Lioness in Japan

I’ve actually written a review on Da Isa, a great Napoli-inspired trattoria in Nakameguro, but I can’t resist putting up pictures of a recent lunch here.

Today’s food pictures have little to do with eating for today’s post though.

I’m not sure if you have noticed but I’ve been changing things up and experimenting with the way I’m blogging in this space. After some thought, I decided to blog only about things that I’m grateful for in Japan.

In recent months, I’ve been feeling negative and I just could not get out of my head. Then I was inspired to take photos of all the things I like on a daily basis. A grateful thought a day makes the lioness a happy camper? I’m not sure but I’m willing to give it a go. I’m not a naturally positive person and perhaps this exercise in daily gratitude could help me in some way…

In any case, whether I know what I am doing, at least I am trying to pull out the little joys in my life so my mind won’t swirl around negative thoughts so much.

And today’s pictures are remnants of a lunch with friends who were awesome company on a Thursday afternoon, who know way more about my neighbourhood than me, and who love some of the same things I do. And good pizza. And a hot beverage on an icy grey day in Tokyo.

It was a friend’s birthday party and she held it on a Yakatabune cruise with all-you-can-eat monjayaki.

For those who don’t know what monjayaki is, it’s a sticky liquidy Japanese dish made on a hot plate or grill. You fry up a bunch of ingredients like cabbage, fish roe, cheese, eggplant, mochi, meat etc and douse it in a liquid that has soup stock and flour. It’s supposed to be batter but it really looks like a cloudy soup, as opposed to the pancake-like batter used for okonomiyaki.

It was a fun communal way of eating — as the sticky concoction simmers on the hot plate, you take these tiny metal spatulas and scoop a small portion directly into your mouth. I asked if it was okay for the spatula to touch your mouth and/or tongue and it seemed to be perfectly fine — this might make germophobes recoil in horror. I was fine with it and thought it all felt strange but extremely yummy and filling.

I made an Oreo cheesecake from a recipe online which is supposed to be a copycat of the Cheesecake Factory’s version. I’ve never been there (it’s in LA somewhere, I think) but something tells me my cheesecake debut is quite far from the original one.

It turned out a bit too dry for cheesecake though it did taste like cheesecake with Oreo crumbs everywhere. It didn’t taste bad but it didn’t have the richness of what cheesecakes should have. Something tells me that 30% reduced cream cheese has something to do with it and I baked it far too long as the browned surface is a little on the chewy side. I’ve been told by more than a few people that every oven is different and what comes out of yours won’t be the same as another’s even if you use the same recipe.

I made this for the kangaroo as a Valentine’s Day present and he loved it. But he loves everything I make which is really sweet.

Do you ever get an idea in your head and can’t shake it off? Well, that was me and this waffle maker thingamajig. We got some vouchers as wedding gifts and I thought of splurging on something totally unnecessary and indulgent — something we don’t really do with our own money, I suppose — and decided a waffle maker would inch me closer to my domestic goddess aspirations.

I think the last time I ate waffles was at an A&W fast food joint in Singapore where they served four pieces of waffles with a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream and strawberry syrup. I was 14 I think.

It’s funny how I’m trying to re-create a childhood memory at the age of 33.

I love noodles but pork-based ramen give me the heebie jeebies. Sometimes I would request the chef to leave out the charsiu and would choose lighter broth like shio (or salt), and miso. Thick Hakata white pork ramen is too pungent for me…

To my delight, I stumbled upon a fish bone ramen shop in Roppongi! It’s called 麺と酒肴処 壱幹 (more pictures and reviews at Tabelog but it’s all in Japanese), but I don’t know what it is exactly in Japanese. I just know the meaning of the name which is noodles and alcohol snacks one tree trunk. It’s a choppy direct translation but you get the drift.

It’s quite a cozy and classy place that plays jazz music and the booth-style joint and yellow lighting make it feel intimate so it’s probably the kind of ramen shop women wouldn’t mind eating in.

For 980JPY, I got a bowl of fish ramen with a side of steamed cabbage and some shrimp wantan. The broth was excellent though the shrimp wantan was a little strange as it was literally just a piece of shrimp wrapped in wantan skin. It would’ve been more tasty if they added more ingredients to the filling…

If you don’t like pork ramen, you would love this version. It’s very light but extremely flavourful so you don’t feel the weight of the fat and oil from traditional ramen. In fact, I felt quite virtuous after slurping it all down. The portions are not big so it’s really suitable for weight-conscious ladies.

I cannot get enough of my oven! I think it’s because it’s cold and having baked items just feel very hearty.

This is my super healthy veggie meal with oven baked kidney bean and walnut patties on a bed of quinoa and ratatouille, and a side salad drizzled with a parika chickpea dressing. I feel virtuous looking at this meal as it was a healthy dinner I had a few weeks ago. Lately, I’ve not been so disciplined.

*Burp*

Totally late in talking about this as it happened in late Jan but it was an unforgettable party.

We totally outdid ourselves this year. We cooked and cooked and cooked. I started preparing my soup stock for my dumplings three days before the actual day. We had 30 people swarming the buffet table who seemed genuinely interested in a Singaporean Chinese New Year.

We even had food labels in English and Japanese to explain the meaning of each dish. And a dragon puppet and red packets. We had pineapple tarts, almond cookies, love letters, toted all the way from Singapore from various Singaporean friends.

The fried tofu salad was the first to go, I think, and while it was yummy, its label did indicate you could get richer eating these supposed “gold tiles”.

Next year it would be at my place and this would be a tough act to beat.

When I have a leisurely morning, I like to chop up several fruit and present them in a bowl. My faves include, banana, kiwi, strawberries, orange, apple, and blueberries. These are the fruit that you can find easily in Japan. Once in a while I might throw in some grapes but this is my standard fruit bowl which I never get sick of. Usually I chop up two bananas and make a green juice to complete my breakfast. I can feel full on this for hours. If I’m really good, I’ll take off for a long run about an hour after eating this. I usually feel like I’m on fire with this power breakfast.

You know I’ve been into baking because of the proper oven in my new house so it’s like a new toy for me.

I know I had been obsessed with “un-baking”, i.e. making tons of desserts during my raw phase, but I stopped because I wanted to cut out extra calories for my big day last year but somehow I never picked up the habit. Alot of raw desserts are nut-based and incredibly fattening, even if they are healthier than conventional desserts.

So it seems like I am regressing on the health front, but it’s a new toy!! And I figured I need to understand the basics of conventional baking before venturing into healthier ground. That’s kind of an excuse to pig out on traditional chocolate cake – who cares? I was sooooo excited about my first cake!

Too excited, I must add, as I forgot to stick a tooth pick in to check if it was done. I just unwrapped this baby out of its silicone mould (check out those buttons at the side! *nerd*) and cut it up into slices. The center was still liquidy, like molten lava chocolate cake, but it was still delicious, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Technically, it was far from perfect — cracked top, not baked completely, and it was not very chocolately (maybe I should try brownies next time) as a standard flour cake without any chocolate sauce or add-ons. I figured the next time I serve it to myself or the kangaroo, I’ll just drizzle the lot with chocolate sauce to cover up all the imperfections. I froze most of it because I just can’t eat that much chocolate cake in a short period of time.

Till the next baking adventure!!!

I was searching for some Thai food in Shibuya but two of the restaurants I went to were already closed for lunch by 250pm. What’s a hungry girl to do? I wasn’t feeling like fast food, cafe grub, or noodles, so I checked into a sushi-go-around restaurant, Gansozushi, out of sheer starvation. It was the opposite of what I was looking for in Thai food, but I was surprised at how good the sushi was at this cheap modest joint.

Ikura sushi. This one was really perfect.

Hirame sushi. Any white raw fish tastes wonderful.

Uni sushi. I ordered it because the sushi chef just took a huge tray of sea urchin out and it looked really fresh. It wasn’t creamy though so I suspect it was straight out of the fridge so there was no smell or slimyness. It didn’t taste of anything to be honest. Is that good or bad for uni?

It’s on a small side street if you are walking along Dogenzaka.