On a spring afternoon

One of the best ways to spend a sunny spring Sunday afternoon is going out for a sweet treat at an open terrace cafe with a girl friend who loves to chat and laugh as much as I do. We both drool over all the bakeries here at VIRON, a French bakery and brasserie.

Something sweet

French Toast on a Sunday afternoon...

Oden

I went to a farewell dinner to OTAKO at Nihonbashi for the first time. This restaurant has been opened since 1926 so I'm guessing it's one of the oldest oden restaurants!
送別会でおでんの老舗、日本橋のお多幸へ行ってきました。寒い冬に熱々のおでん、おいしかったです。

Coffee and Cake

A sweet treat after lunch at the Hotel Okura. Yum.

Japanese sake tasting

Well... I regret.
I was too busy enjoying the sake tasting night with my friend over this beautiful appetizer plate (and so much more!), I completely forgot to take pictures of the several kinds of great sake I had. Really, what a shame! Oh-well. Next time I attend the tasting event, I will be sure and remember to take more photos. But isn't this platter just so beautifully arranged?!



今回で２度目のきき酒の会、残念ながら美味しすぎて、楽しすぎて、肝心の日本酒の写真を撮りそびれてしまいました。次回の会では忘れずに記録を撮っておきます！　でも、この盛りつけステキよね！春の味覚、先取り〜♪

At Wabisuke, Nogizaka, a Kyoto style restaurant.
One of my usual and favorite places to have Udon/Japanese noodles for lunch. And of course, they have a nice selection of Japanese sake and Kyoto food for dinner.

Slow cooking, slow food

It's time to make homemade marmalade again.

Super sour home grown natsu-mikan.


An endless process of slicing the orange peal.


And after over 8 hours of slow preparing and cooking....
Voila! Marmalade all stocked up!

South Indian cuisine 2

Introducing another South Indian restaurant in Tokyo besides Dhaba India and Nirvanam. Sri Balaji located in Nakameguro has really delicious Goan fish curry, pannir tikka masala and basmati rice (flavored with cardamon).


A few different kinds of curry


Mysore masala dosa


A couple appetizers; Pakora and Gobi 65.

Sri Balaji
03-5724-8995

Sushi Lunch!

Lunch at Iroha-zushi in Nakameguro

Omelette-rice

A perfect weekend brunch.

South Indian cuisine

My favorite Masala Dosa


There's nothing more to say than mmmmm.... mmmm... goooood!


...all fast gone!

I have 2 South Indian restaurants that I think are best in Tokyo. Dhaba India and Nirvanam. It's hard to say which is better because both are great in its own way. Everytime I have food here, I feel like I'm back in India. It's that authentic and good!

東京で一番おいしいと思う南インドレストランが２軒あります。ダバ・インディアとニルバナム。どちらもそれぞれの良さがあるのでどっちが一番とは言えないけれど、ここで食事するたびにインドにいる気分になります。本場を思わせるくらいおいしいんです！

Dhaba India Kyobashi
03-3272-7160
Nirvanam Kamiyacho
03-3433-1217

Summer Fruit and Veggie

Caponata over toasted English muffin

Ingredients:
zucchini, eggplant, onion, red pepper, tomato, shimeji mushroom, pesto genovese


and fresh watermelon juice

With a plenty of carrots...

Carrot soup.

Basically, a carrot version of my favorite pumpkin soup.

Marmalade cupcake

Before getting baked in the oven...


....and after.



made with homemade marmalade.

Deep yellow

Pumpkin soup.

Ingredients:
pumpkin, onion, tofu, milk and a hint of olive oil and salt to taste.

So simple and one of my favorites.

Cupcake heaven

After several attempts baking different kinds of cupcakes....
何度か数種類のカップケーキに挑戦して、、



I succeeded with Banana-Cinnamon cupcake and Strawberry cupcake!
The recipe required no butter or oil for the cupcakes but surprisingly they turned out better than I thought and I decided to decorate them with creamy frosting.

バナナ・シナモン カップケーキといちごのカップケーキに成功！
バター・油を使用しないレシピだったけれど思いのほかしっとりやわらかく焼き上がったので、フロスティングでデコレーションをしました。


Banana cinnamon with cinnamon cream frosting. Really delicious!


Strawberry Cupcakes with homemade strawberry jam cream.


AND FOR TEA BREAK...






P.S. I LOVE STRAWBERRIES.

Stack 'em up!

Pancakes! With homemade rum&raisins and strawberries... yum!

lunch

spagetthi with tomato cream crab sauce
トマトのカニクリームパスタ

so good!

Golden Marmalade

It's that time of the year again.
A box full of home-grown natsu-mikan arrived from our relative's. Funny how they're called 'natsu' (summer) mikan even though it's still March and chilly.
また今年も夏みかんがたくさん届きました。
まだ３月で寒いのにちょっと季節外れな名前。


But they're just too sour to be eaten!!
でも容赦なくすっぱくて食べられません！

　　　　　So what I do is......
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 という事で‥


Take lots of peels....
夏みかんのピールをいっぱい‥


into a big pot of natsu-mikan with sugar...
みかんの実、お砂糖と一緒に大きな鍋に入れて‥


and let the slow cooking begin....
スロークッキングを始めて‥


after about 2.5 hours of simmering ...
約２時間半コトコト煮詰めたら‥


Happy Marmalade Heaven!
夏みかんマーマレードのできあがり！