Lioness in Japan

I have eaten a few Goya Chanpuru dishes in Japanaese izakayas and they always taste sooo good. They seem pretty easy to emulate since it is essentially a stir-fry with tofu, meat, veggies etc.

I had some leftover kimchi so I made my own veggie kimchi Goya Champuru. I tossed in egg, tomato, shiitake, onion, garlic, and bean sprouts. The result was so yummy and even greater with a bowl of rice. I didn’t season it at all because the kimchi was so flavourful.

One thing I realized from making my own Goya Chanpuru is that not all bittergourd are equal. I happened to have bought a mildly bitter one for this dish but the second time I tried it with another gourd was a disaster. It reeked of some inner herbal intensity that I just couldn’t stomach. I ate everything but the goya and tossed the rest into the bin.

Any tips on how to pick non-bitter bittergourd?

So a week before I left for NYC, I organized a “hanami dinner” at Shibamatsu, a chanko nabe restaurant in Nakameguro, but the sakuras were still hiding and my friends told me it was pointless to take a walk along the Meguro River. Besides, nobody would be out and about in the awful post-storm weather.

But a cold evening meant that chanko babe was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Chanko nabe is hot pot eaten by sumo wrestlers. It is full of veggies and high in protein, becauseof the meat, fish, and tofu that is simmered in delicious hearty soup stock.

We ordered miso and shio based soup – both were delish but the miso was excellent. In fact, I couldn’t get enough of the soup and drank tons. My Japanese friends noticed that my Singaporean friends and I drink a lot of soup when we go out for hot pot, and apparently, Japanese tend to leave the soup in the hot pot, so there’s soup leftover to cook rice or noodles…

It tasted even more wicked with dollops of yuzu koshou, a heady mix of green Japanese chilli and yuzu. The spicy kick made the Singaporeans in the pack salivate…well this one anyway. And it was mutenka!

Other notable eats were the slivers of fresh sashimi…

And this flower like tomato. You’ll be surprised how popular it is to just served fresh-cut tomatoes with a spot of mayo on the side as an izakaya dish and it does refresh the palate from all the salty grub that is usually on offer.

Have you eaten grilled garlic swimming in oil? Funny how I have no qualms eating raw garlic to stave off a flu bug but cooked garlic gloves in oil give me the heebie jeebies.

It was surprisingly not garlicky at all and very soft. It kind of melted in my mouth… We nibbled on this at a late night yakitori place somewhere in Nakameguro. Love that I’m getting to explore more of my hood…

Btw, hello from Frankfurt. I would’ve touched down from a red eye flight from NYC to Germany by the time you read this.

I stumbled upon a local sushi bar near my house, and again, lack of time and a rumbling tum led me to this place. Somehow noodles or a curry seemed too heavy for lunch that day, so sushi it was…

It was a teeny tiny nook that could probably seat only 15 people and the lone sushi chef took centre stage behind his colourful counter of mouthwatering raw fish.

This lunch set came with a bowl miso soup and chawamushi which was absolutely delectable. From now on, I would always need chawamushi to be paired with sushi!! I paid a mere 980JPY for this sensational platter.

I think this place is called Sakana Ichi, 魚いち, which means fish is number one. I could be wrong, y’know, but that’s what the kanji reads to me. Details here.

If you want ogle at my other sushi adventures: here and here.

Inspired by Singaporean expat Bing in South Africa, I tried my hand at making banana cake.

I couldn’t get over how weird banana cake looks sliced like this and I would probably use a square pan next time. I also learned that butter makes cake very heavy and if you want a lighter consistency, vegetable oil is the way to go.

And my attempt at conjuring my own cupcake recipe. Total fail. I think if not for the fact that the kangaroo was on one of his diets, he wouldn’t have eaten these. I think he was desperate for some chocolate. I definitely went light on the sugar, in fact, I use soaked dates and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I thought the bananas would lend some sweetness but I think for cakes to taste sweet, you need ALOT of sugar.

A kind fellow blogger suggested stevia and that could be my next mission.

I haven’t put a lot of thought into decorating my office, particularly since it is a very small room and the kangaroo’s weights take up a quarter of the space. I’m not complaining because the weights have to go somewhere, I suppose, and it wouldn’t do to put them in our bedroom or the living room.

Also, since it’s a rented place, I’m cautious of hanging things on the wall. We could but there is a very specific type of hook we need to use and even then it cannot guarantee the wall would not be spoiled, according to our real estate agent. Basically if you ruin the wallpaper, you have to pay for it.

But I have taken to sticking a poster on the door. This was a birthday present from a friend who was very into photography for awhile. I think the photo says a lot about me: snow will always be a novelty for me. I wonder if I would think the same in 10years’ time?

My friend Sheyx came over to Tokyo recently and brought with her two packets of Laksa La Mian by Prima. OMG, these are so good and MSG free!!!

Although laksa at home is not eaten with la mian per se (the original version uses thick rice vermicelli), though if you count yong tau fu laksa then we do eat this with other types of noodles. It is so good. I kind of stopped stocking up on food back home because of luggage constraints and I’m seriously getting used to not having Singaporean food.

But this just re-opened the door to my old taste buds. If you are a Singaporean expat, you NEED this. Thanks, Sheyx!! I had both packets in one weekend — that was how good it was!

Hey loves, I’m flying to New York again as we speak. These past two weeks in Tokyo have been hectic but I’m glad for the change in pace.

This time I would be just spending 10 days there (with three days in Boston), then I’ll be going to Frankfurt and Hamburg, then Sydney, and finally Singapore. We may take a side trip to somewhere in between but it’s not confirmed.

Let me just say that packing everything I need in one carry-on luggage for a month away will hopefully reinforce the fact that one does not need very much to get by. And there are drugstores in every country we’re going to so I’m going to just chill. I hope. I like my stuff, as you can see from here.

If posting is a bit erratic, then you’ll know I’m not able to get to an Internet connection.

I think everyone could agree with me that Japanese mayo is in a class of its own. I think it’s the extra sugar and salt and the magic balance of the two in their mayo that gives that unique taste.

I love Kewpie mayo but the weird chemical names on the list make my skin crawl and I count myself to be very lucky because I found Japanese mayo mutenka (or 無添加) style, which means additive free. Yay! I only really eat this when I crave some canned tuna (soaked in water and not oil — found a 57 calorie one in my local supermarket) which I mix with red onion, celery, and black pepper.

I found this at Precce in Nakameguro.

The kangaroo brought back two big packs of Korean tea and traditional sweet rice crackers.

This comment couldn’t help escape my lips, “Are you going to give me bad news?”

I know, I’m AWFUL!

But in my defense, the kangaroo never buys back anything from his trips. It’s not that I mind at all because he goes away so frequently that it would be crazy for him to bring back a special gift each and every time. Also, he is such a fanatic about not checking in any luggage when he travels so limited space means no gifts.

And if he’s particularly nice to me, it’s usually because he has to disappear for yet another business trip on top of his planned schedule.

Such a conversation would proceed like this, “Babe, let’s have a nice dinner out, just two of us.” Or it could be a movie and dim sum – my fave combo of all time…

Then at said dinner, he would tell me, “Oh I need to travel to country X before my original date, so I’ll be leaving in two days’ time instead of a week.” Oh ok, thanks for the dim sum.

Anyway, I think he just wanted to be nice and I made up for my remark by eating some of the crackers and exclaiming how yummy they were. And the herbal tea sachets were great, too, especially the ginger and jujube teas.