Fried Chingensai (Pok choy) & poak.
Adding starch to chicken soup which makes it melty.

I like sliced poak back ribs so much.
It adds good broth, also soft and tasty.

However, I added too much salt a bit this time.

I do check the taste but always feel short on the taste so add seasoning.
Then it makes dish strong.

I don't know why but I repeat this mistake.
I don't learn.

It's wonder.

Hope I can learn it as soon as possible because it's obviousely bad for health!

UTSUWA － 器

As I mentioned before, I bought dishes recently and it was the first time to buy since I started to live by myself.
Until I bought dishes I used dishes and plates which I got as a wedding party gift or I used when I lived in Kyoto for University. However, as I cook I care more and more about how it look like and want more variation of dish. Specially, I wanted rice bowl because I used wooden soup bowl instead.




This rice bowl was made by Mr.Tsuneo Narui which I found at shop named QUICO in Omotesando.
It seemed better to call it Donburi not a rice bowl, but liked its thickness for some reason then bought 2 of them. All products were look same but different in size or shape so I chose most different 2.


Also I bought a bowl for tea ceremony.
I thought it might be impolite to use this for rice as daily meal but it was too nice to give up and I couldn't stop buying.




I use this tea bowl not only for rice but boiled food, fruit yogurt or salad.

These bowls gain my appetite even if I don't cook tasty. ;-P

Daikon & Chicken

I haven't cooked very much when I lived with my parents.
However, "Mom's taste" is in my blood and I cook what I ate in my home.
It seems to happen automatically.

Daikon (Japanese radish) and chicken is the best possible combination.

Sugar, soy sourse, sake, fish soup and sometimes Mirin (sweet cooking rice wine).
I learned that these are also the best possible combination when I started to live by myself and cook.

Nikujaga, Buri daikon, Kinpira.
It can useful for many receip, and the taste will be different if I change each portion.


Anyway, it seems I like to flavovre bit sweeter.

Sweets

DSC04047
Originally uploaded by Ocha6

Just boiled apple and sweet potato with little water and sugar.
Oh, and lemon juice.

I thought I failed to cook this but actually it taste good. Maybe it would be good with vanilla icecream.


My problem these days is I eat too much.

I try not to buy junk food or snacks for my health and cook by myself as much as possible.
However, I found fun in cooking and it doesn't annoy me anymore.
I can cook if I want to eat even it is middle of night....

Good news is I've already had yearly health check 2 weeks ago.

Wooden plate

DSC04021
Originally uploaded by Ocha6

I used wooden plate which my friend gave me.
It's good to put several meals in small portion.
Imaging how the plate would change as it's used is also fun!



友人がくれた木のお皿を使ってみた。
いろんな種類を少しずつ乗せるのにちょうど良い感じ。
使い込んだらどんな風に変わっていくのかも楽しみ！

Arrange on dish

DSC04017
Originally uploaded by Ocha6

My mother always complained to my arrangement on dish.

" Why did you choose this plate for this side dish !?"
" It doesn't look nice."


But I didn't care because I didn't chose plate for coordinate with food.
I chose plate just for size of food and access to take it out from cupboard.




However since I moved out my home and lived by myself, I have kept cooking .
As I used to cooking, I started caring about its appearance.


Visual effect was bigger than I have thought.
Now I understood what my Mom said.


New bowl and plate makes food look nice.
Red pickles improves appetite.



My next task is to develop a sense because I felt green plate is not suit this meal.
Even more, I'm wondering why I bought this plate....


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DSC04019
Originally uploaded by Ocha6

いつも母に言われていたことがある。

「なんでこのお皿選ぶの！？」
「おいしそうに見えないでしょ」


料理に合わせたサイズと食器棚からの取り出しやすさが重要であり、見た目なんかどうでも良かったので、そんなことを言われても一向に気にしていませんでした。


が、しかし。実家を出て一人暮らしを始めてから料理を続けているんだけど、慣れるに従って見た目も気になるようになってきた。


思っていた以上に見た目はおいしさに影響する。
母正解。


新しく買ったお皿とお椀は料理をおいしそうに見せるし、赤い漬物は食欲をわかせる。



しかしもうちょっとセンスを磨かないとダメだね。
みどりのお皿はなんとなく合ってない気がするし、その前に、なんでこのお皿を買ったんだろうという疑問が生じてきた・・・。

Fish and dish !!

DSC04014
Originally uploaded by Ocha6

You don't know how I was happy when I prepared this meal.
There are 2 point I was excited.


1) I got fish grille and this aji no himono, dried aji fish, is the first cook with this grille.　So gooood.


2) I bought bowls and plates.
if you see my previous photos, you can see which is the new comer.

This photo shows only 2 new dishes, but I bought another bowl and got wooden plates from my friend.


The bowl is bit too big for rice, but I'm satisfied with both dish and fish grille.


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パッと見ふつうのメニューですが、私にとってはかなりうきうきな夕食でした。

1)　魚焼きグリルをゲット。このアジの干物が初調理。
　　サイコー。

2)　お椀と小皿を購入しました。
　　過去の写真を見ればどれが新しく買ったやつかは一目瞭然です。

　これ以外にも、もうひとつお椀を買って、友人から木のお皿ももらいました。



お椀がご飯茶碗にしては大きすぎなことを除けば、かなり満足。




仕事の英訳もこんな調子だから伝達ミスが多いです。
ごめんなさい。