Thorough Cleaning 2013

New Year is one of the most elaborate annual events in Japan. Before the New Year, homes are cleaned, debts are paid off and osechi (Traditional Japanese New Year's meal) is prepared. I also enjoy the Japanese Traditional New Year and still keeping the tradition in Vancouver. I cleaned whole walls, windows, and Carpet in my house. All the dirt from 2013 must go before the new year comes. My favourite place to clean is obviously my Petite Kitchen♡ I hope you can get some ideas of organizing your kitchen from my pictures below.

I like to organize my fridge with many kinds of containers from Japanese dollar store like Yokoyaya in Downtown or Daiso in Richmond. I use white containers to maintain clean fridge because white colour containers can easily see the dirt and the colour makes my fridge even more pure and clean. I use Sauce containers from Daiso for Ketchup, Mayo, BBQ sauce, Mustard and other Asian sauce to organize the door pocket. The White Containers on the shelf is form Ikea and it is perfect for organizing sauces or pastes in a Jar! The containers prevent from dropping Jars, getting dirt on the shelf and it helps reaching ingredients in the inner side of the fridge by pulling out the containers.     

I always wanted to make my mini bar in the living room and I found a perfect box for the mini bar. Now I can enjoy making my Martinis with this mini bar =) 

I polished my oven for a half an hour! When my oven shines, I really feel so good to stand in my Kitchen =)

These clear containers are from Yokoyaya and Daiso. They come with 3 sizes and it can easily open by pushing an edge of the container. It helps organize dried ingredients and Spices. The Containers are perfect size for the space under my oven.   

Organize Your Kitchen and prepare for the Year 2014!!

Healthy Wealthy

After I started my office Job, I gained weight and suffered from backache and many other health problems. It is because my life cycle changed 180 degree. I used to go out for jogging 2-3 times a week and cook healthy food every meal. Last couple month, I sit on the chair 8h per day at work and I was cooking easy and heavy food like Noodle with soup, Pasta, or Donburi style (a dish with rice in a bowl) for Lunch and Dinner. After I gained 2-3 kg… Now I'm trying to get back to my shape and life cycle just like I had before my job begins. Here is some of my dishes that are cheap and healthy but also easy. I hope you can get some ideas for your healthy life =)

   

 

Tofu skin Salad with sesame dressing. Tofu skin, also called "Yuba" in Japanese, has very low calories but protein and lots of other nutrients. You can purchase Dried Tofu Skin at T&T in Vancouver Area and it's one of the best ingredients of Cheap and Healthy meal.

My Favourite Veggie of the year 2013 is the Kale!! Vancouver rites are famous for health freak and Kale was one of the biggest topic for people in Vancouver this year. All of my yogi friends and I become Kale-holic. I often make the dish above "Sautéed Kale with Roasted tomato, Roasted pine nuts  and pecorino romano cheese. It is one of my favourite warm salad. 

I take a shots of morning smoothie everyday. I said "take" because it is the best neutral medicine for most kinds of my sickness. I was suffering from sore throat, skin problems, and constipation a month after I got my job. So I took this Veggie/Fruits/ Yogurt drink shots every morning after breakfast and healed most of my problems in a week. It also prevent you from getting cold/flu.  

I add yogurt and 1-2 table spoon of Honey or Maple syrup to the milk or orange juice base. For Fruits, I use Strawberries/ Apple/ Blue Berries/ Kiwi/ Mango/ Pom. For Veggies, I use grated carrot (Must have) and Celery/ Spinach/ Kale/ Water cross. I pick fruits and veggies from grocery store (mostly getting veggie/fruits with weekly sale price) and freeze fruits in a parasitic bag. Mix / Much in the morning to make the fast and costless smoothie =)     

Simple Japanese style soup is also cheap and healthy. Our soup is mostly with Fish base (called "dashi") and using no oily ingredients at all. To fill your stomach, you can add Konjac noodle like my soup above.  

Salad noodle is a perfect dish for dinner after jogging =) I cook half portion of somen noodle and top with many kinds of my favourite veggies and seaweeds. Using sesame dressing for taste.  

Just like Kale, Coconut Water is a huge topic among health freak friends around me now. It hydrate your body so much  more than water and contains many kinds of nutrients. I'm in love with coconut water now =) 

It is very expensive to make you look beautiful,

yet it is very cheap to make your self beautiful =)

Let's get an inner beauty♡ 

Winter Wonder Soup

 I love making tasty soup in the sunday morning especially in the winter time. One thing I love about making soup is that you don't really have to stay in the kitchen and focus on my heat so it's perfect for my lazy sunday morning. My favorite style of the soup is the creamy soup style just like creamy mushroom, clam chowder and corn cream soup. My favorite is corn cream soup recipe because it is very simple, tasty and costless. Easy to make as well so please try my Recipe below =)

まだカナダに来たばかりの高校時代、ホームステイの家族と日曜の朝食に暖かいスープを飲むのが冬の楽しみでした。あれから十数年、相変わらず自家製スープを作るのが日曜日の楽しみです。今日はその中でも、私が一番大好きなコーンスープを紹介します。私の料理のテーマ、『美味しい　健康　安い　簡単』を取り入れられたレシピだと思うので、試してみてください。

FYI: I learned photoshops and illustrator at work so I will be putting some words like "La petite Kitchen"on my pictures. I hope it doesn't bother you!!

PS. 仕事でフォトショップやイラストレーターをならったので、せっかくなのでブログの写真

にも少し文字やイラストを入れていこうと思います。可愛いく仕上がるといいなぁ

Corn Cream Soup

Ingredients (for 3-4 servings) :

Onion        1 (Medium size)
Butter         2  tbl  spoon
Whipping Cream        150-170 ml
Milk            100-120 ml
Canned Corn    7 tbl spoon (5 for soup base, 2 for adding texture)
Consommé/ Veggie Bullion 1 cube
Salt and Pepper
Parsley  as you like

材料：

玉ねぎ（中）　１つ
バター　　　　大さじ２
生クリーム　　　１５０−１７０ml
牛乳　　　　　　１００−１２０ml
缶コーン　　　大さじ７　（大５をスープ用、大２をつぶつぶ用に）
コンソメ　　　１キューブ
塩こしょう、パセリはお好みで
　　　

Saute sliced Onion with butter with mid to low heat. Slowly sauté onion till soften, brown, and caramelized. 玉ねぎをバターでゆっくり弱ー中火で炒めます。焦がさないように柔らかく茶色になるまで炒めてください。

Add Cream, Milk, 5 tbl spoon of corn and Consommé cube to the Pan and mix well with low heat. DO NOT BOIL the soup!!　生クリーム、牛乳、コーン大５、コンソメキューブを玉ねぎの鍋に足します。中火でゆっくり混ぜてください。絶対に沸騰させないでください。

Move the soup base to blender and blend well.　ミキサーにスープを移動して、しっかりとブレンドしてください。

Make sure to blend the soup base well so the corn skin will not gonna bother you while you enjoy this soup.　しっかりとまわさないと、コーンの皮が残ってしまいます。

Move back the soup base to the pot and add 2 tbls spoon of corn for texture (just like Orange juice with pulp). スープをミキサーから鍋に戻して、コーンの残り大２を混ぜます。

Cook the soup again with mid to low heat for other 5 min (do not boil the soup) and add salt/pepper and parsley as you like.　もう一度、沸騰させないように中火で暖めて完成です。塩こしょう、パセリはお好みで。

You can enjoy the soup it self, or with pancakes and toasts as well.  Please enjoy my simple and easy recipe in the beautiful sunday morning with your family =)

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Winter Dishes

Vancouver's weather is crazy this week. When the weather is very Cold, the first thing I do in the morning is to enjoy a cup of hot coffee. After work, cook some winter dishes and warm up my body and fulfill my heart =) These are all my favorite things to do during the winter time. My winter dishes are mostly soup style or spicy food.  

Tan Tan style Udon noodle: Using ingredients that makes you feel warm include: Toban djan (Chinese chilli sauce), Rayou (Chinese spicy oil), Ginger and Garlic.   

Ton jiru (Pork miso soup): Adding a bit of ginger 

Spicy Tomato hot pot w/ Hot sake: Using Kochi djian (Korean spicy paste) and ginger. Hot sake is absolutely perfect for winter as well as winter dishes. 

Kinoko ankake Udon (Udon with mushrooms and thick sauce)

Flat fish Nitsuke style: Japanese style Stewed fish with lots of sliced ginger will make you sweat!!

My favorite mushroom rice 

Warmth from the wooden dishes will add extra- warmth in my supper =)

Winter is there for you to feel the warms of your friends, family and your partner. But also to appreciate the blessing of nature for incredible ingredients♡  

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Christmas Tree Lightning Ceremony

It's December already! My Christmas Tree Lightning Ceremony was held again in my house. I spent my Dec 1st lightning ceremony dinner with my prince charming every year, but sadly I don't have anyone for now. So I invited my friends over to my house to share my winter dishes. The Dec 1st this year was a lot harder for me to cook lots of huge dishes for the party, but it was a lot more fun to have dinner with many friends. 

My Christmas Tree decoration theme is "the "sweets-est"memory of the year" as usual ♡ So you can see a lot of cup cakes and candies on my warm hearted pink tree =) I got ice cream shaped candle with vanilla flavor (not edible)  from Japan so I lighted up to enjoy some sweet scent.

Menu: Beef/Tofu meat ball stew, Caesar  salad with soft boiled egg, shrimp gratin with fried rice, prosciutto arugula and seafood paella.  

My cheese plate looked awesome =) I was thinking of this decoration plate design for almost a week. The cute tiny smilie spoons/ forks are from a Japanese dollar store called Yokoyaya.

Simply flavoured with extra-vergin olive oil, pink salt, fresh grinned black pepper and Pecorino Romano  cheese.

Soft boiled egg will give some richness into the salad. It is one of my favourite salad.

It was my fast time making paella with huge pan and the taste was amazing!! But I forgot to put lemon slices on… so the colour of this dish is soooo unbalanced =(

It was my Pre-Christmas Party dishes!

Any idea for the Real one ?? =) 

Shigure style stewed Beef

Shigure style stewed Beef is called "Shigure-ni" 時雨煮 in Japanese.  "Shigure" literary means sudden shower in the late summer or winter, and "-ni" means stewed dish. People say a Japanese man in the Edo period named the dish "Shigure-ni" because he thought the shigureni has strong but short-lasting flavor just like Shigure rain (*sudden shower) when he first tasted the dish.

Shigure-ni is just like sukiyaki but a bit closer to Teriyaki beef. Its ingredients are very simple: Beef (or Pork), Sugar, Soy sauce, Mirin, Sake, and grated ginger.  "Shigureni" is a way of cooking, not the name of dish. Therefore, there are clam shigureni, Tuna shigureni, and even mushroom shigureni.

最近お気に入りのトマトと牛肉の時雨煮のレシピです。女性には特に人気なので、作ってみてください。すごく簡単で、作りやすい一品です。

Today I'm going to introduce to you my Original Tomato and Beef shigureni Recipe. It is milder and I adjusted the taste and flavour for all ages/ all races. I hope you like the recipe =)

Tomato Beef Shigure-ni

Ingredients:

       Sliced Beef           150g

              *you can purchase it at T&T/ H-Mart/ Konbiniya in Vancouver Area

       Mini Tomato        5-10 

              *you can use regular size tomato as well

        Butter             1 tea spoon

         Ketchup           1 tea spoon

  ☆Soy sauce                2 table spoon

      Mirin                      2 table spoon

      Cooking Sake             2 table spoon

      Sugar                     1 table spoon

      Ginger (Grated)           1 tea spoon

材料：
　　　薄切り牛肉　　１５０g
　　　ミニトマト　　５−１０
　　　バター　　　　小さじ１
　　　ケチャップ　　小さじ１

　☆醤油　　　　　　大さじ２
　　みりん　　　　　大さじ２
　　料理酒　　　　　大さじ２
　　砂糖　　　　　　大さじ２
　　すりおろし生姜　　　　　大さじ２

In a small pot, boil pot-full of water.

お湯を小さめの鍋に沸騰させます。

 Use a fork to boil the tomato one by one until a part of skin is peeled. 

ミニトマトを湯むきします。

Put in ice water, and peel off the whole tomato skin. Cut the tomato into 4 pieces.   普通のトマトでも大丈夫ですが、甘めのトマトを使用してください。

Make sure to use the juice came out from the tomato as well.

トマトを切ったときに出る果汁も使います。

On a heated pan, add butter and cook the sliced beef with medium heat until the beef is perfectly cooked.   あたたまったフライパンにバターをひいて、牛肉を完全に火が通るまで焼きます。

Add ☆ ingredients and the peeled tomato to the pan, and cook with low- med heat until the sauce is absorbed and evaporated. Add Ketchup and mix well.
☆の材料とトマト、トマトの果汁をフライパンに足します。たれが煮詰まったら、ケチャップを絡めて完成です。

Ready to serve with Grated radish/ Green Onion/ White sesame!
大根おろしや青ネギ、白ごまをトッピングするとあっさりと食べられます。

Simple, Cheap, and Delish...

My favorite words are all in one dish =)

     

Classic Ragu Bolognese

I've been fall in Love with Italian food for almost 5 years. Once I had Ragu alla Bolognese Tagliatelle at Q4 , I become Ragu alla Bolognese-holic and always wanted to make my original Ragu sauce. With many tiny adjustments, I finally made my original Ragu!! It is perfectly my favorite taste so please try my recipe =)

イタリア料理を大好きになって、はや５年。ラグー•アッラ•ボロネーゼ•タリアテッレを初めてバンクーバーのQ４というお店で食べてから、いつもオーダーするようになりました。長い間、私風にアレンジした本格ラグーソースに挑戦したいと思っていましたが、ついに週末をつかい、小さな調節を繰り返し、オリジナルレシピを完成させました。本当に私好みの優しい味です。

Classic Ragu Bolognese

Ingredients:

             Pancetta   100g chopped (you can use Bacon instead)

             Grounded Beef    400g 

             Onion    1/2 (Medium size)   finely minced

             Carrot     1/2 (Medium size)   finely minced

             Celery      2 stalks   finely minced

             Butter     45g (30g + 15g)

             Olive Oil     4 tbl spoon 

             Red wine (Dry)      1 cup  (1/2 cup + 1/2 cup)

             Water         3 cups

             Veggie/ Chicken/ Beef Bouillon  2 cube 

                  ☆ I used 1 of each Veggie and Beef Bouillon cubes

             Tomato paste    4 tbl spoon

             Milk            1 cup

             Bay leaves     4

             Salt and Pepper  

材料：

             パンチェッタ  １００g　細長く小さめに切る (ベーコンでも良い)

             牛ひき肉    ４００g

             玉葱   １／２ (中)   みじん切り

             人参    １／２ (中)  みじん切り

             セロリ    ２本  みじん切り

             バター 　４５g  （３０g＋１５g）

             オリーブ油     大さじ４ 

             赤ワイン (ドライ)     １ カップ  （１／２ カップ +　１／２ カップ）

             水         ３カップ

             コンソメ、もしくはチキン、ビーフのブイヨン  ２キューブ 

                  ☆ このレシピの場合、コンソメとビーフブイヨンのキューブを１つずつ使用

             トマトペースト   大さじ４

             牛乳           １カップ

             ローリエ     ４枚

             塩こしょう　適量 

In a heated Pot or Pan, add minced onion + carrot + celery and sauté with butter (30g) + 4 tbl spoon of olive oil till veggies become softer... but DO NOT BURN them!

あたたまった鍋、もしくはフライパンに玉葱、人参、セロリのみじん切りを入れ、バター３０gとオリーブオイル　大さじ４で炒める。野菜が透きとおるまで炒めるが、焦がしてはいけない。

Add Pancetta to the pot and cook with Mid-Low heat till Pancetta become smaller and a bit crispy.

小さめに切ったパンチェッタを鍋に入れ、弱ー中火で炒める。ほぼすべての油が出てきて、クリスピーになるまでゆっくり炒めていく。

Add grounded beef to the pot and cook the meat perfectly with Mid-HIgh heat.

Add first 1/2 cup of wine to the pot and cook with Mid heat till the wine is reduced to half.

牛ひき肉を鍋に加え、完璧に火が通るまで炒める。そして、１／２カップのワインを加えて、ワインが半分になるまで中火でゆっくり煮詰める。

This is the Veggie Bouillon from Bosa market that I used in this recipe.

私は、バンクーバーのBOSAイタリアンマーケットで購入している、野菜のブイヨンを使用しています。

Add second 1/2 cup of wine, 3 cups of water and bay leaves. Cook with Mid- Low Heat for 2h or until the water is reduced to 1/3.

煮詰まったら、残りの１／２カップのワイン、水３カップとローリエを足し、弱ー中火で２時間煮詰めます。だいたい３分の１くらいに煮詰めていきます。

  Add Tomato paste and cook it again with Mid- Low Heat for another 1h.

トマトペースを加え、もう１時間煮詰めます

This is the thickness of the sauce after 1h. When you make a line, you can see the sauce is slowly closing the pass.

線をつくったときに、ゆっくりと線が閉じていく程度まで煮詰めます。

Add a cup of milk and the rest of butter, cook till the sauce become your favourite thickness. Add salt  and pepper to taste (make sure to adjust the taste to your favourite salt level) .
最後に牛乳１カップと残りのバターを加え、好みのソースのとろみになるまで弱火で煮詰めてください。塩こしょうで味を整えて完成です。（パスタの使う方は、少し塩気を強めに作ってください）

Let the sauce sleep for 1-2 days... and I made Ragu alla Bolognese Tagliatelle with this sauce. Fresh basil, Tomato, Parmesan or Pecorino cheese are perfect toppings for this dish. You can also wrap it and freeze to save for next few weeks.
１−２日寝かせてあげると、より美味しくいただけます。このソースでパスタを作る場合、フレッシュバジル、ミニトマト、パラメザン／ペコリーノチーズがよくあいます。冷凍保存も可能です。

Please Try My heart melting 

Ragu alla Bolonese Sauce =)