Waiting for nori.... shopping fabric!

...from a very nice friend in Japan!
I haven´t been cooking much japanese food this autumn I´m afraid, but I hope to get back in the swing of things very soon!

My only purchase in the japanese stuff department has been some stationary and very nice fabric for my daughters room from
www.superbuzzy.com. Comes highly recommended, but you will shop too much!
Pictures of my 3,5 yards of medium japanese fabric from November Books coming soon.....
...and later the final result when fabric has been made into pillow and curtains for my daughters room-makeover.

Kimono day!

Sunday is kimono day in our house.... or, to be correct; yukata for me. Sadly I didn´t get a real kimono for myself in Japan... but next time I will! My daughter is just beginning to fit into hers. She looks fantastic! Never mind my bad sash knitting skills, at least I managed some kind of bow.

J has a pink child cotton kimono with sakura and chrysanthemum flowers.

I´m wearing my Hasseludden (www.yasuragi.se) yukata.

Sake

I was lucky to get hold of this bottle... Kikusakari, Kioke shikomi, Junmai Daiginjo quality. Happy times! It´s not often one can get hold of Japanese sake of good quality here. I´m also waiting for the first Norwegian sake to reach the stores, it´s under production in the south of Norway.

Shiso

Just a few pictures of this years shiso.

Spring!

Spring has been generous to my garden... I have daikon and shiso growing and will plant japanese cucumbers soon. Pictures coming!

One rose died this winter, but the replacement is now in its box and slowly growing. The surviving rose looks good too!

Inari with shiitake

Today´s Sunday treat: Inari with shiitake mushrooms and rice.

I cheated and bought ready-made inari this time.... I usually make them myself from abura-age, but the inari no-moto is so handy when you have no time for that... I managed to get some without msg, so I´m happy!

Today I used:
2,5 cups of rice: white and brown mixed
3 large, dried shiitake´s, left for 30 minutes in warm water to soften
1/2 carrot, diced
Sesame seeds, black and white mixed
Mix of mirin, soya, dashi, salt and sugar

Rice is boiled, and while this happens I cut the shiitake and carrot into strips and boil them in a mix of mirin, soya, dashi, salt and sugar.
The boiled rice is mixed with this + sesame seeds and filled into the inari.

We eat the inari with soy sauce and ginger. Yum!

Surfaced

... the shiso has finally surfaced.
I think my first seeds were planted a bit too deep, about 1.5 cm, so a few days after the first sowing, I decided to plant a few more seeds, this time just under the surface.
This has done the trick, and now I have about 10 little shiso plants on their way.
Today they´re going into larger pots.

This is the same shiso seeds I´ve been using since I got them from Japan 2 years ago,
so they keep well.

Pictures coming! Have to locate the camera....

It's that time of year again...

...planting season!

Snow is still heavy and deep on the ground.
But spring has arrived with sunny and longer days.
Little Shiso seeds will soon be planted, this year in a brand new mini greenhouse on my kitchen bench.
Stay tuned!

Daughters bento

My daughter gets her bento too! Now in a spanking new Totoro box with egg made in Hello Kitty eggshaper and Hello Kitty small bottle with drinking yoghurt! Sandwich flowers and petals.

Okara - cereal

So, what to do with all that okara? I turned mine into delicious cereal and muffins (recipe later), and then I froze down some. You'll get a lot of okara, so it's a shame to throw it all away.

I mixed 3 cups of okara with:
1 cup of rolled/cooked oats
1/2 cup of raisins
1 cup of shredded coconut
1/2-1 cup of agave syrup
1/2 cup of coconut oil

Mix well and spread on a greased baking sheet, maximum 1 inch deep. Dry it in the oven on about 150 degrees for a couple of hours. Store in a container, in the frigde to keep it longer. Eat it with milk or youghurt as breakfast.