Harumi Kurihara :: The Japanese Martha Stewart

I'm not shy about my love for Martha Stewart so when I heard about Harumi Kurihara, I couldn't wait to learn more about her. She is often referred to as Japan's Martha Stewart. She is a self-taught cook from Shimoda, and she specializes in classic Japanese homestyle cooking. She was encouraged by her TV anchorman husband to write a book, so she did, and now has numerous successful cookbooks, a magazine and a cooking and clothing line. Impressive! I got one of her English cookbooks (Everyday Harumi) for my birthday and couldn't wait to try out the recipes. I have been trying out simple Japanese dishes for the past few months so I'm not a total Japanese cooking beginner. In fact, I can probably whip up Japanese food better than I can bust out Vietnamese. FOR SHAME!!

Japanese cooking is very simple. Once you stock your kitchen with a few key ingredients (rice vinegar, soy sauce, sake, miso and mirin) you can make tons of healthy, tasty and easy dishes. There is a great website called Just Hungry that teaches awesome Japanese recipes and the stories behind them. Some of my favorites from Just Hungry have been the Soy Sauce and Butter New Potatoes (addicting!) and the Miso Pork. I have been a little frustrated trying to make recipes out of my American cookbooks because I can't find the right ingredients here in Japan but now that I am experimenting with Harumi's book, things have gotten much easier.

My first stab at her book was the Ginger Pork over a bed of Bok Choy and a side of Sesame Dressed Green Beans. The pork was as simple as mixing 4 ingredients for the marinade, dipping the sliced pork in the marinade and pan frying it for 2 minutes. You let the pork rest on the stir fried bok choy, and the juices from the pork dress the veggies. SO YUM. Everything turned out great and I have been eating leftovers for days. If you're in a cooking rut, try cooking some Japanese dishes! They're very well balanced and it's fun to try something new in the kitchen.

My Lunch :: October 21st (Birthday Edition) :: La Boutique de Joel Robuchon

Brie, cracked pepper and jambon baguette from La Boutique de Joel Robuchon. One of my favorite things to do in Tokyo is browse around Roppongi Hills after stuffing my face at La Boutiqe which is a stress free and economical way to try some of "the chef of the century's" food.

La Boutique de Joel Robuchon
Roppongi Hills

American Care Package

Care packages are probably the best things you can get in the mail, especially when you are abroad. Today is my birthday and I was blessed to receive a big box of goodies from home. Cheerios and Cheez-Its aren't sold in Japan, so these are welcome additions to the apartment. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Hokkaido Soft Cream

After my gross lunch today, (see below), I had to get something special to wash away the sadness. My solution? Hokkaido Soft Cream. Hokkaido is Japan's 2nd largest island behind Honshu. It is the big one just north of Honshu. Hokkaido is synonymous with milk and milk related products. I guess the climate up there is good for herding cows, and cows there produce a very creamy tasty milk. People in Tokyo go crazy for Hokkaido Soft Cream. I mean, I have never seen people line up for something like that before but I can totally understand why they do it. Most soft cream in Japan is made with lard or vegetable shortening or something else gross...but not Hokkaido Soft Cream. It is super creamy and clean and in my opinion, the plain milk flavor is the best. Today I got a swirl of Melon and Milk and it was pretty good. So good that that salaryman in the background is staring at my cone.

Hokkaido is also known for their beer. The biggest city in Hokkaido is Sapporo which of course, makes a very famous beer. A few years ago, milk consumption was dropping so a company in Sapporo decided to mix their two biggest exports and create Bilk - Milk Beer. I am hesitant to write about this only because I get a little tired of the "wacky Japan" articles picked up by mainstream international media. (I'm looking at you New York Times!) Yes, there are weird things in Japan (dudes having relationships with dolls and figurines, vegetable flavored chocolate, etc) but most of the weird things only represent only a super tiny portion of the population. Yes, there is a vending machine in Tokyo that sells used ladies underwear, but that is 1 vending machine out of god knows how many in Japan! Ok, I'm just venting now...my point is, those articles are always super entertaining but now that I've moved here, I realize that they probably do more harm than good. Although...this one is a classic.

My Lunch :: Oct 20 :: Le Bilboquet

Croque Monsieur from Le Bilboquet in Akasaka. I had such high hopes for this French staple but it was pretty gnarly. I'm pretty sure the bread was Wonderbread and there was zero butter on it whatsoever. It was mushy and very hard to eat. It will probably do the trick in fueling my run later this afternoon, but I'm going to need to have a snack to wash this taste off my tongue. Blech.

My Lunch :: Oct 19 :: M Cafe de Chaya

Another bento from M Cafe. Sorry, I know it's getting little boring but I think that this will be my last macrobiotic meal for awhile. This bento has various steamed veggies, 2 kinds of rice and soy nuggets. Though the purple rice is vibrant in color, it was pretty bland. It gets its color form azuki beans, which I prefer to have in my sweets. It was fun while it lasted M Cafe!

My Lunch :: October 16 :: Eat Cafe

I skipped out of work after two hours today and decided to take a stroll around my new favorite neighborhood, Daikanyama. Daikanyama is full of cute cafes and I had lunch at Eat Cafe today. Pumpkin soup, a croissant and an iced tea. There are a lot of things in Japan called "pumpkin" but most likely, it's not really going to be pumpkin. It is called kabocha squash and it is similar to pumpkin...but also quite different. Kabocha is yellow on the inside has a dark green edible skin. The texture is more fluffy than pumpkin. You can steam kabocha and it comes out like a steamed yam, so often times you'll get a kabocha mash as a side in your bento.