Restaurant: Alexis, BSC

Looking for a place for lunch one day I had decided on Dim Sum as I knew it would be easy to find something for Nathan to eat. But on our way there we walked past Alexis while looking for the race track he wanted to play on before lunch....

Oh, but it was too enticing, we decided the difficult option and walked into Alexis. We were in Malaysia when Alexis first opened in Bangsar in the 1990s. They used to order their cakes from Suchan who had a cafe in PJ opposite University hospital. Suchan's tiramisu cake was legendary in KL (it is different from the pudding, but tastes great) and we were thrilled we could have some easily in Bangsar.

Eventually Alexis made Suchan's tiramisu cake and all the other cakes themselves although it wasn't exactly the same.They also made a banoffee cake - a banana toffee and coffee pie made into a cake.  While I was in university it was my second favourite pie after a meringue pie . I was surprised Suchan knew about it and made the pie into a cake.

The Sarawak Laksa at Alexis was the best! Once I had a birthday party there and that's when we introduced Stephen to the Sarawak Laksa, his favourite too. So we try to go there as often as we can but sometimes getting there isn't easy. Now they have branches all over and unlike Madam Kwan's their standards remain good.

Coming back to our lunch, Nathan and I walked in and I immediately ordered my Sarawak Laksa and took ages to decide on a plain pasta tomato sauce for Nathan. Everything else looked too big and perhaps too spicy. The Sarawak Laksa is so popular that it arrived very soon after but the pasta didn't arrive for a while. Nathan was so hungry he said he wanted some. He tried it, said it wasn't too hot and ate more and more. He even drank the soup and eventually didn't touch the pasta!!! It was still yummy but without the chilli heat. The sambal on the side would have helped but I didnt add it to the soup.

That weekend I met up with Jenny, Mas, Norhayati and Nor Azrina at WIP. It was a little to loud to talk there so we adjourned to Alexis for cakes. At thie visit I got to try their cakes again. Here is a picture of the tiramisu cake. Yummy huh?



I am not a dilligent photographer. But I thought this blog needed some posts and one from my travels. So I googled alexis and tiramisu and sarawak laksa and got these fab photos from A Whiff of Lemongrass's very aptly titled post "The Things that make a girl go weak in her knees"

Chicken Curry - Thiru Aunty’s recipe

1 medium sized chicken
2 potatoes,
1 tsp Tumeric
Salt
5 garlic
1 inch of ginger
1 onion, diced
1 stalk of curry leaves
1 green chilli, left whole
1 inch of cinnamon
1 tsp fenugreek
3 cloves
2 cup coconut milk, separated into thin and thick milk
½ cup of curry powder
1 tbsp ground fennel
Juice from ½ a lime

1. Prepare chicken: cut into pieces, wash and leave to drain. Add the salt and tumeric, but you don’t have to mix it in.
2. Prepare potatoes: cut into same size as chicken pieces. Leave it in water.
3. Prepare ginger and garlic: pound in mortar and pestle into a paste. Put it on the chicken.
1. Fry the onion, curry leaves and spices: cinnamon, fennugreek, cloves (cummin, mustard seeds, pepper are optional) in oil till the onion is soft.
2. Add the pieces of chicken with tumeric and salt, pounded ginger and garlic, potatoes.
3. Add the thin coconut milk. Coconut milk is for the best flavour, it can be substituted with milk.
4. Add the curry powder. If you have ground cummin or ground coriander, add this as well for a different flavour).
5. Cook for 20 minutes
6. Check when the chicken is cooked and it tastes well. At the end, add ground fennel, 1 or 2 tbsp thick coconut milk and the lime juice. This is for added flavour, if you are happy when the chicken is cooked, end there.
7. If you didn’t use coconut milk earlier, you don’t have to use it here. Or, if you didn’t use coconut milk earlier, you could use just cream of coconut here.

Restaurants in Japan

Here is a list of restaurants we visited while in Japan.

Aozora, Tsukiji Market
Aburiya - Fu Do, Nakameguro
Bills, Kamakura
Burger Arms, Yoyogi Park
Ceylon Inn, Nakameguro
Ho Ho Ho, Shirokanedai
Karashi, Shirokanedai
Ninja Restaurant, Akasaka
Negiya Heikichi, Shibuya
Omotemise, Tsukiji Market
Seirinkan, Nakameguro
Su Shi something, Shirokanedai
Ten Ichi, Ginza

Ninja Restaurant,, Asakasa

Janet invited Nathan and I to dinner while Stephen was away. She took us to a Ninja themed restaurant in Akasaka for Nathan. He got a little scared going in, but it really was a training session not the real thing. The food was pretty spectacularly presented. Lots of camouflage and disguise.


Prawn salad.

See the gold leaf on top?

Tofu salad.

This is a fish dish. It was served looking like this. We wondered which vegetable dish we ordered?

But no, the waiter then lifted the grill with his bare fingers, and said the coal was the fish? Each piece was wrapped in nori and fried. Then it was laid on a battery operated red light which gave the amber glow we thought was heat and each piece was black like charcoal. The vegetable accompaniment was served on top, grilled.

Aburiya-Fu Do

While Daniel was staying here I found this restaurant on www.bento.com. The review suggests that they use a superior choice of beef in their yakiniku. So we got into the car and headed for the 'unknown'.

They dropped Nathan and I while the boys went to look for parking. I got nervous - what if they didnt like the place?

It was fantastic. A small well used restaurant, heavy with wood and charcoal. Downstairs is the bar in the picture but the customers sit on the floor and not bar stools. We were seated upstairs in a wood panelled room. And our host didnt speak a word of English and we too little Japanese.

First the appetizer arrived. It was a wonderful cabbage salad with a strong fried garlic and soy dressing in the silver bowl. The first food competition to arrive. We had yakiniku which brought us a braisier to cook the meat on. A most delicious nabe: Daniel wanted a soup and this came with some offal. Our host suggested he put it in and we didnt have to eat it and we all agreed. It was delicious. The combination of the offal, collagen, and simple ingredients of cabbage, chilli threads and whatever was to die for. Just dipping this rich soup into rice was all we needed to eat.

Our rice, which was meant to end the meal but we requested early for Nathan was a red rice full of grains and health. A kimchi and yakitori to complete the meal.

Macarons

I have to list the macarons I tasted.

While Daniel was here, we did a hunt for Pierre Herme macaron. In the rush, we had googled the wrong place, drove round the posh parts of Tokyo and bought some. They did not taste like the beautiful ones Stephen gave me a few years before. The taste still remembered on my tongue. And Daniel did not enjoy the outing.

It was the first macaron I tasted in a long while. Stephen had returned from his trip to Japan with a present for me. A pack of Macarons from Pierre Herme and it was simply the best thing. The meringue itself had almond meal in them with a complex flavourings, and paired with a matching flavour in the cream in between. It seemed to be most about the complexity of delicate flavours carried with the meringue that made the little sweet a drop in heaven.

Since, we moved to Japan, macaron was becoming a big thing. I almost screamed when McDonalds cafe sold them a few years later! It carries a large profit margin, every patisserie that could, sold them. And all of them lacked the complex flavouring of the first ones I tasted. Sadly, though, I had forgotten the name of the macaron Stephen got for me, and I didn't find it again.

Nathan tried it once and we ended up getting one from Joel Rubichon with every visit to the playground in Ebisu.

We have tried

Joel Rubichon (so so)
Piere Mason
Lauduree (not again)

http://www.omnomnomad.com/2015/12/26/3-patisseries-you-must-try-in-tokyo/

Cabbage salad

Another salad we made was this cabbage salad from my japanese salad cookbook.

Cabbage salad

• 1/3 Cabbage, cut into bite sized pieces - 1cm x 1cm
• 1 Fried tofu skin
• 1 tbs Fried slivers of garlic
• Dressing: 3 tbs mayonnaise, 3 tbs ponzu, a pinch of shichimi

Heat the fried tofu skin over a griddle. Prepare the cabbage.
Mix the dressing ingredients till its smooth.
Cut tofu to 1cm x 1cm pieces and sprinkle over the cabbage with garlic.
Pour dressing over the salad and more shichimi.

Tofu Salad

While my cousins were here, I served my favourite Japanese salad: Tofu salad with sesame dressing. I had been ordering it at nearly every restaurant that had it, till I discovered its made using a ready made salad dressing. First I bought the wrong dressing - it was a sesame ponze sauce not a salad dressing. I was disheartened. I then found the right dressing and Stephen was eating this salad every day. My cousins came, then Mama and again we were eating this salad everyday.

So here goes:

Tofu Salad

• Tofu - 1 portion of silken tofu, wrapped in a towel and left for 20 minutes with a weight over it. This drains the water, placed at the bottom of the dish
  
• Onions, sliced, lots of it - here I use the japanese leek. It can be substituted by spring onions or finely sliced red onions
• Green pepper, finely sliced
• Mizuno leaves, or any salad leaves available, cut into bite sized portions
• 1 small tomato (not a cherry tomato) chunked
• A few soy beans (edamame), some left over bits.

Add more green fresh vegetables, like cucumbers, bean sprouts, lettuce, cabbage. I dont use vegetables that need cooking, unless its the tofu itself.

• Pour salad dressing over the salad and mix
• Scatter corn flakes over the salad for texture.

Dig in.


Here is a recipe I found for the Sesame salad dressing called Gomadare.

Gomadare

• roasted white sesame seeds: 2 large tablespoons
• soy milk: 4 large tablespoons (optional)
• miso: 1 teaspoon
• soy sauce: a little (up to taste)
• sugar: a little
• ground white sesame: a little

Method
First ground together with a pestle the white sesame seeds, soy milk and miso until it has attained a nice smooth consistency.
If have difficulty mixing it, heat it a little.
Add soy sauce, sugar and ground white sesame to taste.
A little experimentation will work wonders.

Yakitori sauce recipe

Yakitori recipe from a forum

Ingredients
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup mirin
1/4 cup sake
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 slice fresh ginger, peeled (1/8 inch thick)
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Directions
1 In a small saucepan, combine soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake, garlic and gingerroot.
2 Cook over medium high heat 3 to 4 minutes.
3 In a small bowl, blend water and cornstarch.
4 Stir constarch mixture into soy sauce mixture.
5 Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
6 Strain sauce.
7 Keep at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
8 Refrigerate.

Tsukunhicken Balls
Ingredients for four people: • Minced chicken ··· 450g • Salt ··· 5g • Green onions ··· 20g • Egg ··· 1/4 (Break and lightly beat egg; use 1/4 of mixture) • Starch ··· 1.5g • Seasoning A: Soy sauce ··· 30cc Sake ··· 10cc Sugar ··· 20g Mirin ··· 10cc Ginger juice ··· 10cc • Shichimi pepper ··· as necessary Cooking surface: Grill pan		Method: 1) Mix minced chicken and salt until whitish. 2) Add minced green onion, egg, starch, and ginger juice and mix well with meat. 3) Shape the mixture into meat patties around 3-4 cm in diameter and 2 cm in thickness. 4) Heat oil in a grill pan, brown one side of the meat patties, then the other side. 5) Remove excess oil with cooking paper as necessary. 6) Add seasoning A to the pan and cook it on low heat until sauce thickens and becomes lustrous on the surface of meat.

Cousins visit meal planning

4 of my cousins are coming to visit us in Japan with 2 of their children. 2 are from Melbourne, 2 from Toronto and 2 from Kuala Lumpur. With 3 of us in Tokyo already, that makes 9 people to cook for dinner. I have to do lots of planning. Why not plan my meal on my site?

Meal 1 - Yakitori
Yakitori
chicken 2 pcs each x 9 = 18, wagyu beef = 9, meat balls = 9, tsukune = 9
Goya champur
Grilled broad beans
Cabbage and tofu
Pickled vegetable
Rice

Meal 2 - Pasta
Spaghetti Meatballs
Another pasta
Salad?

Meal 3 - Curry
Thai chicken stir-fry
A vegetable
A Salad
leftover yakitori?

Meal 4 - Sushi
Order in Sushi platter
Tofu salad with sesame dressing
Simmered pumkin
Miso soup

Meal 5 - Roast chicken
Roast chicken
potatoes
pumpkin
cherry tomatoes
aubergine
Salad

Meal 6 - Soba
Soba
dipping sauce
onions, wasabi, nori,
enoki mushrooms
rice
fish
spinach

Nathan's meals

On a good day, this is what Nathan gets to eat.

Recipe: Gyoza I

I don't know how bloggers take all those photos of the food while the cook. Aren't their hands full of flour, the kitchen table too messy, their mind on what to do next, if the water with flour ready for the pour? In addition to all that Nathan needed help doing his lego (he just needs attention ALL the time!!!) - Mama I want you to help me....

A friend Kei showed me how to make some guotie with bought skins and filling she made. I was really eager to try it but had to find my ingredients first (the right gyoza skin)

Just for info:

Gyoza is a staple Beijing dish that my father in law introduced to me. It was the first meal we had together and I think I didn't make a great impression eating 15 of them in one meal. I loved it. Unlike dumplings one sees in dim sum meals, Beijing gyoza is boiled, not steamed and filled with lots of vegetables and less meat. The skin is handmade and rolled fresh ready to be filled.

In Taiwan, guotie is more popular. They are 'fried' gyozas. Gyoza's (in the mainland) are boiled and the left overs are fried the next day and called guotie. In Taiwan, guotie is the norm; they use more meat fillings and mass produced skins. which withstand the frying. The end result has a crispy bottom where the dumpling sits on the pan which contrasts to the top which is steamed.

In Japan, their dumplings are fried like the Taiwanese guotie but their fillings are completely different. Their skins are different too. I don't know how to make Japanese dumplings, which the Americans pronounce differently than the Beijing gyoza although spelt the same. Their fillings are quiet complex and not as fresh tasting as the original.

So, how did I make mine? I am writing this out to for my reference and future trials.

Guotie

Minced pork
Ginger juice
Cabbage, finely sliced, salted overnight and squeezed
Garlic chives, finely sliced
Spring onions
Rocket, finely sliced (just because it needed using)
Salt
Pepper
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Sake (substitute for chinese wine)
Sesame Oil
Chicken Oil
Sugar

Mix all the ingredients
Prepare a plate for the wrapped guotie
Sprinkle flour on the plate
Have a small bowl of water handy
Prepare the water and flour mixture (1 cup)
Make the guotie
Hold the wrapped in one hand,
Fill with a teaspoon of filling
Wet one half edge with water
Join the two halves together making a frill pattern, try to ensure there is no air in the guotie (takes skill)
Arrange the guotie on the plate
Heat pan till very hot
Pour enough oil to cover the pan and a bit more
When the oil is hot, arrange the guotie on the pan
Pour the flour and water mixture and immediately close the pan
Leave for 15 minutes and make sure the filling is cooked
Prise carefully around the pan
Place a plate over the pan and turn it over so the guotie looks like a fried pancake

Eat

It came out tasting a bit bitter, because of the rocket, I think. But it had a lovely cabbage taste. Nathan might have been really hungry because he ate most of it. I think I had only 3? So my comments arent properly validated. Stephen thought they were nice, and ate the rest of it with noodles. I think I should have let the filling marinate for a while.

Kappabashi

The kappa, himself

The cake shop - all things to make cakes

Plastic food for restaurants

I would love to get an heirloom set for Nathan. Not a Peter Rabbit china set (already have those) but this cute japanese artwork on crockery for children. A salad bowl, a plate, tea cup and rice bowl.

We went to kappabashi to buy some japanese crockery for home use. I went with 3 bags and they were full. Here is a website of one of the shops we went to. www.maru-katsu.co.jp

Ho ho ho, Shirokanedai

No, I am not laughing at Shirokanedai. Its a very civilised place. There is a new Vietnamese restaurant next to the Barkery. The Barkery is a shop for dogs, and they bake and sell their own dog biscuits. A bakery for dogs. But I am sure they make more money from the other stuff the sell - dog bags, royal canin, cushions, you get the drift?

This vietnamese restaurant serves pho, (YEAH!!!), spring rolls and a Vietnamese roll (for 1050Yen I bet, it sells for $2.50 in Melbourne). I LOVE the Vietnamese roll, even though people have had salmonella poisoning from it. It is THE most delicious sandwich - liver pate, grilled chicken, coriander leaves, fresh red chilli, avocado perhaps, grated cucumber and carrot salad. As an Asian salad should taste.

Stephen and I went there for lunch and it was too cold and rainy outside to have anything but pho. It was delicious! A simple broth with rice noodles and lots of herbs. It just clears the world away and renews you. Will be our new haunt, I bet.

Negiya Heikichi

The JLIP class mums went out to Negiya Heikichi in Shibuya.

A lovely negi (onion) restaurant down an alley but in most beautiful setting.

Jamie Oliver

He's really famous and all, but his recipes make sense and tastes good. I make my roast chicken to his recipe (almost) and the others have the spice that needs to be in all bland western cooking. Now he's started Ministry of Food and the website has lots of simple easy recipes the world should know. These recipes, and more have been circulated in a soft copy book form everyone should have read by now. Now its on the web.

I like that the recipe book of his I own has lots of vegetable recipes (although the veges he uses are not in season where I live) and has recipes for lamb and chicken, pork and rabbit but not beef. I wonder why?

Whats wrong with beef? Well, I feel uncomfortable cooking beef - I never know what it will taste like! And it always has a different taste. Almost always depending on which supermarket and how much I pay for it. What affects the taste? What the animal is fed or what breed of cattle it is? American Beef is not always safe - the Japanese have banned American Beef less than 3 years old.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I must try this one day!

Lamb stew

I bought some lamb cubes and wanted to make a stew. I had once made one with aubergines, cumin and mint. I liked the idea of the ingredients but it never turned out well. I don't know where I went wrong with that one. I came home only to find I didn't have that magazine with me so I had to consult the internet to get some ideas.

Nigella had an interesting one, but I realised most British/Australian lamb stew recipes resemble lamb shank recipes or had a Moroccan tinge to it for added spices (served with couscous). All had tinned tomatoes, beans, cumin/cinnamon, chilli, bla bla bla. I looked at my recylced space filled with empty tinned tomatoes (pizza, pasta, another stew) and decided not to use tomatoes.

So I needed a Greek recipe and found this. I was so inspired by its simplicity. Such basic ingredients. Then you could add vegetables as appropriate and it gave a few authentic examples. What better place to find!.

I am getting some experience with making stews, especially since Stephen got his casserole dish. So I invented this recipe and it turned out alright. I am confident of writing the recipe out because it had the least inteference and effort put in, quiet straight forward.

One thing though, I served it to Nathan and he turned his nose at it. Didnt like it at all. I on the other hand loved the taste of it and as I got to the cauliflower (which Nathan used to love!) remembered my childhood days when I used to hate cauliflower. The whole dish was stamped - anti children - the sort of food mothers would force on their children. But I loved it.....

Lamb stew with cauliflower.

1 kg lamb cubed, floured
1 onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2 slices tinned jalapeno pepper
1 clove garlic
3 tbs parsley chopped
salt and pepper
1 cup wine
3 cups cauliflower chopped
4 potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks


1. While you heat casserole dish, flour, salt and pepper the lamb cubes. Then add oil and brown the lamb. Turn heat off. Add onions, green pepper, garlic, jalapeno pepper and mix thoroughly. Leave to marinate in the oven for 1 hour.
2. 2 1/2 hours before its needed, turn the oven on with the casserole inside.
3. 1/2 an hour later, add the wine and some water but dont cover the meat.
4. 1 hours later, mix the casserole then lay the potatoes on top of meat but so as it doesnt touch the liquid.
5. 1/2 an hour later, remove the steamed potatoes gently and into another container. Mix the casserole, season as appropriate and add the cauliflower.
6. 15 minutes later its all done and ready to serve.

I served this with green lentils with tomatoes. This stew had a very lemony taste and needed something earthy to go with it.

Dharm's Murgh Marsala Chicken

I first tried this most delicious zesty chicken at my Dharm's house. I finally got the recipe from his blog and have been cooking it at least 10 times a year for the family. It is a guarantee to eat food at home especially with Jun the fussy 5 year old. I am back dating this post to when I first tried it and being close to my description of dinner at Dharms in 2008.

Dharm's Murgh Marsala Chicken recipe is here.

When I make it, I make it as easy as I can. I do cut corners. Firstly, I mix yoghurt, curry powder and chilli powder without the ginger and garlic to marinade the think slices of chicken breast. Chicken breast cooks quickly so I don't have to 'wait till the sauce thickens'

While the chicken marinades on the bench top, I chop the onion and immediately start frying it. with cardamons and mustard seed. I chop lots of garlic and ginger and slice a tomato and some green chilli's. Dried chilli's do when I don't have green ones, I feel it adds to the freshness of the dish. If they are in the fridge sometimes I add kafir lime leaves at this point. When the onions are soft, I add the ginger and garlic, after it is cooking well, I add the tomatoes. I wait for the tomatoes to cook down and add the marinaded chicken.

It is almost finished, just waiting for the chicken to cook and the sauce to thicken. Some coriander leaves or parsley is chopped to add to the chicken to finish cooking. I add this in the pan so the coriander melds into the chicken dish. Then serve.

Serve with rice.

The kids love it.

Ten Ichi, Ginza

When this restaurant is Googled, all you get are fav reviews of this restaurant. Some say its one of the best tempura restaurants in Japan.

Tempura is one of the easiest foods to eat in Japan. Most everyone likes it and its available everywhere. Its simple food, the basic ingredient, deep fried with a light crispy batter. Take a string bean, deep fry it. The high heat ensures you probably wont get food poisoning. The simplicity ensures there are no hidden ingredients to baulk at the taste. I like it mostly because of all the types of Japanese foods, this has the most vegetables.

Then you have Ten ichi.

There is tempura and there is tempura. Here the most excellent vegetables are sourced specifically for its freshness and natural tastes. The batter is perfectly mixed to form a crispy outer coating to cook the vegetable quickly and seal in all its goodness. The oil perfectly clean heated in a copper basin with thermometer attached.

When the food is served, the chef gently explains how to eat it - the prawn head: with salt only, the prawn: with salt and lemon then the fish and vegetables, as you wish - salt or the delicious home made tempura dressing with grated daikon.

Seated around the chef, each morsel is served consecutively. He watches how you eat, and times the moment to start cooking the next selection. It starts with prawns, vegetable, fish vegetables, fish, etc ending with a mixed tempura on rice.

Nathan asked for a second helping of asparagus, which cost USD5. He wont eat asparagus without being reminded of this visit.

So I took my Dad to this restaurant. The chef had changed to a younger person. My previous visit with Jon and Suzi the older one was training the new one. I hope he enjoyed it.

I noticed yet another wonderful thing here: the rice at the end. They serve a smaller grain rice than I have tried before. The smallness reminded me of broken rice at home, but you could feel each roundness tinier than what we are used to. perfect.

San Bei Ji

I needed a non curry recipe for some chicken thigh I bought. I also had some basil that needed to be used. I still have ambitions to make pizza ala Sherinkan) So what about San Bei Ji which should be chicken made with 3 cups of sauce: 1 cup sesame oil, 1 cup soysauce and 1 cup chinese wine.

I looked up the web and found some recipes. Google "San Bei Ji".

Jan 2016 update: another Three Cup Chicken recipe from Taste of Hong Kong.

Beef Caserole

A friend told me this recipe. She makes it on days that she knows she won't have time to cook. So its all prepared in the morning and left in the oven with a note to her children. All they do it put the oven on 2 hours before eating. I made it today - took me 15 minutes to prepare, leave in the oven for later.

Its a bit like Lancashire hot pot.

Beef Casserole

400g oyster blade steak
1 onion sliced into rings
1 carrot, cut into circles
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
3 tbs madiera wine
1 cube beef stock
Water, salt and pepper

1. Find a casserole dish with a close fitting lid. My friend used a ceramic pot/earthern ware pot.
2. Lay the onions, bay leaf,rosemary, madiera, meat, carrots in that order.
3. Sprinkle a cube of beef stock over it, salt and pepper. Pour enough water to cover the meat by 2/3.
4. Place a baking sheet over the pot and cover.
5. Leave in the oven till ready to cook.
6. Cook for 2 hours on 180 deg C (and not for less than that)

I put some potatoes over the carrots so it becomes a one pot dish. If I have a really small amount of tomatoes, like 3 cherry tomatoes or some sweet potato, I might place them in as well.

Eating Japanese

One of the factors that sets the Japanese way of eating apart and makes the nation healthier and slimmer is the high component of carbohydrate-based energy. In the Japanese diet, carbohydrates, mainly in the form of rice and noodles, make up nearly a third of the total energy intake. In the west, however, carbohydrates are often portrayed as a villain among weight-watchers and many diets demonise them. What matters is the quality of carbohydrate. Good carbohydrates are those that are still in their natural state and less processed. They are nutritious, high in fibre, give you sustainable energy and leave you feeling satisfied for longer. Fibre-rich foods also help to lower cholesterols and are a great detox. Traditional Japanese meals feature many good carbohydrate foods such as fresh vegetables, rice, soba noodles, and beans. Also we don’t add fat or dairy products to carbohydrates.

Portions are much smaller in Japan. Japanese food is served in small dishes and there is a saying, hara hachibu, which literally means that you should eat until you are about 80 per cent satisfied and no more. Leave the table when you are still wishing to eat more but not when you are completely full. Eating smaller amounts of food is not only beneficial for your health but also keeps the costs of food down.

After a fortnight of festive eating and drinking, I am looking forward to writing my 2009 wish list, accompanied by a bowl of traditional Japanese new year ozoni – miso soup with a sticky rice cake. Miso, made of fermented soybeans, is an essential ingredient in Japanese cuisine. It is rich in vitamin E, calcium and minerals and the high quality protein of soyabeans, converted into digestible amino acid, is known to lower cholesterol, blood pressure and help to prevent arteriosclerosis. Miso also slows down the ageing process, it is anti-cancerous and, best of all, it is an amazing hangover cure. Here are a couple of recipes using miso to start you off. I wish you happy, healthier – and slower – eating for the new year.

Japanese mushroom miso soup

Ingredients
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 leek, trimmed and finely sliced diagonally
200g fresh mushrooms such as shimeji, enoki or oyster
2 tbs dried wakame seaweed, softened in water and drained
2 tbs medium coloured miso paste of your choice

Method
● Soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water and infuse for 15-20 minutes. For shimeji or enoki mushrooms, discard the bases and separate the mushrooms. Discard the stalks of the softened shiitake mushrooms and slice caps.
● Put the leek slices in the saucepan of mushroom-infused water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and wakame and cook for two minutes.
● Put the miso paste in a small bowl, ladle in the soup liquid to soften and dissolve the paste. Then pour the diluted miso paste back into the saucepan and return to the boil for just 1 second before turning off the heat. Serve immediately with chopsticks.

All from the FT weekend by Kimiko Barber

Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese

Today we had the best ever Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese. This is how it happened:

A few weeks ago, I asked Stephen if he would like Macaroni Cheese for dinner and he said he would cook it. I had all the ingredients and was going to cook it myself. But if someone offers to do my work....

It was delicious - he made the cheese sauce in what I would call 'entirely the wrong way' but it turned out way better than mine. How does he do that?

So today when I suggested we have it again, he agreed to make the cheese sauce. I used to make this quite often in Melbourne where cheese is a staple ingredient. This was one of my 'eat less meat' meals. In Tokyo, this wasn't so till I discovered Nissin supermarket. Now its back on the menu again. It's not the healthiest of meals and we both love cauliflower cheese so I add that to the pasta. And bacon of course. My version has had a bit of chopped tomato on the top, spring onions, pine nuts/walnuts - mostly to add nutrition and perhaps mustard and nutmeg to the sauce. I also don't use macaroni pasta as this gets too soft in the baking process.

I was cringing as he made the sauce. And again it was the tastiest sauce for macaroni cauliflower cheese! Today's recipe had shell shaped pasta, cauliflower, bacon bits, a mix of cheddar, red cheddar, mixed packet of cheese with breadcrumbs and parmesan on the top.

I checked Delia Smith's version, a bit complicated for me, asking to whip egg whites just to make dinner! and she suggests heating the dish while preparing the pasta/sauce. This certainly hastens things up.

Tuna Pasta

I got this recipe from a magazine. Its quick and easy to make. If I am eating alone, this is what I'll do. Today I made this for myself while Nathan had some shop bought meatballs. He ended up eating my pasta while I had to eat his meatballs (which was actually a prawn/fishball something with a very Chinese restaurant taste)

1 can tuna flakes in olive oil, drained
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 dried chilli, crushed
1/2 cup olives, chopped
1 cup rocket or watercress
1/4 cup feta cheese (optional)
olive oil
salt & pepper
lemon

1. Cook the pasta as directed.
2. Heat the oil and throw in the garlic and chilli.
3. When the garlic begins to brown, add the tuna flakes.
4. Toss it around. When the pasta has finished cooking, drain and add to the tuna.
5. Add the rocket and olives and combine.
6. Add salt, pepper and lemon.

I found this recipe on Simply Recipes here

Chocolate shops in Shirokanedai

I thought I should list the chocolate and cake shops around here seeing there are quiet a few.

• Oriol Balaguer
• La Farine
• Lettre D'armour
• aeschbach chocolatiet
• Chocolatier Erica
• Kinmugi
• Shirokanetei
• Atelier Pattiserie Reive
  

Gin and Tonic

Some delicious things in Japan:

I am enjoying the realest Gin and Tonic. No more the horrible sugar filled Schweppes Tonic to accompany the Gin. We have Japanese real Tonic. And it tastes real, no sugar-substitute after taste, just plain tonic.

I have discovered why Gin and Tonic became a drink.

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I found its cheaper to buy alcohol in bulk than to keep running down to the supermarket every time we run out of sake. As the lack of alcohol at home seems to definitely motivate trips to the supermarket which instigates spending of other sorts. This bulk buying seems to be a savings on money and on effort carrying all those bottles up. Today's trip was bigger than normal as I found they also sell mineral water. Nathan adds this to fruit juice to make an 'ade. I also chose 6 1.8l bottles of sake. AND I was tempted and didn't allow myself to think about it and bought 24 bottles of this fantastic tonic. In the back of my mind, I am thinking that I have to finish all of it before July when we are most likely to have to leave Japan. Can I achieve this? Should I have bought the accompanying Gin or Vodka as the beer will last till we leave? Will I have to throw a Gin and Tonic party? Perhaps in July, I shouldnt any earlier.

I think this would be one thing I will miss from Japan.