Category: Food

Naan… was ok?

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"Making Naan" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2000
 “Making Naan” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening my wife went to work before she could finish making naan for us, so I had to take over. Mariko prepared the dough for me in the bread maker, and when it was ready it was my chance to succeed or fail. 😝

When I took the dough out of the breadmaker, it was really sticky and got stuck on my hand. I was thinking that this cannot be right! Did I take it out too early? Was it supposed to rest for 15 minutes? Did I miss something on the bread machine since it is all in Japanese? The doubts were going through my head. 😱

But then I floured up my hands and sprinkled flour on the Silpat baking sheet, and things got easier. I divided the dough into six portions, then went to work forming the dough into flat shapes. While I was doing that, our cast-iron skillet was heating up on the stove and starting to smoke a bit – just about ready to cook!

The first naan I put on was a bit too thick and a little dough-ey, but it was still delicious. The other five naan got better (and thinner) the more practice I got so I was happy. When each one came off the pan, I spread a little butter on it and sprinkled some salt.

The real test came at dinner when the kids tasted it with their curry. And they thought the naan was good! Koa ate two of them and even designated a section of his plate exclusively for curry sauce for dipping the naan in. No rice or chicken allowed in that section. 😄

I think the naan experiment was a success.

———————-

Below is a photo of my hiragana practice sheet. As I mentioned earlier, I am studying Japanese again and part of that is to get used to writing hiragana and katakana.

I’m surprised (and happy) that my writing is getting better and better. I was an art major in college, so you’d think I would have some skills at this, but I have always been very poor at drawing. However, I am really pleased with how it is going so far. I actually had to ask my kids if they did that third line of “あ” because I thought there’s no way I did it!

I still have a long way to go, but I’m trying to make sure I keep a positive attitude and not get discouraged if I go too fast. I want to enjoy the experience! That means a not-so-aggressive timeline. ☺️

"ひらがな" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/16, 1/10 sec, ISO6400
 “ひらがな” Cedar Park, 2017

I hope you had a nice Wednesday.

またね！

バロン

Authentic Food

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"Breakfast Taco" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
 “Breakfast Taco” Austin, 2017

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

The other day I went with some workmates to a Japanese restaurant for lunch to celebrate a couple birthdays. It was a lot of fun and the food was yummy, but it got me thinking of how the food at the restaurant wasn’t really authentic Japanese food. But is that a good or a bad thing? I wonder…

I have a different perspective on Japanese food than I had 20 years ago. In 1996 I moved to Japan and live there for three years. I married my wife there (a native of Osaka), and I have been enjoying 20 years with her – an amazing cook and foodie/food blogger. So I’d say my experience with Japanese food is far more advanced than most Americans.

The food at the restaurant was delicious, but I still felt an internal conflict as to some of the dishes. For instance, instead of edamame, there was “spicy edamame” in which the edamame had a sweet/spicy sauce on them. It tasted ok, but it was strange… I mean edamame is edamame, and is traditionally eaten just salted or in something like a hijiki salad. Also, sushi with fruit on it is new to me. In short, this wasn’t authentic at all. (And I didn’t see any Asians behind the sushi counter, and no Japanese patrons)

Although I love authentic food and think that recipes developed over many (sometimes hundreds) of years have been tested by time, the newer dishes that are modified for the local palette can be wonderful too. They are both delicious!

Maybe I am getting hung up on the semantics of the word “authentic”. Perhaps “traditional” is a better way to denote the differences I am thinking about. I like that.

Traditional food is food that has remained popular and has withstood the test of time, using ingredients that are relatively unchanged.

The food at the restaurant we went to had some non-traditional dishes, some traditional dishes (I had the katsu-don, which was yummy), but in the end, what was important was that everyone enjoyed their meals. Food can be delicious and satisfying even if it’s not traditional. All different kinds of food can bring happiness and joy, right? Variety is the spice of life, as they say!

———————-

Today’s photo is of the breakfast taco I enjoyed at the Whole Foods Market. It’s very convenient to order because you use a touchscreen at the counter to “build your taco” using various ingredients. When your order is ready, you see your order # pop up on a large tv, or you can have a notification sent via txt to your phone.

My taco had scrambled egg, chorizo, black beans, and cilantro-lime rice, on corn tortillas. I also added more cilantro and jalapeños. I have no idea if this is traditional or not, but it sure was delicious!

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Under the Weather

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"Yummy Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
 “Yummy Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは！How’s it going?

I had a rough day today. It started out fine, but after I got to work, I started to feel ill – my whole body was achy and I felt the chills. 😩 So at around 10 AM I headed home to rest.

I mentioned in another post that I have trouble regulating my temperature, and today was no different. The chills had me shivering, and I tried to warm up by staying next to the space heater, but inside my body I was still cold. So… I made a bowl of instant ramen with egg and voila! I was warm again. 😌 It’s a little sad looking, this bowl of noodles, but it really made me feel better.

"Hot Ramen" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO6400
 “Hot Ramen” Cedar Park, 2017

After that, I was able to do a little work before I started feeling awful again, so I laid down and watched some TV for a bit. I promised my son to take him to see a gym he is interested in going to so I wanted to at least have enough energy to make it through that.

That evening outing to the gym actually felt pretty good, so when we returned home I was able to eat a delicious meal with my family, which is the photo at the top of the post.

And now I really need to sleep… hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.

Take care of yourselves!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

New Years Osechi Tradition

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"Osechi Ryori" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/60 sec, ISO4000
 “Osechi Ryori” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today we started off the new year in typical Japanese fashion – we feasted on Osechi 🍥 and drank saké 🍶 all day while watching Japanese new years specials on TV. 📺😆

Did you know that each different food in osechi-ryōri represents some kind of good fortune? I don’t know all of the meanings, but if you are curious, you can check out the Wikipedia osechi page. They list some of the most common foods.

Mariko prepares our osechi, and I look forward to eating it every year. It takes a couple days but it’s a worthwhile tradition. The food is delicious, beautiful, and it’s a great way to start the new year. 🎊

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto