Janpanese night

1-07-2016 Thu. cold, mist. 


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- steamed vegetable buns
AFTERNOON-TEATIME ---  tea
DINNER --- pressed sushi ( saba ) | sushi ( sweet shrimp, mackerel, eel )  | baked Japanese sweet potato fries | simmered Japanese pumpkin, grilled rice cake, snow peas, napa cabbage and taro toot in dashi broth | sauteed Chinese string beans with sausage | wine 

• got chance to use all the nice serving pieces. 

a feast of beautiful seasonal food

10-5-2015 Mon. mild, sunny.


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- vegetable soup 
AFTERNOON-TEATIME ---  ( with Sharon)  Baskin & Robbins ice cream 
DINNER --- homemade no-knead bread: toasted with sofrito, roasted red pepper, pickles and smoked mussels | burrata salad:  burrata, lightly pickled cucumber, cherry tomato | Japanese eggplant: fried and marinated with dashi and with shiso | chawanmushi:  steamed egg custard, fresh matsutake, chives and dashi | whole rock fish: fileted, lightly cured by white miso and broiled | delicata squash: stuffed with seasoned quinoa and baked | canele  | French little cookie 

 

•  the eggplant dish turned out very well,  texture silky, juicy, not mushy, flavor delicate, subtle. the slit cuts  helped shortening the deep-fry time ( about 1 minute at most).  dashi broth are made from good quality kelp and bonito. Japanese small eggplants are from local Japanese store, beautiful dark purple skin  and just the right size.
•  the whole rock fish is fileted at home,  marinated in whte-miso for 48 hours, which lightly cured and firmed fish flesh. it only takes 5 minutes to broil with skin side up. 
• chawanmushi with matsutake is truly a seasonal treat. 
• the tin sheet plate is from Tokyo, it can be rolled or bent into different shapes.

Wonton in dashi broth

11-05-2010 Fri. chilly, cloudy.


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- steamed vegetable buns
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- green tea
DINNER --- home-made wonton in dashi broth with spinach and egg

• so-called Shanghai big wonton is filled with minced scallion, shrimp and chicken. egg is cooked first like a thin pancake then cut into thin threads. dashi broth is prepared in the traditional way of using kombu ( dried kelp) and katsuo-bushi ( dried bonito flakes)