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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Wednesday 30 April 2008

Flutterings..

This post is not related to food, travel or the usual things I write about, but I was so excited to feel the faint sensation of the baby's movements in my lower belly that I could not resist sharing it on my online journal! I didn't expect to feel any movements this early (I am only 16 weeks along) and I'm looking forward to feeling more pronounced movements later on as the baby grows :)

My previously flat tummy is no longer flat, instead it always looks like I just ate a huge meal. So far I've put on only about 1.5 kg more than my pre-pregnancy weight, so I still look relatively normal but after a pig-out session and a boob job :P

Tuesday 29 April 2008

Tom Yum & Thai @ Tinun, Tokyo

I don't profess to be a fan of Thai food, nor did I eat at the many Thai restaurants available in Perth when we were still living there. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike Thai food - Thai cuisine shares similarity to some of the Malaysian dishes, but I consider Thai food to be the inferior cousin of the two (for many reasons not worth going into right now). I do like Tom Yum Noodles (characteristically spicy and sour), which originally came from Thailand but is quite readily available in Penang and Langkawi and consequently in many Malaysian restaurants (in other countries) specialising in Penang-style food. Thai restaurants are quite prolific in Japan, and it seems that the sweetness and mildness of many Thai dishes are quite popular with the Japanese. Unfortunately, Malaysian restaurants are a rarity even in a big city like Tokyo, and occassionally I have to resort to satisfying my cravings for Malaysian food in a Thai restaurant. Usually I'm disappointed because the dishes are too sweet, too mild, or just doesn't satisfy my tastebuds which desires something more robust and spicy. (Chao Thai in Shibuya is one example of a disappointing Thai dining experience. A second visit there a few months later only further soured my opinion of that place.)

Tinun Noodle House in Ikebukuro is a casual dining place located on the restaurant (7th) floor of the Metropolitan Plaza, and the place sits only about 30 so it gets packed full during the peak lunch and dinner time. Some of the waitstaff are Thai, and most of the staff speaks English. The menu is not only limited to noodles, and includes Thai, Vietnamese, rice (e.g Chicken Rice) and even some pasta dishes. Not exactly an authentic Thai-only diner, but they do serve pretty good Tom Yum noodles, for which you can choose three types of noodles: the yellow ramen-style noodles, the thin rice noodles used for Vietnamese Phở noodles (not to be confused with rice vermicelli) and the wide rice noodles similar to Kuey Teow which is also used in the popular Thai noodle dish, Pad Thai. If you order noodles, you're handed a paper 'bib' to wear so that you won't get noodle broth all over your clothes when you eat (the same one my dad wore when we went to an udon place in Kyoto on their visit to Japan last March). You kinda feel silly wearing the bib until you look around and see the stylishly-dressed young women eating noodles also wearing them, then you don't feel so bad. The noodle servings are huge and I cannot finish a bowl on my own - I'd needed help with finishing my order of noodles on two occassions.

I've visited Tinun in Ikebukuro three times over the past six months and I'm quite satisfied with the Tom Yum noodles which I think has the right balance of spicy and sour. My friend Toni (also my Lifegroup leader) who introduced me to the place said that this is her favourite noodle place in Tokyo. She always orders the Phở at every visit, which she tells me is almost every week when she comes here on date night with her fiance. When Kim came to Tokyo for a visit during spring vacation last month, I brought her to Tinun since she is a huge fan of Thai food. I love eating out with her because unlike me, she is an easy-to-please foodie, and she loved the Thai noodles and other dishes we ordered. The photos presented here were taken then with Kim's keitai (mobile phone) as I didn't have my camera with me. She kindly emailed the photos to me last week for me to use in my online journal. For starters, we had Nama Harumaki (fresh springrolls). At the time I suffered from occasional nausea from the so-called morning sickness (such a misnomer because it strikes at any time of the day!), and being cautious with what I ate to avoid triggering the nausea, I went for something mild and ordered Chicken Phở. Kim ordered the Prawn Tom Yum Noodles, and we shared a plate of Cellophane Noodle Salad. Everything was pretty good, and Kim was a very happy girl. We also had some Yam Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream for dessert which I forgot to take a shot of.

Nama Harumaki (fresh springrolls):


Chicken Pho and Prawn Tom Yum Noodles:


Noodle Salad:


On Saturday, since we had to be in Ikebukuro for some errands, Rob and I ate lunch at Tinun. We ordered some Nama Harumaki for ~600yen (~AU$6), which contained fresh vegetables and came with two dipping sauces: sweet chilli sauce and a peanut sauce (Rob said the peanut sauce tasted pineapple-y). I ordered the Deluxe Tom Yum (~1000yen or AU$10) with the kuey teow noodles, and it came with all the toppings available (a slice of roast pork, a couple of wonton dumplings, a prawn and an egg). It was pretty good, and a good value considering that the noodles with only one topping costs about 800yen (I know for a fact that the tom yum with prawn comes with only one prawn). The Tom Yum this time had a pretty spicy kick, much to the delight of my tastebuds. Rob's order was the Thai Green Curry (~1000yen) which had chicken and zucchini pieces in it and came with a serve of long-grain jasmine rice. Seeing long-grain jasmine rice in Japan is a rare sight indeed and Rob just had to taste some of the plain rice on its own before putting the curry on it. The curry was very mild (as green curries usually are), coconut-y and a touch sweet. It was tasty but I do prefer my curries very spicy and very savoury. Rob is more familiar with the taste of Thai green curries, and he liked this one very much. No photos since I already had taken photos of the food previously.

This is a good casual place to have some tasty and oh-so-filling noodles. And it's so good to be eating out again after that awful encounter with the gastro bug.

Friday 25 April 2008

Fried Beehoon

I'm not being lovingly biased nor abusing the use of superlatives when I say that my mum cooks the best Fried Beehoon (aka rice vermicelli). At our family church in Perth, my mum's fried beehoon is one of the most requested homecooked dishes for potluck get-togethers. Rob is always hanging out to eat my mum's fried beehoon whenever we visit my parents, and I daresay that my mum's fried beehoon is his favourite of my mum's cooking. Indeed, all other beehoon always pale in comparison to the ones my mum makes, whether they be homecooked or store/restaurant-made. Many have requested the recipe, and her answer is always the same - she doesn't have a recipe. Like most of my mum's cooking, there is no hard recipe that she uses for her fried beehoon. Everything is in her head, and quantities of ingredients are never measured out (unless she's baking a cake), instead they are estimated through years of experience.

I recently requested from her the method of how she cooks this noodle, and I've estimated quantities based on her description. So just like my curry is a wannabe version of my mum's, my fried beehoon is not really like my mum's well-loved fried beehoon. Perhaps partly because I did not stick very well to the "use plenty of oil" rule which my mum insists is necessary to keep the noodles moist. However, upon taste-testing, I believe I have sufficiently made up for that with extra chicken stock. In addition, I use more vegetables and protein to make this a healthy and balanced one-dish meal.

This is my first run, and I hope to improve with further tries. Unfortunately I cannot post the recipe publicly because my mum has expressly requested me not to distribute what she told me to others. All I can leave you is this sorry-looking shot of the fried beehoon I just made - presentation and plating food prettily is not my forte. As long as it tastes good...

Saturday 19 April 2008

A bad encounter with gastro

There is a reason why I've been out of action from my journal for a week. Last Thursday, I caught some tummy bug. I don't often get sick, and the last time I had bad food poisoning was a few years ago (contracted just before a flight, making for a very unpleasant journey), which I recovered from within a day or two by just drinking clear fluids and starving the bad tummy bug. I was back to eating normal food within 48 hours of falling ill. This time, however, I got so weak that I was almost completely bedridden on Saturday and Sunday. Lack of food meant that my stomach didn't feel too bad after the first 24hours, but it also meant zero energy to do anything other than sleep. It really sucked that I spent most of the weekend in bed, but on the other hand I was glad that it was the weekend because it meant that Rob was home to take care of me.

Rob was amazing and really looked after me, doing the grocery shopping, stumbling around the unfamiliar territory of the kitchen to cook and ensuring that I drank enough fluids. I was on my own on Monday when Rob went to work, but I was still so weak that I didn't cope very well by myself, so he took the day off work on Tuesday to look after me. I went out for the first time in 5 days on Tuesday afternoon when Rob took me out for some sunshine and fresh air, but we only walked for 5 minutes before I was tired and had to head back home. I'm getting better, and was out for the whole day yesterday to do my lessons and go to the clinic for a check-up. I lost about 2kgs in 3 days, and since I am almost 15 weeks pregnant, I was really worried about the unborn baby. The check up yesterday revealed that the baby is doing fine, perhaps even better than me, which was a tremendous relief and load of my mind. I'm a pretty healthy person, blessed with good health and also conscientious about living a healthy lifestyle, so I have never been this ill and weak in my life. I guess being pregnant has changed how well my body recovers from illnesses (baby is put priority before mother's health).

(By the way, Rob and I are expecting our first baby due in October!)

In this recovery period, I've been eating simple-to-digest food like rice porridge (congee). Rice porridge is perhaps my favourite comfort food. My mum would sometimes cook porridge (different kinds like chicken, pork, fish or plain porridge with sides) on weekends for lunch because it's really easy to prepare, delicious and nutritious. In Japan, rice congee is known as okayu, but unlike the Chinese culture where it is common to eat congee for breakfast or lunch, okayu is almost exclusively given to the sick and to babies because it is easy to eat and digest. Simple to make, delicious, nutritious and easy on unsettled stomach - I've been happy to eat porridge for dinner these past few days!

Chicken porridge:

Saturday 12 April 2008

Dimsum @ Hong Kong Tea House, Tokyo

I've often despaired over the lack of good authentic Chinese food in Japan. So when my friend Shan, who is also a Chinese Aussie, raved about the dimsum that she'd had at Hong Kong Tea House in Roppongi Hills, I got excited. Now, as much as Rob and I hate joining the throngs of gaijins (foreigners) in Roppongi simply because of the facts that a) it is gaijin-central and b) we hate following the crowd, the Hills is a fairly good place to eat non-Japanese food. Our experiences at Roy's Hawaiian and Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier have been pretty good, so HK Tea House held good promises just on virtue of its location. In addition, the food at HK Tea House are prepared and cooked by Hong Kong chefs, so I knew that at least we would be eating the real deal.

For lunch, we had three choices: all-you-can-eat-dimsum buffet for 3200yen (~AU$32), lunch set menus for 1500yen (~AU$15) or a-la-carte dimsum with prices ranging from 600yen to 1000yen (~AU$6 to AU$10). It is pretty pricey for dimsum (we are used to paying no more than AU$15 per person to get our fill of damn good dimsum in Perth), but so far we've yet to be disappointed with an expensive meal in Japan. In fact, my top two favourite Japan food experiences were the most expensive (but most excellent) in our dining experiences: Mametora in Gion, Kyoto and Yonemura in Ginza, Tokyo.

Back to dim sum. When we arrived for lunch on Sunday, we'd originally planned to go for the a-la-carte dimsum which would prevent us from over-indulging. However, we changed our minds since we decided that the buffet option was more cost effective. Now, the thing about most Japanese-style buffet is that unlike Western-style buffets which are all pre-cooked and laid out on a spread for you to pick and eat as you like, in Japan you order what you want, however many times you want, and the food is freshly prepared and served to you at the table. That's great, because you get the best of both worlds of eating as much as you want of freshly cooked food. This practice highlights Japanese high standards of food preparation and hygiene, one of the reasons why it is safe for pregnant women to eat sushi and raw fish in Japan.

The food was good and tasted authentic, but we disappointed ourselves by only ordering 13 dishes - my friend Shan and her husband ordered 21 dishes between the two of them! Even with only 13 dishes, we ate more than the worth of what we'd paid. Dishes included steamed pork and shrimp dumplings, deep fried glutinous meat dumpling, deep fried yam, har cheong (prawn rice rolls) and egg tarts. The savouries were mostly good with only one or two that didn't fare very well with our tastebuds. We ordered egg tarts and mango pudding for sweets, two of our favourite dimsum desserts (unfortunately they didn't have taufufar which is super-soft silky tofu in sweet syrup), but we were quite disappointed with them. The egg tart was too sweet with slightly undercooked pastry, and the mango pudding was only mango jelly in milk.

Here are a few shots of the yummy dishes we ordered (unfortunately lighting was pretty bad in the restaurant, and the table was backlit orange so the shots didn't turn out very well).





Overall, it was a pretty good dining experience. We've been craving for some dimsum for a long time now (we didn't have the time nor the opportunity to eat dimsum on our last trip to Perth a couple of months ago), so it's good to know that there is somewhere we can go to for decent dimsum.

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier, Ginza

After our tofu lunch on Friday, we headed to Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier in Ginza. This is a 4-storey establishment with a chocolate cafe and an ice cream cafe. We wanted to sit in the chocolate cafe, but we'd have to wait a long time to sit all 6 of us together, so we ended up in the ice cream cafe instead. Pierre Marcolini is a Belgian-based chocolatier that manufactures and sells luxury chocolate truffles in Belgium, France, Kuwait, US and Japan. The excluvisity of the name itself gives it reason to price its products so high.

I wanted something light for dessert, but the lightest thing on the menu was two scoops of ice cream. There were more substantial desserts like parfait and ice cream sandwiches. So, I ordered a 2-scoop of chocolate ice cream and mango sorbet (735yen [~AU$7.35]). The chocolate ice cream was really rich and chocolatey - something that Rob would really appreciate - and the mango sorbet was full of mango flavour obviously due to the fact that it was made with actual mango pulp. My friend Shan ordered the Chocolate Ice Cream Cake Sandwich, which consisted of a scoop of chocolate chip ice cream sandwiched between two slices of chocolate cake in a pool of melted chocolate ice cream. It was so rich that Shan could eat less than half of it before giving up. I had a bite to taste and to help Shan, but that was all I could have after finishing my own order of ice cream. It's certainly something to share between two people.

My two scoops of Chocolate Ice Cream & Mango Sorbet; and Shan's Chocolate Ice Cream Cake Sandwich:


Rob loves chocolate and he loves ice cream (his favourite ice cream flavour being chocolate!) so the next day, after a delicious sushi lunch in Tsukiji, Rob and I walked to Ginza to Pierre Marcolini where he enjoyed a scoop of chocolate ice cream (pricey at 630yen [~AU$6.30]).

Monday 7 April 2008

Tofu @ Sasanoyuki, Tokyo

Last Friday, I met up with five girls of egullet for lunch. This is the first time meeting some of the Tokyo-based members, but I hear that this is only the second get-together in Tokyo. We went to Sasanoyuki which is a famous tofu restaurant in Tokyo. I was actually quite excited with our venue choice because I had a great experience with a full tofu course in Kyoto. It was that tofu dinner a couple of years ago introduced me to the wonderful world of Japanese tofu, which is quite a lot more sophisticated with more variety than the Chinese/Malaysian tofu that I grew up with.

Sasanoyuki was established in 1691, and according to this website, they are also tofu suppliers to the Imperial Family. This was certainly looking promising! The interior decor is traditional Japanese, and the staff were also dressed in traditional garments. This restaurant caters also to gaijins (foreigners) as English menus are available. We were seated in a tatami room with a gorgeous window view of a small waterfall garden. The menu offers set course ranging from 2000yen (~AU$20) (only available during lunchtime on weekdays) to 6500yen (~AU$65), as well as a-la-carte tofu dishes with prices ranging from 350yen (~AU$3.50) to 650yen (~AU$6.50). All but one of us ordered the 2000yen course, and Shan ordered the 2600yen course (also another lunch course available any day) which included an additional dish and tofu dessert.

View of the waterfall garden from our table:


The 2000yen set, which is named the Uguisu Set, included:
-two bowls of Ankake Dofu: silky tofu in a thick soy-based sauce and garnished with mustard. We were quite amused when we were given specific instructions by the lovely lady server on the best method to eat this dish: first mix the mustard into the sauce, then divide the tofu piece into four pieces and eat.
-a bowl of Koya Dofu (freeze-dried tofu with a spongy texture that was beautifully flavoured with a sweet soy-based sauce it had absorbed), Koma Dofu (a type of tofu with lots of air bubbles) and Kuro Mame (sweet simmered black beans).
-a little dish of Edamame Dofu: tofu made with the immature green soybeans, garnished with a sliver of takenoko (bamboo shoot) and ikura (salmon roe) and dressed with uni (sea urchin) sauce. I was surprised to find that the uni flavour (which is quite subtle itself) was quite prominent.
-Goma Dofu: sesame tofu, which is not made with soybeans at all. This is my favourite dish of the set (it is, after all, my favourite type of tofu!).
-Hiryuzu: Also known as ganmodoki, this is a deep fried tofu dumpling served in a warm soy-based sauce. Very tasty.
-Nama Dofu: fresh (uncooked?) firm tofu with a soy sauce dip
-The final course, Uzumi Dofu, a type of ochazuke (rice in tea, or in this case, dashi (stock)), with a serving of tsukemono (Japanese pickles). The topping resembled minced meat, but was actually tofu. This was quite delicious, and the tofu topping did a good job of mimicking minced meat.

Clockwise from bottom right - Ankake Dofu; trio dish of Koya Dofu, Koma Dofu and Kuromame; Edamame Dofu; Goma Dofu; Hiryuzu/Ganmodoki; and Nama Dofu:


Close-ups of the trio dish (koya dofu, koma dofu and kuromame) and the Hiryuzu:


Close-up of the Edamame Dofu; and the Uzumi Dofu Ochazuke:


I really enjoyed the meal, and I was surprised at how filling the meal was. I'm glad I ordered the smallest set because I don't think I could have handled any more dishes! Shan's extra dish was a prawn and scallop dumpling and the tofu ice cream - both of which she said were delicious. I will definitely bring Rob here to try the dishes.

Friday 4 April 2008

Visit to Sensoji

Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple. Honestly, I'm not a temple person (as the lack of temple-viewing in the itinerary of our first visit to Kyoto can attest), but Sensoji is one of Tokyo's must-see sights, and since Kim was bringing her visiting friends to see the temple, I decided that we ought to tag along. Incidentally, there was also a mikoshi (portable shrine) festival on last weekend at Sensoji, which, unfortunately for us, meant having to battle people crowd left, right and centre.

It was crowded even from outside the outer gate (given the name Kaminarimon), and the crowd got only thicker as we proceeded towards the temple. I thought temples were supposed to be serene and peaceful - certainly not the case on this day as merchants and shops were set up that day to make a lot of business from tourists.

The outer gate, Kaminarimon; and the (crowded) path leading towards the inner area:


Rob and I were particularly interested in the food stalls along the way, and got separated from the others who had different interests. One of the stalls was selling a cake called Ningyoyaki, which literally translates to "fried dolls" although "baked" would be a better name. The queue was long, and it was a long wait for these popular cakes because the supply (handmade) was running far slower than demand. I'm surprised we stuck around long enough to get a bag of 7 pieces. Watching the guy make these ningyoyaki was mesmerising, but it's obviously a very repetitive and boring job to do.

Starting with an empty mold, the ningyoyaki guy fills a minute amount of batter to the bottom of each mold; then he uses a pastry bag filled with anko and puts a dollop of anko into each mold:


He then spoons a very thin layer of batter on top of the anko dollop (we're amazed at how little batter is used in this cake!), then he shuts the mold and places it on the 'grill' in front of him where three filled mold cases are cooking; he then picks up one of the filled mold (which would have had 5minutes cooking time) and unmolds the finished product:


Waiting in the (long) line for perhaps 20minutes, and finally sinking our teeth into these popular cakes


Were the cakes good? They must've been because Rob polished off 3 while they were still hot. I thought they were a bit too sweet, but then my tastebuds have been a bit off lately (became more sensitive).

After that long distraction, we finally made it to the inner gate (called Hozomon). On the other side of the gate, upon exiting, you can see two huge slippers hung on either side of the gate. Interesting. I wonder what they symbolise.

The path leading towards the inner gate, Hozomon; and the giant slippers on the other side of this gate:


The temple itself wasn't big, but there were a lot of people wafting incense smoke on themselves and praying and worshipping. And inside there were many people offering small change into the well by flinging it long distance all the way from the entrance (like I said it was very crowded). I was too busy worrying about being hit by one of the flying coins to take much notice of anything else inside.

The temple itself, and inside. The people were throwing money into the large well near the front and then praying:


Beside the temple, there was a row of foodstalls selling the usual festival junk food like toffee fruits, takoyaki (fried octopus balls) and chocolate bananas. We had far too much sweet junk, and my body felt icky afterwards.

I was glad when we headed home away from the crowd...

Wednesday 2 April 2008

Mustard Chicken and Potato Stew

This recipe is a stove-top adaptation to my Creamy Mustard Chicken and Mushroom Casserole, using half a can of cream of celery in place of straight cream. I figured that using cream of celery instead of cream would add a bit more flavour without compromising on the length of cooking time. It's such a simple and straightforward recipe, which made it even better when it turned out quite well. Rob really liked it. The potatoes in this dish makes this a nearly complete meal - only vegetables (eg salad or stirfried vegs) are needed to make a nutritious meal.

The quantity listed was enough for four servings, but the potatoes disappeared between us two in the first meal. Nothing to worry because a few days later, we had the leftover chicken and gravy with mashed potatoes, and it was delicious (if I might say so myself). Rob makes the yummiest mashed potatoes ever! If you like mustard, add more to taste.

Mustard Chicken and Potato Stew

Ingredients

Olive oil, as needed
600g skinless and boneless chicken breast fillets, each piece cut into thirds
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
500g potatoes, sliced about 5mm thickness
1/2 can condensed cream of celery (I used Campbell's brand, 1 can ~400g)
1 tbsp whole-grained mustard (I used a German brand)
2 cups chicken stock or water or combination
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Brown the chicken in 2 batches with some olive oil in a frypan on high heat and set aside.
2. In a soup or stock pot, cook the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat until soft and the onions are translucent.
3. Add the potatoes, cream of celery, mustard and stock and bring to a simmer.
4. Turn down the heat to low and continue simmering until potatoes are nearly cooked (still crunchy), which will could take between 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the potatoes are not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
5. Add the browned chicken to the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the chicken to cook and absorb the flavours.
6. Season to taste with pepper and salt, then remove from heat.
7. Serve with vegetables for a complete meal.