seasonal peas and beans

*While my mints are lush again on my balcony,
Fresh green vegetables are appealing at shop

while my mints are lush again on my balcony, 

fresh green vegetables are appealing at shops,

so i cooked them with a twist, which were lemon and garlic.

they make my dish feel truly springy.

garden peas can make me happy.

especially tiny jade-like peas and beans like these.

 

i missed the broad bean season last spring, since it is usually very short.

ii’d been watching out.

and at last, i got a bag of them from my local super market.

how would i like them, then?

let’s do it straight, this time i thought, for lunch.

a simple way to enjoy the seasonal taste,

which may mean cooked beans on toast.

voilà!

a bite for a moment of bliss. 

by the way, what is a pea and what is a bean, can you tell?

that was my long-unsolved botanical question,

as they are the same term "まめ" used in our language.

but now i know the difference between them and feel appreciative of the net.

have a great easter weekend, everyone!

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a weekend in pink

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strawberries has been sold since december, but they are in real season now.

so, i made an english summer pudding with lots of them.

meanwhile, even after the disaster and despite the nuclear crisis,

cherry blossoms are in full bloom everywhere.

no japanese could get by without cherry blossoms in spring,

no matter what adversity one has.

people go on a picnic having lunch under a cherry tree.

maybe, some bread with strawberry cream cheese would be lovely for me.

and, philadelphia daisies look sweet in april, too.

i adore this kind of rustic cuteness.

i am having a pink-coloured sunday.

enjoy the sunday, everyone!
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xmassy week special #4

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hi, everyone!

i guess you are on holiday.

 with your loved ones and friends, i suppose.

and, you are having lots of chats, drink and rich food, aren't you? 

have lots of fruits, too!

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momo

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it’s neither this momo, the fantasy novel written by michael ende,

nor that momo, my favourite moroccan restaurant in london.

it’s a pink stone-fruit.
i am talking about japanese peach called “もも momo” in japanese.

there was a nice and kind person (actually my ex-mother-in-law).

she arranged for a box of momo to be sent from a momo farm.

momo, is, possibly, the biggest, pinkest and juiciest peach on this planet.

i’d love to show you all how i relished pinkish pleasures.

first, i just ate it with a ruby grapefruit enjoying the pinks.

second, i experienced the almost ultimate bliss with a frozen “momo” daiquiri i made.

my son came and stayed with me from tokyo last weekend,

so i made bellinis to toast.

the following morning,

i made frozen “momo” daiquiris again for us.

this time, they came out pink, perfect pink!!

then we toasted again.

i am having some more fruits...plums? that is... this weekend.

have plenty of juicy fruits in season, everyone!

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the last taste of sweet cherries

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when i stopped by my local supermarket only two days ago,

i was surprised that cherries were on the shelf.

they were still around in the heat of the scorching summer!

japanese cherry season is so short,

it usually ends by mid-july.

have you heard of anyone on earth who does not love to eat cherries?

they terribly look sweet and cute as well.

they are so lovely to taste and behold.

come to think of it,

i kept missing a chance to post on japanese cherries i’d had them in early july.

so, here they are.

to mark the last day of july and the cherry season!

in the mean time,

there are loads of various stone fruits arriving now.

i can’t help but look at them in shops and blogs.

what a joy!

i’m sure you all are enjoying the harvest.

have a great summer weekend!

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a cherry bomb

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the peak season for cherries is now!

so don’t miss it.

the thing is, which one should i try first, japanese or american?

generally, japanese cherry is lighter and more subtle for taste.

they are quite different from each other.

after all, i grabbed american ones from a shelf in my local supermarket.

not because they were less expensive than japanese ones (true),

but because it was dark cherry that’d go with dark chocolate.

i thought i’d need to use up chocolate bars before it got hotter.
lately, sunday has become my baking day. well, sort of.

i made a classic black forest with a modern twist...

using fresh cherries instead of ones in syrup,

 using melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder with lots of sugar for the sponge,

and making curls to garnish only the top.

using rum instead of kirsch, simply because there was no kirsch in my cupboard.

in spite of all the twists i’d made, it still was a calorie bomb!

i really have to take extra long walks this week.

have a great and healthy week, everyone!!

my herby baby

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as i am living alone, i sometimes think of having a furry companion.

it would be great if i could walk him or her in the park.

i always find myself being negative, though.

not only because of the neighbourhood residential regulations i have to keep,

(banned from raising dogs and cats in our housing complex, still some do)

but also because of my possible heavy responsibility.

i doubt i can be a better caregiver than i am now to my potted herbs.

i love them like my babies.

but, no matter how well i look after them,

some would get sick or do a perish unexpectedly.

tending furry animals can never be easier than that.

i admire all the animal guardians.

so, i settle for being a happy herb-grower.

they look pretty on my balcony.

besides, my babies are edible.

and it’s time to pick a little,

...hang them in my kitchen

how’s that for my green babies?

...then put them in jars.

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all herbs are good.

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enjoy the last weekend of beautiful june, my friends!

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good black mulberry

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what i wanted to post last time is this:

black mulberry.

there are several mulberry trees in the park,

but no one seem to be keen on or keen to notice them.

maybe because they are truly tall trees

unlike ones you may usually imagine in your garden?

meanwhile, this time of year,

everyone would certainly notice a score of the purple stains on the park path.

last week, when i was walking through the park,

one mulberry dropped from up above.

now, you can guess what was in my mind?

i really hope you'd never think i’m a rubbish-picker, though.

it’s fun and quite palatable to do this.

yes, i started picking up mulberries, but only genuinely fresh ones.

as my crop piled up in a small bag, just enough to fill a small café-au-lait bowl,

i took it home and washed and hulled thoroughly.

voilà, my own homemade mulberry jam

it’s yummy to have some with yogurt,

it’s even yummier to be used for victoria sponge!

yesterday was a perfect summer’s day.

i saw a huge number of ripe mulberries still dropping from trees in the park.

disappointingly, the weather turned humid and bad today.

this year’s rainy season has just begun in my region...sigh.

how are you enjoying your sunday?

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noodles and herbs

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the sun is up.
it’s going to be sunny today, too.
the thing is, it could not be hot enough to grow my basils bigger.
the temperatures in april and may have been lower than usual.
my basils were supposed to be lush and plenty to use for cooking by now.
i potted or re-potted herbs in april with my new little spade.
but they are still small.
herbs like mint and sage look ok, though.

the other day, i craved for noodle.
no, not a ramen japanese people would go crazy for.
i am not really enthusiastic about ramen.
i love heaping herbs on top like the one i had in ho chi minh city.
so i cooked a bawl of rice-noodle soup with dumplings.
it was a sort of melting pot of east and south asian tastes.
with just a few tiny basil leaves, fair enough,
it did not completely satisfy my taste buds.

meanwhile, lemon thyme has been green and lush
since it joined in my kitchen garden.
when i fancied a pasta bowl recently, i tried a new original recipe.
adding lots of aromatic lemon thyme leaves, instead of basil,
my kabocha sedanini regati (with raw egg, tofu and bread crumbs) went great.

for my noodles and herbs, anything goes.


happy weekend, everyone!

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springtime strawberries

people’s (probably) most favourite sweet little red things are in season.
well, as a matter of fact, over here in japan,
traditionally somehow, strawberries should appear around christmas time.
so, many people could be bored, or not be bothered, with them by now.

i don’t mind that its season gets earlier and earlier year by year.
i could bring my brother a big punnet of strawberries
whenever i visited him in hospital in january, february and march.

but, the real season is now, isn’t it?
as i would enjoy pan-baking upside-down cakes at weekends,
this time was…


the aroma of baked strawberries is as fabulous as they taste.
fresh ones are also sweet and fragrant, of course.

voilà…

no matter what you find at your local fruiterer’s,
i hope you can enjoy the real season as much as possible.

strawberries forever!

xxx

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what’s in season

i pretty much always sound like i cry for the moon. for foods in particular. i am envious of foreign countries where there are so many varieties of produce, while we have only several over here in japan. i miss english cox and granny smith very much. as for green apples, we have just two different kinds as far as i know. besides, they look almost the same and their tastes are not so different from one another. so i ask myself: do i have anything i can’t get easily over there? absolutely yes. i should stop complaining about my country then.

梨 nashi (japanese pears) for example, our pears are not in “pear shape”, they are all round like a full moon. and sizes are quite big. even though we have no stylish farmers’ markets, we have a long history of making direct-from-the-farm arrangements. it is often used as a seasonal gift and there must be someone kind enough to do so in the circle of families and friends. in fact, my mother received it from her sister-in-law. the gift arrived in a box and each pear was exquisitely wrapped. never mind english cox. i love local stuff, too.

i shouldn’t forget “proper” persimmons, 柿 kaki. they have crunchy firm texture unlike soft ones i had in london. recently, i tried my old recipe of autumn salad with persimmon and 大根 daikon (japanese radish) for the first time in a long while. also, we have “real” sweet potatoes and purple ones are fashionable. i relish cooked sweet potatoes with apple and raisins or prunes, which is my stable. i like having it with mayonnaise and its surface browned. no sugar is needed when boiled. it’s naturally sweet.

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meanwhile, 蓮根 renkon (lotus roots/rhizomes) sprang to my mind when i was reading a thick book about nelumbo nucifera, the sacred lotus. then, fancying hot lotus root tempura made my mouth watering. but this time, i wanted to try an old recipe, which was also among my long-forgotten japanese tastes. that’s how 金平蓮根 kinpira-renkon made a comeback on my table this season.



pic 1
japanese pears: when delivered they are tightly protected just like “being wrapped in cotton wool”? also, wrappers are normally pretty. it’s hard for me to throw them away.
Pic 2
did you know that we japanese always peel round fruits like this?
pic 3
a typical fruit bowl on my autumn table. by the way, we have only one western variety of pear, ラフランス la france. our infamous “chow-chow language” coined the name.
pic 4
this is 王林 orin: one of the two green apples in japan. another one is トキ toki, a new comer, which i am going to taste it. the two look too much alike, though.
pic 5
富有柿 fuyu-gaki: seedless ones are popular and common now. we have quite many different varieties of persimmon in comparison with other countries.
pic 6
kaki & daikon salad: my kind of autumnal fruit salad. slice radish and persimmon as thinly as possible. i added some grated onion to my soy-sauce-base vinaigrette.
pic 7
chunky sweet potato casserole: cut sweet potatoes and apples into bite-size chunks. add raisins or prunes and boil them together in water with a pinch of salt. squeeze mayonnaise (every ready-made mayo comes in a tube in japan) onto the boiled sweet potatoes and put under the grill to brown. if i liked it rich, i’d add butter, cream, cheese and even sugar to this. but rather, i prefer to cook this way so that i can taste the natural flavour and sweetness of sweet potato and apple.
pic 8
金平蓮根 kinpira renkon: slice lotus roots as thinly as possible. sauté them in sesame oil. add sugar, soy-sauce and 味醂 mirin. 胡麻 goma (sesame seeds) are pretty essential for a better flavour. i like sprinkle 鷹の爪 takano-tsume (chilli pepper) over it to spice up.

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enjoy your autumn harvest this weekend, too!

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