Strawberries, Balsamic and Cream
We seldom make dessert at home. I’m not a baker, and would rather prefer to spend my time cooking up savouries rather than sweet things. But the husband has a sweet tooth, and this has helped us get creative with some quick-to-make items that can easily satisfy that after-dinner craving. Continue reading
Porco com Amêijoas à Alentejana
Surf and Turf. Land and sea. Mar y montagña. A classic pairing that seems to always work so well… I’ve loved this dish for a while now, having stumbled upon the recipe posted on Leite’s Culinaria several years ago… but this dish it seems, has a long and venerable history, originating out of the Alentejo region in Portugal. The best description I’ve read of the region comes from this personal account by Miguel de Almeida at West Coast Cooking. His recipe is slightly different from the one I used; indeed, there seems to be an infinite number of variations one can take with this beautiful dish. At its base it’s hearty, easy and comforting; however, it doesn’t quite work well if you want to gin up a quick weeknight meal. You want a bit of time for prep and leaving the pork ample time to bathe in its marinade (overnight is ideal), so it’s probably best to attempt this over a weekend or when you’ve got some time.
Oh – and you’ll want to use some sort of stew pot or large-ish dutch oven for this dish. Continue reading
Kaiseki Meal at Ryori Ryokan Takayama
Staying in this quiet mountain town and at the wonderful little Ryokan was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The fact that we decided to visit Takayama at all was of course, all due to Paul and his indispensable travel blog. Ryori Ryokan Hanaoka was just the icing on the cake. Takayama is in Central Japan, in the Gifu Prefecture. It boasts a well-preserved old district, with beautiful machiya (merchant townhomes) as well as numerous centuries-old temples and shrines, many of which are accessible via a 3.5km loop north of the main town. The Ryokan is truly a short little trot from the JR Takayama Station – all told, some 5-6 blocks away by foot. Note that the proprietors adhere to checkin time, which is at 3pm sharp, though they will gladly hold your luggage for you prior to checkin. Continue reading
The Dotonbori
A bedazzling, maddening, whirlwind. An overstimulating experience. New York Times Square on steroids. Bright lights, big city magnified to the Nth degree. Seas of humanity pouring through the arcades, the endless covered shopping walks, the subway tunnels. Hawkers along the Dotonbori soliciting business, the collective staff in shops and establishments shouting “Irrashaimase!” as you walk in, cacophonous choruses of welcomes… Girls in uber short skirts and skorts (no matter how frigidly the wind blows) and uber seductive over-the-knee socks or tights…. Big eyes fringed by lashes that go on and on; pouty lips – almost anime-like, life following art/ artifice. Food is not a problem here, nor drink, as long as one has yen in their pocket. There is food and drink everywhere, any time of night or day. This despite the fact that establishments are not always outwardly welcoming, at least to these western eyes. The shoji are closed, windows papered – it’s sometimes difficult to see how full or how empty an establishment is… but the bright plastic food beckons, the exaggerated character mascot beguiles with its kawaii. Continue reading
Hotel Dotonbori Namba
We got to Osaka at around 11:30pm. We had been traveling for nearly 24 hours straight, having left Los Angeles on the morning of the 25th of March, arriving Tokyo Narita after an 11-hour flight on the 26th at 3pm, after which we hopped on a shinkansen and various subways that would get us to Osaka and into our hotel a few minutes shy of midnight. Not that it was all that terrible… it was fun navigating the various transportation systems, and everywhere we turned there was always someone who kindly assisted when we had questions. We had slept a little on the flight, and snoozed/ dozed on the shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. By the time we emerged from the Namba subway, and saw the huge Namba Hips amusement center looming in the dark, the sense of excitement kept growing. We walked around the corner to our street, directly the Dotobori itself, looking for the hotel’s trademark 4 statues, named “Asian, African, Arabian, Western” and which, according to the hotel website, “…created with a desire to welcome guests from all over the world…” Continue reading
Ippudo Ramen
We had perused the archives of Ramen Tokyo most assiduously in preparation for what to expect at a Ramen-ya in Japan. We had read of the interminable lines and of the push-button Nihongo-only ticket pre-ordering with no photos whatsoever. We read of tiny shops with only counter seating, and of patrons who dined solo, heads-down, looking and interacting with no one until their bowl is thus rapidly consumed. We read of instances where couples and friends may not necessarily get to sit next to each other. We read of having to procure your drinks prior to arrival, or at least while waiting in line (usually there is a vending machine or two nearby), of the need to bring a packet of tissues or your hankachi (handkerchief) since no napkins would be provided. Continue reading
Tonjiru and Nanohana, Rice and Pickles
The Asian recipe for this week is Tonjiru – or, Japanese pork and miso soup with root vegetables. I’ve made it a couple of times and love its ease, tastiness and generally healthy (are pork belly and “healthy” allowed in the same context?) contents. I also like this soup since it’s so flexible, and you can add or subtract ingredients to your liking and taste. For instance, the version below uses sato imo, or taro root instead of potatoes, and omits goubou (burdock root). Instead of just using Akamiso (red miso), add a little of the sweeter Shiromiso (white miso) for balance. Also, the amounts below are estimates, so please adjust as necessary. The rest of the meal included nanohana no karashi, or broccoli rabe/ rape flower with mustard dressing, rice of course, and pickles. Continue reading
Farro with Morels and Spring Vegetables
Those of you who know us are aware that DD’s been an avid mushroom forager for a couple of years now. Through our friend Brian, DD became the proud owner of the seminal Mushrooms Demystified, Mycologist David Arora’s 976-page tome on possibly everything you may want or wish to know about mushrooms in the U.S.A., with a focus on the West Coast. DD also has Arora’s pocket-book-sized version, All the Rain Promises and More, and has liked it so much as an introduction to mushroom study that he’s given it as a gift on several occasions. Over the past 2.5 years, my husband has lovingly and obsessively pored over these now dog-eared books, and is pretty much able to identify many fungi based on observed characteristics (cap colour, kinds of gills, whether it stains when bruised, smell, etc.). DD has successfully foraged for our favourites – Porcini, Chanterelles, black trumpet mushrooms, even Matsutake and many other not-so-prized specimens in-between. Morels have been his white whale, and until this past weekend, efforts to find them have proved sorely unfruitful. But, thanks to Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, DD finally struck morel gold on Saturday. Continue reading
Kichisen Counter
We should have asked. We had noticed the young man standing by the sidewalk – not so much in the middle of the walkway, but on the edge, somewhat nonchalantly, looking around – crisp cream shirt, black trousers. He stood in front of a quiet, understated entrance whose signage we did not initially see; we also didn’t want to gawk and only glanced in its direction (we thought it could have been someone’s residence). We should have just asked, “Sumimasen, Kichisen wa, dochira desu ka?” (Excuse me, where is Kichisen, please?)
It took us an hour by Kyoto’s city bus to get to Kichisen on the other side of the city, approximately the same time estimated by Google walking directions. It’s a good thing that we left the Shunkoin Guest House with plenty of time.
Kichisen was our first truly fancy meal of the trip, selected because of Michelin, recommendations and accounts by Kyoto Foodie, and some research on Chowhound. Continue reading
Goma Dofu at the Hug Hovel
How can a dish with no sugar in it be such a stunningly tasty dessert? We fell in love with a number of things while in Japan, one of them being a fantastic dish called Goma-dofu, or sesame dofu. It had a creamy, savory-nutty sweetness that was terribly addictive. Note that it’s not actually soy-based tofu though; it’s made of ground sesame seeds and kuzu starch, and makes for a great vegan dish. Kuzu (or Kudzu) is a perennial ornamental vine that’s a member of the pea family, and originally hails from Asia where its root starch is used primarily as a thickener for soups, stews, and sauces. In Japan it’s used in both savory and sweet treatments.
We ate a number of tasty goma dofu dishes while we were in Japan, and before we had even returned to the states I vowed that I would try to replicate it at home.
