Cooking With Richard

Wow … & her blog

(Thanks M-kun for finding the bento porn pool on flickr)

Top Gear race across Japan [this link will only work if you’re in the UK] in a fast car versus a shinkansen (and other types of train).

Note: The interesting part starts at around 15 minutes in.

Click for programme

Boston beer:

A giant steak. Very nice:

I totally enjoyed the Japanese film Paprika on the plane, and then bought it for N-sama as an anniversary present on DVD:

This is an old From Our Own Correspondent article about the sounds of hot summers in Japan. I wish I could find the original broadcast programme.

• Shuru shuru shuru doon patchi patchi
• Hyuu doro doro
• Goku goku
• Goro goro pika
• Kara koro kara koro

I was a bit confused by this one, he keeps on saying “shika shika“?

And for the main finale:

Ummaii!

I so want this game …

Oriental City has been under threat for so long, but it is finally to close at the end of May, to make way for soulless flats and a DIY superstore. (There aren’t enough DIY superstores in London apparently, so a one-of-its-kind shopping centre has to be leveled to make way for one).

I’ve been going there regularly for at least ten years, but today was the last time.

There aren’t really any alternatives. Chinese Wing Yip, down the road, is expanding, but they don’t have the other shops or non-Chinese food. Japanese TK Trading is miles away.

More discussion of the closure …

Thanks to ex-Mayor Ken Livingstone for valiantly defending the store — oh no, in fact he approved the planning application. Well, he’s been thrown out of office now, but his stupid planning decisions like this and others will linger on.

This is what I got from Utsuwa no Yakata Japanese pottery shop:

I was in the middle of making this recipe described as “Bubble and Squeak” when I came to the sudden realization that it is really コロッケ, so I quickly covered it in honey panko and shallow fried it. Success!

But in Japan, mere potato isn’t enough carbohydrate on its own, so they wrap it in bread (can you believe?) to make a kind of potato sandwich. Mmm carbs!

Previously: Uncanny valley of the dolls …

Home-made rice pudding from a Jamie recipe with N-sama’s purple jam.

But just like at school I like to mix up my rice pudding and jam together:

Tasty!

The real Watford Gap

In Japan:

In Britain:

Yoko “donated” her hot plate to the cookingwithrichard team.

This hot plate is a fantastic piece of kit and very rare — they simply don’t make the 240V (UK/EU) versions of these hot plates at all, and this one is a good 15-16″ in diameter so it’s large enough for the largest okonomiyaki or sukiyaki:

N-sama bought me these very useful bowls as a present:

The okonomiyaki, in fact not very nice as N-sama was quick to tell me. She said “マーマー”:

More ..

More ………

I made four pizzas today. This was one of the experimental ones, caramelized onions and walnut:

I also made a black pudding and chilli pizza, but sadly there is no photo of that one.

N-sama and I had a bet about the black pudding and chilli pizza as to whether M-kun would eat it.

He did.

I lost.

Now also a client of N-sama lives on a farm or something and she bought us some Jerusalem artichokes. (They aren’t artichokes, nor are they from Jerusalem - in fact they are a root similar to potatoes). They contain carbohydrate inulin which makes you fart, and lots of fructose. I made this beef and ale pie, slightly influenced by a Jamie recipe:

Blaaar:

Paris was full of (supposedly) Japanese restaurants. I don’t know if these are really Japanese or if they are just Chinese and others rebranding themselves. That doesn’t matter. What really matters is that this sort of food is very bad environmentally, and any extension of fishing for (eg) tuna takes a terrible toll on the sea environment.

Here are two:

Mushi (insects) are very popular in Japan as pets or even for eating. We got these tasty mushi from a popular mushi shop ….

From here: