Cooking at home

My father was a very good cook and I have many memories of him cooking and baking. Yes, baking! He made great scones, cakes, biscuits (cookies), pies, etc.

But one thing I had almost forgotten is that he rarely used pre-packaged foods or seasonings. I guess one reason is that there were not so many choices 30 years ago, and another was that my father had more time to cook.

I've been trying to make more of my own foods from scratch. (That is, from the beginning.) Here are some examples:








Gyoza dumplings and scones. Actually, I bought the gyoza wraps (kawa) so I didn't make them 'from scratch'! ;)








Simple pizza plus a cinnamon brown sugar bun made with the left-over pizza dough. I divided the topping into thirds - 1/3 was tomato paste, fresh basil and mozarella cheese; next tomoato paste onions, eggplant, anchovies and cheese; last tomato paste lotus root (renkon) and cheese. Lotus root is really delicious on pizza!


Pumpkin muffins cooked in the barbeque. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I've also cooked bread in the BBQ because mine has a lid so it becomes like an oven.




And lastly, I bought chicken bones from Marugen Meat to make my own chicken stock. The chicken is brand name chicken from Iwate and tastes great! I didn't add any salt or other seasonings, but put in one large onion and half a carrot. I simmered it for about 1 hour, skimmed the skum (aku) off the top, let it cool, then put it in the freezer.

This stock tastes WONDERFUL and was so cheap! I bought two chicken carcasses (gara) at 157 yen each. The onion was grown by my mother-in-law and the carrot was from Polan. Now I have about 2 liters of stock in my freezer to use for soups, curries, etc.

What do you drink?

What do you usually drink? For the past 3 months or so I have only been drinking:

1. water

2. tea/coffee (tea is English/barley/green/herb) (coffee is Starbucks beans)

3. milk

4. wine (1/4 glass about once a week!)

5. aojiru (kale/barley grass)



Now I never buy juice from the supermarket or any kind of soda drinks. I decided they are unhealthy and too expensive. Yes, I know pure orange juice seems healthy, but how can it be kept in a carton for two or three weeks and not go bad? Hmmm, I wonder what 'pure' OJ really is??? Anyway, eating a whole orange is cheaper and better - you get lots of fiber too! :)



My other decision was to only buy expensive milk. There are so many news stories about the strange foods and medicines that farmers give cows! And I also want to know how milk can be kept in a carton for over two weeks?



I buy just three brands of milk, and they all must be drunk within a week. The carton on the left is un-homogenised milk from the POD shop. The middle one is the best choice but the most expensive (almost 400 yen/1 liter) - organic milk from the supermarket in Lala Garden. The one on the right is also un-homogenised from Kasumi supermarket and costs about the same as the POD/POLAN at just under 300 yen. They all taste really nice.



Hah, hah, the money I save on not buying juices or sodas is being spent on milk instead ...



Oh, and by the way, please be careful not to say 'juice' when you mean other kinds of soft drinks like soda. 'Juice' is only the juice of fruits and vegetables. Cola isn't juice!