From a Japanese small kitchen

my precious baby

2009-08-27T23:41:00.003+09:00

Thanks for warm comment, Grammy and Karin!
I'm back.

I've been very busy since I had my precious baby boy, 'S' in June 19th.

But I'm really enjoying raising kids.

I just want to say, we are all fine:-)

wow! baby!!!

2008-11-11T16:16:00.004+09:00

I'm having a morning sickness...terrible...

Yep, I'm expecting.

I can't sit in front of PC for a long time. Because morning sickness gets worse and worse.

This is 'Buri-Daikon' , stewed yellow tail and Japanese radish.

It's very popular dish in winter. I have a pressure cooker. I can cook it very quick, easy and tasty!

But I have a big problem. I can't stand the smell of a fish now...(+_+)

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T18:19:00.004+09:00

Yep, I made it. It's a Pikachu suit. Pikachu is the very famous character from Pockemon.

Actually I don't like cartoon character very much. I've never let 'D' watch those cartoons. I'm worried about the effect of TV. But he learns lots of characters from his friends.

English school held the Halloween Party last week. Since then, he's kept wearing this suit...:-O

2008-10-31T16:44:00.007+09:00

Wow!
Time passes quickly.
Kindy fes was finaly over. It had kept me busy...

Anyway, here is 'D's special lunch box.
We call it 'Bento'.
He usually has the school lunch, but mum or dad had to make a lunch once a month.
'D' really looked forward to coming this special day, and always asked me to make special one.
His request waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas,
'ROCKET BENTO!'
How about it?

Actually, he wants to be an astronaut:-)

(unfortunately blogger can't load the image correctly... )

natto miso soup

2008-10-24T09:51:00.004+09:00

Do you know 'Natto'-sticky-gooey-stinky traditional Japanese food??
However Natto is very healthy food.
Here, Natto miso soup!

Ingredients

1/6 burdock root (slice thinly)

3cm Japanese radish (quater it then slice)

1 aroid 1 (halved then slice into 5mm)

*You can replace them with any root vegetables

1 teaspoon sesami oil

21/2cup water

2tablespoons miso

50g Natto

1tablespoons ground sesami(white)

some green onion (sliced)

Heat pan then put sesami oil.

Stir-fry vegitables.

Add water. Cook until soft for 10 min.

Add miso, Natto and ground sesami

Pour the miso soup into a bowl. Sprinkle sliced green onion and Shitimi-to-garashi(powdered capsicum) if desire.

that's so easy!
Using miso is the key. Because the smell of Natto becomes milder.
Do you dare to try it??? Hi hi hi…^m^

Original recepi from 'ますます菜菜ごはん’ by Yumiko Kanou.

sports festival

2008-10-18T15:13:00.004+09:00

The sports festival was held last Monday at Kindy.

'D' participated an obstacle relay.
See? He was doing a vaulting box. At the end,one of the biggest obstacle was waiting for him!
It's a horizontal bar.
He did it!! and finished first place\(^^)/ Hurrah!!!

Well done, 'D'!

weekend event

2008-10-12T20:30:00.008+09:00

Thanks for your advice, Grammy.
Well, a translate feature... It sometimes translates strangely. Anyway, I'll use her(his?) help.
Welcome to my new blog, Karin!! Enjoy! But first, I have to overcome my poor English skills.

Whew...
PTA activity has kept me busy last week...
That's why I couldn't write any articles.

Well, this weekend's event, here we go!

First: 'D''s wish.

We would have an athletic festival last Saturday. 'D' hoped the wether would be good. However the wether forecast said it would be rainy. He made a 'Teru-Teru bo-zu(boy)' to fulfill his wish.
Unfortunatly it was rainy on that day...
The athletic festival was postponed.

Second: We joined an autumn festival today.

'D' was pulling a 'Mikoshi'. Gooooo!!

One of the highlights of the festival is throwing rice cakes. It's a ceremony to drive away evil spirits. People regard a rice cake as evil. They partake of unhappiness with other people by doing rice cakes throw.

How exciting!

moon

2008-10-07T19:28:00.003+09:00

Moon, from a 5-year-old boy's eyes.

Gorgeous!!

busy Saturday lunch

2008-10-04T17:19:00.005+09:00

I cooked breakfast, vaccumed the rooms, wiped the floor, did three loads of wash(because my son wet his sheets and stuff), aired out my son's futon, washed my son's 2 pair of shoes and...

Wow!!

It's already 11:30!!

I got one of a cookbook of my favorite author 'Yumiko Kanou' recently.

'菜菜ランチ'　SAI-SAI LUNCH

I flipped thruogh the book. Yep, I decided to cook this carrot dried curry.
It's quite easy one. How about recipe??
Unfortunatly I don't have enough time to post it. Because they're back!!(Of course my husband and my son)
Whew, I have to cook dinner for them now!! p(^^)q

putting recipes

2008-10-03T16:27:00.005+09:00

Thanks for your comment, Grammy!
I'm afraid it will take a hell of a time to translate all recipes into English.
Because of my poor English skills(:_;)
Anyway, I'll try! It'll be my practice.

deep fried anchovy(Tatsuta-age) with millet vinegar salad(for two)

Today'misson is 'How to make millet vinegar salad':->

Boil plenty of water(about 3 cups) in a pan. add your choice of millet, oats, barley...a total of 1cup and pinch of solt. Boil for about 5minutes till al dente, then drain.
Chopped your choice of vegetables, like tomatoes, carrot, cucumber,onion... sprinckle some solt over vegetables (except tomatoes). Leave them for a while. Absorb excess water using paper towels.
Mix 4tablespoons olive oil, 2-3tablespoons white vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon solt, 1 teaspoon soysauce and pepper in a large bowl.
Put boiled millet and vegetabiles into the bowl and toss them.

Add some herbs, such as parsley and coriander leaf, if you like.

I used some Japanese millet. It may hard to get them out of Japan.

How about Tatsuta-age? Well, I'll try to explain it another time.

autumn flavor

2008-10-01T14:12:00.006+09:00

After cleaning, I wanted to have some flower on the dining table. But I don't have any flower vases. I have a small vase not big one.
Yes! I found a perfect vase in the closet.

Here another autumn flaver

My son is going to a drawing class. He really enjoys it and likes the teacher. How lovely picture he drew!

My first blogging

2008-10-01T00:12:00.006+09:00

Japanese don't eat typicalJapanese food such as 'sushi, tempura, teriyaki etc ...' everyday.
Here, our today's dinner.

rice cooked with chestnuts
fried burdock root and carrot miso-soup
chopped cucumber, shredded carrot and shiitake mushrooms marinated in soy sause and sesamioil
stir-fries of dried strips of Japamese radish and raisins and tomatose, season with curry powder
stir-fries of sliced zucchini

My son loves chestnuts one! But it's hard to make preparations, especially peeling!!!

I won't cook it for a while ...maybe...