Kyo imo

This potato is my new favorite vegetable. It is called "kyo imo" in Japanese. I think it is type of taro.
I usually steam then bake the potato with olive oil. I like bacon and spinach saute or mushrooms saute on the baked potatoes.
The potato is really good for potage soup too. The potato gives the soup a rich, creamy taste and a thick texture even though no fat is added to the soup.

At home

I basically like to stay at home. I am happy if I don't have any plans on the weekend. I bake, read books with some tea or coffee, organize my recipes, write blog entries and watch movies after dinner. Time goes by so fast.

Stained Glass Quilts

I went to a small craft exhibition the other day. They displayed some calligraphy, knitting and quilts. I saw some interesting quilts called stained glass quilts.
This one remains me of some Canadian Indian artwork that I like.
For me, these stained glass quilts are the most interesting that I have ever seen.

Amazake

Recently I received some sake lees, which is what is left after the sake has been pressed out of the mash. It is called "sake kasu" in Japanese. Sake kasu is used in cooking in many ways.
I tried using it in an easy recipe today. I cooked sake kasu with water and sugar. After, I dropped grated ginger on the top. This sweet drink is called "amazake" in Japanese. At new year's time warm amazake is served when you visit temples and shrines and it warms you up.

Parking Lot Cat

I sometimes see this cat where I park my car at work. She is friendly and doesn't mind people petting her. I like the cat because she is calm and she isn't afraid of people or cars too much. She is a cool cat.

Garage

My car was making a strange sound on Thursday night. Andrew and I went to a garage close by our house the next morning. I explained the problem to a mechanic and he checked my car. He found that the spark plugs had died.
While we were waiting in the lounge, we enjoyed some tea.
There is a big window in the lounge. You can see what is going on in the garage. There were some cars waiting to be fixed.After my car had three spark plugs changed, everything was alright. Andrew commented that he never expected such a clean garage like this one. Even the bathroom is beautiful and has a nice natural wooden smell there. I would like to come back the garage again.

Caramel Coffee Muffins

I sometimes like to experiment when I bake. These experiments fail most of the time. I can't stop trying because it is fun, even though I have to eat strange cakes sometimes! Today, I baked banana muffins but I didn't add bananas. Instead of the bananas, I added brew coffee. On the top of the muffin batter I poured caramel cream. I tried one after it had baked. It didn't have any coffee taste but it wasn't so bad.

Lemon Pasta with cauliflower

I made some lemon butter sauce for pasta. I like using lemons for my cooking and baking. I also made steamed cauliflower. I tossed the cauliflower with a mixture of Dijon mustard, olive oil, vinegar, and sugar.

Gyoza

I like boiled or steamed gyoza (dumplings). When I cook them, I make the shells with flour, salt and hot water. I buy the shells when I cook baked gyoza though. I filled them with ground pork, cabbage, garlic, ginger and some seasoning mixture in the shell. Then I pinch the edges with water to seal them.
I cooked the gyoza in hot water. After the water had evaporated, I added a little oil.
They were brown and crunchy. These fried gyoza are one of the most popular types of dumplings in Japan.

Kit Kat

I bought three kinds of Kit Kat recently:
Milk coffee:
Royal milk tea:
And sparkling strawberry:
These are the new Kit Kats this season.

Calamel Cheesecake

I baked a cheesecake without lemon. Instead, I made caramel cream and spread on the cake. The caramel cream wasn't burned this time. It had a good bittersweet taste.

Hoshi imo

I wonder if you can recognize what these are:
They are slices of sweet potato that have been dried. My neighbor steamed and dried some sweet potatoes during the winter. They are called "Hoshi imo". I can't stop eating these soft and chewy nutritious snacks.

A neighbour's funeral

I helped at a funeral at my neighbours' house yesterday. If you live in the countryside, funerals are fancy and take a long time. I had to take a day off from work and take care of many guests and the 6 monks at their house. After that I went to a crematorium to help serve the family. Actually it was a good chance to talk to all of my neighbours and help with the ceremony. I think this is why people in the countryside have a strong connection with each other. The picture below is a small gift from the family.

Robin's Raspberry Jam

I appreciate homemade food very much. When Andrew and I visited Robin's house she gave us some of her raspberry jam that she won a prize for last summer. The jam is so good. What's funny was Andrew didn't notice it was raspberry. He thought it was strawberry after he had it two times!

Healthy sweets

My motto is dessert should be sweet and rich. I usually try not to reduce the fat or sugar from my baking. In the recipe book below, all of the recipes are non-dairy and they only use a little sugar. I heard the book is popular now. I was interested in it, that's why I baked some cookies that can be seen on its cover. The ingredients are wheat flour, salt, a little canola oil and maple syrup. They looked pretty but the taste was not for me. I think I will go back to my motto.

Lunch Box

Andrew brings lunch to work. Most of the time this lunch is sandwiches, fruit, a little chocolate and something I bake the day before such as cakes, muffins or cookies.
For sandwiches, we set a timer on our bread machine at night and fresh bread is ready the next morning. I can make sandwiches with fresh bread. The bread machine is a good, small size for two people. I like that we can finish the bread while it is still fresh.

Welcome to having food dreams

I enjoy eating food in my dreams too. I usually have the taste of food in my mouth when I wake up from my food dreams. But Andrew doesn't have these kinds of dreams. He finally ate "Blueberry Cheese Cake" in his dream last week. (That's why I baked it another day) It was his first time. I am happy for him.
The picture below is of brownies. I put marshmallows on the batter and baked it.

Small habit

I have a small habit in the morning during the winter. I look for something that you can see only on cold days.
Here is a close-up photo in the same direction as the first. When the sky is clear in the winter, I can see Mt. Fuji clearly from my house. I feel little happier when I can see the mountain.

Happy belated Birthday!

Andrew's birthday was January 4th. We couldn't celebrate his birthday because we were on a plane returning from Canada. I decided to surprise him 10 days later after his birthday. I baked a cake one day before and hid it with a present in our house. I put candles on the small cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.

I know he likes lemon cake. I chose to make a lemon blueberry cheesecake. First of all, I pressed cookies crumbs into the bottom of my tin and baked it.

I prepared lemon peel and juice using a new grater I bought in Canada. This tool is a star in my kitchen. I can grate much more lemon peel with the grater than my old one.
I mixed cream cheese, an egg, sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel together.

And I poured blueberries over the cream cheese mixture.

After I baked it, I hid the cheesecake in a secret place.

I liked the cake because it had a good lemon taste. The birthday boy liked it too. He liked the bottom crust a lot.

Flakes of Snow

I've seen snow few times in the area where I live. Snow never accumulates on the ground though. You can see some small flakes in the movie I took this morning, but it was only a light flurry. You need to look very carefully to see the snow.

Oranges

On the way back home from work, I found oranges were on sale near my house.
In the area where I live, many neighbors grow oranges. Some people sell oranges by their yards. They pack the oranges in plastic nets, write a price on a board and leave a box for money. I like that they let us buy oranges this way. I see this system used for selling vegetables and fruit when I go out of the city.
Anyways, I was happy to find these oranges today because they each ripen in different seasons and I was waiting for them. One type are navel oranges and the other type are ponkan oranges. I bought one of each bag.

Christmas vacation in Canada

Today is first Sunday since I came back from Canada. I haven't organized the stuff I got in Canada. Instead, I am relaxing and enjoying doing nothing at home. I had a really great winter vacation in Canada with my husband's family. I was very happy to see them and to meet my little nephew for the first time. I had a chance to see many of his parents' friends at their 40th wedding anniversary party. They were all nice to me and I was surprised they went overseas lots of times and knew details of Japan. I enjoyed talking with all of them. One of my favorite things is visiting supermarkets. I know I can never be satisfied with how many times I visit them, but I could go to many stores during this visit. On a trip to Toronto this time, my husband showed me where he used to live and work, as well as his favorite shops. I got many Christmas presents including cooking tools, cooking books, a DVD and more. I wish I could have stayed there a little longer but I am glad we had an enjoyable trip to Canada.

Ayako's new and improved blog

Dear my friends, family visitors to my blog.
It has been one year since I started this food blog. I have decided to write my blog in English in 2010. At the same time, I will also start to write about my daily life and my thoughts. I think it is good for my family and friends overseas, especially for my best friend in France, who reads my blog in English using translation software. (I love you Luz!). Also I hope it is good way for me to practice writing English. I will have to ask for some help from my husband, Andrew, at beginning to correct my grammar mistakes, but I hope I will keep improving and won't need his help someday.