Day 35 - It's a Miso Good

Today I felt I really need to cook something. I'd relied on eating out and takeout for all the meals so far this week and that really was quite poor. I'd got inspiration from Boo in London, who very nicely commented on one of my previous posts, Day 30, about my foray into Japanese cooking with the help of my Everyday Harumi cookbook. She had also just purchased the book and her first recipe was that of Miso Minced Beef with Udon noodles. I had all the ingredients and it seemed pretty straightforward so I was good to go.

Recipe to follow.

It turned out really well and I served it with shredded leeks and cucumber strips and of course udon noodles which I have now learnt to cook correctly. They need to be tender yet have a slight bite to them still. The trick is to remove them from the saucepan with a slotted spoon, reserving the hot cooking liquid and rinse them under cold water immediately after cooking to rid them of the starch which makes them stick together. Then prior to serving revive them with the hot reserved liquid.

Miso Minced Beef

I do so love a good miso sauce because of it's sweet but salty flavouring and the fact it is so versatile. It will probably feature a lot in the months to come.

Day 34 - Sun and Sushi

It was lovely and sunny today and things looked a little brighter. I skipped the gym because Gerry had the evening free, it would be our first together in what seemed quite a while. I had grand ambitions to cook something up but to be honest, this working malarky really takes it out of you. By the time I arrived home I was quite intent in ordering a fresh batch of sushi from our new favourite Eat Sushi. It was duly late as always, so I could perhaps start to go off the boil of this place. I ordered my usual of mixed sashimi and paired it with a salmon and tuna set.  Gerry went for a chicken katsu with miso soup.

Now normally I rave about this place but I think I might need to explore new venues for a while after today's offering. The sashimi was still the bees knees, fresh and plentiful with a good helping of shredded daikon. It is great value for money.

The rolls were ok, with nigiri rice soft but not falling apart but I felt the roll fillings could have been slightly more generous.  Perhaps I just miss having a helping of fresh ginger and wasabi too, I think packets are a very lazy offering.

Gerry's said her miso soup was nice if a little salty but her chicken katsu was very disappointing. The chicken itself looked and tasted like a cheap frozen and very thin breadcrumbed fillet and the curry sauce tasted full of additives and colouring. Being hungry she ate it part of it but it did not taste good. A disappointing offering from this restaurant as the noodles we have had before have been fairly high quality.

Overall, I felt a little disappointed about tonight and almost wished I'd got off my butt and cooked after all... or...perhaps it is just time for a change.

Day 30 - Japanese Kitchen

Today I made my first recipe from my new cook book acquisition. It is called Everyday Harumi by Harumi Karihara and features simple Japanese recipes. I'd heard great things about the author and seen her in action on 'Your Japanese Kitchen' shown on the NHK World TV channel. Harumi has often been called the Delia Smith or Martha Stewart of Japan and is well known for her satisfying home cooking. I couldn't wait to get started.

I had almost all the ingredients I needed and I just had get the raw chicken and prawns and then visit the Japan Centre to pick up the potato starch, mushrooms and all important dashi stock. I decided to go easy on myself first time out and made a pretty simple sauce which is suitable to serve as a donburi. The recipe was a Prawn and Chicken Ankake Donburi. Ankake is a typical Japanese sauce and can be served with a variety of different ingredients.  It forms the backbone of many Japanese housewives' recipes.

Just to make clear, this is not my recipe but is taken from Everyday Harumi by Harumi Karihara and is partly paraphrased for speed. It made enough for 2 servings:

• 125g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm pieces
• 50g raw prawns, deveined
• sake - to marinade
• salt and pepper
• 50g shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 60g onion, cut into wedges and then halved again
• 100g pak choi, leaves and stem separated and both cut into 5cm-long pieces
• 25ml soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp sake
• 1/2 tbsp mirin
• 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 200ml dashi stock (I used instant powder as I wasn't able to buy bonito flakes to make my own)
• 1/2 tbsp oil for frying
• the stem of a green leek (I sliced up the leek into long thick strips)
• 20g fresh ginger, peeled and halved
• 2 garlic cloves, slightly crushed
• 1 tbsp potato starch mixed with 1tbsp cold water
• rice to serve

1. In separate bowls, season the chicken and prawns with a little sake, salt and pepper.
2. Prepare all the vegetables as above and set aside.
3. Add the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and salt to the dashi stock, mix thoroughly and set aside.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan. When hot add the leek, ginger, and garlic, in that order, and cook until you can smell their aroma. Then add the chicken and prawns, followed by the mushroom, onion and pak choi.
5. Add the dashi mixture. When it comes to the boil, stir in the potato starch mix to thicken the sauce.
6. Discard the ginger, leek and garlic before serving (actually I left the leek in because I like it!)
7. Serve the anakake on hot steamed rice.

The meal tasted as I expected because it was very warm and comforting.  It was the first time I cooked with potato starch and I find it a good alternative to cornflour as it is a much stronger thickening agent. I think that in future I might cook off the chicken a little more before adding in the stock and then add the prawns because it took a little longer to cook through then I think the recipe considers above. Although, perhaps I cut the chicken a little too big, who knows. One final thing to note is about the dashi stock. I chose instant stock as I couldn't find the raw ingredients to make my own. Obviously it is a fish stock and tasted as such.  Its always hard to make instant stock quite right when all the ingredients are in Japanese but I worked it out using the ever helpful Internet. 

Anyway, Gerry loved it and said it reminded her of her's mum's cooking, who is Filipino and makes delicious concoctions of this ilk. High praise indeed. Anyway, it's a good one to have in my cooking repertoire as it didn't take long to make and I can imagine would cheer up a particularly grey day!

Chicken and Prawn Ankake Donburi

Day 22 - New Things

I had a new(ish) experience today, something I've not experienced in quite a while. I had an interview and if I'm honest I'm not too sure how well it went. I'm normally pretty critical of myself in these instances, not helped by the fact my interviewer didn't elude to whether she liked me or not.  I do want the job, it sounds like a challenge and would keep me occupied until at least April if not a little longer.  I've not had an interview for such a long time because in my industry jobs seem to come along by word of mouth and then you are in for a quick chat and the job is yours.  This was a much more serious affair, albeit with a lovely lady. She asked me my strengths and weaknesses, where did I see myself in 3 years time - in TV this could seriously be anywhere!  Hindsight of course is a wonderful thing and you can always look back and wish you'd done something differently but in the moment it just didn't occur. Still I gave my best shot, regretted a few things but overall I got across, I think, what I was about. Will have to wait and see.  If I don't get it I guess it's fate.

**Stop the press, I've just got a phone call for a second Interview.  Need to come up with a casting strategy for the show.  Well that's my weekend planned out then, watching everything I can about the show and making notes! Watch this space to congratulate or commiserate!**

Anyway, after I left the interview I headed to do a little retail therapy, despite the fact I am not gainfully employed.  Why do I always feel like shopping when I shouldn't? I only went to two shops, which should have diminished the possibilities of me spending anything but this was not the case.  However, since I purchased several new lovely items, I deemed it a success but I think certain things might need to go back if my bank balance is to survive until February.

I then headed for coffee with my good friend V.  She is an adorable young lady and we always, to quote her, 'talk the hind legs off a donkey' when we are together.  She was managing to squeeze me in before she went to work, so I was a very luckily girl.  We went to a new coffee/juice bar I'd not been to before, Joe & The Juice.  The young staff are pretty energetic and the place had a good vibe.  I don't think it's the place to linger, especially since many of the available seats are stools.  These days I need a back with my chair! However, we were lucky enough, after a bit of table hopping, to snag a small sofa which was perfect.  We ignored the mass array of smoothies and juices on offer and went boringly for a latte and green tea. We are nothing if not adventurous in our drink intake.  We barely stopped for breath for almost 2 hours, with V offering some good sage advice and before I knew it, V was off to work.  We fast-paced it to her office and I set off home, lighter in heart.

I already knew what I was making for dinner, making good use of my leftover miso marinade.  I dunked a couple of salmon fillets in the marinade and popped in the fridge for a few hours.  I made a cucumber salad, combining thin cucumber ribbons, 2tsp rice wine vinegar, 1tsp vegetable oil and a pinch of sugar and served with plain jasmine rice.  Bon appetit!

Miso Salmon with Cucumber Salad & Jasmine Rice

Gerry also made a rather awesome mulled wine for a little tipple with dinner.  She really is the 'Mulled Wine Whisperer'! A cheap bottle of plonk turned delicious with cinnamon, an orange, a clove studded satsuma and lemon. Brilliant!

Mulled Wine with Supper

Day 21 - A Bit of Detective Work

I had an early morning meeting today, which was good as it meant I had to get up early and get on with the day. It really has turned bitterly cold here and even though I know this I still tend to dress as though its autumn. Foolish I am. Anyway, since it was so cold I didn't linger in town like I had planned but headed straight home for a hearty breakfast of porridge and honey.  I find it pretty filling and rather comforting, which is something that I need during the day at home when the temptation to nibble on fridge items is more than compelling. I skipped through the job sites and settled in to peruse what might be out there. Very little it would seem. In the background I managed to keep half an eye on the newest series of Monk.  It is the final series of Monk, one of my all-time favourite detective shows, only narrowly beaten out by Murder She Wrote.  No one can beat Jessica Fletcher! However, thus far I have been unimpressed with Series 8. Don't get me wrong Tony Shalhoub and Traylor Howard still do a fine job but the storylines have been far from engrossing.  Still we are only on episode 3 of 16 so there is room for improvement, plus we will finally see the wrap up of the murder of Monk's wife Trudy right back at the start.

Monk finished I scavenged in the cupboards for all things lunch. I decided I should use what I had rather than going to the shops, so I ended up with a favourite of Bacon and Avocado salad with a sweet potato. It was yum and filling. However, since I was fairly famished I chose to do the bacon in the microwave, purely for speed. I laid out two bacon rashers on paper town in a Pyrex dish.  Marco Pierre White apparently heralds this method as the best way to cook bacon but Marco I disagree.  Perhaps it was the bacon I used, back rather than streaky but it curled and didn't crisp up. It was tasty enough but I think I should have put more time into doing it on the grill.  Still lunch was a quick and painless affair which is always good news.

After an adequate amount of time had passed I completed Day 16 of the Wii Active Challenge. I think my leg muscles are certainly stronger, at least I will have achieved something in January!  I also took a trip out to discover and research my new local gym opened by The Gym Group. It's so cheap at only £15.99 a month, with no contract.  Perfect for me, who at the moment, can't commit to anything long-term. I went with my little sis as we both plan to join together. It was a good, open-plan gym, that was functional and clean with good light. A and I will be signing up and attending our first session on Saturday hopefully!

Gym sorted, I set about tracking down all the ingredients I needed for dinner. I was planning to use up some of the remaining miso paste I had from sushi Saturday and doing a new favourite in our house - Nasu Dengaku. I wasn't able to get Japanese aubergines so I had to go with a Spanish import instead.  Being slightly thicker in size than a Japanese aubergine it needed a stint in the oven as well as the grill to make it tender enough. I borrowed the recipe from Momofuku for 2 and it really does work very well. I implore you, if you have not tried it, to give it a go as it really is very simple.  I only used half the marinade for the aubergines and the rest will go in the fridge and probably get used tomorrow night.

The dish went down well with Gerry which was great.  I served it with some white rice topped with poppy seeds.  My only complaint - not enough!

Nasu Dengaku & Rice

Day 20 - Wet Wednesday

Food was the first thing on my mind when I woke today. After a few drinks I definitely had the munchies. Breakfast was served downstairs and we chose quickly. I went for Eggs Benedict with bacon. It was extremely yummy but slight overkill with the hollandaise sauce. I had to set up a toast barrier to curb it's creep across my plate. Gerry went for the vegetarian breakfast and said it was yummy. It was paired with copious tea, coffee and juice and had the appetite I could have sampled fresh pastries and yoghurts. I do love the staff at Hotel Una because they do a real stand-up job!

After breakfast we took a little trip up to The Lanes to have a wander, Gerry desperately trying to stay out of the many funky clothing shops that adorn the streets. In my hunt for a bag I dragged Gerry into TK Maxx. I bought the Man's Bag from that particular branch 5 years ago and I wanted to see if it could come up trumps again. Bingo! I purchased a brilliant Mandarina Duck bag with an RRP price of £185 for a bargain £50! I think I'm in love with it.  It is slightly bigger than the Man's bag though so I don't think that the MB's is totally out of the game just yet. I also picked up a smaller bag form Rowallan's. I do like it but I'm still deciding whether its a keeper or returner. Hmm decisions, decisions.

Seeing as breakfast filled us up quite a lot we abandoned our sushi lunch plans and started back to London. With the rain setting in, it seemed the right time to go. See you soon Brighton, probably on a Thursday!  We made good time up to London and after a round about way of getting home we settled in on the sofa with bowls of homemade hot pea soup.

Pea & Mint Soup

It was just enough to last us until dinner and what else but sushi of course.  It was quick and easier after a busy couple of days and simply delicious. I think Eat Sushi is fast becoming one of my favourites.

To round off an enjoyable couple of days we watched Pan's Labyrinth. We've not watched it for around 4 years so I was just about ready to see it again but boy did I forget quite how graphic and at times pretty scary it is! I think the acting is superb and the director, Guillermo del Toro gets the tone of the film spot on. He really does pull you into the story and you forget that you have to read subtitles. I think the last 3 films that we have watched together are foreign language films and it makes me remember what talent is out there aside from the standard American and British offerings.

Anyway, off to bed now. It's been a good couple of days.  I think it's good to get away for a little while, if only for the night, it's just unfortunate that when you come home the troubles you tried to escape are probably still waiting.

Favourite View in Brighton

Day 17 - The Only Fish in the Sea

It's Sunday but because I don't work regular hours it really could be any day of the week. Despite my daily Wii Active sessions (now on Day 14 of 20) my energy levels are still at a low and I find the same old thoughts rotating round and round in my head. I know if I was a lot more proactive about work and relationships I might feel a little better but even when I am the knock-backs seem to abound and it dents my confidence quite a bit.  I'll try a little, just a toe in the water, but not too much, because what if I find what I'm actually dreading is true?  Sometimes when I'm surrounded by people, I'm find myself feeling more alone than ever, the only fish in a very big ocean. I'll lie in bed and wait for a reassuring touch for comfort and support but it never comes. I know everything is relative and I should look at what I have rather than what I don't but I'm finding life hard right now.

To this end and to take my mind of everything I threw myself into dinner. I'd bought some sea bass earlier in the week and aimed to pair it with the miso paste I had left over from Sushi night. Sea bass is one of my favourite fishes, it has a lovely subtle flavour and I had high hopes for my miso-infused version. I was inspired by a recipe from All Recipes and Nobu's signature dish 'Black Cod'. 

It made enough marinade for at least 2 sea bass fillets.

• 2 1/2 tbsp sake
• 2 1/2 tbsp mirin
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp white (Shiro) miso paste
• 2 x 175g Sea Bass Fillets

I put the fillets in a resealable plastic bag and poured the marinade over the top.  I popped this into a tupperware box in case of leaks and then into the fridge for as long as I could.  In this case for around 4-5hours I think. If I’d had my wits about me I would have done this yesterday but I think that the taste was good enough with just that amount of time.

I then put some jasmine rice on to steam and once done garnished with a little finely diced red pepper and cucumber with a squeeze of lime. Meanwhile I heated the grill up, making sure the oven rack was further away from the heat than normal, the middle shelf was about right. I put the fillets on a baking tray poured a little more marinade over them and put under the grill for around 7-8 minutes, until the fish flakes easily.

Then all that was left was plating up. I plated the rice, topped with the slightly blackened fish and sprinkled over a few finely sliced green chillis and red pepper. Dinner was served.

It was a light bright affair.  I’ve had the dish ‘Black Cod’ a few times now with a similar marinade but I can say with certainty that I much prefer it with sea bass.  The fish had a lovely subtle favour that went brilliantly with the sweetness of the miso marinade. Next time I shall endeavour to find some thicker fillets and serve it with some pak choi but it was absolutely scrumptious. Just not enough!

So, however flat I felt at the start of the day, at least for around 2 hours today I felt better.  Preparing and creating food really can be the best comforter.

Miso-Marinated Sea Bass

Day 11 - Monday Fail

I failed miserably today in regards to cooking.  I was still at my parents and had a slightly sleepless night, punctuated by small dog head-butting the bedroom door just to give me a cheeky smile and wag of his tail before trotting quite happily back to his bed. How very thoughtful.

After an energetic start to the day with Day 9 of Wii Active - it really is quite a 30 minute work out and something I highly recommend. I can feel biceps forming already!

Breakfast was quaffed down quickly and was nothing out of the ordinary. With the weather being absolutely dire I abandoned plans to walk into town to replace watch battery and buy A4 frame, thus the television got my full attention. There was very little on unfortunately and I found myself succumbing to The Holiday.  Actually quite a good film, marred only by the woeful miscasting of Jack Black as a romantic interest for Winslet. He may be considered amusing by some but this does not make up for his complete lack of sex appeal. I can think of so many others who would have been far better choices.  Poor old Kate, Cameron gets Jude while she gets, well...Jack.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic, the film brought me neatly to lunch time and again it was a dull affair. I'd made a Chicken Tikka Masala the night before so had the rest of this with some basmati rice. Tasty but not picture worthy.  Parents arrived back shortly after lunch and we caught up over pots of green tea.  All very healthy.  Time was getting on so I set off back home with plans forming in my head of what I could do with a tin of hotdogs, tinned tomatoes, dried herbs and pasta. However, by the time I made it through the doors and saw Gerry, visions of sushi were dancing before my little eyes.  I'm slightly ashamed to admit it was time for takeaway. Gerry wanted noodles and I was craving some fresher than fresher fish. I swung into action online and ordered from Eat Sushi.  I haven't ordered from here in quite a while as remember not thinking it was anything special first time around but decided to give it another go and very glad I did.  Despite being 15 minutes late, the varied sashimi was some of the best I've had recently, the hosamaki salmon rolls and marinated mackerel nigiri  were lovely.  We even got some free vegetable tempura in a black pepper and salt mix which was a welcome addition.  We paired it with warm Sake and it was consumed in minutes. So much so that I only remembered to get a picture on the last roll!

So to sum up, not really a culinary creative day on my part but I did get to experience foods from around the world today. From India to Japan, I had experienced a spicy buttery chicken curry to melt in the mouth sashimi and crispy lightly battered tempura.  Plus, everyone needs a day off.

The Last Roll

Day 4 - Slightly Manic Monday

I had a busy start to my Monday morning. I finished work at 2.30am and got home around 3am to find younger sister asleep on our sofa bed after drama at her work party. At half 8 I was up and about helping her deal with the aftermath, finally getting home around 11.30am.  All seems to be mostly settled now which is good news. 

However, after little sleep the idea of having to prepare food is not an appealing one and I realise that when I'm tired I find convenience food the name of the game. This year I'm trying not to fall into the ready meal trap as often, even if it means my culinary concoctions aren't to the highest standard.  Today, to stave off hunger while I thought about what I could properly make, I made myself a lovely cheese, ham and mushroom toastie and it hit all the right notes. 

For dinner, I got inspiration from an unlikely source.  Gerry wasn't working today so we ended up watching My Neighbour Totoro - a fantastic film from the Ghibli Studios. In the film they make bento boxes for lunch...so that's what I decided to do for dinner!  I had quite a few ingredients left over from the sushi on Saturday so dragging myself off the sofa I set to work.  The degree of difficulty in these boxes it would seem comes not from the individual elements but making sure it all makes it into the box at the same time so it can be served hot.
I was pretty pleased with the outcome as its officially my first bento attempt.  I even managed to create a little rice Panda to put in the box which made us both smile!  

Clockwise from TR: Rice, Edamame, Rice Panda, California Rolls, Prawn Tempura, Duck Spring Roll (Not Japanese but yummy!), Nasu Dengaku, and Chicken & Vegetable Gyoza. Little cucumber knife wizardry in the centre!

Day 2 - Sushi Saturday

I've been promising two of my friends, N and L, for ages that I would invite them around for a sushi dinner party.  Tonight is the night.

I'd become interested in the Japanese culture after taking a two year course in the language while at university.  My experience with the food however was confined to the culinary delights that Nottingham's restaurant scene had to offer back in 1999. It was fairly limited to say the least.

However, over ten years later, I've moved to the big smoke and travelled all over the world, experiencing some great Japanese cuisine. My favourite part being sushi and sashimi. I started learning the art of sushi back in October 2004 when my best friend E bought me my first sushi starter kit. I hasten to add I am self-taught but over the years I think I have honed my skills to a fair degree, often taking influence from the restaurants I have visited and takeaways I have ordered. I once said to Gerry, that I cannot even consider the idea that we might one day move somewhere there is no sushi takeaway facility available. My older sister T told me I was a complete numpty. Fair point.
Despite throwing a fair few sushi dinner parties over the years I find myself strangely nervous about tonights and I'm not altogether sure why.  I think it's because I've not prepared sushi for a number of months.  It took a little back seat while I dieted 3 stone of unnecessary weight away.  Ironic really since, in moderation, it is considered one of the healthiest cuisines available. 

Anyway, I'm all prepared having visited one of my favourite places, the Japan Centre, early this morning with Gerry. We were only the second people in so the aisles were all nice and quiet. Now I have the sushi-grade salmon and tuna - cut for me by a lovely elderly Japanese sushi chef, Japanese aubergines so I can create Nasu Dengaku, assorted vegetables for the tempura, eggs for the Tamagoyaki and of course crabsticks for Gerry's California rolls - her favourite. All this and much more, so I'm confident in my menu.
Yet I'm worried. I think its the rice issue. Get this right and I'm on the home straight, however, it can be easy to get wrong.  Too much water and it is a soggy nightmare, too little water and the rice won't be cooked through. I've done it well over a hundred times by now but I still get anxious. Maybe I should just buy a rice cooker. Apparently most Japanese households own one so why should I be any different?
 
Right, on with the making. Fingers crossed, deep breath and wish me luck!

Roll in Progress

Just Awaiting the guests

The finished result is below.  Served with warmed Sake courtesy of Gerry. It was delicious and certainly seemed to go down well with everyone. Success!

Sushi Spread - Clockwise from TR: Tuna & Salmon Hosomaki, Tuna & Avocado Uramaki, King Prawn Tempura Uramaki, Nasu Dengaku, Chicken Katsu Uramaki, Tamagoyaki, California Roll with Wasabi Tobiko, Salmon & Avocado Uramaki, Tuna & Spring Onion Gunkan, Prawn Tempura, and finally Chicken Katsu