Land of Cute-- Erasers II

Wagashi erasers-- the set of Japanese Sweets

Wagashi-- Japanese sweets... but you can't eat these because they're all erasers:-))

Last time was the Going To School Set of erasers; today-- the Set of Japanese Sweets, most of which I think you've seen!

O-Dango!  And green tea, of course, which matches the taste somehow of Japanese sweets (coffee or black tea taste... odd with Wagashi.  *No* idea why.  Anybody out there have any theories about that?)

The real thing-- Sanshoku Dango (three-color dango) which I've posted about before.

Kashiwa Mochi (Oak Leaf Mochi-- wrapped in the pickled oak leaf that you can eat)...

...naturally that goes in the set, too.  The set came with the little tray.  The Japanese have the *best* trays...

And the other leaf-wrapped mochi sweet-- Sakura Mochi (cherry blossom/leaf mochi)...

...which in the eraser set is the roll-version-- pink Sakura Mochi wrapped around sweet azuki bean paste, then wrapped with the cherry leaf (which you're supposed to eat;-)).  And green tea.

Itadakimaa---su!

...And the last one is NOT a pancake.

And that's all I'll say about it for today:-))

Stay tuned!

Mata asobou, ne!

O-Yatsu Jikan: Favorite Chocolate Cookie Snack

Take no Ko in the field...

When I went to the store day before yesterday, I picked up some snacks for the kids.  They got to have a 'special', so they asked for a snack called Take no Ko no Sato... which happens to be one of my favorites as well.

Take no Ko no Sato (Bamboo Shoot Village)

...and since I just posted a recipe featuring Take no Ko not too long ago, it occurred to me to post a couple of photos about my favorite Bamboo-shaped snack.

Oishiii!

See?  It's just plain, little cookies dipped in chocolate and made to look like bamboo shoots:-))  So cute.  So tasty! 



Has anybody seen these on sale in the US or Europe?

...The 'sister snack', so to speak:  Ki no Ko no Yama (Mushroom Mountain).  Same little choco-cookie snack, but shaped like little mushrooms.

Moar kawaii!  Kids, of course, love either snack (as, for that matter, do I;-))

So if you happen to run across these-- get some!  They're good!

Mata asobou, ne!

Cheery, And Violent-- A Recipe for Cucumber

Japanese cucumbers are rather smaller than the ones I always see in the US, but no matter.  I think this can be made with either kind, though you may need a little more oomph and/or a heavier rolling pin.  Shovel would work fine, too.

A shovel for... what??

"Cheery... and violent"  (why do I hear that in Terry Jones' voice in my head?  Was it in a Python sketch that I can't quite remember?)

...For making a very quick sort-of pickle out of cucumbers without any tedious marinating, nor canning.  This is a marvelous recipe for anyone who's had a bad day at work, a fight with an SO, or who is suffering from PMS. 

You see, to 'soften' up the kyuuri (cucumber) just a little, yet retain crunch (which is, after all, the defining characteristic of a 'pickle'), grab your rolling pin and beat that cucumber to within an inch of its life. 

Then break it apart into bite-sized pieces with your hands, into any serving dish you like, and pour the dressing over.  Toss.  *Excellent* replacement for potato chips. 

The sauce (assuming you can't get it as-is, in that bottle up in the top photo) is basically:
1) sesame oil
2) salt (*little*)
3) garlic
4) *little* sugar
5) toban jan (that really hot, red paste that you use to make Mabo Dofu)
6) tsp or so of soy sauce
7) red karashi peppers (the small, very hot ones)

Itadakimaa---su!

Sauce is somewhat spicy, but my kids *love* this (those in the photo lasted about 3 minutes this evening--I got one bite:-((... "Mama!  Oishiiii!" 

Gosh, I love to see my kids snarfing down vegetables like candy:-)

Beyond Plain Rice II--A Recipe for Take No Ko Gohan

You know what that dark brown thing is... right?

It's Take No Ko... a bamboo shoot.  A baby bamboo (or, well... maybe an elementary school bamboo, judging by the size).

You can cook with these-- I got one of these once a year after Koshi started kindergarten, as the third year kids were taken out to dig bamboo shoots.  The first time he came home with a large something wrapped in newspaper, I'll admit, I panicked slightly.

I knew that it could be cooked with, though, since I'd seen them at our Daiei packaged with what looked at the time like sawdust (couldn't imagine what *that* was for).

That one ran me about Y498-- not bad.

Yes, it's fuzzy.  See?

You don't eat that part, though.

Chop off a big hunk of the bottom and peel off several of the thick outside layers
(I know-- I see you all.  Racing to your local Asian market to get bamboo shoots as is, right from the ground.  Rest assured that you can make this with the kind that's already sliced and boiled;-)

Use your Big Knife and put a slice into the center, top to bottom, so that it will finish cooking in your lifetime.

Put the Take no Ko (Bamboo's Child, literally) in your Big Pot, and fill with water 'til it's covered.  Dump that little pack of sawdust nuka (rice bran--it's *very* good for you, and it figures as an ingredient in lots of Japanese facial skin care products.  Ever notice how Japanese tend to look a lot younger than they really are?  This may well be one of the reasons.)

Simmer it for an hour, then turn off the fire and let it just sit there in the pot for two more hours.  That way, it won't be over-boiled, and will also be easier to peel away the rest of the fuzzy layers when it's cooler.

Always ends up *much* smaller than what you thought it would be..

Make sure to take off all the fuzzy-- it's nice to pet, but not to eat.

Slice it in half, then into smaller, bite-sized pieces (not too thick).

Other ingredients (though this can vary) are:

1. One piece of aburage (bean curd) cut into four pieces then sliced.
2. About half a carrot, thinly julienned.
3. Konnyaku (solidified jelly made from the rhizome of Devil's Tongue), cut small.  Or, use the noodles (about 50g).  I cut them in two places so they wouldn't be too long.

San go of rice... three of those cute little wooden measuring boxes if you have one.  If not, 450g of rice (in ounces?  *No* idea.  But I think that's a pound.), rinse it well and put it into the rice cooker and fill to the line for 3-go of rice (or 450g).

Dump the vegetables on top.

For the soup, you need:

1. Light (Usu-kuchi) Soy sauce, 1Tbsp
2. Cooking Sake, 2Tbsp
3. Hon Dashi (powdered stock--in the box on the left), 1 Tbsp
4. Shio (salt), 1tsp

Put all that into the water in the Kama (you can see my rice-cooker pot on the right) and mix it all up.

 
Put the Kama into the rice cooker and hit Go!  This rice is fairly filling (or maybe my kids just like it a lot, and eat more of it than usual), so you don't really need to have a huge meat dish with this.  Bamboo Rice is nice to have with tofu and miso soup and a couple of vegetables for a vegetarian dish that I never notice is vegetarian.  Just Japanese.  Take no Ko Gohan also makes *great* onigiri the next day (if there's any left over;-))

Itadakimaa---su!

Enjoy!

Mata asobou, ne!

SpyShopper-- Vegetables for Spring

Fuki no Tou (Petasites japonicus, left)  and  Kogomi (Matteuccia struthiopteris, right)

Oooh!  It's springtime and all the interesting, "what-on-earth-is-that?" vegetables are appearing in amongst the usual broccoli and green peppers. 


The one on the left I may just go ahead and buy, since Cici will be thrilled.  Or at least interested.  The very first story in the second grade language textbook is a sweet little tale called "Fuki no Tou"...the vegetable (flower head, really) on the left in the photo above. 

I just realized that this photo I took of "something" growing in a neighbor's backyard... is in fact Fuki, also called Giant Butterbur or Bog Rhubarb (seriously, who thinks of these names?).  Both the unopened flower buds (in the top photo) and the stalks are edible. 

The Fuki stalks (which aren't too expensive, and can be purchased peeled and parboiled) I have cooked with before.  They taste nice simmered with sliced bamboo shoot in a cup or so of water with a tablespoon each of light soy sauce and sugar.  Sprinkle katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) on top for a rather elegant-looking spring dish which is also filling (lots of fiber).

The other vegetable, Kogomi, looked to me rather like the fiddlehead of a fern.   Come to find out... it *is* the fiddlehead of a fern!  Well!  Who knew?   The fiddlehead of the ostrich fern, in fact, which my mother had planted in abundance on the shady north side of our house.  I had no idea you could eat those!

Y498?  Yikes...

I'd like to cook something with the Butterbur flower heads (just like in the second grade story-- I *think* all three kids would try it, since they've all read that story...).


Bit on the pricey side, though (Y498!! Holy Butterburs, Batman!)...


Itadakim....maybe!

Tsukushi-- Miso Soup for Spring

Tsukushi means Spring! (Field Horsetail)

If you happen to have any of this growing in the backyard or a nearby field... did you know you can eat it?  I'd never seen it before we moved down here to Yokohama, and at first I only saw the children playing with it, in mud pies, peeling off the little skirts and such.  It wasn't until a year or two later that I noticed H-kun's mama (Koshi's friend) picking it with her son.  I asked her what she was going to do with it, and she told me how to make Miso soup with it.

picked....

...oooh!  Cooking with weird stalks picked out back--exotic!








I immediately set about picking some myself, and enlisted the kids' help.  The first time we made this, we picked *way* more than we needed...

cleaned...

...which made the cleaning part rather tedious.  Breaking off the tip (which my friend told me she did) is easy enough, but the hakama ("skirt"--the dark-tipped leaves at each node, called such because of their resemblance to traditional Japanese formal wear)...those take rather more time to get off.

into the pot...

I made mine with tofu and aburage (fried bean curd, made--like tofu--from soybeans), but you could just as well put in naga-negi (long onion, like a leek) or wakame (edible seaweed).
Use your ladle to scoop out a tablespoon or so of miso paste (I'm not sure exactly how much I put in since I always just eyeball it.  My ladle had markings for 1T and 2T, and I scoop out what I imagine to be about 1T...)

*A note on adding the Miso paste...
I searched for some time on YouTube for something I'd seen on TV about how it can be dangerous to just dump a bunch of Miso into a pot and put the lid on.  The show I remember watching, in fact, experimented with why that was supposed to be the case... and showed the pot exploding.  Apparently heat and/or pressure or steam can become trapped below the miso, which then explodes outward all over the kitchen.  And since I forgot to have Koshi video me dissolving the miso into the hot water, I found a video of somebody else doing that.  Watch how she uses her ladle and o-hashi (at the 2:00 mark)to dissolve the miso--that's just how my mother-in-law showed me how to do it:-))

Itadakimaaa---su!-- Oishikatta! (It was delicious--a nice, light taste:-)

More on Tsukushi tomorrow--it's fascinating stuff...;-))


Mata asobou, ne!

What's a Dango, Maru?

お花見!　　お花見！

[Yes!  This is my first cherry blossom viewing!]

Funny Maru...(see the full blog post about Maru and the Cherry Blossoms here)...

...then, of course, Maru wants to know where the dumplings are.  See--even kittehs know you're supposed to have dango when viewing the cherry blossoms (the flowers in the photo--via ShishinMaru-- are artificial, according to Maru's human).

These are Dango--see how the word "dumpling" doesn't bring the right image up?  The dango at left are "sanshoku dango"--three color dumplings, sticky because they're made from mochi rice flour (and so are similar to mochi).

 These are slightly sweetened, but usually the dango themselves don't really have much taste and are dipped in a sweet soy-sugar syrup or covered in sweet anko bean paste.

Also popular this time of year are "sakura mochi"--cherry blossom mochi.  Appropriately pink, sticky mochi wrapped in a cherry leaf which you can eat...

...or Kashiwa Mochi, wrapped in a smooth, young oak leaf.  Lovely, no?

Dochira ga ii ka naaa...
(Which one will you choose, Maru?;-))

*********
Alert reader Roy noted below that I forgot the Dango Tango!  D'oh!  This was on O-Kaasan to Issho for at least a year.  We listened to this when Koshi was in Kindergarten at least once a day... and they had it playing on a CD player in Daiei next to the area where they had the dango for sale.  It's about the Dango San Kyoudai (the Three Dango Brothers)--so cute!  Dozo:



You wanted to have that stuck in your head all day... right? ;-))

Itadakima---su!


p.s.--there seems to be some problem showing all recent posts on the main page. For some unfathomable Blogger-ly reason, only the most recent post comes up.  For the time being, click on "older posts" below this post to see other recent posts.  Or click on a link in the archives on the right.  Gomen!

How to Get Kids to Eat Spinach

Something that used to mystify me living here was how all the kids seemed to eat vegetables, more or less without quibble.  I remember watching a 5-year-old and his 3-year-old brother eating raw octopus like candy.  Wow--how do they do that?  I *know* I wouldn't have eaten octopus when I was 5...or 15... so how do they *do* that?  Mostly, I think, lack of pressure combined with "allowing" kids to eat what the grownups are eating.  But more than that, they tend not to overcook things (obviously not in the case of sashimi), especially vegetables.  They also tend to let kids learn to like things in their own time frame, which, now that I think about it, is pretty much what my mom did and the reason I can eat a wide variety of foods now.  Thanks, mom!  I know there were times she despaired of getting me to eat this or that, but she gave up, finally, on asparagus.  I didn't like asparagus till I was 23 or so.  The first time I came home and chowed down on asparagus, I thought my mother was going to collapse in shock.  "What?!  You don't *like* asparagus!  You *never* liked asparagus!!"  Why did I suddenly decide I liked it?  Lack of pressure combined with a different dippy sauce, I think.  So keep the faith!  My mom's trick for getting us to eat spinach was to use it raw in salad without telling us what it was until *after* we ate it and said we liked it.  Which worked pretty well--I still like fresh spinach better than iceberg in a salad (good one, mom!). 

I never cared for cooked spinach until I tried it in Japan.  Here's the receipt that my kids eat like candy (really!):

Goma Horenso (Sesame Spinach)
One bunch spinach, washed
2Tblsp  ground white sesame seeds
2tsp sugar
1Tblsp (scant) soy sauce

Boil the spinach for 30 or 40 seconds (stand there and count so it doesn't overboil and taste gross), dump water, rinse in cold water
Squeeze out as much water as you can, then cut the whole mess into 1/2 inch pieces
In the serving bowl, combine the ground sesame, sugar, and soy sauce (last).  Mix to form a paste.
Put in the spinach and toss around in the sesame paste until it's all more or less coated
Lick fingers and wash hands :))

You can adjust the sugar amount to taste, or probably substitute Splenda (I don't have any over here, but I don't imagine it would taste any different).

I'm still thinking about how they get kids to eat so many different things.  I'll write about it when something comes to mind.  Till then, I'll try to post some easy receipts that I've had good luck with.  Try the spinach--it's really good!

Mata asobou, ne!

p.s.--I forgot, you can use the sesame paste on fresh green beans (goma ingen) or broccoli:))