Eggs and Toast: breakfast for dinner

Do you know the happy feeling you get when you dream about eating something all day…and then your dream becomes reality?

For some reason I woke up this morning craving scrambled eggs and toast, but I had to run off to work with just a mandarin orange thrown into my bag. I thought about fluffy just slightly set eggs and crunchy toast until lunch, and though today’s lunch of soup and pasta was good, it did nothing for my craving. So when I got home, I was on a mission to make eggs and toast for dinner, and ended up eating them as I edited some of my grad school essays.

I like my scrambled eggs to be just set and with plenty of salt, pepper and butter.

Here are the steps to how I make scrambled eggs:

Ingredients

• 2-3 eggs
• 1 tbsp salted butter
• salt and pepper

1. In a frying pan, set on the lowest possible heat, melt a generous amount of butter. I usually use about a tbsp of salted butter. Yes, I know that seems like a lot, but I never said my scrambled eggs were healthy >:)

2. While the butter is melting, lightly beat 2-3 whole eggs in a bowl.

3. Once the butter is melted in the pan, swirl the pan to make sure the butter is evenly coated and then sprinkle in salt and pepper.

4. Gently pour in the eggs (Yup, no milk to be found in this recipe)

5. Do not raise the heat, and using a wooden spatula, continuously scrape around the edges and stir the eggs.

6. Cook for about 4-5 minutes or until the eggs seem to be halfway set. Turn off the heat and move eggs to a plate. They might seem a bit underdone, but they will continue to set a bit more as they cool. Add more salt and pepper if you like.

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Yokoso Gunma : in which there are onsens, museums, temples, and food

***This post is a bit of a break from the usual sort of thing on this blog.  I was invited by the Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) to become a tourism supporter, and was lucky to be able to attend a 2 day bus tour in Gunma prefecture, along with 13 other foreigners also living in Japan.***

We left Tokyo Station at 8:30am, and drove north for 3 hours into Gunma prefecture.

The first stop on our tour was the Hara Museum ARC, which is an annex of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. Modern art museums are not my usual tourist spot of choice, but I was impressed with the Andy Warhol pieces as well as Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin installation. Unfortunately. I wasn’t able to take photos of the interior installations, but the outside of the museum also had some interesting artwork on display.

Next was a stop at Ikaho Green Bokujo, which is a type of farm experience. There are ponies to be ridden, sheep to be walked and bunnies to be petted.

Then it was time for lunch! Mixed pork, beef and lamb barbecue with cabbage and bean sprouts, followed by the farm’s own vanilla ice cream

After lunch, it was time to explore the park area and see the sheep dog show. I love the Halloween decorations, it reminds me of pumpkin patches and fall festivals from back home.

After getting our fill of the Green Bokujo, it was time for a stop at the Takehisa Yumeji Museum. Takehisa Yumeji was a famous artist and poet who is famous for his unconventional painting of women and inventive prints and illustrations. There was also an annex with some lovely glass work, and the entire museum area was well designed and showcased Takehisa Yumeji’s many works.

Fishball Noodles: goodness, gracious, great balls of … fish!

When we arrived in to Singapore, even though it was nearly 1am in the morning, the food court across the street from our hostel was open and bustling with people getting in their late night makan-ing. (Of course the first thing we did in Singapore was eat! )

Though the pad thai stall seemed tempting, this “dry” fishball noodle dish (mee pok) is a dish that I can’t help but associate with my childhood. In the summer, when the thought of eating a steaming bowl of noodle soup sounds daunting, my mother would make this dish instead.

You can choose from a variety of noodles, from rice noodles to egg noodles, as well as a few different types of fishballs. The flat egg noodles (mee pok) are served tossed in a scallion oil, chili paste and soy based sauce rather than in a broth, though it does come accompanied by a small bowl of soup. The noodles are salty and spicy, cooked until just tender they still retain a little bit of chew. While it may seem like there is an inordinate amount of oil in this, the scallion oil is fragrant and gives the noodles a silky texture that wouldn’t be the same without the oil. (So while your heart may shake a bit, your taste buds will thank you ;D)

 The Fuzhou style fishballs I opted for are slightly dense and mildly fish flavored as you bite into them, and the minced pork filling is a happy savory surprise that make the fishballs match well with the noodles. I love Fuzhou style fishballs 福州鱼丸,  but even in Singapore, they are harder and harder to find. (In Japan, they are nonexistent -_-)

Food Court@ Clarke Quay, Singapore

Peach Parfait: going to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches…

Typhoon number 12 is currently trying to decide where or not it wants to plow through the kingdom of peaches and grapes, so while the weather is windy and rainy outside, I am inside thinking of desserts.

So before coming to Japan, I actually had never eaten a parfait before. I guess they just aren’t a popular dessert where I grew up. Count me among the happily converted though! In Japan, the parfait usually refers to layers of soft serve or scooped ice cream (sometimes both), whipped cream and toppings which range from cornflakes (surprisingly delicious) to custard, coffee jelly, jam or preserves, and fresh fruit piled high in a tall glass.

Recently, the one fancy fancy hotel in my city made the news with their seasonal fruit parfait, so of course we drove up the mountain to try it out. The type of parfait changes every couple months, and we were lucky to be there at the tail end of the the peach season.

I love peaches and there was very nearly a whole peach perced precariously on top of a scoop vanilla bean ice cream. The fresh peach was sweet with just a slight tang, pairing well with the mellow ice cream and the layers of thick custard and whipped cream underneath. About half way through the glass, I was surprised to find a couple layers of tangy peach preserves. I like to think of parfaits as the dessert that becomes more complex as you eat your way down to the bottom of each glass. I will admit, I was wishing for some crunchy cornflakes, but the extra spoonful of preserves at the very bottom was a nice surprise.

Fujiya Fruits Park Hotel@ Yamanashi City, Japan

Uji Milk Kakigori: all about the texture

Just looking at this picture makes me want another kakigori!

I took another trip to Nagoya a couple months ago, and went to this tiny shop in the market district for quite possibly the best shaved ice of my life. The green tea syrup was not too sweet and not too bitter, and there is plenty of condensed milk. What sets it apart from other kakigori that I’ve had is the texture of the ice. Many places use crushed ice, similar to a snow cone, but this shop uses very finely shaved ice. It melts in your mouth really smoothly, and holds the syrup well, instead of letting it all sink to the bottom of the bowl.This shaved ice was really big, but I somehow managed to eat the entire thing ^_^

@Nagoya, Japan

Baked Donuts: cuter ’cause they’re mini!

Now that the summer heat has started to hit Japan in earnest, I’m starting to miss the chilly weather that hung on until just a couple weeks ago. I stayed at a friend’s place last weekend, and made these cute baked mini donuts. The mini part was a happy compromise, as we wanted to buy a full sized silicon donut mold, and could only find the mini version at Tokyu Hands.

Speaking of silicon cook and bakeware, they are suddenly very popular in Japan. There have been a ton of mooks (magazine books) coming out with recipes and free cookware, including everything from vegetable steamers to cake molds. Baking with silicon molds is being promoted as being the “healthy” option for making donuts, cakes and even churros. I don’t know if it is actually healthier, but it does make me want to fill my kitchen with rainbow colored bakeware! Baked donuts are leading the boom, popping up everywhere from Mister Donut to my local supermarket bakery. I can only assume that is why it was impossible to find a full sized silicon mold for donuts!

Using the mold is simple, we just made a batter using a store bought pancake mix, eggs, milk and butter. Then we added cocoa powder, green tea powder and kinako (roasted soybean) powder to make different flavored donuts. After spooning the batter into our mold, we baked the donuts for 1o minutes, let them cool, and started decorating.

It was an awesome way to spend a rainy Sunday morning. The only downside? Now all I can think about is other flavors of donuts and icing that still need to be tested!

Failing as a Foodie: Tsukiji Fish Market

*This post about my trip to Tsujiki was written before the March 11th earthquake, tsunami and subsequent disasters took place. After some thought, I have decided to post it as written. *

I know I really have no excuse for having been in Japan for 3+ years, and not making a pilgramage to Tsukiji. Some people have threatened to revoke my “foodie card” so to speak. So when a friend who shares my food obsession was in town for the Tokyo marathon in February, it was decided that we would make the trek out for breakfast sushi at 8am, and forgo the tuna auction earlier in the morning.

Nothing will wake you up faster than the smell of fish in morning! This are crates of dried bonito, or katsuobushi, which you might find as the main flavor component to Japanese dashi stock, or as tissue thin shavings atop an okonomiyaki. I seriously considered buying a bag of the freshly shaved bonito. However, sushi was calling us, so we headed to Sushizanmai.

Starting off with some tuna nigiri and kanimiso. The tuna was really fresh tasting, and the kanimiso is probably the best I’ve ever had. Sometimes kanimiso can be too stinky and salty that the crab flavor is completely obscured, but this was perfectly balanced, with a deep sea taste that made me want to order another right away.
However, there was other sushi to be had!

Tuna prepared 5 ways:
(left to right from the bottom left)
大トロ　really fatty tuna
中トロ　medium fatty tuna
赤身　tuna
あぶりまぐろ　lightly seared tuna
まぐろ手巻き　tuna hand roll

Even though Sushizanmai isn’t one of the fancy places to eat in Tsukiji, I thought the quality of the sushi was good. The tuna was some of the best I’ve had, and I would go back for the kanimiso

Miso An Kashiwa Mochi: it’s finally spring!

I’ve started to count the seasons here by not the weather, but the appearance and disappearance of Japanese sweets, wagashi from the local grocery store.
I have one weak spot for wagashi devoted wholly to kashiwa mochi　柏餅,which is rice cakes formed into a pancake like shape, and filled with a sweet bean paste, then wrapped in a oak or kashiwa leaf. The sweet is associated with Children’s Day 子供の日 in May. I specifically love the ones filled with a mixture of miso an, or sweet white bean paste mixed with a small amount of salty Saikyo miso paste.

From the middle of April, I start to keep an eye on the wagashi corner of the grocery store, and do a little happy dance when I spot them for the first time in the season. Because these sweets definitely  have a season!  Wait more than a few days after the 5th of May, and you’ll have to wait another year before they come back.  While I like red bean mochi, and generally enjoy the taste of sweet bean paste, sometimes the tooth aching sweetness can be a bit too much even for me.

Miso an filled kashiwa mochi is at once sweet and salty, the miso paste lends a depth of flavor missing from regular red bean paste, making the filling taste almost creamy. I guess adding the miso to the filling is the same concept as adding flaky sea salt to a chocolate cookie, or salted caramels, the salty taste accenting the taste of the white bean paste and preventing the filling from being overly sweet. It’s difficult even in Japan to find wagashi shops that still make miso an kashiwa mochi, but if by chance you do find a place selling them, please give them a try!

Me Want Cookie! : Sugar Cookies recipe

Sometimes things happen in life that kind of knock you out of your regular routine, and it takes you a little bit to get back into the swing of things. Baking delicious things that simultaneously heat my apartment and make it smell like warm butter, sugar and vanilla is my way of getting back a sense of normalcy.

This recipe makes sugar cookies that are slightly crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. They are simple and not perfect, but exactly what I wanted to munch on while curled up with some tea and watching back episodes of Good Eats.

Ingredients:

• 100g butter, salted, softened
• 200g powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250g flour
• 20g baking powder
• 1tsp salt
• 1tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

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1. Preheat oven to 170C. In a medium bowl, cream softened butter and powdered sugar together until well combined, and until it lightens in color and is slightly fluffy. (use a stand mixer if you like)
2. Mix in eggs, one at a time until well combined.
3. Stir in vanilla extract, almond extract and nutmeg
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking power and salt, then add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Stir well.
5. Use a spoon or cookie scoop to drop roughly golf ball sized balls of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are just about to turn a pale golden brown. Bake less for softer cookies, and a bit longer if you like your cookies crisp.

**while I tend to just eat these cookies as they are, I’m pretty sure they would be fantastic frosted, or rolled in sugar as well.

Costco and a bonus cheese cracker recipe

Living in Japan, I have a love and hate (but mostly love) relationship with Costco. They have a food court that brings me back to the states, and the sight of 100 count boxes of Tootsie pops and 5 lb boxes of chocochip cookies makes me nostalgic about college and the all mighty purchase order.

The area where I grew up didn’t have a Costco nearby, so when I went for the first time, I was romanced by the tasty polish dogs (only a buck fifty, and it comes with a drink!) and the sheer fact that I could buy a 10 pound can of ketchup, 50 black Sharpies, a sofa, and pumpkin pie the size of a large pizza if I so desired. In college, I had a job that required me to buy food to feed large quantities of people at a time, and for a while, purchasing 4 flats of muffins, and 2 lb cans of hot cocoa mix was normal. Oversized food is one thing, Costco sized food is another. For some reason, I find ridiculously large food, or large quantities of food inherently comical and interesting. (on the flip side, I also find extra small food funny and amazing as well )

 So what does Costco have to do with cheese crackers? As my mother says, I sometimes have eyes bigger than my stomach. The last time I went to Costco in Japan, I was persuaded into buying a 2 lb brick of sharp cheddar cheese. (they didn’t have to try hard) I think you can guess where this goes…but the short of it is I ended up having a half a block left, and needed to use it all quickly before the cheese spoiled. I did think about just gnawing on the block, but decided that cheese crackers were the more socially acceptable option.