Akiko
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Posts posted by Akiko
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Simon, every time you talked about this place you only raved about the vodka.... why didn't you tell me how good the food is. You kind of shrugged your shoulders about it and then continued on your monologue about the vodka!
We finally made it to the Baltic the other night and from everyone's descriptions I was expecting a pub type place that served stodgy homestyle Polish food but great vodka
So we arrived with unkempt hair, in track suits... into this very trendy space, trendy photographs, trendy amber chandelier lit from above, and trendy people.
The drinks are excellent, pages of different vodkas and very creative delicious cocktails (ginger vodka, elderflower, ginger ale, and a dash of tobasco). They have vats of their own infused vodkas - cherry, ginger, strawberry, vanilla, etc.
But what no one told me, is that the food is very very good. It's sort of fusion or modern Polish. I started with a beet salad, chris had smoked salmon blini's, excellent. And the mains were really amazing, I had the best venison (lovely rare in the center) I've ever had. Prepared with cherries and honey poached pear.. I wanted to drink the jus it came in, luckily I had ordered a side of mash with sour cream and chives to sop it up with.
Chris had stuffed Rabbit with sauerkraut, which was also excellent
All at a very reasonable price (for London). Mains were between 12-20, and the cocktails sere 4.50-5 pounds.
And this place is very close to where we live... I love it. I'm going to start using it as my dining room...
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I am fine tuning my mother's day brunch for my mum in law... she doesn't like spicy and no mushrooms or exotic ingredients
We are starting the meal with nobu's recipe for "scallops gratin" he does a scallop on its shell with enoki (can't use because of the "no mushroom" rule), spicy mayonnaise, broiled and then nori and ikura sprinkled on top (the ikura, I'm still debating, she may find that too exotic).
My main problem is the spicy mayo... she definitely will not tolerate the spicy mayo. I tried to do this with a citrus... lemon peel and yuzu grated in... but it didn't pack much flavor (why doesn't lemon curdle mayonnaise? Does anyone have a suggestion?
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Have you ever seen the Japanese mushroom shaped chocolate candy? chocolate top with a biscuit-cookie like stem?
I love those.... just as good as pocky!
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Has anyone ever toasted the stuff in the oven?
I was always taught to hold it over the open flame on a stove top for a few seconds, flipping from side to side to "crisp" it... And now I have one of those flat top (very sad) cookers... no gas flame. Could I toast it in the oven before wrapping my maki and onigiri?
My mother always kept her nori in the refrigerator.. but mine seems to be a huge humidifier as well as keep my food cold so I've been leaving it out. Is there a correct philosophy on how to store your sheets of nori?
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Smallworld,
andagi, like french fries are hard to keep crispy... the longer the time from frying to your mouth, the soggier they get. There is a particular vendor in Naha that is famous for being able to make andagi that stays "ever crispy", I'll ask my mom and post its name, I can't remember what it is.
The bakery sells these for omiyage and I'll bring them home with me... all it takes to almost replicate that "just out of the fryer" taste, is to pop it in the toaster!
It's sort of like chocolate chip cookies... never tastes as good as when they are just out of the oven.
then again, there are lots of bad andagi out there...
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margaret,
I once happened to be in a department store in seoul while they were having a special promotion in their food department. A vendor for nori was their packaging fresh packs of their roasted sesame oil salt nori... I bought a few packages and gave them out to my family as presents when I got home..
they still talk about that nori and ask me for more... I can't remember the brand, and think that there was something very special about the fact that I bought it from a vendor who was fresh packing the stuff... my family just can't seem to understand that I'd need to get on a plane and go back to seoul in order to buy them more of it!
It was very hard to stop eating the stuff.
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Jin! no to hijiki?
This was one of my favorite meals as a child. hijiki with rice... prepared the way that probably every japanese family eats it... stir fried in soy and sugar with bits of tofu skin
Iused to love that stuff that comes in a jar too... what's it called? It has some goofy name like gohan no otomodachi...(friend of rice) that's not it, but its something like that.
OOOH I remember, its "gohan desu yo" (It's rice time) I think... is that it?
But these days I like flavored seaweed.. to be eaten with or without rice and seaweed salad... the mixed kind that comes in the package dried.
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I'm in, as is Chris, please... so that's two from our family.
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That's a great website Torakris, my mom happens to be in Okinawa right now... and I'm tempted to see what she can bring home and keep for when I visit her this Easter! (home is Chicago, I live in England now).
I wonder what Customs will let her bring over the borders? She usually brings andagi and puts it in the freezer for me.. and kurozato which I hate but they insist is good for you... she used to bring sugar cane which I'm sure is illegal (you can't bring plants across borders can you?) and now that American airports use those cute little beagles, I'm sure they'd find her out.
green citris fruit.. what could that be? Whenever I'm there we eat... giant grapefruit, tiny bananas - monkey bananas, papaya, and or mango.... but I have no idea what this green citris fruit is.
Have you been to the market in Naha? Fun to bring western friends and show them the strange and curious things!
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Creamy morel sauce on pasta... mmmmm, I used to work at a restaurant where they made a dish where they made sauce from the morels and heavy cream, as well as chunks of morels, on wagon wheel pasta...this dish smelled absolutely amazing and tasted just as good.
Although, I only once was the lucky soul who got to clean those little things and I still have nightmares... bugs really like those little crevices...
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WAH!!
chaos has struck, I most certainly won't be coming out of any meeting at a normal time tonight... so I'll be eating horrible sandwiches that they'll have ordered in for us instead of a lovely meal with all of you.
You must tell all about it tomorrow... so I can drool over the meal...
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OOOH! ME!
well, at least maybe. I have a meeting that evening that may go over long... but if it goes as scheduled, can I come? -
Have you ever had Andagi? Deep fried little balls (like donut holes, kind of)... they are the best, although I prefer them made with white sugar rather than the traditional black - kurosato that Okinawa is famous for. They are crisp on the outside, dense, yet fluffy on the inside... and wonderfully greasy!
My grandmother likes to experiment with these. she'll put things in the center.. chocolate chips, raisins... and once tuna fish
In my humble opinion she makes the best, the home made ones are often done with a tail (professionals will look down their noses at anything but a perfectly round one as this is a sign of technique). My gran's are made with the tail and that part is super crunchy. Makes for a good textural difference.
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Jon,
that's hysterical.
What do you have against brussel sprouts?
Akiko
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Soba, my family comes from a little Island on the most southern point of japan - Okinawa... where the culture is this hybrid of China and Japan (although Japan doesn't like to admit it... Okinawa was probably much closer in culture to China than Japan before they were taken over by Japan). Anyways, bitter melon stir fried with pork in all sorts of combinations ought to be the national dish... I can't think of anything more Okinawan... unless its andagi (donut holes type things, kind of fritter like)... or maybe yellow noodle ramen (these things are probably are all actually chinese).
blech, bittermelon, I WANT to like it because it ought to be refreshing and it's so... a reminder of my family and home... but I don't... its too bitter!
I'll make you some though! I'm convinced I make very good bitter melon with tofu, garlic, ginger, and bacon... I just don't care for it!
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Crunch crunch crunch... I love bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts
OOOH I don't really care for bitter melon... although I get perverse enjoyment from serving it to people... kind of like getting someone to try natto... you hardly ever find anyone who likes it the first time, but if you do, they LOVE it and will always remember having had it with you for the first time.
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My best friend's cousin embarked this morning on a month long back packing journey across Europe. The Japanese mother in me wanted to give him one last home cooked meal before he spends the next month surviving on doner kebabs and cheap street food.
I made
Ramen red and green cabbage salad
Grilled macadamia nut, pineapple, pancetta rice balls (yaki onigiri)
chorizo and pickle maki
bulgogi steak strips and spicy (gochujang) bean paste steak strips wrapped in lettuce
I'm looking forward to the leftovers tonight... although the boys (best friend's cousin and my husband) managed to polish off all the steak!
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Don't you think that Japan as a nation in general is more fixated with food than western culture?
When I lived in Japan... I don't think I ever stopped eating, besides the meals themselves, colleagues were constantly passing my desk offerring me snacks, chocolate, candy, pocky, osembei, people constantly bring you tea and offer some small something to eat with it. Or you are meeting friends for tea or coffee or beer and snacks. I just ate, constantly with no breaks! And the amazing thing? I was a good 15-20 pounds lighter when I lived there... how is that possible? I think I need to move back to Japan!
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There is a vegetable that I order in the states that I think is called something like kong shin tsai.... at least that is what I say and I get the right thing (my friend translates it as "hollow vegetable")...
but everytime I say that here in London, I just get blank stares. Is it called something else? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
It is one of my favorites stirfried simply in oil and garlic... maybe a little ginger or chili too.
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Has anyone eaten here?
I've been to have drinks but have never had dinner and am curious....
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Okay,
I grew up eating satoimo... which I don't like because of the slimy sort of texture (but I love natto.. go figure) and I also grew up eating something Hawaiian called Poi.
And if you ask the Japanese what Satoimo is, they will say Taro.
And if you ask the Hawaiians what Poi is, they will say Taro.
BUT satoimo is not Poi and Poi is not Satoimo.... at least I can't imagine that they are the same things... they taste so different!
Can anyone explain?
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I do use furikake as a marinade... but for sashimi, its a common ingredient in Poke (hawaiian sashimi salad kind of thing).
Yummy a little maguro or salmon chopped into bite size pieces, some seaweed salad, a little soy sauce, sesame oil, red chilis (if you like spicy), green onions, and some furikake. Very good with rice.
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Mushi-pan
I love these things... they manage to be light and have a richness at the same time. As a texture fanatic, I'd always have to restrain myself from pushing my finger into the ones on the shelf! (think of the old lady in Tampopo... that's me... although I'm really not that old, I just happen to like textures!)
Does anyone have a recipe for this? I like the variations (green tea, coffee flavoured) but my favorite is the traditional custard.
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Nina, its easy, Come visit our side of the pond!
The Baltic
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining
Posted
Try the venison!