The Food

A chronicle of my cooking expeditions in Japan:

I hope to keep track of, and rate, any new dishes that I try in order to come up with a collection of our favorites.  I'll add more as I cook.

Chicken Chimichurri 

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

The chicken was topped with a chimichurri sauce made from parsley, lime juice, onion, garlic, cilantro, and olive oil.  It had a nice tangy flavor.

Skillet Zucchini

Rating: 4.5 stars

For some reason, slicing the zucchini into noodley threads made this even better than usual.  Just butter, olive oil, basil, oregano, and some salt and pepper.

Stuffed Chicken

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Budget Paleo" blog

The recipe called for stuffing the chicken with bacon and spinach, but since I had leftover pesto from the night before, I used pesto and bacon.  It was great!

Chicken Pesto

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

This homemade pesto on top of some chicken cooked in chicken broth with salt, pepper, rosemary, and lemon was quite tasty. 

Lemon Turnips

Rating: 4 stars

Before this, I had never cooked turnips before.  The recipe said to cook the turnips and turnip greens with onions, garlic, olive oil and then drizzle with lemon juice.  The texture actually reminded me of scalloped potatoes.  

Eggplant Stacks

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Everday Paleo" blog

This was a stack of eggplant, sausage patty, and an over easy egg drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It was a great breakfast but I think I'd rather not worry with making the sausage into a patty next time.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

This was great!  It had tomatoes, onions, garlic, coconut milk, and some spices.  I loved how filling it was.

Asian Chicken Soup

Rating: 4 stars

This reminded me of chicken noodle soup without the noodles.  Great for a colder night.  For the shredded chicken, I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and cooked it in chicken broth.  I think some hot sauce or green chilies could really kick this up a notch. 

Omurice

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Just One Cookbook" blog

I had this dish for the first time on one of our trips and decided to try to make it myself.  The omelette is filled with rice, chicken, peas, corn, onions, soy sauce, and ketchup.  Drew gave it 5 stars immediately  but I'm pretty sure he would give 5 stars to anything that had ketchup on it.

Toridango

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

Tori (chicken) dango (ball),  meaning chicken meatball soup.  This was actually great!  I used carrot, daikon, and cabbage rolls that I found in the grocery, plus the chicken meatballs I made.  It was more flavorful than I expected, and I really enjoyed the broth.

Miso Steak

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

The recipe called for using actual steaks, but I improvised by using beef slices and adding in cabbage.  The miso and butter made for a tasty, and super easy, meal.

Curried Meatballs

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

I tried another meatball dish, this time with a curry flavor.  My plan had been to serve it over zucchini noodles, but our grocery budget was getting a little tight by the end of the week and cabbage is a lot cheaper than zucchini in these parts.  It had a great flavor.  There were even apple chunks in the meatballs.

Paella

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Taste.com.au"

I have been so excited to try this ever since my mom sent me saffron.  Thanks again!  This had chicken, sausage, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions all cooked in a paprika and saffron broth.  It seemed kind of difficult to make but I think that was only because I didn't know how long it would take my Japanese rice to cook, so I was constantly checking the dish.  In the end the rice took close to an hour.  I added some peas at the end.  Delicious! 

Chicken Adobo

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

Drew was raving about this.  Probably because of all the fatty skin on the chicken.  It was a simple recipe using just onions, garlic, chicken broth, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and pepper.

Warm Salad

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

This had asparagus, mushrooms, and ham slices with a butter, olive oil,  and soy sauce topping.  I bet this would be awesome with bacon!

Crab

Rating: 5 stars

This was my first time cooking crab and it was much easier than I thought it would be.  Just boiled it about 6-7 minutes and served it with a slice of lemon.  Crab is way better than fish!

Jambalaya

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

The dish really didn't taste like Jambalaya and it was a bit bland.  The leftovers were actually better, so I bumped up my rating.  It needed sausage and some sort of tomato base.

Sweet Potato Hash

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

We had this for dinner one day and breakfast the next.  It is pork sausage, sweet potatoes, butter, and cinnamon.  For dinner we ate it alone, but for breakfast we topped it with an egg.  The egg totally took up a notch.

Best Burgers

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe partially from "Everyday Paleo" blog

I just ate two whole burgers.  I may regret it later but it was a wonderful experience while it lasted.  Even though I didn't bother with finding buns and cheese, these burgers were terrific!  I combined a few recipes I found online to get these.  The burger is mixed with onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.  On top of the burger is guacamole, then grated sweet potatoes fried in bacon grease, salt, and pepper, and finally bacon.  All of this was wrapped up in a lettuce leaf.  By far better than most burgers I've eaten that did have a bun and cheese.  Now that's saying a lot.

Salmon Cakes

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "Food Babe" blog

Drew would probably give this 4 stars, but due to the amount of work to make these it just barely isn't worth it for me.  It still tastes too much like regular salmon for me to bother putting it in a food processor with a bunch of other stuff.  We ate the leftovers with guacamole which turned out to be a good idea.

Quick Curry Soup

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

This dish actually tasted better to me the second day.  Sometimes I think I get tired of the smell of what I'm cooking and lose my appetite by the time I get to eat it.  It has zucchini, ground beef, onion, garlic, curry powder, several other spices, and a coconut milk base.  Thanks to the coconut milk it was very filling.

Mexican Meatballs

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Everday Paleo" blog

This was my first shot at making meatballs and we very much enjoyed them.  I served them over zucchini noodles.  The recipe says to bake the meatballs but I browned them in a skillet and then let them cook in the sauce.  I'll have to use the sauce recipe again for other dishes.

Bratwursts with Sauerkraut

Rating: 4 stars

I was a little nervous about this because I've only ever had sauerkraut while in Germany and I wasn't sure what the kind from a jar would taste like.  I also hadn't tried any of the Japanese bratwursts.  Even so, it turned out just fine and we ate it all.  It's always nice to have new ingredient options.

Persimmon Chicken

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

Just a couple months ago I had a persimmon for the first time here in Japan, so when I saw this recipe I had to try it out.  The chicken was cooked with the persimmons, garlic, onion, and chicken broth.  It had a good flavor and was nice and juicy.

Sweet Potato Latkes

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

What a great new breakfast option.  These are made from grated sweet potatoes, eggs, onion, and some cinnamon.  I loved them and ate them with an egg over top (see right).  When I grated the sweet potato in my food processor it kind of turned into mush, but it still tasted great anyways.  

Bulgogi

Rating: 3 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

Drew would probably rank this a 4 but I wasn't a big fan.  It contained beef, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, green pepper, onion, and the seasonings.  The beef was overly sweet even though I didn't use as much sugar as it called for.  It's possible I would like it better with pork as I'm finding that I never enjoy the beef recipes as much as I enjoy the pork recipes that I make.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Marthstewart.com"

This was another great way to have Brussels sprouts.  A little butter, olive oil, and lemon.  The lemon flavor can't beat bacon however.

Sausage and Cabbage Noodles

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

This had tons of flavor and was great if you don't mind a little grease.  Next time I don't think I'll even add the butter if the pork produces as much fat as it did this time.  I didn't have any Italian sausage so I bought ground pork and doctored it up with spices.  The cabbage and onions soaked up all the grease and butter to make it super tasty.  We enjoyed the green beans too.  I boiled those and added olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Dijon Vinaigrette

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Recipe Girl" blog

This dressing consisted of vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  Not too bad for a tangy vinaigrette. 

Ma-bou Dofu

Rating: 4 stars

From a box

I almost didn't put this one up because Drew's boss gave us a box kit to make this so it seemed like cheating.  All I had to do was cook the rice, buy the tofu, and throw in the sauce packets.  I have found a homemade recipe online, so maybe I will try that one day.  I was definitely surprised that I liked this because tofu is not something I ever seek out.  This dish is a little spicy which I always love.

Mexican Mole

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Everyday Paleo" blog

I had never had this before but I'm sure glad I tried it.  The sauce was fantastic.  I'll admit I was a little unsure when it called for orange juice and cocoa powder.  Even without the nutmeg, cloves, and saffrin it was full of flavor (Note: I used two squares of super dark chocolate instead of the powder). The avocado and lime juice was a great compliment.  I also served this with shredded cabbage.  Totally recommend this recipe if you like Mexican food.

Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from foodnetwork.com

I loved this and I really do like Brussels sprouts.  I was excited to see some in the grocery store today.  Just some garlic, onion, bacon, salt and pepper.  It was good enough for seconds.

Garlic Beef Rice

Rating: 4 stars

This was a filling and rich meal.  It is beef with onions, garlic, and an egg and rice mixture.  I would definitely have it again in the winter.  It didn't need any extra salt since it has soy sauce and it probably could use a little less butter.  Very quick to make.

Soba (Hot)

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

I've made the cold soba recipe before but I hadn't made the hot soba.  This is good for a lunch.  Not a whole lot going on here.  Just noodles, green onions, and the broth.

Zucchini Spaghetti 

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Kalyn's Kitchen" blog

This dish was a pleasant surprise.  Rather than using noodles, zucchini strands are used as the pasta.  Sometimes that kind of substitution is disappointing, but this is actually good!  I used ground pork instead of Italian sausage, cumin instead of fennel, and skipped out on adding the extra water.  I had to put in some extra seasonings (i.e. cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic powder) since I didn't use sausage.  Drew even gave it a thumbs up.

Apple Walnut Salad

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "The Fit Cook" blog

Hooray!  This is a good one.  Lettuce, apples, walnuts, and raisins with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and honey dressing.

Hummus Crusted Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon

Rating: 4 stars

This was very flavorful.  I think it would be even better in a real oven.  The hummus didn't get crusty in my toaster oven.  I cooked it for about 12 minutes.

Lime Hummus

Rating: 4 stars

This hummus seems like it would be really good on pita chips, if only I had some.  It also says to top with banana peppers.  I'll have to try this one again at home.  The only change I would make is not to add as much water as the recipe calls for.  I've tried this in one chicken dish so far and it was great.

Spicy Cod Recipe

Rating: 3.5 stars

I baked this cod in foil with lemon juice, butter, and several herbs/spices.  Drew and I agreed that it wasn't too bad.

Lemon Green Bean

Rating: 4  stars

Recipe from "MarthaStewart.com"

Heated up some green beans and added lemon juice and olive oil.  Nice and fresh.

Pork Miso Soup

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

This soup warmed me right up.  It has carrots, daikon, sweet potato, green onions, and pork and is flavored with soy sauce, sake, miso, dashi, and sesame oil.  Guess I should experiment with some non-soup items before Drew complains...

Spicy Tomato and Kale Soup

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Food Babe" blog

I had to replace the kale with spinach and I didn't have all the spices, but it still turned out well.  I didn't add any of the water and I think next time I should add less of the broth too.  Drew and I tend to like thicker soups so we preferred the first tomato soup that I made.  However, this soup sneaks in carrots and spinach giving it a completely different flavor and more veggies to boot.

Green Pepper with Soba Noodles

Rating: 3.5 stars

We ate this up for lunch before I thought to take a picture.  It is very simple with just soba noodles and green peppers topped with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Quick and easy lunch.

Black Bean Butternut Soup

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Sprouted Kitchen" blog

Giving a shout out to my food processor once again!  It has provided me with another vegetarian meal success.  I haven't been able to find butternut squash, so I had to use sweet potatoes instead.  The color is kind of strange due to the sweet potato, bean, cabbage combo, but the flavor was fantastic.  This is spiced up with onions, garlic, cumin, and chili pepper.  Drew actually had three servings and told me to save the recipe.

Chicken Doner Kebab

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Food.com"

This does not taste anything like a doner kebab, but that happens to be the name.  I had to modify the recipe a bit because I didn't buy any pitas or tortillas.  Instead, I boiled some cabbage to make wraps.  I also boiled  chopped cucumbers and sliced carrots just to warm them up.  The marinade on the chicken, which I cooked in the fish oven, was great.  The sauce was supposed to be equal parts yogurt and hummus, but I found that I liked the hummus texture better.  I heated it up in a pan and added a nice helping on top.  I sent the chicken and hummus on top of a salad with Drew for his out-of-town meal.  I think it's official.  The original hummus recipe is perfect with chicken.  I also found that just eating it with cucumbers was pleasant.

Hummus and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Food.com"

Now that I have some homemade hummus, I had to try a recipe with it.  I tenderized the chicken until it was thin, sprinkled with a poultry seasoning I made, added spinach and hummus on top, then rolled it up.  It was cooked in a skillet with orange juice and chicken broth.  My only change would be to add a nice extra dollop of hummus on top of the chicken while in the skillet to allow it to warm up a bit.  The hummus tasted great in this recipe.

Homemade Tomato Soup

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Heavenly Homemakers" blog

 Loving my food processor!  This time I tried tomato soup.  I only made a half of the recipe and I added in 2 Tbsp. basil, 3 garlic cloves, and a little more onion.  I also only cooked it for 1 hour because it looked like it was about to disappear.  After blending, I poured in some milk because we happened to have milk leftover from another dish and tomato soup is always good with some milk.  This should make a great lunch on a cold day.

Raw Kale Salad

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Green plate rule" blog

Okay, so I can't find kale here and had to just substitute in lettuce greens instead.  However, I was able to make the lemon dressing and roasted almonds to go on top.  This may be the best dressing I've made myself.  I'll have to see by the end of the week if I am still enjoying it.  

Original Hummus

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "100 days of real food" blog

I finally was able to make homemade hummus.  I am on a quest to find a fantastic hummus recipe.  This one was very basic.  The only extra I added was 1/2 tsp. of cumin and a sprinkle of paprika.  Not too bad.  I have a bunch of hummus recipes bookmarked, so I plan to make more complicated flavors next time.  I'm worried it will never be spot on because I can't find tahini here.  Instead, I use a sesame paste which is made from roasted sesame seeds.  Tahini is made from raw sesame seeds, so that might be throwing off the flavor.  We shall see.

Miso Butter Udon

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

This new udon recipe was a success.  It has pork, miso, butter, soy sauce, sake, chicken broth, green onions, and garlic.  Turned out to be a very rich soup which will be good for winter.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Rating: 4.5 stars

Yup, I finally got a food processor.  Today I threw in some peanuts, went to town on them, and out came peanut butter.  It was thicker than what you normally get in a tub but it tasted great.  Next time I'll try processing even longer to see if it gets creamier.

Veggie Stuffed Peppers

Rating: 4.5 stars

Along with trying to cook one fish (or seafood) meal each week, I'm also trying to cook one vegetarian meal each week.  Maybe this is why Drew has lost 9 lbs. since we've been here....oops.  I tried out stuffed peppers with a different variation from the beef stuffed peppers I've cooked before.  I cooked one eggplant in a skillet and added a can of beans, leftover rice, a handful of spinach, garlic, and some tomato sauce.  Since I didn't have any salsa I found a taco seasoning recipe and added about a Tbsp. of that and a couple splashes of hot sauce.  Right before it looked ready, I added one chopped up avocado and served with a slice of lime.  It may not have been as good as the peppers with beef and cheese, but it wasn't noticeable enough for me to care.  Yay for saving money and eating veggies! 

Moroccan Fish with Mango and Rice

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "100 days of real food" blog

The rub on the fish was excellent.  Probably because cumin was involved.  I honestly don't think I even needed to spice up the rice.  Next time I'll just fix normal rice and serve with a slice of lime.  And let's be honest, this whole cooked spinach thing is not working out.  Drew makes a face when he eats it and I couldn't finish mine.  Spinach in a salad, fine.  Spinach on a pizza or in an omelette, fine.  A big pile of cooked spinach, not happening!

Barbecue Eggplant

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "The Japanese Vegetarian Kitchen" blog

I've become a little obsessed with eggplant.  The best sushi I've found is eggplant and I tried an eggplant dish at the izakaya we frequent and loved it!  I'm trying to find some recipes that I can make myself with this new found food.  This eggplant was cooked in the skillet with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and mirin.  Not as good as the dish I ordered, but I'm not a chef, so what are you going to do?

Chicken Soba

Rating: 3 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

This soba dish was just a little bland.  The vegetables needed a bit more seasoning.  In the future when I want soba I should use the mixed vegetables recipe that I usually use for udon.

Curry Grilled Chicken Skewers

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from Cooks.com

Using my new bottle of curry powder I made these chicken skewers.  The marinade also included garlic, thyme, parsley, paprika, cumin, olive oil and lemon juice.  It had just the right intensity.

Asparagus Saute

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

Just a little olive oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds.  We were surprised by how much we enjoyed this.

Mexican Casserole

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Food Babe" blog

Love Mexican food!  Since I don't have an oven, I made this all on the stove and turned it into more of a lettuce wrap deal.  This had zucchini, green peppers, jalapenos, and beans with lots of yummy cumin and chili powder.  I made my own enchilada sauce, since I couldn't find any in a store, and it turned out just fine.  Side of lime, rice, homemade guacamole, and a sprinkle of cheese to finish it out.  I'm assuming Drew will skip the lettuce wrap and just mix it all together. 

Miso Egg and Spinach Salad

Rating: 3 stars

I love eggs, especially with a runny yolk.  The miso and the soy sauce in this overpowered the taste of the egg.  Next time I'll just use a tsp. of olive oil in the spinach and pepper on the eggs.  Great way to get me to eat a salad at breakfast.

Quick-Simmered Fish with Sake and Ginger

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

The fish was fine but I thought the peppers and broccoli that were cooked with the fish tasted even better.  Maybe I'll use the sake/ginger sauce just for vegetables in the future.

Cucumber Salad

Rating: 2 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

This ended up tasting not that much better than just plain raw cucumbers.  It was marinated in a soy sauce, sake, and chili oil sauce.

Pork and Vegetable Soup

Rating: 4.5

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

I enjoyed this soup, which is great because it makes good use of any leftover veggies.  It had pork, carrots, daikon, cabbage, potatoes, shirataki noodles, and green onion.  The broth was dashi and miso.  Much more flavorful than I first expected.

Soba Salad

Rating: 1.5 star

Drew liked this fine but it was way too sweet for me.  It consists of soba noodles, mango, red pepper, basil, and peanuts.  The dressing had a base of lime juice, vinegar, honey and a few other items.  The combination of the mango and the honey was too much.

Lime and Bean Salad

Rating: 4 stars

Experimenting with some new salads again.  This one had spinach with leaf lettuce, corn, peas, avocado and beans drizzled with lime juice.  It might be a little plain for most, but it grew on me and is very refreshing.

Tacos

Rating: 5 stars

So simple, but so wonderful.  I'm just really excited that I was able to find everything needed to make these. There is a taco kit at the international grocery store that has the shells, seasonings, and salsa.  I had leftover cheese from my stuffed peppers and lettuce from my salad.  To finish it off I made guacamole.  I'm in heaven!

Ginger Garlic Salmon

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Food Babe" blog

It looks a little burnt but luckily it didn't taste it and the inside was perfect.  Next time I'll cook it all the way on low for 10 min. in the fish oven.  This had a garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and honey marinade.  It's my first fish dish to make it to 4 stars.  I'm actually much better at cooking fish here in the fish oven than I ever was back home.

Mixed Rice with Shrimp and Vegetables

Rating: 3 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

A bunch of new stuff happening here.  I used brown rice and lotus root for the first time in this stir fry.  Carrots, mushrooms , and shrimp also make an appearance.  The brown rice actually seemed to turn out okay.  I soaked it overnight, brought to a boil, cooked on low for 30 minutes, and let steam off heat for 20 minutes.  The rice was then cooked further with the veggies in a skillet.  The lotus root was nice and crunchy and seemed to pick up the flavor of the dish.  Note to self: For brown rice in the future I should probably add around 5 or 6 more tablespoons of water and cook on low for an extra 10 minutes if I'm not planning to cook it any further.  

Sesame Dressing

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "Food Babe" blog

I've been complaining about not having a food processor but I finally found a sesame dressing recipe that I can just stir together.  I tried it on lettuce with cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, and apples.  The dressing has sesame paste (similar to tahini), rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, salt, pepper, and water.  The apples made it.

Stuffed Peppers

Rating: 5

Mixing it up.  I was able to find all the ingredients I needed for stuffed peppers.  I used ground beef, corn, kidney beans (international store), salsa (international store), and a tiny bit of cheese with a slice of lime.  They were spicy!  The cheapest salsa I can find only comes in hot so that's what we use.  The cheese is also a special treat.  I'm planning to make tacos with some of my leftovers.  

Chilled Soba Noodles

Rating: 3.5

Another cold dish.  You dip the soba noodles into the cold dipping sauce.  It is a little plain, but not bad.  I added some onion and sesame seeds on top of the noodles to help out.  Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and are actually better for you than wheat noodles so I'll definitely be trying more recipes with these.

Miso Yakitori

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Step-By-Step  Japanese Cooking"

This was fantastic, if I do say so myself.  I made yakitori a few weeks ago that had more of a ginger garlic sauce.  This one was a miso based sauce.  Wow!  The chicken was super juicy.  I've been buying the "momo" (chicken thigh)  at the grocery that comes already in pieces.  It took about 13-15 minutes on low in the fish oven and I basted it once before and once half way through the cooking time.

Spicy Cucumber Avocado Sushi

Rating: 4 stars

Although annoying to create, this was a good combination.  I ended up using 1/2 Tbsp. of Japanese mayo and 2 tsp. of chili garlic sauce to make the spicy sauce.  It still tasted a bit like mayo, so next time I can probably add another tsp. of chili garlic sauce.  The sesame seeds were also a nice touch.

Foil Baked Cod with Mushrooms

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

It's "Fish Thursday"our favorite...not.  So why a Fish Thursday?  That would be because Friday is trash day and I won't have fish scraps smelling up my kitchen all week.  Okay, this was the best fish so far.  The cod took about 12 minutes wrapped in foil in the toaster oven.  I need to remember next time that the cod comes pre-salted and either wash it off or don't put any extra salt on it.  Otherwise, I just added pepper and butter.  Only two tiny bones were found.  Now that is a success.

Pasta Salad

Rating: 5 stars

Aunt Evelyn's Recipe

I'm trying to mix it up a bit so that we don't get tired of Japanese food but it can be hard to find the ingredients needed for other cuisines.  If I'm able to find a good substitution I want to make a note.  This week I made pasta salad for Drew's cold lunch item.  The recipe called for vegetable oil and white vinegar, but all I had was olive oil and rice vinegar.  No problems there.  I found carrots, green peas (canned), bacon, ham slices, broccoli, and bowtie pasta (international store) to use in it.  Cheese is super expensive so I left that out.  We did need about 50% more of the dressing for it not to be dry.  Drew has requested, several times, that I make this again.

Sukiyaki Beef Udon

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

Sukiyaki is one of Drew's favorite Japanese dishes, but not having an electric skillet makes it hard to prepare.  The next best thing I found was this Sukiyaki Beef Udon recipe.  The beef is cooked in soy sauce, mirin, sake, and a nice helping of sugar.  It is then added to a bowl of Udon.

Gyuniku Teriyaki

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Step-by-step Japanese Cooking"

Drew and I each only got half a steak because meat here is very expensive.  Most of the steaks at the grocery store are $13 or so a piece.  This little guy was $5.  I'm not sure why and I don't want to know. This is teriyaki steak with beansprouts, cabbage, and green peppers.  Last time I made this I used the strips of meat which I actually think I like better.

Penne Rosa with Clams

Rating: 4.5 stars

Clam recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

The pasta was an Italian recipe with a tomato and yogurt sauce, but the steamed clams were from a Japanese cookbook.  The clams were steamed in sake for about 5 minutes.  Next time I need to make sure I use a lower heat and add extra sake because the shells started to burn.  I used some type of Japanese mushroom and leafy green.  It was the only item that looked similar to spinach in the grocery store.  We very much enjoyed it.

Tantanmen (Dan dan noodles)

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Japan Food Addict" blog

We discovered Tantanmen at a restaurant last week.  It was so fantastic that I decided I had to try to cook it myself so that I could have it all the time.  After a tedious process of finding all of the ingredients (English speaker looking for Chinese ingredients in a Japanese store), this dish was born.  It contains ramen noodles, pork, garlic, onion, and a bunch of this and that.  We decided it tastes very similar to the one we had at the restaurant.  Hooray!  Note to self: Add beans sprouts a few minutes before finished, double the rayu, and add a tsp. more of the doubanjiang.

Chilled Chinese Noodles

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

Another cold dish success!  I ended up using angel hair pasta because there were too many noodles in the grocery for me to find Chinese egg noodles.  It is topped with bean sprouts, cucumber, ham, egg, and a vinegar/sesame oil sauce.  Very refreshing.

Crunchy Daikon Salad

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

It's hard to tell, but this salad is matchstick daikon with crunchy bits of bacon in a lemony dressing.  It was very light and flavorful.  Drew was a fan just because it had bacon in it.  Finally a cold dish I will be making again.

Yakitori

Rating: 4.5 stars

Recipe from "Japanese Food Addict" blog

"Yaki" means cooked and "tori" means bird, thus Yakitori is chicken pieces grilled on a skewer.  I grilled these in the little fish oven with no problem.  It was quite enjoyable.  I only wish I had made more.  Note to self: It only took about 10-12 minutes on low in the fish oven.

Salt-Grilled Sanma with Lime

Rating: 3 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

The fish was perfectly fine in taste but the little bones drove me crazy.  If I do this again I have to use tweezers to pick out the bones beforehand.  I also can't get the fish smell out of our kitchen.

Egg Drop Soup

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Step-By-Step Japanese Cooking"

Eggs and snow peas in a dashi broth.  Note to self: next time make the dashi broth a little less concentrated and either cut the broth ratio down or add more eggs.  Otherwise, it was what you would expect.

Onigiri

Rating: 3 stars

The classic Japanese rice ball.  This was Drew's request for his out-of-town work days.  One of them is mixed with an egg flavored rice topping and the other is basted with miso.  The miso rice ball is actually what I was toasting when the remote control catastrophe occurred.  They are just a ball of rice to me.  Drew seems to like them just fine.

Gyudon

Rating: 4 stars

Recipe from "Japanese Family-Style Recipes"

Gyudon means "beef bowl".  This dish is beef served over rice with a sweet sauce ladled on top.  The meat always looks a little dull in the photographs but it actually had a really nice flavor.  The rice soaks up the sauce nicely.

Red & White Salad

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "Step-By-Step Japanese Cooking"

This carrot and daikon salad has a vinegar dressing, reminding me a bit of sauerkraut.  It is made to be eaten as a small side dish.  It was nice to have a couple bites of this with the mildly flavored Ginger Pork. Note to self:  It was better the second and third day after all of the flavors set.

Ginger Pork

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese cookbook"

Pork sauteed in fresh ginger, soy sauce, mirin, and dashi served on top of lightly heated cabbage.  I added a dollop of the red & white salad and a piece of a rice ball for accompaniment. 

Shrimp Tempura Udon

Rating: 5 stars

This is the same dish as the Udon with Mixed Vegetables below, except it has one shrimp tempura added.  Again, Udon is a staple.  Quick and easy.

Yakisoba

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Japanese Family-Style Recipes"

This is my all time favorite Japanese dish.  I've been waiting two years to have this again.  The sauce that I can find in the States is just not the same as what they have here.  Pork, veggies, noodles, and that fantastic sauce!

Chilled Sesame Chicken

Rating: 3 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

For the days when Drew does not have a dinner break, I am experimenting with some cold dishes.  He will have access to a refrigerator but no microwave.  This was a cucumber, bean sprout, carrot, and chicken salad.  The dressing is supposed to be a sesame sauce.  However, since I do not have a food processor, I resorted to using a mortar and pestle.  Old school indeed.  That lasted about 5 minutes until I decided that a whole sesame seed can't taste that much different from a ground sesame seed.  Good enough for me.  

Yakiniku with Miso Soup

Rating: 3.5 stars

Recipe from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook"

This was a fairly simple meal.  Pork marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, onions, and sesame seeds on top of cabbage.  If you've ever been to a Japanese restaurant before you've probably had the miso soup with dinner.  This one contains seaweed and green onions.

Teriyaki Salmon and Ginger Eggplant

Rating: 3 stars

Today I finally tried out the little fish oven that Japanese apartments always have.  Last time we lived here I was never brave enough.  There is not a large oven option, only a little drawer beneath the stove top that is heated by a gas burner above.  Here I grilled some salmon marinated in Teriyaki sauce for about 10 minutes on medium heat.  It worked pretty well, but I've never been a big fan of fish when I cook it myself.  This was the first time I knowingly ate eggplant.  Drew's boss had some extra that he gave to us.  The texture actually reminded me of zucchini.  Not too bad.

Katsudon

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Step-By-Step Japanese Cooking"

I probably could eat this dish everyday.  It may look like a mess, but it is a delicious breaded pork cutlet (found pre-made at the grocery store) on top of rice with an egg broth mixture ladled on top.  Can't go wrong with these ingredients.  Another one of our favorites.  I'm staring out cooking the things that I already know are good to get me pumped up for experimentation in the future.

Udon with Mixed Vegetables

Rating: 5 stars

Recipe from "Japanese Family-Style Recipes"

This was one of our discoveries from the last time we lived in Japan.  However, this is the first time I followed the recipe exactly and actually used the fresh ginger.  I had no idea how strange ginger looks.  It's super tasty though.  Definitely a success.

Personal Rating System:
5 star: Could eat every week
4 star: Would like it again
3 star: Can take it or leave it
2 star: Not a keeper
1 star: Didn't even finish