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!!!

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.

November 4, 2016

Miso, miso, miso

Miso is usually sold in large containers in Japan (it is with rice one of the rare ingredients that comes in large packaging compared to Western countries). It is a real pity because I love different types of miso depending on what I am cooking and I usually don’t keep several sorts because I don’t use it every day. In summer I like red miso, in winter white miso, but I also love miso with grains inside, and miso made of barley or of soy beans… So you can imagine how much happy I was when last night with D. we found a little place in Kichijoji that is both a restaurant and a miso shop where you can by miso by 100g units. Let’s first talk about miso, then about the restaurant.
The shop is ran by a single person (土平哲生さん), the elder son and 4th generation of miso makers, that does everything. His shop has a collection of miso coming from different places in Japan and made of the different ingredients, is has also some spicy miso and other fancy ones. It covers all the possible different tastes: very salty to very sweet, creamy to crumbly. And of course you can try all of them before deciding which ones you want to buy. I decided to go with miso made of 100% barley with a crumbly texture, and for a creamy but not too sweet white miso. I am now looking forward to cooking with these new miso.
The restaurant is a bare 10 seats place, with a little kitchen. Since D. is alergic to dairies and doesn’t eat meat at all we asked him if he could prepare something for us that would accommodate us, and he just prepared on the spot some dishes for us. I really like the idea that he could basically cook whatever we wanted with the ingredients he had, it reminded me of “深夜食堂”, a Japanese TV drama where “master” cooks whatever people want in is tiny restaurant. So we first asked for raw cabbage with different types of miso to try some of the different options, then he prepared for us some simmered eggplant with white miso, onigiri with vegetables pickled in miso (I found that not only his miso is delicious, his rice was also amazing!), and we finished with a salad of tofu, fried eggplant, tomato, green beans, with a miso dressing of course! Everything was simple and delicious and so simply prepared that it tasted like home!

Soy Bean Fram – ソイビーンファーム
Open everyday from 11:30 to 22:00
5min walk from Kichijoji JR station, north exit
Tokyo Musashino-shi Kichijoji Honmachi 2-15-2
東京都武蔵野市吉祥寺本町2-15-2

October 14, 2016

Food habits

Travelling abroad and eating at some friends’ place, doing some shopping in the local organic supermarkets and trying some local products definitely impacts my food habits. Trying new delicious products or simply eating differently from what we eat in Japan everyday is really interesting. In Germany I was expecting to eat a lot of dark cereal bread like black bread, pumpernickel… and to buy flour to make some, which I did. But at our friend’s place I also tried freshly prepared porridge and I really love it. First milling the oatmeal (or spelt or whatever you want), then preparing some warm liquid: this time on the picture is homemade chai latte, then some fresh topping: plums, and finishing with linen seads and dates. Perfectly nourishing and warm for a chilly autumn morning and before a long forest hike in the Wine county. Hiking, walking being outside, if not possible, swimming, are all for me the best ways to recover from jetlag, together with a good breakfast.

September 24, 2016

Atami 熱海

Hoshino, villa del sol, or the former library

Once a high end onsen resort with beautiful view of the seaside and stunning village spreading in the steep lush green sides of some small mountains, like many other onsen destinations Atami has been transformed into a sad village with too many horrible onsen ryokans that are now falling appart, a pitiful shopping street that goes dark before 18:00 and to complete the picture the seaside bears the scar of a highway. Between conviency and cheap development for Atami was the top destination for honey moon in the 50’s and 60’s, it is still possible to enjoy Atami and a bit of its past grandeur or rather simple luxury and beauty. A few beautiful villas old and new nested in the winding roads up the hills and a few exclusive hotels still exist. A few of the country residences built in the first half of the 20’s century can be visited, and a Hoshino resorts have made some tremendous effort to recreate some of the past atmosphere.

Using both a Japanese and a western building, that used to be a library, they have created a nice secluded space that is large enough to forget a bit about the ugliness of the rest of the city. A steep stair goes up the hill from the library passing by the two onsen bathes and end in the Japanese building. Climbing up one can enjoy the sound of the waves and the wind in the giant camphor trees. Except for onsen and a bit of local food degustation there is strictly nithing to do in Atami, at least for the moment. The only worth seeing museum being closed for renovation for several years, and not opening until 2017… Swimming requires a bit of a drive, and there might be some hiking trails but unfortunately we couldn’t try them because of the rain. There is a beautiful drive through the pass that goes up to Hakone.

But somehow, walking through the deserted streets at night has something really magic, some kind of Midnight in Paris or a magic hour, when your imagination can just make up anything.

September 12, 2016

Hadaka matsuri – はだか祭り

Each area of Japan has its own festival more or less famous, that marks the seasons and the year. In Tokyo there are many famous festival but that is not all. Planning to see a festival in the country side or away from Tokyo is always a good idea because the atmosphere is really great and the ceremonies are often impressive. Most festivals are related to Shinto and seasonal events in the area. So the calendar of festival all over Japan is quite busy!

Last year we finally went to see Hadaka matsuri, a festival held every year in Ohara, Chiba on September 23d and 24th, very near to our country house. The festival climax is on Ohara beach where all the mikoshi gather and enter the sea one after the other. It’s hard to describe the atmosphere and the emotions, so I can only but recommend to go and check out for yourself!!!

PS: better enter the beach from the north and walk along the sea rather than the main entrance which is really crowded.

September 3, 2016

Oh oh Waterloo ♫

Long time no update… Sorry for that, I’ve spent a few days in Chicago followed by almost two weeks in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada for work and friends. And it was really a good time. Starting with a sunny weather and friends willing to make us discover where they live, we were very very lucky. This Mennonites area is growing plenty of delicious vegetables and there are farmers market nearby where you can find loads of fruits like you never see in Japan: blueberries and strawberries by the kilo, peaches and apricots by the box… No wonder why our friends cook their own jams! It’s so cheap! And home made jam is so delicious!
Despite leaving in a hotel room for 2 weeks I manage to “cook” with just a knife and a spoon and eat fresh fruits and vegetables everyday. And finally cook when we spent the weekend north in French River in a lovely cottage of the Pine Cove, swimming, hiking and kayaking everyday for hours. Even with the limited ingredients we had it was so nice after so long to be in a kitchen and cook for everyone after a long outdoor day! In particular the kitchen of the cottage was super well furnished with high quality cooking ware so it was really enjoyable! Thanks A. for coming with me, thanks D. & C. for showing us around and spending so much time with us to make this Canadian experience really memorable and all the good work done too!
Now it’s time to go home!

August 12, 2016

Off again

Not even two weeks after coming back from France I’m about to fly the other way around to the Midwest: first a few days in Chicago and then 2 weeks in Waterloo. A long hotel stay ahead, probably a lot of swimming but very little cooking unless I hack my friends and colleagues kitchen in Waterloo, which I might indeed!!! I love hacking friends kitchen and cook for them!!! So probably very few posts about cooking in the next two weeks, a bit about nice places we will visit and local food but probably not too many. Have a nice summer, a nice holidays for the lucky one!!!

Arakawa river from the train to Narita airport

July 28, 2016

Umeboshi, you really disappoint me!

I was super excited last winter when our old neighbor (I call her Obachan) told me she will teach me how to make umeboshi. I love ume and delicious organic umeboshi ate always welcome with a simple bowl of rice. I was even more enthusiastic after she gave us some of her umeboshi, thinking that if I could made some as simply delicious I’ll be very happy. And with all the plums we can harvest every year I can have enough for a whole year and offer plenty to our friends. On the due date I harvested the plums, with the guidance of Obachan I prepared them, plenty of them. After a week the juice (umezu) started to fill the container. Everything was doing good and smelling delicious. Then a few weeks later two of the containers were covered with mold and the juice was corrupted, I threw them away. Half of my production gone… I gave extra care for the remaining ones and it looked perfect. Last weekend was beautifully sunny and windy so I decided to dry half of the remaing plums. I carefully manipulate them, dry them and put them in a bin. Again they smell delicious and I was excited about trying them. Since a few were smashed I decided to extra rhe flesh and prepare a dip of umeniku 梅肉 for cucumber and rice balls (onigiri). And then I tasted them…

They looked really good (see on the picture), they were a bit salty but I guess that is ok, but worst of all they had a little mold or rotten after taste, something earthy and not right… I threw them again. I have a last chance with the one that haven’t dried yet but I’m very skeptical.

It is very rare I mess up with food. Sometime a recipe doesn’t go as supposed but there always a work around and it is always edible but here… So many fruits wasted really pissed me off. But I not through! I will try again next year!

my umeboshi, looking good hum... tasting horrible... — my umeboshi, looking good hum… tasting horrible…

July 27, 2016

Zucchini flowers tempura

After the bouillabaisse the second thing I really wanted to eat while in Provence was zucchini flowers. My mother is really good at preparing them. She has several recipes for them and I gonna share three with you. Zucchini flowers are really hard to find in Japan and it’s a pity but it is not impossible and they are really easy to prepare. The first recipe is a Japanese inspired recipe it’s simply zucchini flowers tempura. The flowers are cut delicately into long strips and then dipped into tempura dough before being fried. This simple preparation is perfect for the flowers to enjoy their very subtle texture and taste. They are served here with little green bell peppers from Marseille, something that ressembles a lot the Japanese green bell peppers.

July 17, 2016