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 =) 

The busiest Month of My Life...

YES, I got Full-time JOB in the real estate industry!! 

I've been working as a Cashier, Waitress, Bartender, Seasonal Model and Assistant Yoga instructor while I was in college, and I enjoyed my jobs because these were all related to my hobby!! I graduated college last Summer and I was actually searching my full-time job to start my Office career. I applied for almost 70 companies online within a month... and  I got a chance to work at a real estate office in a beautiful area of Downtown, Vancouver.

"Welcome to an Adult-hood!!!" This is what my friends said after I started my job. I realize what it really meant after few weeks. I really enjoy my work right now but just... I was extremely tired and had no time to cook nice food =(  It took a month to get used to the regular hour time frame (8 hours a day, 5 days a week) and the new co-workers/ new work environment.  Now days, I bring my lunch from home everyday, and finally I have time to cook nice dinner after work!! 

Here is some of the dinner and lunch pictures I took last few days. I will slowly cook better lunch box (including my favourite Hallo Kitty bento box and Mario bento box) I personally think cute and tasty lunch box can make office ladies happy at least for their lunch time!! I hope you can get some ideas for your lunch box from my pictures =)  

 Sukiyaki with Syrah

 Spicy Miso hot pot with Syrah

 Stir Fried Pork dinner set

 Beef curry

 Lettuce Fried Rice

 Classic Ragu Bolognese

 Niku Jyaga dinner Set

 Miso cream avocado pasta

 Potato feta cream pasta

 Tonjiru miso soup and mushroom rice dinner set

Kimchi Pork Bowl

Last of All, I wanted to Thank my Parents and Brother for all the support with lots of love (and money!!) , My best friend Mark who cheered me up with good food and drinks!!, and Eiichi for my mental support from Japan!!! plus all the people for Congrats Messages... I Love you All! Now I can cook better with my own salary!! 

Daily cooking "Fall"

I've been busy recently, so I have no time to post recipes in detail... but, I hope you will enjoy my daily lunch and dinner pictures from past two weeks =)

Mentaiko cream pasta topped with crispy salmon skin

Role cabbage with truffle oil cream pasta  

Steak meal for my friend

Random breakfast

Tantan style udon

Seafood congee for hung over morning

Traditional Japanese style breakfast

Dried shrimp and cabbage cream pasta

Mapo style eggplant

Classic Carbonara 

I will cook some seasonal recipe soon!

Enjoy the fall veggies =)

Yakisoba style spaghetti

This is one of my favorite spaghetti style. Yakisoba is the one of Japanese cheap and good noodle dish. Yakisoba often sold in Japanese festival and popular among children and even adult as well. Yakisoba is usually sold in a package including egg noodle and yakisoba sauce/ powder. Yet, it is expensive to buy in Vancouver, and not easy to look for at grocery store in your neighbor as well. So I made Yakisoba with spagetti and it was very delicious so I'm posting the recipe here now=) 

Yakisoba style spaghettii

Ingredients (2 serving) : Spaghetti for 2 serving

                        Your favorite meet (chicken, beef, or pork)

                        Carrots     1/3

                        Cabbage     2 leaves

                        Green onion     2

                        Salt and pepper   

                     ※Yakisoba sauce

※You can buy yakisoba saurce at any asian grocery store such as T&T, H-mart, Fujiya or Konbiniya. Some of organic store such as IGA market place has yaiksoba sauce as well =)

Step 1: cut meat and veggies into 1 inch pieces. I like to cut carrot into long and thin slices. Boil the water in a large pot for cooking pasta. 

Step 2: On heated pan with oil, stir fly meat first and add veggies to cook with medium heat. Add salt and pepper when the veggies are cooked. While you are cooking meat and veggies, cook pasta in a pot.

Step 3: Add pasta and yakisoba sauce into the pan, mix well. Add a bit of oil again to prevent the spaghetti to stick together. 

Step 4: Serve on the plate, and you can top with aonori (japanese dried seaweed) and white sesame.

This recipe is very simple.

Enjoy the japanese taste with your favorite pasta =)

Yes!!!

Yes!! My garlic shrimp recipe won second place on Japanese recipe site cookpad by popular vote for shrimp recipes♥ Every moment I spend on my cooking, the world seems so perfect to me... Thanks to my friends who helped me to motivate me, and my best friend Mark who supported me to make me more confident about my food. I hope I can cook more of my recipe to my parents in Japan =)