Vegetarian & Vegan Cuisine: “Mukashi Mushi Pan”/Old-Fashioned Steamed Bread


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Although I’m neither a vegetarian or vegan, I make a point to introduce anything I discover here which might help friends out!

Fukasawa Foods in Shibakawa Cho at the foot of Mount Fuji produces all year round an incredible array of soba/buckwheat noodles, udon/wheat flour noodles, ice-creams, cakes and I don’t know what else.

Now, all their food is organic. No artificial fertilizers are used for whatever they grow or buy, and no additives or preservatives are used in any of their product, which means all have to be properly stored and eaten quickly.

Vegans will be happy to know they use tofu instead of any dairy product.

This particular cake called “Mukashi Mushi Pan” or Old-Fashioned Steamed Bread was made with wheat flour, tofu, brown sugar, raisins, salt, vegetable oil.
That is all!

One cake could have easily been held inside your palm, but it was very fulfilling and delicious!
They have other varieties made with pumpkin and other vegetables.

Fukasawa Foods
Fuji Gun, Shibakawa Cho, Naibo, 3895-8
Tel.: 0544-65-0143
Closed on Tuesdays
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

Vegetarian & Vegan Cuisine: Ginger as a Vegetable


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Ginger when eaten outside Japan generally comes under its semi-dry or dry root.
Actually here, and in Shizuoka especially, fresh ginger or “Ha Shoga”/Leaf Ginger comes into some great recipes to please any one who does not consume meat (of course ginger is used in many meat recipes!)

Extensively grown in our Prefecture, it can be bought fresh in season in any Supermarket:

There are many ways to prepare and eat it:


Fresh Ginger pickled in miso.
Very practical when you can buy loads in season. Choose your miso paste well so as avoid too much salt!


Everyone knows pickled sliced ginger (use fresh plants only!) served with sushi!


Ginger can be steamed with rice or served very finely cut on top of a bowl of steaming rice!


Ginger is great finely chopped and fried with egg-plant/aubergines, soy sauce and mirin!
(Plan to introduce recipe!)


Fresh thin ginger roots are simply beautiful fried/sauteed with othe vegetables!
(Plan to introduce recipe!)

Enjoy!

Vegetarian & Vegan Cuisine: Myoga as a Vegetable


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Myōga (茗荷) or myoga ginger (Zingiber mioga, Zingiberaceae) is an herbaceous, deciduous, perennial native to Japan that is grown for its edible flower buds and flavorful shoots.

As a woodland plant myoga has specific shade requirements for its growth. It is frost-tolerant to 0F, -18C possibly colder.
Some constituents of myoga have shown promise for potentially anti-carcinogenic properties

A traditional crop in Japan, myoga has been introduced to cultivation in Australia and New Zealand for export to the Japanese market. I’ve always wondered if it were available on American and European Markets.
It is a great plant for use in vegetarian and vegan dishes as it adds lots of soft flavors.
Flower buds are usually found finely shredded raw in Japanese cuisine as a garnish.
But there are many other possibilities:


Tenpura.
Actually some Japanese restaurants will prepare the flowers as well as tenpura.
Vegans should replace the egg white included in the batter with a little cornstarch.


Myoga in Miso Soup.
Cut the myoga into thin strips and just add them to the miso soup inside bowls before serving it.


Myoga Gohan/Myoga Rice.
Cut the myoga in very thin strips and put it on top of the rice before steaming it. When the rice is cokked, mix in the myoga with rice and serve.
Vegetarians and Vegans may use genmai/whole rice for higher nutritients.
Beautiful when freshly cooked!


Myoga Pickles
Wash myoga quickly under running water. Drain and take excess water with kitchen paper.
Best pickled with amazu/sweet rice vinegar. If not available use rice vinegar, sugar and soft umeboshi/Japanese pickled plums.

Enjoy!

Shizuoka Breweries 8/2: Usami Brewery


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This is the 8th Micro Brewery in Shizuoka Prefecture I finally have ascertained. So far, I have nine confirmed! Usami Micro-Brewery and Restaurant are located in Ito City, Usami in the Izu Peninsula where great water is plentiful!
This is the second tasting:

Usami Brewery: Molda (Czech Type)
Ingredients: Malt and hops
Alcohol: 4.5%
Contents: 330 ml
Unpasteurized

Foam: short head, fine bubbles disappear quickly
Clarity: Very clear
Colour: dark orange, rich colour
Aroma: light, citruses.
Taste: Light attack and tangy, citruses.
Refreshing
Does not vary with food and stays faithful to first taste.

Overall: A beer for the Summer. Thirst-quenching.
Easy and pleasant to drink.
Probably will please the Japanese more than expats, especially Europeans.

Usami Brewery
European ji Beer Company
Ito City, Usami, 3504-1
Tel.: 0557-33-0333
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

Keiko Kubota: Bringing the Art of Cheese-making to Classes!


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(Shizuoka Shinbun)

Shizuoka City boasts the only Japanese (and a lady at that!) Grand Chevalier de Tastefromage/Great Knight of the Order of Cheese Sommeliers, namely Ms. Keiko Kubota, the Maitre D’Hote at Restaurant Gentil in the same town.
Last July she was asked to devise the cheese menu and serve it to the World bigwigs at the G8 Summit in Hokkaido.
She could have rested on her laurels, but her passion for her trade impels her to constantly impart her skills to the young, too.


(Shizuoka Shinbun)

Therefore she holds regular lectures for students at Shizuoka Gakuen High School elite Sciences Class.
Her classes include not only the introduction of cheese, but also its manufacture, and endless source of surprises and discoveries for her students! (it looks like tofu!…)

For my part, as a Frenchman, I’m pretty happy with the succulent (World) cheeses plates she serves me at her restaurant!

Restaurant Gentil
Address:420-0031 Shizuoka Shi, Gofuku-cho, 2-9-1, Gennan Kairaku building, 2F
Tel.: 054-2547655 (Reservations advisable)
Fax: 054-2210509
Opening hours: 12:00~14:00, 18:00~last orders for meals at 21:30. Bar time 18:00~23:30. Closed on Mondays.
Credit cards OK
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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (36)


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As I need bento on Mondays and Tuesdays, the Missus has began a new pattern withrice on Mondays and home-made bread on Tuesdays. Incidentally bento is always sandwiches on Fridays when I go and teach at university.

Today’s main dish was chicken “sasami/breast fillets” she fried with ktechup, basil and what else (she would never say anything!) served with cornichons, boiled egg on a bed of chopped greens with lettuce and chikory leaves and a few plum tomatoes.
I used dressing stored in the fridge at work.

The bread she made last night waswalnuts bread.
She calls it an open-sandwich bento, but she would be surprised to find out I just break the bread and eat a piece at a time with the main dish.
As for dessert I had “mikan/mandarine oranges” from her family’s garden.

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (35)


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Today the Missus definitely combined East and West!

She made “temari zushi”. S
The rice balls are called as such they mean “balls made by hand”. Which does not help!
The balls are smaller and round with their top covered as “nigiri”.
She steamed the rice with knobu/seaweed fro Rishiri Island (Hokkaidou). She made balls and covered them with smoked salmon topped with capers. The home-made pickles are mini-melons.

As for the salad, on a bed of finely chopped greens she put two chicory/endive leaves filled with eggs and vegetables salad, a couple of plum tomatoes and a few wedges of persimmon for dessert.

Just enough to last the day!

Ekiben/Railway Station Lunch Boxes-Bento 3: Bankama


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”Ekiben” or Railway Station Lunch Box (eki=station + ben/abbreviation for bento)in Japan and Shizuoka are a must for travellers who wish to experience real local food!
Shizuoka has a higher average because of the great numbers of railway stations and access to many kinds of food and ingredients.
The Missus purchased that particular one at Ito City Railway Station on October 23rd.

It is called “Bonkama”.

It consists of steamed sushi rice flavoure with rice vinegar, scrambled egg, “Tai/snapper (vinegared)”, “Shiitake Mushroom”, “Ebi/boiled shrimp”, “Renkon/Lotus root”, “kuri/chestnut”, “Tobikko/Flying Fish Roe”, Lemon, and “Amasu Syoga/Ginger pickled in sweet vinegar”


Provided with chopsticks and tooth pick, it made for a great lunch while visiting the Izu Kougen shoreline!

Ekiben/Railway Station Lunch Boxes-Bento 2: Tai Dontaku


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”Ekiben” or Railway Station Lunch Box (eki=station + ben/abbreviation for bento)in japan and Shizuoka are a must for travellers who wish to experience real local food!
Shizuoka has a higher average because of the great numbers of railway stations and access to many kinds of food and ingredients.
I purchased that particular one at Ito City Railway Station on October 23rd.

It is called “Tai Dontaku”.
“Tai” stands for seabream or snapper, a fish abundant along the Izu Peninsula shores.

The bottom half is steamed rice covered with powdered seabream flesh/surimi.
The top half includes “hotate karaage/deep-fried scallops”, “Gobo/simmered burdock roots”, and “Shiitake/simmered shiitake mushrooms”.


Provided with chopsticks and tooth pick, it made for a great lunch while visiting the Izu Kougen shoreline!

Shizuoka Breweries 8/1: Usami Brewery


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This is the 8th Micro Brewery in Shizuoka Prefecture I finally have ascertained. So far, I have nine confirmed! Usami Micro-Brewery and Restaurant are located in Ito City, Usami in the Izu Peninsula where great water is plentiful!

Usami Brewery: Thames/English type
Ingredients: Malt and hops
Alcohol: 5%
Contents: 330 ml
Unfiltered and unpasteurized

Foam: long head, very fine bubbles
Colour: dark brown, rich colour
Aroma: strong, caramel/bread.
Taste: Sweetish attack, bread, yeast
Solid but light
Does not vary with food and stays faithful to first taste.
Drank very easily in spite of its stout nature.

Overall: A pleasant stout-style beer.
Enjoyable for its own sake or with food, however heavy.
Best appreciated at room temperature, although cold beer fans would enjoy it if slightly chilled.

Usami Brewery
European ji Beer Company
Ito City, Usami, 3504-1
Tel.: 0557-33-0333
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

Bryan Baird’s Newsletter


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Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin 2008 #22
bryan-sayuri.gif

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

If you are in search of the beery flavor of fall, seek no more. Baird Beer has captured that autumnal essence in a wonderful seasonal brew set for release today: Big Red Machine Fall Classic Ale.

Big Red Machine Fall Classic Ale (ABV 5.5%):

To baseball fans, October means it’s World Series (also known as the “Fall Classic”) time. To me, the annual Fall Classic invariably brings back boyhood memories of watching and rooting for the great “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati teams of 1975 and 1976 World Series fame. Big Red Machine Fall Classic Ale was brewed initially in 2005 as a 30-year tribute to the Cincinnati Reds World Series championship team of 1975 (they won in a dramatic 7-game series against the Boston Red Sox). We continue to brew it annually because it is such a fine beer and is the perfect libation to enjoy while taking in the Fall Classic.

Brawny in the depth and richness of its malt character (five different malts are used), this malt muscle is balanced beautifully by a wonderfully spicy and sprite hop essence (we use American Magnum, Amarillo and Glacier varieties). Much as the rare combination of power and finesse was a hallmark of the Big Red Machine on the field, so too is it a hallmark of the Big Red Machine in the pint glass!

Big Red Machine Fall Classic Ale (a bronze medal winner in the 2008 World Beer Cup) is now pouring from the taps of both the Fishmarket and Nakameguro Taprooms. It also will be available on draught, beginning Thursday, October 23, at fine Baird Beer retailing pubs and restaurants throughout Japan. The bottle-conditioned version (360 ml bottles) will be available for purchase at our online estore as well as via the fine family of Baird Beer retailing liquor stores in Japan.

Finally, please note a change in business hours for our Nakameguro Taproom. Beginning Monday, November 1, the Nakameguro Taproom will be open as follows:

*Monday-Friday (2:00 PM – Midnight)
*Saturday, Sunday, National Holidays (Noon – Midnight)

For all you late night drinkers, this is good news as we will be open later. We will not be serving lunch on weekdays any longer, however, although we will feature a lunch service on weekends and national holidays.

Cheers!
Bryan Baird

Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (35)


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My other half said this morning: “Today I’ll make an open sandwich bento!”
“Great and thanks!” (and a wet kiss…)

Actually it turned into a bit of an extravagant “open bento”!

The “main sandwich ingredients” included a almost soft-boiled egg (impossible to eat between two slices of bread!), a lot of cress, a few fresh endive/chicory leaves containing lightly boiled crispy/crunchy mini-asparaguses, plum tomatoes, cornichons, duck confit (she took it out the freeze and fried it until the skin was crispy light brown), and fried potatoes (not French, please) she had suteed/fried in the confit fat. Now, I gave up making up sandwiches!

“Haddock in the Kitchen” might be interested to know that the Missus baked the bread yesterday.
The bread contained shredded carrots, chopped mint leaves and crumbled walnuts. I have to admit that it was a beauty. Therefore I ate it bit by bit as I consumed my bento along!

Now, I will this opportunity to introduce the dressings I usually keep in the fridge at work:
The “white” one is a Japanese Kewpie Caesar Salad Dressing (Gold Type).
The “orange” one is a Soken non-oil dressing containing green shiso, herbs and lemon.
Both are light and tasty enough and all ingredients are described on the back!

Well, this time I had plenty of dessert! (I suspect the Missus was emptying the fridge…)
Kiwi fruit, Kaki/Persimmon and Nashi/Japanese pear and asome walnut!

Alright, I know I’m spoiled!

Thanks Foodbuzz for the freebies!


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Dear Foodbuzz staff, thanks you so much for all the freebies!
I actually got a few more than anyone else as I received four different packs of business cards for four different blogs!

The eco bag is quickly “changing colour” as most supermarkets have recently started charging for plastic bags in Japan!

As for the apron and the spatula, I might have to give them to the Missus as I am allowed in the kitchen only on week-ends when I’m on cooking duty!

Thanks again!
Cheers and all that,
Robert-Gilles

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (34)


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Due to National Holidays falling on my usual “bento days”, it’s been some time since I could extoll the virtues of my (?) half’s bentoes (lol).
Today’s prepartions witnessed a few variations according to seasonal and unseasonal produces.

The “nigiri”/rice balls had been steamed together with tinned beans and “hijiki” seaweed, to which the Missus added a dash of shoyu before making the rice balls. As the rice was still very hot she used the “kitchen vinyl wrap” technique. Cutting a large enough piece of “Sun Wrap” (Japanese name) and holding it inside the palm of her hand, she put the proper amount of rice in the middle, close the “paper” around it and shaped it into a ball before releasing it onto a plate. The balls were later half-wrapped in shiso leaves. Incidentally I would like to thank here all the friends who left so many kind messages about the shiso posting!
In the centre she placed freshly sauteed “sasami”/chicken greast fillets on a bed of cress.
The pickles are green baby melon (home-made), tomatoes marinated in mirin (home-made) and shredded “takuan”/pickled daikon.

The “salad” consisted of a soft-boiled egg on a green leaves bed with “ameera rubbins”/the smallest sweet tomatoes in the world, exclusively grown by only two farmers in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Dessert consisted of small slices of nashi (white), or Japanese pear, and kaki (orange), a square variety of persimmon created some time ago in Shizuoka Prefecture. Nashi are almost at the end of their season whereas kaki have just apeared on the supermarket shelves.

Now did you know that persimmons contain five times as many Vitamin C in a lemon, weight for weight?

Cheese Plate at Gentil (1)


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This is the first installment of a hopefully long series of cheese plates served at Gentil Restaurant in Shizuoka City.
The Cheese Sommelier, Ms. Keiko Kubota is the not only Japanese holding the title of Grand Chevalier de Taste Fromage in Japan but she was asked to choose, prepare and serve the cheeses offered to all these vey improtantpeople at the G8 Summit held last July in Hokkaido.

I reckon the pic is not too great. The resaturant is a bit too dark for mobile phone cameras. I promise better ones next time!

The cheese featured on the above picture are:
Left top: Mozzarella Miso Zuke, a cheese from Hokkaido that Ms. Kubota matured in miso paste.
Left middle: Tsuki no Okurimono (Hokkaido)
Left bottom: Sakura (Hokkaido)

Centre: Maroilles (France)
Centre bottom: Chabichou du Poitou (France)

Right top: Vieille Mimolette (France, 18 months)
Right middle: Epoisses affine au Chablis (France, very near my birthplace!)
Right bottom: Brie de Meaux (France), matured for 3 months in France and one more month by Ms. Kubota.

Don’t worry, next time I will ask her cheese from Italy and elsewhere!

Restaurant Gentil
Address:420-0031 Shizuoka Shi, Gofuku-cho, 2-9-1, Gennan Kairaku building, 2F
Tel.: 054-2547655 (Reservations advisable)
Fax: 054-2210509
Opening hours: 12:00~14:00, 18:00~last orders for meals at 21:30. Bar time 18:00~23:30. Closed on Mondays.
Credit cards OK
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