This year's sakura season was relatively late.

But the magically beautiful pink no matter how late, make their appearance year after year, regardless of how tough the previous year was.

Arigato, pretty lil sakuras, all over Japan, your bloom always gives us hope for a new start, something to look forward to, a warm feeling to delight in...

I love it, when i look up from under a sakura tree, and see those pretty petals smiling back with the nice blue sky complementing its pink shade.

This picture was taken 2 days after the full bloom; green leaves were already sprouting.
This was at Koganei park, during a mama gathering picnic.

A year has passed since the last sakura season which we all spent in the hospital and recovering from childbirth. Oh how the babies have all grown! From tiny tiny lil ones, to bubbly chubby toddling lil ones. It is always a joy meeting up with them.

This park, less than 50 steps away from our doorstep, never fails to brighten our mornings each time we walk pass. It is like a celebration of the colours of spring!

In the kitchen, spring is singing in the air too~

One of my favourite flower vegetables 菜の花.

Limited edition sakura leaf perfumed grilled fish

I love anything sakura leaf & flower fragranced.

The fragrance of sakura is soothing.

And these leaves & flowers are always salted. So when i have them with my favourite sweet red bean desserts, they just balance out.

A few wagashi (japanese confectionary) we've been enjoying ~
Sakura mochi, with 2 leaves! Whee! usually, there is only one.

Sakura monaka, red bean filled wafer.
Sakura manju

and a very beautiful bean only cake.

the petals are made with a blend of white bean paste.

From a very small but stylish wagashi shop near our place.

I love its quaint lil paper bag, that says, "wagashi made with our hearts".sweet~

A few things i've been experimenting with in the kitchen this spring ^~

Since it's been getting warmer, time for cold noodles lunch at Junnaki Cafe+++++++

Soba carbonara made with tofu.

Gosh this was refreshingly yummy!

Flower vegetables & fresh celeb tomatoes cold pasta.

We ordered a box of really really sweet tomatoes. They call it celeb (celebrity) tomatoes. Never had such a treat before.

Sushi dinner, for the first time with snapper i seasoned on my own!

I never had the confidence to do the konbu wrapped snapper because the konbu seems to be a super strong smelling kelp, that i feared will make the snapper extra fishy.

But i was wrong! It was so well fragranced that i am looking forward to making more of this for the coming snapper season!

Back at the ice cream factory...

Something which i am so into now.

Cranberry yogurt ice cream!

with my favourite peanut M&Ms =.=

Bak kwa rice

Weeks have passed since the earthquake.

We watch on TV features on how the people left homeless are being sheltered, cared for and fed for by aid teams working hard and with compassion, and start to wonder why aren't these documentaries played alongside with radiation news in the rest of the world. "Fly-jin", a new term coined to call the foreigners who have scurried home for fears this will be another Chernobyl, i really hope would spread the message on the urgency for donations in their homeland instead of fascinating over how they escaped whatever imaginary danger they came out from.

My heart is still heavy with worry and sadness though life in Tokyo is really back to normal.

Simple everyday routines have been totally disturbed for people living at public shelters now, and this means a lot of stress for a lot of people. Some elderly, as we see on TV, have literally passed on because they are not used to the new environment. Children, wanting to play outside, run back indoors because the snow and chill discourages.

Well, pieces are being picked up bit by bit, and the Japanese are being very united and supportive, which helps spur the sheltered folks, I can only pray for more help to pour in, and that the people find strength to press on to rebuild their lives.

OK, let's put my sad heart aside for awhile.

I wanted to try making yam rice with bak kwa because the one i made at mum's place was so yummy i wanted the hubby to try!

For 2 cups of rice

1 large yam cut into bite sized pieces

3 pieces shiitake mushrooms sliced

1 slice bak kwa, cut into 0.5cm squares

2 tbs dried prawns

1 tsb japanese stock granules

3 tbs shoyu

1 tbs mirin

1 tbs sake

and just press switch on! on the rice cooker.

I never thought bak kwa would make such good takikomi gohan (mixed rice).

And after a long hiatus,

my ice cream maker is back in business!

Pumpkin and red bean, yogurt based

with colourful chocolate puffs churned in

Ooooh how i missed pumpkin!

Help needed

A friend asks
C, are you back in Japan already? Are the radiation levels that high?
And then he later asks if my husband can get out of the country.
And later says he is worried about his business partners.
I feel suddenly very depressed.
I know tokyo is fine but EVERYONE is telling me the radiation news is not good and that i should not leave singapore yet. I had so many phone messages today. BUT I WANT TO GO HOME!!! i need a hug.
Mum and Dad are very supportive, they are not telling me to stay or go back, but said they trust that i will do whatever needs to be done.
I WAS HONESTLY SO UPSET WITH WHAT HE SAID.
it was really insensitive. While i am in tears every morning when i watch the news, people are worrying about things TOTALLY NOT IMPORTANT to me!
As i type this, i feel really really heartbroken. I dare not turn on the TV because all my hair stand when i see the images, and i will be in tears again.
I want to do something, but i can't. and yet people are worried about things which need little concern.


If you would like to help,
please...
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

My jikka

A month has passed. Really quickly.
And as fast as the clock ticked, my weighing scale did too.
:) But for the first time, i am not complaining. I feel so so blissed, and blessed being able to come back to my 実家 jikka, or parents'home in Japanese. I never took this coming back seriously until i made mummy friends, and this phrase seems to be ringing into my ears occasionally throughout festivals or simply when mummy just needs a break.
Jikka is a 2 hour bus ride to Narita airport plus a 7 hour flight away from home. Not very long, but not that short either. Not short such that i can hop over for just a weekend, but long enough for me to feel the distance between my parents.
WELL, ANYWAY, there is the love hate relationship between me and my jikka.
I love my jikka. Very much. But i hate it that jikka is in Singapore. Not that i hate this country. I hate it when i come back and get upset by a hundred and one silly things that people do here. Somehow living here seems to shrink our brains to the size of this country on the world map.
Just a simple day at my parents place. Going to the supermarket, the playground, a walk in the park can create a knot of tension and smoke from my head.
As i walk on the line of pavement to the supermart, i find, MANY TIMES, a car in the way of the end of the pavement which is tapered off to level road. For me, i have to carry the pram off the pavement to cross the road, OK, some irritation there, but for a person with a white stick, do you expect him to walk over your car, or move around your LARGE car to your convenience. Why is it that when you park your car, you dont realise the yellow dotted area meant for the visually handicapped to know it is the end of the pavement, and the start of the road (and your LARGE car).
Next, i walk pass a bus stop where everyone has a posture problem and i have to squeeze pass crossed feet that make the pavement narrower.
Then i walk in the pharmacy, paid with a credit card, and hear some comment in mandarin "this lady doesnt look japanese. why does she have a japanese name."
which makes me laugh a bit and forget my tension on the way to the supermart.
But when i reach the supermart, there is a salesman stuffing a pamphlet in my face. Well, this time i am not mad at him, but i remember the same type of people who happen not to use their brains very often, stuffing my face with jewellery pamphlets when i am carrying a baby in my arms and grocery shopping and my diaper bag.GROSS. Which hand do you expect me to take your pamphlet with?
Then i check out at the supermarket cash register, where they weigh my vegetables and STICK THAT STICKY PRICETAG on the surface of my beautiful purple eggplant. So do you expect everyone to shave off the skin of the eggplant for that pricetag area?
I take the sloped escalator down and find that on the left, there are human beings, on the right, another line of human beings. so is it left or right here? or i just have to say "excuse me excuse me excuse me"if i were in a hurry.
I come home, am glad to find the bag of raw meat separate from other food items, but was rather surprised with the toiletries in the bag with my water crackers.
Maybe i should just go with the flow of this idyllic island life and embrace the idiosyncracis of some people here.
But i still like my jikka.

Ehomaki

It's been a year since i last made 恵方巻き寿司 Ehomaki sushi.

Officially, it turns spring next week the 3rd of February, on 節分 setsubun day, which is the day we eat this big fat sushi roll facing the direction Eho which is South South East this year.

Since the cook will be out of town by then, i decided to make the sushi roll early.

So we had, sushi, koya tofu (a simmered dish of dried tofu), and our favourite lotus root stirfry.
Sliced and simply stir fried with some sweet shoyu and sesame seeds.

I never knew i could eat so much lotus root at a go until i had this kinpira dish.

Before tucking in, we threw the dried soy beans at the monster, and say "鬼は外福は内” which means, all evil outside as we welcome luck into our homes.

We bought 2 types of dried soy beans this year.

Green and the regular white. We had green last night.

This year, the mask says "digital tv" cos this is the year all analog tvs retire and public education is all over the place to ensure no one gets surprised at the sudden change on that day.

And J challenges finishing the whole roll without stopping at all, facing the Eho direction.

And before we skip out of town, i wanted to try making daikon pickles while these are still available at the farmers'.

Purple daikon. Yeah, my friends will probably recall i have a thing with purple.

Anything purple tastes delicious.

This is how it looks in there. pretty isn't it?
Super thinly sliced, some honey, vinegar, sugar, and yuzu strips.
And we get pink vinegared daikon salad.

OK, one challenge completed =)

Yes, with lil cookie monster getting busy in the kitchen with me, challenges in the kitchen are getting more adventurous.

Just like while i was concentrating at the stove the other day, the whole rice cooker slammed onto the floor. with all the rice and water. =(

On one hand, i wished the rice was cooked so the floor wouldnt be wet, but on the other had, i was so thankful it was not halfway through the cooking process! Imagine the hot water!!!

Pheeeee

I now hide the cooker away when it is cooking.

Some days are just extra exciting.

It helps to have an ice cream maker at home.

It calms me down after a long day of adventures ^~

Yes, i can't stop raving about this pink magic pot

But really, 15 minutes of churning is all you need to make your day, why not?

(pardon the remote control that i have to keep fresh, with cling wrap and a ziplock bag :0)

One day, we tried replacing the cream with yogurt.

Oh my gosh, this was fabulous!!!

Strawberry yogurt ice cream, sweetened with honey.
Then i got addicted to the yogurty taste, and decided to try red bean yogurt ice cream.

Oh boy, this was good too.

And and and...

My pumpking problem arised again, and i just had to have pumpkin ice cream.

Voila!! this was way tooooooo good!

Added cranberries too. YUM!

Self heating bentos

Tada~

Yeah i wished it was some prize i won in a lucky draw too.

I started with 2 packets from akachan honpo.

And then thinking about it when i came home, cookie monster probably can't share much of the food i take from food courts/cafes because the salt level is probably on the high side in Singapore(i like!), so off i went to the store again to get more. This time with bento cans! When i read the label i figured what makes the canned food cost more. Self heating! Yes, once opened, the food heats up on its own! wooooooooooo

This reminded me of the time we took the shinkansen and i discovered self heating bentos that people bought from the train station. Pull a string, and the gyudon gets nicely warmed before tucking in. Nice eh?

Yeah, so the cans would be great to have while we are out at the malls ~

I can't wait i can't wait!

I can't wait for cookie monster to meet his grandpa, and i can't wait to hug mummy dearest!

And say "Look Ma, Look how he has grown!".

We had ramen last night because i was soooooo craving it after that SMAP show on monday.

And since we had a portion of whey pork shoulder loin block in the freezer, i made simple salt based charsiew to go with our salt based ramen.

With lots of vegetables, bamboo shoot slices, and

topped with our favourite melt in your mouth half runny yolk eggs

We had a block of store bought ham like char siew too, so i took that out, sliced it

it is supposed to be shoyu based, so the surface is dark brown,

but because the shoyu was reddish, and the shape was such that it reminded me of the singapore charsiew! Oh how i am craving charsiew noodles, duck rice, chinese carrot cake, the masala chicken from the restaurant nearby mum's place, dim sum, and the list goes on and on.

interestingly, i feel like having durian too.

I think it's the winter thing again.

Anyhow, pardon my cravings, so this is how book cards look like~

I whipped out my marker pens to add in a few story lines to entertain the boys before the happy birthday message appears on the last page. I can't wait to send them out too!

Cards

I went to get birthday cards for my 2 nephews and a niece today at the store.

Their birthdays being really close to each other means we always get their presents and cards at a go. The nephews each have a book card. And the 3 year old niece, a simple musical card which will probably entertain her enough. Cards here are so entertaining i always stand at the card rack a long time. These interesting book cards tell a story and wish you happy birthday at the end and i always love standing at the rack reading them =P

Well, i have always enjoyed my time at the gift store but somehow the interest sort of faded while i was in Singapore because the same stuff was always there. The interest resparkled again when i first stepped into the Tokyu hands store at Takashimaya, but then again, they are all in Japanese so much as i want to buy as many of them to send out, i am limited to the simple ones for my english recipients.

Today, i discovered a type of card. 入学園cards! A pity i couldn't photograph that section of the rack.

Wow, i never thought you could say Congratulations on entering school to a pre-schooler!!!

They were all sooooooooo cute!!! I can't wait for the little niece to enter primary school now!

Tamagoyaki on parade

Yes, practically on parade...

All the different flavoured, nicely labelled and wrapped with love =), off to the freezer~

for the hubby who will most likely be alternating furikake & white rice/curry/egg only fried rice/instant noodles/cup udon when i am not around.

Never made so many tamagoyaki rolls at one go before.

The lil one got a little bored at the end and started go pa pa pa pa pa bababababa

and after a little while, started sobbing to himself.

I thought, oh good!, He's hungry!

But 2 spoonfuls of food and he is done.

???

Weaning is not going well to what i expected.

Somebody HEEEEEEEEEEELPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Meanwhile, at the Nakamachi ice cream factory~

Home made red bean paste and fresh from the farmers mart strawberries churned in...

@@ ooooh man, we should all have this machine at home!

Ramen with a fork?

Have you tried eating ramen/udon/soba with a fork and spoon?

Hmm... well i always did, at the primary school canteen whenever i had noodles.

And even in secondary school when i detested that fat tip chopsticks.

J asked me just this afternoon over a noodle lunch, if it would be possible to enjoy asian noodles with a fork.

Hmmmmm i have to try it again in Singapore.

Lunch over weekends are mainly noodles so we can slurp and get done with quickly.

And whatever stuff i have in the fridge, i have learnt to put them together to make a meal, resulting in very fusionistic lunches these days. =P

Large leeks are in season now, and the green portion being so long, i now use them like a regular mustard green. This was what we had,

Leeks and maguro patty topped over hot soba, with lots and lots of sesame seeds!

I managed to get raw sesame seeds from the koganei farmers and toasted them on my own. Boy are these addictive! Can we ever go back to store bought ones again?

Days when i feel like cooking dinner in the morning, curries can never go wrong.

And all i have to do is put together a salad and tuck in without fuss.

Beef curry packed with root vegetables

topped with a poached egg

Did you know you could make poached eggs in the rice cooker? Just wash them clean and pop them in right after the cooker beeps. 50minutes is the ideal.

My little cookie monster has decided he is on a strike with his dinner spoon. He would happily chew on the spoon but refuse to take any other food on the plate other than the rice cracker he would happily chomp away without fail. Each meal time is a war, and i am honestly tired out. Less solids means he still nurses very VERY often. Even at night. =( So in the day, when my energy level is at its highest, i try to make dinner somehow so that in the evening when my battery is almost flat, i don't have to stand in the cold kitchen battling with time and the quite cranky monster.

The festive season has obviously tweaked his body clock and we are now working hard at establishing a regular pattern for him to get comfy with again. My body is craving time out from his crankiness!!!

Nuts and ice cream

How has the new year been so far for you?

Is that resolution still in check?

For the first time, i slept through the mid night countdown with the hubby and lil cookie monster snoring away. Our first new year countdown as a family.

A week has passed but i am still in a holiday mood.

Baking nuts. Something which i used to do very often on a weekday when it was just me at home. With my lil cookie monster, nap time is time for me to wind down, n rest my aching shoulders. Yeah, somehow nursing gives me aching shoulders.

Anyhow, gingko nuts, almonds, walnuts. They make the house smell so good. Except for the gingko shells that drove me nuts. Really really stink.

So, with the hubby at home, nut baking was easier.

We did walnuts this morning.
Koganei walnuts. which i bought in autumn.
Sturdy grip needed for these shells.

The result... ooh lala freshly baked walnuts~

Which came just right for our new hobby...

Ice cream making~

Our new friend in the kitchen, the ice cream maker!!!

Which we sooooooo wanted!!!

Pour chocolate cream, milk, an egg yolk, some sugar in, churn 15 minutes...
Add in some chopped cookies...
For a huge huge serving, we only put in 3 teaspoons of sugar,

it was such a pure chocolatery creamy taste........... store bought ice creams won't be on my shopping list for quite some time i think.