209/365 Is that buffalo?

Hibarichan is worried because my boyfriend made hamburger with meat inside which looks like they could be members of her family. 

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189/365 (2) Mochi

My boyfriend taught me how to cook mochi without making a mess. Last time I tried alone it was all melted. This time I managed to get the rectangular shapes to stay.

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187/365 Yummy Curry

My boyfriend is a great cook. For dinner, Fish curry with rice, cheese and nan.

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183/365 (2) Ginger, Lemon, Honey

It's this time of the year again. As soon as fall is back I start having a sore throat again. Hopefully with this natural recipe I should be fine over the winter.

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140/365 (2) Katsuobushi (かつお節)

En français

日本語で

A little stop in the series of doll pictures which have been appearing on the 365 photo challenge recently. No worries I'll go back to dolls tomorrow with the doll show 44 final. The katsuobushi is another bizarre Japanese condiment made from fish. I find it rather tasteless but my boyfriend assure me that it has a very strong and delicious taste. Another difference of perception from our respective upbringing. 

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25/365 (2) Happy Chinese New Year!

This Friday, we went to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate Chinese New Year. Having Chinese Food for the new year is an habit I developed years ago. The shrimp vegetable dish was really delicious. 

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18/365 (2) Breakfast

My buffalo is always ready for the good food and never misses to ask me if I'm eating buffalo to which I normally answer no. That morning it was pork and eggs and tomato with toasted bread. 

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345/365 Preparation for Nabe

And here is the first picture of the year! I hope that won't make 2015 go under the name of the food. All the ingredient were ready to be cooked for the Nabe: cabbage, chicken, tofu, meat balls, mushroom, crab sticks and that gray thing in the corner for which I can't remember the name right now... Also, we have some more stuff underneath, like leeks and boiled eggs and some more unnamed stuff.

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323/365 Oh my throat!

This sure I was sure to get my throat medicine ready before Winter... 

I did it! Yeah me! 

Except that I didn't get it done before the sore throat appeared, not so yeah me...

Anyway, now it's ready and I'll be able to use it tomorrow. And because I'm nice like that I even have the recipe. (You use it at your own discretion and if you're sick, go see a doctor don't blame it on me if you die.): Lemon and ginger slice in a jar to with honey, keep it in the fridge. To use it, add a spoon of it to hot water (don't burn yourself, tea hot temperature is enough)

Enjoy the drink! 

 

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Cooking: Salmon spaghetti (the version with leak)

Last week I promised to Iris a writer from the Snippet Sunday that I would give the recipe going with this picture, because people didn't understand how Seiji and the heroine from Harajuku Kiss could be eating spaghetti after ordering salmon... Of course Salmon-spaghetti was the answer to this very fundamental question. And as Salmon-spaghetti is one of my specialty... so here is the recipe, then if you like the book you can eat the same thing as the characters... how cool is that! 

Sorry I don't have step by step pictures this time, I remade it but forgot to take the pictures... silly me. 

For this one you will need:
Some salmon, diced.
Leaks, sliced.

Tomatoes, diced.
Oil to fry everything.
Creme fraiche
Salt and pepper.

Oregano, basil... to your taste. 

Grated cheese

Recipe: 

Boil water for your spaghetti.
While the water is boiling and the spaghetti cooking, cut the salmon and vegetables.  

Save the spaghetti. I generally keep the not fully cooked spaghetti in hot water while preparing my sauce (because I only have one fire)
Fry the salmon. 

Add the vegetables.

When the salmon and vegetables are cooked add the creme fraiche, salt and pepper and herb.

Serve the sauce in top of the Spaghetti add some grated cheese at the top if you feel like it. Et voilà! Bon appétit! 

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Cooking: Creme Chiken Spaghetti

Hello cooking people who like to eat delicious stuff, 
Lately I have been in a cooking mood and as much as I like cookbooks, I also like to create my own recipes. Ok, especially because I don't like to bother shopping for something particular and just want to deal with what's in the fridge.

For this one you will need:
Some chicken, diced.
Spinach (here I used Japanese mustard spinach)
Leaks
Oil to fry everything.
Grated cheese
Creme fraiche
Salt and pepper.


Boil water for your spaghetti.

While the water is boiling and the spaghetti cooking, cut the chicken and vegetables.

Save the spaghetti. I generally keep the not fully cooked spaghetti in hot water while preparing my sauce (because I only have one fire)

Fry the chicken.

Add the vegetable.

 Add the creme fraiche and grated cheese. Salt and Pepper.

Serve the sauce in top of the Spaghetti. Et voilà! Bon appétit!

 
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Korea Bonus : Food !!!

En français
Of course, I couldn't go to Korea without trying the delicious (and spicy) Korean food.
So here is a melting pot of the food I have tasted, I'm sure you can guess what is my favorite and if not, wait for the end.
Travel table of content

Let's eat !! Insects...

En français
In February I went to a curious restaurant with a friend. On the menu, silk worms, grasshoppers, Madagascar cockroaches, Argentinian cockroaches, cicadas...
First we had to cook then, fried, boiled, buttered, in chocolate or hidden in cakes...
It was a fun and frightening experience all at the same time. It's strange how was could basically eat anything if our mind wasn't preformed by cultural culinary habits.
Travel table of content

Japan : 焼肉

En français 
On the eight of Mai, I went to my first 焼肉 restaurant。 A 焼肉 is a place specialized in meat (肉) which is like an indoor barbecue. You can get different type of meat, for example chicken, port, beef... and from different part of the animal body (even the inside which was hard to get over for some westerners). You order the meat you desire and you grilled it yourself in the center of the table. No to say that we share everything and it's very convivial. And on the top of that it's delicious, even for me with my vegetarian tendencies.
Travel table of content


 

Cooking : Aubergine chicken

En français
It has been a long time since the last cooking recipe. Does that mean that I have been totally uncreative culinary speaking? Does that mean that I have been eating out so often that I didn't bother creating anything special once in the kitchen? Probably a little bit of both. Anyway, here is my recipe for today.

What do you need :

Chicken
2 aubergines
Onion
Garlic
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Dried basil
Fresh basil leaves

Pre-reparation :

Cut the chicken into pieces and baste it with some sesame oil. Add the dried basil.
Slide the aubergine and let them marinate in the soy sauce. Left the all rest for some time.

Preparation :

Cook the chicken pieces in a well oiled pan with the onion cut into pieces and the garlic. When the chicken is glazed, add the aubergines' slides and some of the soy sauce. Be careful not to add too much of the soy sauce as it would result in a dish too salty. Add the fresh basil leafs and serve with rice.




いただきます !

Japan : Okonomiyaki

En français
Last week-end we went to the restaurant to eat okonomiyaki. In this particular restaurant they bring you the ingredients already mixed and you cook your okonomiyaki yourself on a heating table. We were four at each table and at my table we decided that we will share all the okonomiyaki so that everybody could have a taste of everything. We ordered four okonomiyaki, that was too much and we were all full but not enough for the free desert ankogyoza.
More about the okonomiyaki here.
Travel table of content

Cooking : Fava bean spaghetti

En français

The other day, I went shopping to and other shop than my usual one. It's just across the street from the usual one so not much more difficult to get there. That was incredible. That was more like a market than like a shop but still you had all the products that you can find in supermarket, plus a lot of fresh vegetable, fish, meat. Anyway, I found fava bean, something I hadn't eat for years. Probably since childhood actually. So I decided to get some and to prepare myself something with them. I also go the little funny mushroom that I tested at the restaurants sometimes.

What do you need :

Spaghetti

Fava bean
Mushrooms
A tomato
5 crab sticks

Preparation :

Take the skin away from the fava beans. Cut the mushroom
Put the Fava bean and mushroom in some boiling water until the beans are cooked.
Cook the spaghetti.
Cut the tomato and crab sticks in dice.
Fry the vegetable and crab stick in a pan.
Put them on the top of the spaghetti.

いただきます !

Cooking : Surprise "de la mer" and Sweet surprise

En français
Yesterday evening I created this new recipes. It consisted of a sort of bread with stuffing inside.

What you need for 2 persons :

For the bread :
Flour
Water
A bit of oil

For the stuffing of the Surprise "de la mer":
Tomato sliced
Courgette slices
Bechamel with mixed tuna
One slice of smocked salmon
Two crab sticks
For the stuffing of the Sweet surprise:

Strawberry jam
One banana sliced
One clementine

Preparation :

Bread :

-Pour some flour in a bowl and make a hole in the middle.
-Add water progressively while mixing, until you obtain a bowl not too sticky.
-You can add more flour as well if needed, the mix should not stick to your hands.
-Open the ball in two and add some oil mix to make the oil penetrate until you obtain
something smooth.
- Cut into four part and flatten each of them with a rolling-pin
Surprise "de la mer" :

-Take one of the flatten bread.
-Place half of the tomatoes slices in the middle.
-Place half of the courgette slices on the top of the tomatoes.
-Place the salmon on the top.
-Add some of the tuna bechamel on the top.
-Add the pieces of one crab stick.
-Close the bread by bringing the side on the top to form a sort of ball.
-Do the same with one of the other flatten bread.

Sweet surprise :

-Take one of the flatten bread.
-Spread a spoonful of jam on the surface.
-Put half of the banana's slices in the middle.
-Put half of the pieces of the clementine with them.
-Close up to form a ball

Put some oil in a dish and put the balls in it.
Put them in the oven until the bread starts browning.
Serve hot.

Cooking : The sushi workshop

En français
It has been like forever since the last time I wrote a cooking post.
Well that one is a bit different from the others as it's not about recipe or a diet as usual but about a class.
Yesterday evening we went to my favorite Japanese restaurant in Belfast "The ginger tree" to have a sushi workshop. That was Sebastien's Christmas present. Two hours of making sushi with chef Taro explaining us everything and showing us how to roll the sushi and add the ingredient, followed buy a dinner at the end of which we could ask questions.
We also learn a bit more about Japanese sushi due to chef Taro's little quiz. Seriously if you are in Belfast don't hesitate to go for a workshop it seriously worth it.

At the end of the evening we went back home with our box of sushi each and the sushi mate we had been using. Don't they look so delicious ?

Cooking : The King Table

En français















Oh, that's a great name for a meal. I got the idea while watching 6 episodes of 大長今 in a row. Maybe I should watch them more often and maybe I should also stop being lazy and finally get rid of the subtitles.
Anyway, tonight I came up with this meal and as 長今 is cooking great tables for the Korean king (much better than this one though) I called it "The King Table"
The first bowls on the top is rice,
in the second bowls you have the vegetables
and in the last ones an egg.
The black sauce is a mixed of soy sauce and red vinegar.
In the big plate it's spring onions pancakes. Yummy.

Now the recipes :

The vegetables :

Cut some carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers and tomatoes in dices
Cook them in a pan with sesame oil
Add rice and red vinegar and cumin.

The egg :

Separate the white and yellow parts of an egg.
Put the white part in a bowl.
Put the bowl in bain-marie until the egg is cooked.
Add some carrots and cucumbers pieces on the top to decorate.

The spring onion pancakes :

Slice the spring onions thinly.
Put them in a bowl with the yellow part of the eggs not used previously.
Add flour and milk.
Mix.
Cook the pancake in a pan using sesame oil.