Cooking With Richard

.. not in the garden, because it’s bloody cold.

Too overcooked, unfortunately.

Today I made katsu curry-rice, which was just about perfect though.

Not sure about the whole message there, but anyhow … inspired by this advert, I bought a packet. 59p per packet, and they are quite tiny compared to the real pocky. Also the milk chocolate is horrible compared to the plain chocolate pocky they sell in Japan.

I quite liked this song, particularly the shika. They definitely need more shika though …

Fish! A Japanese obsession (UK only).

BBC Four Japan season: Japan in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn.

A documentary about Japan in 1900-1920.

To those who know what comes after, looking at these photographs gives terrible premonition of what is to come.

And they are reshowing the Secret Wilderness show:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jhxhf/Secret_Wilderness_Japan_Episode_1/

Click for short video explaining each word …

バックシャン

へそで茶を沸かす

ゲジゲジ眉毛

丙午

ずるずる

駆け込み乗車

くすくす

過労死

かわいい

浮気の虫

どうも

間

歯の浮くお世辞

雑音

虫の息

濡れ落ち葉

おもてなしの心

We love this documentary on Japanese snow monkeys on BBC iPlayer (until April, UK only):

Dr. Takayo Soma studying monkeys:

This is #13 in the series. #14 in the series about sustainable farming/gardening is also well worth watching.

Previously #1 | Previously #2 | Previously #3

Owwww. I went to the dentist today and I’m going to have them out on April 6th …

BBC Four are having a Japan season soon, starting on Sat 14th March. However good luck finding anything about this on their website which is basically useless. Andrew Graham Dixon’s programme on Samurai looks interesting.

Update

Here is the URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/japan/

Thanks to morisobako and f-yayoi for finding BENINGTON (BENKYOSHIMASU) LORDSHIP gardens …

Benington Lordship Gardens (looks much bigger in the photo than it does in real life) ..

M-kun’s dinkle?

The best bit was the CHICKEN TOILET. N-sama wouldn’t go do OSHINKO because of the chickens by the toilet. Eh tou.

Mito left us some shiso leaves, so I tried to make a shiso pesto.

The shiso is essentially very sharp so I tried to counteract that with a few drops of balsamic vinegar, and lots more of the other ingredients. The result was interesting and exotic, but not really fine cuisine. Also I used a bit too much garlic … I suspect this might work with half-and-half basil leaves.

Lots of others have tried to make shiso pesto … here are a few links:

• http://shewhoeats.blogspot.com/2004/09/ugly-luxury.html
• About preserving various leaves and herbs
• Made with Korean perilla
• http://www.linguistlist.org/cookbook/recipe-display.cfm?ID=235

On the left, pork belly and mustard. On the right, ebi-fried-rice.

I made it!

from this recipe.

Cupcakes:

Nabe:

Sashimi, yum yum:

Salmon jaw … sadly I didn’t get to eat any of this:

Happy New Year everyone!

Last year …

Thanks N-sama & Natsumi (for the noodles and everything else)!

Perfect junk food, in a can:

Update

This is OKONOMIAKI that I made!

Thanks Natsumi for the huge box of food and these TOKIKI. Next time you come I will make Jamie’s steak and ale pie for you. It’s very english and I’m sure you’ll like it.

In the meantime, here is a picture from the Piccadilly Line. カラスがちかてつにのっています！

The highlight of going out to Akari on Essex Road last night was drinking Tantakatan, shochu made from shiso leaves. (Tantakatan’s terrible website here). It also turns out this is quite cheap in Japan. We bought a bottle online for my brother-in-law for six quid including delivery. Highly recommended, drink cold with a little ice.

I cooked it for more than 2 hours.

Photo by N-sama, who called the photo “Pastar”. Intentional?