見た目も味もいまいちだったけどなあ。
Both the looks and the taste left something to be desired...
アスパラグラタン ・ Asparagus au gratin
土曜日の食事会の為に、めっちゃ安くアスパラを買えたけど、やっぱり少々だめだった。腐りかけてるところもあったし、ふにゃふにゃになってるところもありました。そういう訳で土曜日の為に新しいアスパラを買って使ったけど、この安いアスパラの悪い所を切り捨てて、保存した。
今日そのアスパラ、残りのホワイトソース、冷凍ご飯でグラタンを作りました。仕上げに完璧に失敗した温泉卵。
美味しかった！
I managed to buy some really cheap asparagus for the dinner on Saturday, but upon closer inspection it turned out that if it's too good to be true, it is. The asparagus was starting to rot in places, and was getting soft. So I had to buy a new batch for Saturday, but cleaned the cheap one anyway, and stored it away in the fridge.
With that asparagus, leftover white sauce, and rice from the freezer, I made asparagus au gratin today. A completely failed attempt at a poached egg provided the finishing touch.
In all, it was actually really tasty.
食べ残し ・ Leftovers
土曜日うちで食事会をやってて、今日の晩ご飯は色んな食べ残しだった。ちっとだけの湯でじゃがいも、ちょっとだけのマッシュポテト、一個のペコロス、ビーツサラダ、ちょっとのアスパラ、そしてでかい豚肉。
Hosted a dinner for some relatives on Saturday, and today's dinner was made up from the leftovers. A bit of boiled potato, one glazed onion, a bit of asparagus, a spoonful of mashed potatoes, some beet and prune salad, and a chunk of braised pork.
グヤーシュ ・ Goulash
週末に作ったグヤーシュというスープを今日のランチにいただきました。スープを幸せに食べてる自分を思い出すと、私は本当にロシア人だなと思う。
Had leftover Goulash soup for lunch today. Whenever I so happily eat soup, I always think that I'm really Russian at heart. Or "at stomach", perhaps :)
レッドカレー ・ Red curry
富士山の形のご飯に、タイレッドカレー。今使ってるカレーペーストは辛すぎますから、新しいのを探さなきゃ。ただ、このペーストの一つ良いところは、油のほとんど入ってないこと。今まで使ったペーストはいつも油が多くて、作ってから余分をスプーンで表面から細かく取らなきゃいけなかった。
Mt. Fuji shaped rice with red curry. The curry paste I have now is way too spicy, so I'll need to find a different one. The one good thing about this paste is that it's pretty dry, while most others I've used have a lot of oil in them. I end up having to carefully skim the oil off of the surface of the finished curry.
ピザトースト ・ Pizza toast
今朝ご飯。で略しても良いかな？
前日のパスタからチョピットだけ残してたトマトソースを使って、ピザトーストを作りました。オーストリアのスペックという生ハムに、フレッシュトマトとバジル。
Pizza toast with speck, fresh tomato, and basil. Had some tomato sauce left over from pasta the other day...
フレンチトースト ・ French Toast
パイナップルコンポートを作ってみましたけど、甘すぎていまいちでした。それ以外は美味しかったけど。
Tried making compote out of pineapple, but it turned out only so-so. Probably because I didn't have time to cook it for long enough to break down all the fibre.
パイナップル ・ Pineapple
朝ご飯は朝マックで、仕事が忙しいから、今日は料理しそうにないなあ、と思って、朝食後のフルーツにパインナップルを昨日の柿にしたように盛りつけてみようと思った。悪くない。ちなみにポイントは、串です。フルーツをスライスして、角に串でさすと、手間かからずに綺麗に回せる。
Had breakfast at McD's this morning, and since work is pretty busy, I figured I wouldn't have a chance to cook anything today. So we had pineapple for after-breakfast fruit, which I tried to plate similarly to yesterday's kaki. The trick, by the way, is to skewer the slices, which you can then freely rotate around the axis of the skewer, plate, and then pull the skewer out.
The photo is kind of crappy. It's a rainy day out, and I wasn't getting my usual nice light from the window. The table is also a surprisingly bright orange, which clashed with the rest of the photo, instead of complimenting it the way I thought it would.
柿の盛りつけ実験 ・ Persimmon plating
新しい皿で実験してみました。
Tried a different way to plate persimmon on this new plate.
きのこスープ ・ Mushroom Soup
きのこスープ、めっちゃ美味しいバゲット（焼きたてに近い）、サラダ。時間があまりなかったので。スープはもちろん前日から作ってあって、暖めるだけ。
Time: 10 minutes
Mushroom soup that I made the other day, a simple salad (though with really tasty Meyer lemon olive oil sprinkled on top), and a really fresh baguette.
プチチーズトースト ・ Mini cheese toast
実は今朝の朝ご飯のメインはパフェーでしたが、始めて作ってみたので、見た目はいまいちで、写真をのせたくない。サイドのプチトーストを代わりにのせます。ちなみに、この皿なんだけど、今週末買ったもんです。
丹波の窯元の祭りに行って、いろんな素敵な粘土の作品を拝見できました。この皿に出逢ってほれた。買ってから、「このオレンジの部分で、食べ物に合わせにくくなるよねぇ」と気づいたけど、まあ、がんばる。
Actually the main object of today's breakfast was a yogurt, cereal, and fruit parfait, but since it was my first time making one, it looked rather mediocre, and I don't want to post its picture. Instead—this side dish, mini cheese toasts.
The plate is more of interest than the toast itself. This past weekend we went to a pottery festival in Tanba, where they have some 60 kilns and pottery shops along a road through a village. Got to see some awesome clay pieces, and buy a few.
I knew I wanted to buy these plates the moment I saw them, and only later did I realize that the orange strip will likely clash with food that I present on the plate, unless I'm careful to incorporate the strip in the presentation.
カヤトースト ・ Kaya toast
タイム：１５分
前日作ってみたカヤで、今朝プチトーストを作って、ヨーグルトとフルーツを合わせていただきました。
なんでこんなに時間が掛かっただろう？朝だからだるかったのかな。フルーツは並べにくかったのかな。
Time: 15 minutes
Made little toast with the kaya that I tried to make the other day, and had it with yogurt and some fruits. Not sure what took all that time, probably was sluggish arranging the fruit so early in the morning.
ミートボールとなすのトマトソース生パスタ ・ Fresh pasta with eggplant and meatballs
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タイム：４５分
前日作った生パスタは１２０グラムほど残ってて、ちょうどそれにプチピッザを加えたら、二人の晩ご飯になると思った。なすびをオリーブオイルでグリルして、ミートボールを焼いて、それから玉葱を炒めて、ニンニクを加え、香りを出して、ホールトマトをざるでこして加えて、煮込む。塩、こしょう、ウオッカ、砂糖、その辺においてあったハーブ。出来上がり。同じソースでプチマルゲリータを作って、完了。
Time: 45 minutes
Had some of the fresh pasta from the over day left over in the fridge, and figured that with a little tortilla-based pizza it'll make a good dinner for two. I had some beef sausage meat from a meat surprise pack from TheMeatGuy.jp lying around. Fried a piece to see what it tastes like, added some cayenne pepper, and it was perfect for the arrabbiata style tomato sauce with grilled eggplants that I had in mind.
Shouldn't have taken as long as it did; I suspect it had something to do with the mushroom soup that I was finishing up in parallel. That was to preserve some ingredients that were reaching their limit, rather that for eating today. Soups get better on the second day anyway.
ピッツァ ・ Pizza
タイム：１０分
トルティーヤとジェノベーゼソースはまだ冷蔵庫にあったので、お昼ご飯にピッザを作っちゃいました。スピードポイント：
- 冷凍庫にいつもベーコンが置いてある。何切れか切って、レンジでチンして、すぐ使える。TheMeatGuy.jpでベーコンの１キロブロックを買って、５本に切って、冷凍で長く保存。
- 前回ジェノベーゼを作ったとき、全部を食べちゃうより、少し残して、このような料理に使うことで時間節約
Time: 10 minutes
Still had tortillas and pesto sauce left over, so made a quick pizza for lunch. Speed points:
- I always have some bacon in the freezer. Cut a few slices off, nuke them in the microwave, and they are ready to use. I get 1 kg blocks at TheMeatGuy.jp and keep it frozen, since good quality bacon in a normal Japanese supermarket is quite expensive.
- Making some extra pesto to keep in the fridge, instead of eating it all in one go, lets you save time when making things like this pizza later.
お茶漬け ・ Ochazuke
今朝は、お茶漬け！蜂蜜漬け梅か、鮭。デザートに柿。秋だね。
Made ochazuke for breakfast this morning. Honey-flavoured umeboshi for me, salmon for R. And persimmon for desert. It's autumn.
カヤ ・ Kaya
もう半年以上カヤトーストを食べたくて、どうしよう！日本に帰ってから、インポートショップに入る度に、「もしかしてここにおいてる」と思っちゃって、探す。いつもない。日本語で「カヤ」を検索しても、何も出てこうへん。今日も、ネットで買えないかと思って、検索してたら、たまたまレシピーのページにたどり着いた。
作り方は、びっくりするぐらい簡単で、早速今夜試しました。卵１個を砂糖４５gとよく混ぜて、ココナッツミルクを１００ml加えて、湯煎でゆっくり、混ぜながら、暖める。８０度になったところで、カヤは固まり始める。よく混ぜ続きながら、後２、３分温めると、出来上がり。
おいしい！久しぶりな味！
I've been craving kaya for more than half a year now. Didn't get any in SF, and ever since coming back to Japan, every time I pass an import shop, I search the shelves for kaya, yet none is ever available. Searching for kaya in Japanese yields no results, either; for some reason this product just didn't make it into the Japanese market.
Today I tried to see if I can find somewhere on the web that sells kaya and ships to Japan, and stumbled upon a recipe. It turned out so simple that I decided to try it out as one of my midnight cooking experiments.
To one egg thoroughly mixed with 45 grams of sugar, add 100 ml of coconut milk, and slowly heat on a double boiler for about 8 minutes, whisking constantly. Once the temperature reached 80 degrees (I stuck a thermometer between the wires of the whisk), the mixture started thickening. Probably the ovalbumin denaturing; good to be able to verify the temperature in practice. I kept it in the 80-85 range for a while, and once no more change was visible anymore, raised the temperature some more. At 87, another round of thickening happened. Cooking for Geeks doesn't list any proteins in eggs that should denature at that temperature, but perhaps there are some in coconut milk, though it's not supposed to have much. I don't imagine that diluting the egg should do anything to the temperature at which proteins denature.
Anyway, this must be the most rewarding thing I've been able to do in the kitchen in ten minutes, ever. I was really happy to eat kaya toast with tea.
梨 ・ Asian Pear
お昼ご飯後フルーツは、梨だったので、盛りつけをもうちょと実験してみました。ピラミッドのやつは、引っ付くので非常に食べにくい。
Had more asian pear for after-lunch fruit, and played with the plating a bit more. The stacks version was a failure: not that nice-looking, and the slices stick, making it really difficult to eat. The propeller is pretty good though, I think I'll use this in the future.
和風朝食 ・ Japanese-style Breakfast
久々に和風の朝ご飯を作った。いろいろミスがあった。買った鮭は塩辛すぎて、卵焼きは甘すぎて、始めて使った味噌は辛い。まあ、練習不足ちゅうことかな。
Made Japanese breakfast for the first time in quite a while. Didn't turn out all that great: the salmon I bought was oversalted (apparently they sell different levels, but I wasn't paying attention), the tamagoyaki were too sweet, and the new miso that I used was too salty in the proportion that worked well for the previous kind. I got to try out a new way of plating asian pear, though, which looked decent.
やるきのないロールキャベツ ・ Cabbage not-rolls
やるきのないロールキャベツ。つまり、切られたキャベツと味付けされた合い挽き肉、トマトジュースと生クリームで煮た。まあ、実は肉詰めのピーマンを作ってたけど、肉が余って、ピーマンと同じ鍋に残りの肉とキャベツをぶち込んだ。
Cabbage rolls, minus the rolling. Basically chopped cabbage stewed with chunks of ground meat. The truth is, I was making stuffed peppers, and had stuffing meat left over, so I dumped it all in the same pot with some cabbage, and stewed for an hour in tomato juice and cream. Served with yogurt and toasted bread.
ジェノベーゼでピッザ ・ Pesto Pizza
残りのジェノベーゼを朝ご飯ピッザに使った。キノコ、ベーコン、モッツァレラ。背景にメープルシロップかかったヨーグルトに、前日のシュトゥルーデルに使ってたラムレーズン。後はキウィ。
Made pizza for breakfast with the remaining pesto sauce. Mushrooms, bacon, mozzarella. In the background: yogurt with maple syrup and rum raisins that were left over from the making of the strudel. And a kiwi.
生パスタ ・ Fresh pasta
パスタマシーンを買って、試しに生パスタとジェノベーゼソースを作って。ホタテとなすで盛りつけ。
I bought a pasta machine, and made some fettuccine with pesto sauce (yay for cheap basil). Finished with some grilled scallops and eggplant.
なんかのポーク ・ Pork cutlets
これはドイツ料理の練習だった。ポークのカツレツに、キノコクリームソース、カリフラワー。まあまあだった。
Was practicing some German recipes. Breaded pork cutlets, creamy mushroom sauce, cauliflower. Turned out only so-so.
フリタータ ・ Frittata
まだまだ残ってたよ！
残りのグリル玉葱に、アスパラを焼いて、それでイタリアのオムレツ、フリタータを作った。ソースはバジルマヨ。バジルの葉っぱを細かく切って、ニンニクを細かく切って、マヨネーズと混ぜる。
The remaining grilled onions, mixed with some asparagus, made for a really tasty frittata. The sauce is basil mayo, basically chopped basil leaves, a bit of chopped garlic, mixed with mayo.
グリル野菜とソーセージの生パスタ ・ Fresh pasta with grilled vegetables and sausage
はい、そうですよ。グリル野菜はまだ残ってました！
もう一度アプフェルシュトゥルーデルを作ったんだけど、生地をのばしてから、ふちを切るんですよ。切った部分を捨てるのはもったいないと思って、のばしてパスタにして、茹でた。グリル野菜でソースをピャピャっと作って、おいしい！
Yup, that's right, I still had grilled vegetables left over.
Made Apfelstrudel again, and not wanting to through away the dough trimmings, I stretched them into noodles, and whipped up a quick sauce. Turned out pretty yummy, though looks could use some work.
ピザ ・ Pizza
前日のパニーニに使ったグリル野菜の残りで、ピザを作ってみました。
Had some grilled vegetables left over from the panini from the other day, so I made pizza. Probably looks odd for the North American eyes, but in Japan it's very common to have pizza made basically on a tortilla. Crispy and tasty, and don't need to make dough, though I sometimes I really crave real pizza.
アプフェルシュトゥルーデル ・ Apfelstrudel
新婚旅行でオーストリアに行って、あそこの宮殿でオーストリアの有名なアップルパイらしきデザートを食べた。作り方を見せるショーもあって、最後にレシピの書いてる紙をもらいました。日本にとうとう帰って、作ってみた。
We went to Austria for our honeymoon, and got to eat Apfelstrudel there on multiple occasions. The palace had a show where they made the strudel in front of us, and at the end of the show they were handing out recipes. After finally getting back to Japan, I tried making it myself.
ケサディーヤ ・ Quesadilla
前日からサルサが残ってたので、作っちゃいました。
I had some salsa lying around from the day before, so I ended up making this for lunch. Yes, I can buy tortillas in the supermarket nearby. Amazing for Japan, I know.
フェットチーネ ジェノベーゼ ・ Pesto Genovese Fettuccine
近くのライフで意外と安くバジルの大きな束が売られてる。１９５円やで！それでジェノベーゼを作らなかったら、罪だと思う。
アスパラを野菜として、パプリカを色のワンポイント。
The supermarket near my new place is fantastic. Prices are very reasonable, I for the most part don't need a market anymore. They sell a decently sized bunch of basil for a mere 195 yen, and it would be a crime not to make fresh pesto out of that!
桃のクレープ ・ Peach Crepe
クレープを焼いて、中に桃とヨーグルトを包んで、上に前日からあったアップルコンポートをのせて、桃の薄いスライスで仕上げ。
Crepe, filled with peach and yogurt. Wrapped it in a triangle, and put some apple compote on top that I had sitting in the fridge from a few days ago. Finished off with a thin slice of peach.
ブログを始めました
日本に帰って、落ち着いた生活をしようと思った。落ち着いた生活には、毎日の日課が必要。そういうきっかけで、毎日作った料理の写真を撮ってブログにのせようと決めた。ややこしい料理も、簡単な料理も、とにかくのせよう。写真を撮ることを意識して、盛りつけもがんばっちゃうから、少しでもおしゃれになった料理を食べるのは楽しいはず。
After moving back to Japan, I've been craving a more settled lifestyle. As part of that, I felt like I need to develop daily routine, and taking photos of the food I make sounded like a good candidate for something I'd do daily. Knowing that I'll be taking a photo will force me to think more of the presentation of my food, which will probably make eating more enjoyable.
After moving back to Japan, I've been craving a more settled lifestyle. As part of that, I felt like I need to develop daily routine, and taking photos of the food I make sounded like a good candidate for something I'd do daily. Knowing that I'll be taking a photo will force me to think more of the presentation of my food, which will probably make eating more enjoyable.
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