New Year Eve

We were cleaning our house today! In Japan, it is a custom to clean the house at the end of year and start the new year with a fresh feeling.
Anyway, my husband enjoys cleaning very much so he likes this custom. He was in charge of cleaning the 5 Venetian blinds. He washed them on the clothes line in the garden. I was in charge of washing the two bed rooms, the stairs and windows. Then we cleaned our favourite kitchen appliance - the stove!!!
We were so exhausted, but it is very good feeling.

By the way, the above photo is taken from my old flat in Tokyo. I could see the scenery from my room. It is very nice view, isn't it?

Carry bag

Recently, I have been concentrating on quilting. I have completed 3 projects which were a Christmas tapestry, a pouch and a bag. I made a carry bag for my sister in nine patch pattern. It took 2 weeks to make. I used a sowing machine for piecing together and I quilted the side and bottom with 1.5cm wide quilt lines by hand. My left forefinger was peeling from so much quilting.


At present, I don't need to hurry to make any projects so I feel good, but my quilter friends gave me a lot of scrap fabric so I think I have to start making pouches for them.
I made this cushion in mariners compass pattern that I displayed at a quilt exhibition in my quilting class.

Quiche

We made another quiche. Actually, this is the second time.
It had a good taste this time, but we have not perfected the recipe. When we find the best recipe, we will blog it!! We used bacon, onion, emental cheese, tomato and olives in the filling. The method of preparing of the pastry is very well explain in a book called The science of cooking by Peter Barham. He explains all the science behind strange steps of short crust pastry preparation.

Hamburgers

I cooked Hamburgers today. Normally, I don't cook mince meat because mince meat needs preparations such as kneading and mixing. I like cooking, but when I am short of time, I prefer to cook chicken or pork. Anyway, hamburgers were very juicy and delicious. My husband cooked mash potato and broccoli with garlic and soy sauce.

Baked cheesecake

I made baked cheesecake. It was a bit hard to control the temprature of the oven.
It was a little over cooked on the top, but taste was OK.
I will make it again on Christmas day.

Roast Chicken

We cooked roast chicken in the BBQ. Actually, it was the second time. I haven't shown you the first one because it didn't look so good. ( It was almost totally black!!! , but still tasted good underneath.) If we cook it in the oven, cleaning is a big job so we tried using the BBQ.


We covered the chicken in foil and it took about 1 hour to cook.
It was very tender and delicious. Unfortunately, the skin stuck to the foil. We will try to cook it again. Perhaps it will be better to coat the foil with oil. We cooked potato and pumpkin as well. They took about 45min to cook.

SQUID'S

We tried to find a new restaurant. We went to a seafood restaurant which I had made a note of a while ago. The restaurant has oysters, which are my favourite seafood. I knew there was an oyster happy hour (from 4 to 6:30 pm) when oysters are half price. I didn't know it also was on weekends. When we went there, it was crowded because it was the end of the happy hour. Of course, I ordered 1 dz oysters, but we missed out on the happy hour. The oysters tasted weak, but I still enjoyed them. There were a variety of toppings such as lemon, ketchup, horseradish and Tabasco. My favourite is lemon and Tabasco.


My husband ordered "Grilled Trout Modena Balsamic marinated boneless trout with honeyed pecans and lemon butter, served with herbed polenta and a sauté of spinach, tomato, and garlic" ( yes, it is a very long name.)

The trout was tender and the tomato garlic sauce was quite delicious. The polenta went well with the dish.


I ordered "Pan Seared Salmon with black beans, fresh guacamole, crisp tortillas, roasted squash, and spicy tomato chipotle sauce".

It wasn't as good as I expected, but I ate the oyster so I was quite satisfied with my dinner. They also have lobster and shrimp so we will come back another time.



To finish, we ordered chocolate silk pie. I wondered if it really was a pie because it didn't have a crust. Somehow it tasted like water. Not so good. Maybe next time we will try the creme brulee.





Unfortunately, we haven't found the best seafood restaurant because they adulterate the taste of the fish. It looks like it will be difficult to find a restaurant that uses delicate seasoning.

SQUID'S
1201 N Fordham Blvd
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Tel: (919) 942-8757
Fax: (919) 929 0780

Pizza

Pizza is easy to make and delicious. We made a thin crust pizza.
It took about an hour and we used tomato sauce, ham, tomato, minced onion, anchovy, capers, olives, cheese and fresh grown basil.

This photo is before it went in the oven. It looked like a lot of cheese. Unfortunately, we didn't have Mozzarella so we used Emmental which was OK, but it wasn't stringy. Anyway, thin crust was successful so we will make it again.

Christmas Tapestry

I made a Christmas Tapestry by needlework and quilting.
I used to go to quilt lesson with my friend in Japan.
I haven't made a tapestry recently so I wanted to try it.
It is not a difficult pattern so I sewed it while watching TV… :-)

It took about a month because I sometimes lost my concentration.
I would like to buy some small Christmas ornaments and add them.

I am going to hang this tapestry on the front door.

Potato Gratin

I made a potato gratin. It was a first time I have cooked it. I didn't have enough Gruyere cheese so I also used Parmigiano. It tasted good, but the cheese wasn't stringy. I would like to use Gruyere, Emmental or Raclette next time. We had sautéd zucchini, tomato with garlic and carrot salad for side dishes.

*** recipe ***
(Serves 4 - 6)

• 900g potatoes
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 1/210 g butter (2 teaspoons)
• salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg
• 1 cup grated Swiss cheese
• 2 and 1/4 cups milk, 1 cup heavy cream

1. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.
2. Rub the cut surface of the garlic clove over the inside of an ovenproof dish and grease the dish with 1 teaspoons butter.
3. Layer the potato slices in the dish, overlapping them like scales.
4. Season each layer sparingly with salt and pepper.
5. Finish by seasoning with nutmeg.
6. Sprinkle the cheese over the top.
7. Pour in the milk and cream, taking care that the liquid only just covers the potatoes and does not come too close to the top of the dish.
8. Dot the potatoes with the remaining butter and bake at 350F for 50 - 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked and the top browned.
   

I think it would be nice to add bacon and tomato. Also, a mixture of Gruyere and Emmental would be nice!!!

Gateau au chocolat

I made a Gateau au chocolat today. I bought a recipe book in 1990 and I haven't made anything from it at all.
I've found it during our moving.
My mum used to make bread, cookies and pound cakes when I was child. When I moved to US, she gave me all her cooking tools.
Recently, I bought a hand blender which is very useful to blend, chop and mix ingredients. I really wanted to use it so I chose to make gateau au chocolat which gets its volume from meringue.
As soon as I made a peak of meringue, I mixed the chocolate cream gently and put it into the oven. I think this part is the most important. If the mixture is left to long or handle too hard, the cake will turn out flat. Anyway, it looked OK and tasted good so I think it worked. I served it with our favourite black walnut ice cream and whipped cream!!!

San Jose Museum of Quilt & Textile

Quilting is one of my hobbies. I found a quilt museum in San Jose.
We made a plan to go there, but my husband was very busy so I decided to go there by myself. It meant I had to use public transportation and foot power.
Anyway, I asked the receptionist at the hotel and she told me how to get there. She gave me the wrong information, but I managed to get there at last. I really felt San Jose area especially is a car based society. Our town, Carrboro, is quite friendly to people and I never feel a need for a car.

In the museum, there are not many quilts but I found my favourite tapestry.
It was amazing. It is like a picture, but many fabrics are used to make light and shadow. It was made by appliqué and machine quilting.
Also, quilt books are sold and all books are 35% discount!!! I found a book which shows how to make patterns using a sowing machine. I've tried to use a sowing machine before, but I am not good at using it. I really want to learn how to use it because if I can, it won't be a dream to make a big tapestry or bed cover.

Banana Leaf

We went to Banana Leaf near our hotel for dinner. It has Malaysian and Thai cuisine. By the time we got there, it was already crowded.
The waitress let us to sit immediately at the bar counter and we did because we were very hungry!!! We ordered a small Tom Yam Soup, Pahd Thai, Shrimp with garlic, chilli and tomato sauce. All the dishes were very tasty. Also, the waiter was very friendly. He is going to travel to Japan in January so he asked us many questions about Japan such as where he should go or what he should eat. :-) He wants to go hiking up Mt. Fuji, but hiking isn't officially allowed in winter. He still wanted to know. We managed to eat dishes and he asked us about dessert, but we declined because we were so full!!! However, he placed dessert spoons in front of us. We wondered why he did that. Anyway, we gave him a lot of information. Suddenly, he served Mango Ice Cream & Deep-fried Banana which was very nice surprise to us.

In n Out

I went to In n Out at lunch. It seems to be a very popular hamburger place on the west coast.
I was quite surprised there are only 3 kinds of hamburgers which are double-double hamburgers, cheese burgers and original hamburgers. I ordered an original burger, chips and vanilla shake. They cooked the hamburger as soon as I ordered it. It has a very simple taste and is a small size which is good. However, I prefer Mos Burger, which is also made with fresh ingredients after the customer has ordered. There are a variety of menus. If you go to Japan, please try it… It is very tasty and a good hamburger shop.

San Francisco

We went to San Francisco on Sunday. It was really nice weather.
It took about 1 hour to drive from San Jose. I don't know much about San Francisco, but it seems to be very famous for its steep hills.
We went sightseeing to places such as Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard street .
There are a lot of sea lions in residence at Pier 39 and they are very smelly, but it is interesting to see their behaviour. Sometimes they push each other off the pontoon and into the water. From Pier 39 we also saw Alcatraz in the bay. We saw a beautiful sunset and the Golden Gate Bridge from Sea cliff.
To finish the day, we went to Lombard Street which is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of tight hairpin turns. Some tourists were showing off by racing their car down the street. In spring, there are many flowers along the street, but it is not good area to live because there are many tourists in all seasons.

San Jose

We came to San Jose because my husband will take a training for a week. San Jose is one of the　city of Silicon Valley. There are many IT companies around there such as Oracle, Ebay, SAP and Google. Stanford University is located in Pal Alto, which is next to San Jose.
We saw a beautiful fresco on the wall of church. There are some Auguste Rodin's famous bronze sculptures in University.
I am very interested in sculpture because my great uncle Kanji Yo was sculptor ,who was influenced by European techniques. His sculptures can see at the national museum of modern art in Tokyo.

Sense of humour

One of my husband's colleagues went on paternity leave last week. His colleagues wrapped his cube and everything in it with foil...! It is quite amazing. What do you think???

Hot and spicy chicken with lemon grass

We like Asian dishes such as Thai and Vietnamese.
My husband has many recipe books and we cooked one of the new recipe. It is very Asian taste, which we really wanted to cook.

(recipe)

• cornstarch ... 1 teaspoon
• water ... 3 tablespoons
• skinless boneless chicken breast ... 1 pound (0.5cm thick and 3cm long)
• olive oil ... 3 tablespoon
• whole dried chillies ... 10 pcs or more (optional)
• lemon grass ... 1/4 cup (minced) preferably fresh
• garlic ... 1 table spoon ( minced)
• sugar ... 2 tablespoon
• chilli paste ... 1 table spoon or more (optional)
• small fresh red chilli ... 1 pc ( thinly sliced)
• chicken stocks ... 1/2 cup
• fish sauce ... 1 tablespoon
• salt ... 1/4 teaspoon
• onion ... 1/2 (sliced into thin wedges)
• carrot ... 1 cup ( julienne, blanch then soak in ice water)
• Fresh ciantro ... to taste
  

1. Combine cornstarch and water in a large mixing bowl until well blended. Add the chicken, making sure it is well coated.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick fry pan over low heat. Add the dried chillies and cook until they puff up and are slightly brown (not black). About 10 seconds.
   Remove, drain on paper towels, and aside.
3. Increase the heat to high and add the lemon grass, garlic, sugar, chill paste and fresh chill until fragrant, about 1 minute. ( The sauce is exquisite when the sugar is slightly caramelized.) Add the chicken, and using chopsticks or a spatula, stir to separate. Cook until outside of chicken pieces begin to turn white, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat if the pan starts to burn. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, salt, onion, carrots and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the reserved chillies, garnish with the cilantro, and serve immediately.

I think adding sugar and fish sauce to create Asian flavour. I hesitated to add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce at first but this is quite important!!! Enjoy cooking Asian food....

Saturday

We went to PANERA, which is one of our favorite cafes for brunch on Saturday.
We ordered tuscan chicken sandwichs and french onion soup in a bread bowl. Tuscan chicken sandwiches were very yummy!!! The French onion soup had a lots of melted cheese which made it very tasty. PANERA is always crowded - it is very popular and the food is good.

PANERA
Franklin Street
213 West Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 929-9189 | phone

We went to Claude Monet Exhibition at North Carolina Museum of Art. Claude Monet is one of the artists I admire most. There were many paintings which I had not seen before. It might have been a collection of his minor works.
Exhibtion place was fairly small, which made it crowded and difficult to stand back from paintings.

Claude Monet lived in Normandy at the end of his life. He loved his garden and put a lot of work. He had a gardener who looked after his pond full time. He got his inspiration for the garden design from Japanese gardens.
Also, he collected Japanese ukiyo-e (wood block prints) especially Shigemasa and Hokusai's works. Their tecniques are reflected in his "water lilies series".

I went to Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris a long time ago. In the musee is Monet grandest series of water lilies paintings. There are four paintings in a round room each one depicting each season. When I saw them, I was overwhelmed.
We would like to go to Monet's garden in Normandy one day.

Japanese Food Market

We've found a Japanese food market in Cary. It takes about 30 min to get there by car from our house. There are many "real" Japanese ingredients and nice Californian rice. The owner is also Japanese who keeps the shop neat and tidy. We bought Japanese Sake for cooking, rice and flour for Japanese pan cake, which is called Okonomiyaki. The owner gave us free, hand made sushi roll and Japanese sweets. It seems that she gives those things only on weekends.
Until we found the Japanese food market, my sister used to send Japanese ingredients to us almost every month. (She is very kind!)

When I lived in the UK for a couple of years, I didn't fancy Japanese food. I liked Italian because it was easy to cook, but I think my taste has changed. Also, my husband likes Japanese food, especially Japanese sweets.

Toyo Shokuhin & Gifts
748 East Chatham St.,
Suite L, Cary

Autumn Leaves

It is very pretty, isn't it? When I was in Japan, it was quite difficult to see nice autumn leaves in Tokyo.
I had to go to outside Tokyo but now it is around me!!!
There are many trees and the leaves have changed different colours such as red, yellow and brown.
We like living in Carrboro, which is a small town, because there are nice environs and it is very convenient.

Halloween Night

Today is Halloween!!! There are many carved pumpkins with candles inside in front of people's entrances.
Lots of happy faces, sad faces, scared faces - even a spider and a cat.
Children were running around in costumes saying "trick or treat". Some houses had carved 6 or 7 pumpkins. It seemed to be a big festival in America.

My husband got a snack bag from his boss at the office. His boss gave snack bags to each colleagues. How sweet it is!!!
Most of colleagues returned home because their children waited for dads....

Lemon Rosemary Bread

We found our favourite bread - it's called Lemon Rosemary Bread and it comes from Weaver Market. We can only get it on the weekend. Sometimes we missed out on Saturday so we decided to order it on Friday's!!!
It is really good harmony of Lemon & Rosemary....