lunch standing or seated like punks in the street is not very attractive, though the food looks good. As for restaurants, food was ok, fresh but I didn’t find anything outstanding. The best we had was surely grilled salmon or grilled halibut with asparagus. There might be some nice places serving local food (not limited to seafood, which is not what I like best) but we couldn’t find them… It’s really a pity because driving around Seattle one can find again tones of organic farms selling their products, fruits, veggies, delicious yogurts…

So being back home it is time to go back to the kitchen and improvise some summer recipes with fresh food and light enough to beat the jetlag and the heat. So we’re back to the basics: quinoa and bulgur as a base, baby leaf salad, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, yellow zucchini, ocra, and to finish pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and white chia seeds. Back on the tracks!!

May 31, 2015

Bye bye Tokyo… Welcome Seattle!

I am travelling to Seattle for work for a whole week so you won’t hear much from me for a few days. I hope to find the time to try some nice places over there and come back with new ideas and favorite items. I already know I’ll be packing on some things that are only found in the US and hope to find the earnest cereal bars I found In Boston last month!

If you have any good recommendation of things to do, places to check-out in Seattle and around, let me know!!!

In the mean time Prunellia is taking over, but with a slower pace (she’s busy with other projects) . I’ll be back Monday, June 1st, but you can catch up with me on Instagram and maybe FB… Bye bye!

May 24, 2015

A good start!

Of all meals breakfast is my favorite and I like all of its variations. I also like that my breakfast changes everyday, even if there are some common ingredients. Bread or similar and fresh fruits in salad, smoothy, or just plain are on the menu everyday.

I baked this wholewheat soft bread that accomodates perfectly with jam, honey, butter or cheese. It’s very similar to wholewheat pain de mie but because my covered pie dish was too big the bread occupied only half of it and the result was really delicious with a thin crispy layer covering the soft and tender center.

For the bread it’s really simple. I used 250g of T150 flour, 180g of water, 13g of sordough, 1g of yeast, 5g of salt.

May 18, 2015

Sandwich for lunch

Recently a lot of my lunches at work look like this! I really love whole grain bread or bagels, I spread cream cheese or cottage cheese, then top with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, leaf of salad, rucolla, sprouts, and my lunch is ready! When it’s not cream cheese it’s avocado slices. Super simple, tasty, crunchy-creamy and easy to make and eat in a very short time.

May 7, 2015

Showa style

Yesterday was Showa day. Showa was the governing emperor from 1926 to 1989. Of course it covers WWII events, but what is really interesting for me is the postwar development of culture and style during and after the American occupation, after Japan’s been defeated. This period has been marked by a lot of movies, a radical modern style, the development of large housing complexes in the suburbs: danchi. This is very well depicted in a few movies I love: elegant beast (1962) by Yuzo Kawashima, Tokyo drifter (1966) by Seijun Suzuki, Good morning (1959) and Tokyo twilight by Yasujiro Ozu. It is also permisible from the works of Kenzaburo Oe. For a real taste of it, it is possible to visit a reconstructed danchi unit in Matsudo museum in Chiba prefecture and a few of this kind of units are still standing. After a trend for demolishig them (the beautiful Asagaya housing complex…) there is a trend now to refurbish these units and use them as community housing where young people and old people would share space and benefit from the proximity of each other, hipster housing…

Asagaya housing complex in 2011 when we visited it, before it was demolished

And just yesterday I found this amazing photo book that covers a lot of Showa style. The pictures are really nice and gives a good idea about what it was. More than just covering architecture it really covers style and a bit of fashion and habits.

April 30, 2015

Vegan one-plate for dinner

I cook a lot of vegetarian dishes, but recently I realized I’m cooking a lot more vegan dishes. I come with new ideas all the time and this past few days I really enjoy cooking with thick fried tofu. Usually it is prepared in large pieces of 10cm by 10cm, 2cm high, this time I found this nice 一口 one byte squares of tofu that are just great to add to a salad. I prefer eating them hot so I heat them in a fry pan. It also take off a bit of the oil. This time I served them with a baby leaves salad, red quinoa, mashed avocado and green peas sprouts. As usual, super easy to fix rapidly after a long day at work, delicious and colorful!!

April 22, 2015