There are evenings when I don’t really have time to cook because I’m late from work or workout and I’m starving. Inicidently these evenings would coincide with a rather empty fridge (for some standards my fridge is always empty!). When this happens I need to fix dinner in less then 10min and I need carbs (no carb diet is definitely not for me). 10min is just the time it takes to boil some trofie, dice two large, super rippen fresh tomatoes, go outside to cut some fresh basil, seat back and snack a little cucumber.
This ultimate simplicity seasonned with a delicious olive oil, for instance from my hometown in France, Camargue salt and grind pepper is just the perfect dinner!
In the summer of 2006 while browsing the internet to find some nice contemporary art event and exhibition I found information about the Echigo-Tsumari art triennale (ETAT) and some special performances that would be held on the week end, so we jumped in a car and drove up there with no plan but our “triennale passport” and triennale catalog. We completely felt in love with the concept of the triennale, the with the beautiful mountains and rural area. We also met there some unique people: S. and K. that have become very good friends and that work in Tokyo and live up there most of the time n their beautiful house by the forest. Since 2006 we’ve made trips there more than a dozen times, we’ve been there at every season, went snowshoeing in deep snow, attended new year ceremony in the local shrine, went to pick wild vegetables and herbs in spring, young wild bamboo shoot in the beginning of summer, seen traditional bull fight, the red leaves in the mountains in autumn and we have never been disappointed. This area of Japan is truly beautiful with a strong personality.
After some time when we couldn’t go because of too mush work on week ends and because of our new house in the country that needed some maintenance, we finally went again, and it was again the triennale. And again it was a perfect stay. Our friends always welcome us in their beautiful old house (that is not completely innocent in the choice of our own house in the country), they feed us with delicious local products and a lot of fresh vegetables from their potager garden, I usally cook with K., and then we drove all over the countryside small roads to visit the art space and see artworks. And we’ve came back to Tokyo with tones of delicious products. I have my shopping list ready anytime we go there: natural honey and pollen from Akiyamago, 2-5-8 to prepare my own salted pickles at home, Koshikari rice, buckwheat flour from Tsunan… Plus our friends always treat us royally with tons of gifts from their own garden which vary depending on the season. Though very short (we stayed only 2 days) the perfect summer break!
Installation from ETAT 2009
The concept of the triennale is quite simple, it is a contemporary art event that tries to boost this rural area that is depopulated and where there are many empty old houses, farms as well as unused schools because of the lack of kids. So a few houses and schools each time, and some outdoor spaces in the rice paddies, in the forest are also used for installation, exhibition, landscape art… Some of them also use traditional craft of the area, or local history. Since the very first edition in 2003 they’ve called for some famous artists such as Botansky, Turell, Kusama, Guo-Qiang… and mix with younger less known artists and art students. Of course the quality of the artwork is also very wide, but there is always very very nice discoveries. The art works span over an wide area, so driving is the most recommended, distances are not huge but roads are small and can be quite busy with beginners/paper drivers on week end so it takes time and it’s not a fun drive, week days are better for a more intense experience. There is also a number of performances: music, theater and experimental work almost every week worth checking.Since the triennale seems to be quite a success and drains a lot from of people from the city the event is slightly evolving and this time there were lot’s of temporary cafe in the main art spaces promoting local food (mainly for penniless urbanites so expect a lot of curry-rice). Local people are also selling local products, so it’s good to pack with an icebox in your trunk to bring back the country freshness to Tokyo!
Tokyo summer is hot and often humid but it’s an amazing season and it’s usually short (too short), with the peak of summer starting from the second half of July until usually the first typhoon of August. During the summer there are two things really important: summer festivals (夏祭り-natsu matsuri) and fireworks (花火大会-hanabi taikai). Recently we haven’t beeb to often to summer festivals, they’re often too early during weekdays (they usually start at dusk and last only one or two hours), too crowded on weekends. For fireworks, well, it’s a bit the same actually. There are a lot of huge fireworks all around Japan, and we’ve seen plenty. In Tokyo: Arakawa hanabi, Sumidagawa hanabi, Edogawa hanabi, Tokyowan hanabi… are probably the most famous. We are lucky enough to live by the Sumida river and have an ideal view on Sumidagawa hanabi taikai so usually we would watch it from home. But this year we had the chance to watch also seaside hanabi taikai: the one from Ichinomiya, and the small one from our village Ohara. Big hanabi drain a real lot of crowd and require a real organization if you want to attend and see them properly, you need to secure a place to park your car/bike/bicycle, to secure a spot with a good view, and a return route. Taking the train is usually not an option, most stations around are either closed or just so crowded that it’s almost insane. How many times did we get caught in traffic, in crowd flows of drunken people, for me it spoils the whole event… Smaller hanabi taikai in the countryside are shorter, less impressive, more confidential but much easier for logistics and with a local family atmosphere that beat largely the the huge ones. Now, I definitely like that one better. The one in Ohara for example lasted only 30min, but we could easily access to the beach and find a nice and quiet spot to enjoy it. There are many all around Japan, I can only but recommend you to try!
And if you don’t have the chance to see a big one at least you can buy fireworks in any konbini and have your own little firework at home or on the beach) and that is a lot of fun!!!
I’m in a constant quest for new food combinations and freshness, while at the same time I keep things simple and try again and again. That’s what I love about cooking: nothing exactly the same but yet not completly different. Always delicious because I cook what we love. And so many chances to try since we need to eat a little every day, right?
After loving my bulgur donburi, I decided to try a Japanese rice one-plate. I love the combination of the crispy chirimen and the creamy avocado, so I used that base, added some sesame seeds for the taste. Since rice is drier than bulgur and I don’t like to use any dressing with it (it makes it slippery abd impossible to eat with chopsticks) I just added some juicy tomatoes and fresh cucumber. An other delicious and refreshing combination!
I discovered passion fruits while traveling to the Seychelles when I was 6. On Bird island I ate my first one and immediately loved the juicy, sour, sweet, crunchy little fruit.
Back in France I’ve eaten passion fruits but nothing to compare with the one that haven’t travel so long.
Japan islands span over such a long North-South axis that Okinawa offers delicious tropical fruits and it’s only A a 2h-flight away from Tokyo. When we travelled to Ishigaki three years ago we fojnd several farms growing pineapple, passion fruits, mangoes, dragon fruits… That also offer to send to Tokyo anytime you want. It’s a very nice manner to have super fresh fruits from Okinawa in Tokyo. The other way is to go to Ginza Okinawa’s shop. (Each region of a Japan has a sort of antenna shop where you can by local products, most of them are located in Nihonbashi-Ginza area)
The shop sells Okinawaian products of all sort, and the visit was originally motivated by my husband needed some accessories and parts to repair his sanshin (Okinawa’s traditional music instrument). And so it was a good opportunity to get some delicious fruits and in particular perfect passion fruits!! There is nothing as such to start a day than a little salad with pineapple, passion fruits and blueberries!
In my search of the perfect summer salad I’m making a lot of trials, never twice the same. Of course as I was writing in my earlier post all have in common a cereal or carb base: bulgur, rice, pasta, couscous… Tons of fresh vegetables: mainly tomatoes, ocra, cucumbers, a very light or non existing dressing. My salad today ressemble more a donburi for two, with Japanese style accomodation. I boiled some fresh edamame, added some sliced ocra and a perfectly rippen avocado, and a finish with grilled chirimen (very tiny half dried and a bit salty fishes). A perfect combination of softness and crispiness, of sweetness and saltiness. A really delicious mix and a great variation from regular rice donburi.
This fruit is always considered as an awkward thing by foreigners in Japan because the nashi has the shape and size of an apple with the skin of a pear and the flesh of something like a pear but munch more crunchy and juicy, with a mild and fresh taste. So basically nothing to compare really neither to apple nor pear. Nashi is the utmost fruit of summer with watermelon. When eaten cool it is so fresh and juicy that it is the perfect snack for hot summer days. It is also a good match for busy breakfast because it is so easy to peel and prepare. Well, you’ve understood I simply love nashi! And I’m awfully lucky because Isumi is a great region for nashi, with a lot of nashi orchards and tons available at the farmers market and local farmers cooperative.
In the past I did some trials such as nashi tart, nashi compote… It was good, nashi supports well being cooked but the taste which is originally very mild due to the high quantity of water doesn’t reveal much in cooking as apple or pear do. So now my recommendation is to eat it just raw, accomodated with other summer fruits, or just alone. So perfectly simple and so delicious!
I’ve been craving for ravioli recently but I wanted something different than the ravioli al raggu, and I can’t make cheese ravioli (remember, my husband don’t eat cheese). Hopefully I’m very resourceful (no kidding!) when it comes to inventing some new recipes and I thought that some fish ravioli would be great. Unfortunately, there has been a few typhoon coming and going, a lot of wind too, so the choice in fish was quite limited, and I ended up with a beautiful piece of salmon. I didn’t want to serve it wigh spinach (too winter-like) so I picked some fresh celery. And here’s what I did:
I prepared a dough with half white flour half buckwheat flour, pass it in the pasta machine a few times, then diced quite finely the fish and the celery (both leaves and stick), add some salt and pepper snd prepared the ravioli. I cut the dough in 5cmx5cm to be able to put a lot of filling in. Then I boiled some water with some of the remaining celery leaves and boiled my ravioli. I just served with olive oil and lemon juice.
Long time no baking recipe because I’ve prepared us a lot of pancakes, crepes and similar in the past days for breakfast, but with the hot days baking bread has been so much easier than in winter that it would be a shame not to enjoy the warm weather.
This time I prepared a rye Vivarais bread. It’s a French traditional large bread, delicious anytime of the day. For one large bread I used 250g of rye flour, 250g of white flour, 155g of water, 13g of dry sourdough, 2g of yeast, 5g of salt. The process for manual kneading is always the same. Only shaping the bread differs. Here it gets a little more tricky, because after shaping the bread you need to cut it quite deeply, turn it on a floured clothe for 90 minutes and then bake it the floured face up, 10min at 230deg, and then 15min at 210deg. My nread was delicious but I’m not 100% sure I got it all right!
