Halloween

Today is trick or treat day~
i never really noticed the exact date of halloween till i started working and got the chance to go to New York and saw the elaborately decorated cakes that were made during Halloween. It is indeed eye candy and i would prefer to stop at that. I dont really fancy such creamy topping on my cake. My perfect creamy indulgence would definitely be a super creamy and rich cheesecake. So this halloween, i am reminded of my first taste of American cheesecake. We used to put up at a hotel near the Grand Central station, and so i ate at the Grand Central Terminal pretty often. My first taste of New York cheesecake was from Little Pie Co, which had an outlet at the Terminal food court and i must say it was one of the best cheesecakes i had ever tasted.

I decided to bake cheesecake with a chocolate brownie base because i was craving both cheesecake and brownie...

Super creamy cheesecake with coffee granola topping (a bit like an upside down cheesecake with the crunchy biscuity texture on top)

Halloween Dinner

When i think of my American trips, i am reminded of burgers. So i decided to make Washi(Japanese style) burger for dinner. And to add to the halloween mood, i made pumpkin miso milk soup. Salad was brocolli with curry mayonaise dressing.
Sukiyaki burger

J obento i made this morning

Creamy cottage cheese spinach and ham toasted sandwich

Sweet potato season is coming to an end soon. While it is still inexpensive, i decided to bake sweet potato cake...

Fluffy sweet potato cake with rum raisins

Tuesday J obento

Miso meat balls, cucumber salad, potato salad, fluffy egg and sesame topping on rice

Tuesdays dinner

Together with the potato family, taro is in season too~

Soy sauce simmered taro with squid

えび芋といかのギンジャー醤油煮

Salad made with Japanese dried radish, cucumber and tuna

切干大根ときゅうりのツナサラダ

Today for J obento

Ebi katsu sandwich

エビカツサンド

I used to take sandwiches for granted. But to be able to make a sandwich look like those in the cafe, is a skill. so after studying a few sandwich magazines at the bookstore, and after a TV food show featured Ebi Katsu (Prawn katsu), i decided to try and make my own katsu and make a Cafe style sandwich. Of course the bread was from the supermart. Katsu is commonly eaten in the form of katsudon in most parts of the world in a Japanese restaurant. Most of the time it is pork katsu. But in Japan, there are a hundred and one types of katsu. It is basically a meat cutlet coated with bread crumbs and deep fried. So ebi(prawn) katsu is essentially prawn cutlet katsu. But because prawns dont have the thickness of a pork cutlet, ebi katsu is made using roughly chopped prawns, mashed eggs and mayonaise so that it becomes a big juicy prawn cutlet before it is coated with bread crumbs.

Ever since i started living here, I seldom go to the bread section of the supermarket, this time, to buy bread, i discovered something unique about the sliced bread section of Japanese supermarkets. That is, the many different thickness of the sliced bread. So for a standard white loaf, you can buy it in 5, 8 or 10 slices. and... in 3 slices!!! i used the 5 slices loaf this time.

Dinner this evening

Plum soya sauce simmered tofu and brocolli
豆腐とブロッコリーの梅干醤油

Chilled tomato and enoki salad with sesame dressing

トマトとえのきのごまサラダ

This coming friday will be halloween~



we dont really celebrate it, but i am having fun making halloween dishes.







i made halloween salad on sunday usuing pumpkin and purple sweet potato to give this pretty mix of orange and purple...

かぼちゃと紫いもサラダ・鰹節入り

Main was spinach and chicken meat loaf

The salad was well received! so i put some in J obento the next day~Soboro (think meat sauce without the ketchup sauce, but Japanese light soya sauce) on rice, crab meat salad, sesame egg omelette, halloween salad

And over the last two days, i made coffee granola and cheese sesame bagels...

parmesan cheese and toasted sesame bagel made for J obento today

Before i baked the bagels, i had to steep the bagel dough all at one time in a big boiling pot of sugared water. For what? The hot water makes the bagel dough expand and the sugar in it a gives the bagels a nice brown layer. It is such a waste to throw the pot of water away after using it for only 2 minutes, so i dropped in some eggs, covered the pot for 15mins, and when i cracked the eggs open, i had nice poached eggs =)

We used them for breakfast this morning

Japanese style risotto with crabmeat

It got a bit chillier today, so i was craving nimono (Japanese dishes simmered in soya and sweet wine are called nimono).

This looks like pork belly, but it is actually tofu! Not the regular white tofu, but rather, a dried kind of tofu made into a layered ring, so when cut up, it looks like pork belly~

I simmered it with white radish and carrots.

Japanese burdock salad with shimeji mushrooms with thick sesame dressing

シメジとごぼうサラダ・ごまドレッシング

pizza! *pizza dough not needed*

We had pizza for lunch today... using gyoza skins!
basically, spread ketchup or pizza sauce on the gyoza skin, top with ham and melting cheese. pop in the oven for 8~10min... and u get pizza speedily! =)

簡単ミニピッザ～餃子の皮の上にお好みノトッピングのせてオブントスターで８～１０分焼くだけ。＝）without any sauce on top, when gyoza skins are toasted, they make great soup crackers too~
残りの餃子皮はそのまま焼いて、コーンスープと食べた。


And on friday, in J obento~
aeroplane food was the theme...

rice crackers i bought


calzone that i baked the day before and put in the freezer

popped in the microwave (like in the aircraft) before J went to work,
and made a mini lunch box of baked cinammon apples to go along with his Light Meal (called LM onboard)

昨日のブランチはナメコとわかめのさつまいものリゾット

It is getting colder and i am starting to cook more soups and stews for dinner...

last nights cod and mushroom milk soup

this evenings curry~

Autumn grilled vegetables curry
秋野菜のトマトカレー

ルウと小麦粉の代わりに昆布だし、味噌、鰹節としょうが練汁で味をつけました。

grated yam mini pancake

長いものお焼き

Anko

I made anko (red bean paste) yesterday~
So with the anko, i made ohagi (sticky rice wrapped in red bean).

Ohagi and black sesame rice balls

Yesterdays J obento

Potato salad, parmesan and sesame grilled tomatoes, smoked chicken

Mondays dinner

Shiitake teriyaki burger

椎茸照り焼きハンバ一グ

大根入れました。いい食感になった。＝）

daikon salad topped with grilled bait fish

This morning, we had a nice box of apples delivered...

Okaasan received this from her ex neighbour from Iwate, and sent some over to us too!

Big red, crunchy and sweet一!

Today in J obento

sausage seaweed tempura, spinach salad with black sesame, sweet potato cream salad

This evenings dinner was...

Lemon chicken and grilled cabbage with shiitake

Dessert was black sesame pudding topped with anko

We had a peaceful weekend at Okaasans place this time.
We had curry hot pot on saturday night and yummy soba lunch today at a relatively famous soba restaurant near her place. =)
After lunch, we went to a cosmos flower farm to relax. It was beauuuuuuuutiful... The pics are in my handphone, so will probably upload them next time.

Anyway, this was lunch on saturday...

Soba with lots of sticky foods topping which i find impossible to describe in english

そばのトッピングは納豆とちりめんじゃこ入りのなめこ、長いもの海苔おかかソテー、きゅうり

Sunday Dinner at home

豆腐明太

サイドはミニサラダとすり胡麻入りのかぼちゃ煮物

Okaasan gave us this chestnut roll cake, so we had it for dessert =)

Pumpkin is in season now, and they are really really yummy at this time of the year.

i decided to grill them (in my oven) today =)

J obento

Yakiniku (BBQed pork) cheese with wholemeal bagel

Dinner

Sauteed scallops with mushroom cream sauce, grilled pumpkin, brocolli salad with garlic olive oil dressing

i baked my first bagel today.
the shape is nice, but the surface was a bit ugly.
i wont post the pic today cos it will b in J obento tmr.

anyway, today at JunAki kitchen,

Breakfast

freshly baked pão de queijo (brazillian cheese buns)

In Japan, it is called Pondekeshon and is quite popular.

i used mochi flour so it had a really chewy texture inside.

J obento

black pepper pork cutlets with cheese stuffing, cucumber salad with balsamic dressing, and sweet potato raisin mayo salad

sliced up bagel toasted into croutons for my snack time

Dinner

sauteed tofu and vegetables, in Chinese style sticky egg sauce
高野豆腐あんかけ

sauteed mountain yam with seaweed and bonito

長いもの海苔おかか炒め物

Mountain yam, called yamaimo, is one of my favourite root vegetable. Unlike the usual taro which is light purple and quite heavy, yamaimo is refreshing and crunchy. When grated, it has a becomes sticky and gooey. I love it over soba =)