Dinner & abt jap soy sauce

Blogging tonight’s dinner coz I needed to record the recipe somewhere. 

DISH #1

I’ve never cooked okra for hubby before, same goes for bittergourd. He likes these two which I don’t eat that’s why I hardly cook them. Okra dish cooked with oyster and garlic chilli. Have no idea how it tasted coz not much mushroom left so I let him finished everything. 

 I bought the 4 packs of pork + 1 pack of beef during the promotional period. Usual price is $10/box

DISH #2

Tiring to cook this as I had to individually fried each slice. Hmm….I realised that this meat has the chao-chor-bi smell. Strange, I thought usually japanese make their exported piggies eunuch. 

My third time cooking for them BUT my first time eating this just coz I was on vegetarian the days I cooked for them previously. It’s delicious! I was lazy so threw the dishes in my bowl. I have fried egg white too from che-che’s pasteurised eggs. 

DISH #3

Teriyaki tofu. Again another tedious process. This time using this tofu coz che-che prefers it soft not the momen tofu.

Had to fry each tofu individually with potato starch. The whole time for cooking I was using the tamagoyaki frying pan 😂. Tricky with fried tofu is that it should be done just before serving so tofu remains hot and crispy but you know it’s really impossible as I need to get dinner served at different timing BUT I need to clean my kitchen asap. I can’t have any delay; any of my family members walking through the kitchen and smearing the floor grease to other parts of the house. 

Took Sudachi’s recipe for the teriyaki sauce. I doubled it coz thought maybe lil’ one will like the teriyaki sauce.  Turns out it’s teriyaki soup with tofu 😂, so I really shouldn’t double portion the sauce the next time I cook this. Just like the pork, after frying, I did extra step and soaked the tofu/pork back in the pan with the sauce. 

(Sudachi’s recipe for one portion : 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 2 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sake, 2 tsp sugar and ½ tbsp garlic paste

Recipe calls for koikuchi shoyu but I used our LKK low sodium soy sauce 

******** SOY SAUCE ********

talking about soy sauce … I have a blog entry on it in my draft folder. Drafted since July but as usual it takes me forever to type it down (then I’ll backdate and publish in July 🤭). I’ll combine into this blog.

Difference between koikuchi shoyu and usukuchi soy sauce

, 

A video on how to use these sauces. Click HERE

Types of shoyu. Click HERE

Everything about shoyu. Click HERE

We drove past a soy sauce brewery before. Can’t remember whether it’s when we’re on our way to Kagoshima or Miyazaki, 反正 it was on an ulu stretch of road, I saw the decorative barrels by the roadside. I must have cleared those days photos from my phone so I can’t track back the route now. Other than that, don’t think we came close to any other shoyu brewery. Tamari, a gluten-free and keto friendly version, I saw one well known local miso+tamari shop in GH but I didn’t buy coz they were closed when I walked past 😭. Mie is also famous for tamari. 

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Maybe I should go Meidiya one day and take pics of all the soy sauce and slowly research which is the best. I’m not even sure if their shoyu and our Chinese chio-cheng tastes the same.

Long long long time ago I ever bought soy sauce from Meidiya when I asked a staff for recommendation, it was so saltish!!! I can’t remember what I bought then as I threw it away after using it twice. Not to my taste, and I wouldn’t want my family to eat high sodium soy sauce. 

Che-che’s main carbs

After the failed attempt on 30/8, 不甘愿 must try again.  I froze the eggs this time and look so hopeful I can get it done. Yolk looks good here. The moment I gently cup the rounded with a space in between rice on my hand to this rice, it remain intact and I was so happy. But ……. After that I noticed yolk oozing out from the side. I can’t do this. 

ich möchte

I want to spend Christmas in Germany !!! I want to soak into that enchanting atmosphere.

想当年…… My first experience in Christmas market was in Frankfurt. It was a FRA-JFK flight. 

We went to Berlin (a few markets), Munich (2 different markets for che-che and me) and Nuremberg Christmas markets and Nuremberg’s blew my mind. It was really the bestest of the bestest. 

I think overall coz Nürnberg was the only city I haven’t been to (when I planned the itinerary), everything is so beautiful and the quietest of the lot even though we went only one Christmas market. Haha! I think they only have ONE in the small medieval old town 😀

Haven’t had this

Want eat açai bowl but not in the vicinity. And think of how much sugar I’m introducing. 

Finally, after my frozen banana was meant to be used within the next day or next few days, I finally got to use it seeing my Acai packets has been in the freezer since beginning of this year (?)

1st Sept (Mon) - Froze the cut bananas. Even tho I had deep them cut banana in lemon juice before placing on the plate to freeze. Then bagged it up. Turned brown after the 3rd day. (I wonder how do factories make their frozen banana still so nice looking. Maybe the next time I decide to do it, I should vacumn seal the packet) Despite the yucky colour, it won’t alter the taste at all

Usually I like to use apple juice (oops! Not that healthy) and blend it with strawberries and bananas. Today, I opened 2 packets and used 1/2 cup + less than 1/4 cup of water and the brownish bananas. It’s yummy. 

Although I like Acai, can’t help but think the amount of sugar in this. I tried the unsweetened ones before, it’s quite bitter. Maybe Acai is too hyped up, perhaps just eating blueberries and strawberries on its own is good enough to give me the antioxidants

Tamagotchi - part II

Two weeks since I received my first Tamagotchi and it has died thrice. It’s the 4th I’ve raised from the start 😂. I do better as a mother not a Tamagotchi-mama, at least my kids didn’t die on me 🤣. I did accidentally murdered one tho coz it wasn’t on the screen, so I thought it decomposed and I wasn’t aware. I resetted the tamagotchi by removing the battery and putting it back. It happened in one of the angelgotchi in the next next new baby and I ignored it, it came back on. It went for a walk I read 🤭, so I kindda murdered one by mistake. MURDERER!

A review of this angelgotchi it seems like it dies 💀 faster than the normal tamagotchi as the angelgotchi is the dead tamagotchis, this is what I read. I can’t compare coz the girls’ tamagotchi always never survive long enough 😂. Che-che’s comment after I told her what is angelgotchi was “so lousy. should have bought the Osaka one, so much nicer.”

Nice meh? 

Generally how I take care of all the angelgotchi is to feed it at once, play with it for 2-3 rounds of the game, run one round of ‘toilet checked!’ altho there is no 💩 and lastly praise it a few times. After that I ignore it until I’m free. So if I’m doing housework or busy, it’s basically alone. I don’t pay attention to it praying. My “Deeds” is always low bar coz I don’t have the time to keep my eyes on the gadget. Good thing is this thing sleeps early 😂, and when it wakes up the next day I can’t hear it calling me coz I have my earplug on. 

My angelgotchi only survived until Oyajitenshi 🤣, today I killed Takoten 😂

Pic taken from ilovetamas! Credit given with thanks coz I only kill angelgotchi, I don’t steal 😉

Knuckle pain

Been having this pain on my right pointer, middle and ring knuckles for months now. Press and it’s painful, sometimes it’s painful even if I don’t press on them. Not sure what it is but thought I’m also no longer a young lady. Is it related to any old age problem 😳. arthritis? 

Past few days have been trying

Tried these, can’t even feel anything. Just cooling during application and after that ? feels nothing 

So it’s koyok time. Koyok too big so have to cut into these. So funny. 

No use. If I paste a bigger patch of koyok I get the nice relief, this is prolly too small to feel anything 

put cold water compress. Whole fingers numb 🤣 funny sensation but still painful after that

So it is arthritis? 

I like the sentence “overuse of your hand” means I shouldn’t do anymore housework 😂. It’s quite difficult for me to avoid using my right hand altho I’m left handed, I do use both hands when the other is tired. Need to bend those fingers to hold scrub, vacumn etc.. 

I just try to be conscious and straighten my fingers out. I’ve learnt the art of holding the iron (I use my right hand for ironing) with just the thumb curling under the handle. I hope by doing so, I will use my hand lesser 🤣

Hojicha n matcha

Busy busy again 🤣

20th Sep (Sat)

Bought this hojicha powder I found in Meidiya and tried to make hojicha latte using the same proportion for matcha latte. 

* note : I don’t think this is a good hojicha powder coz found it in baking section 😬

Feel it’s too sweet, maybe coz the nutty taste adds extra sweetness? 

I will consider buying a better hojicha powder as che-che likes hojicha next time, after I have some space in the ‘tea’ cabinet. She bought two huge packs of hojicha from Uji and Nagoya and hasn’t even opened it yet. 

Differences between hojicha and matcha

Matcha is generally considered healthier than Hojicha due to its higher concentration of beneficial compounds like EGCG and L-theanine, which are preserved because the whole leaf is consumed after a prolonged shading process that enriches nutrients and caffeine. Hojicha is still healthy, but the roasting process reduces its antioxidant levels, though it does have lower caffeine and contains pyrazines which may aid digestion and provide a calming effect.

Picture taken from yunomi.life website 

More information from the website, click HERE

Just incase you do not know

21st Sep (Sun)

My stuffs arrived from JPN. Had to replace my wonky weighing scale which has been giving me erratic numbers. I bought a cooking thermometer coz I needed a more accurate water temperature to make matcha, been doing my agar-ation which is not a good idea. Using a wrong temperature for making matcha alters the taste of the pure matcha. Fortunately I haven’t been using that super expensive matcha powder otherwise money down the drain for spoiling the tea. 

BUT ! Whilst cooking the peach gum I recalled there’s a kettle function in the German machine 🤦🏻‍♀️. Means I can boil the water to the desired temperature. It only took slightly less than 5mins to work up to the temp.

This time a little smarter, I did 5 portions in two batches. Lessened the sugar. 

Wanted to make usucha for myself but was so tired and needed to clean the messy kitchen after cooking peach gum. Left the last bit of matcha powder, I will have to open another bottle soon. Before I do that, I’ll have to get a new whisk as I saw some broken prongs 😬. Where did they go? I didn’t swallow any broken prongs at all 🤣 or maybe che-che did. 

Follow the steps, Ms Thermie

First time using Ms Thermie with their step by step guide after owning this for almost 3yrs.It even goes into the weighing scale for you when instructions tell you to put “xx grams of yy”. 

Though I was cooking my third or fourth peach gum dessert

During my free time since I had 45mins for it to slowly cook, I was looking at the recipes. So many things I want to bake and cook, but ……. I only like to daydream. Feel tired just to get down to action. 

The cons of 盛り付け

On Sep 4th, I blogged about 盛り付け. 

Today, I proved that all I needed to wash is one item - the spoon 😂. 

It’s only ..

 100 days to Christmas ! 

Omg! The year is flying by so quickly. 

Probably the year in how many years (?) we are finally in Singapore for Christmas. 

Another day of whisk whisk whisk

We all know that the quality of milk make a difference in taste. So my question is - is there any difference between this よつ葉　

and this milk? 

I thought it doesn’t taste as creamy when I made it with this milk. I bought a small pack to try and also coz I didn’t want to force myself to finish up the carton of 1litre milk, each time each cup I only use 60ml of milk.  

We saw this too in Donki and NTUC. And it’s also よつ葉 but coz it’s difficult to keep it sealed so decided not to buy this to try. Bought back the first よつ葉 milk. 

At che-che’s suggestion, I decided to make a few portions. Made x5 portions which means I had go use 15g of matcha powder. 

Quite a challenge to whisk 5 portions in the chawan 😂, had to split into two portions and whisk. 

Into the fridge

When lil’ one saw that I had prepared matcha latte asked me if I’m going to make one for myself. I offered to make it for her. Only to have requesting “can I have a little bit of sugar?” 

“Who drinks usucha with sugar?”

Made me think how matcha has evolved to keep up with times. People who heard about the benefits of green tea jumped into this matcha bandwagon and make various combinations. Soon you have blueberry matcha latte. Huh? But I cannot blame anyone. Just that why bother to buy expensive good matcha when end of the day you are going to spoil it by adding milk sugar and all? Why bother to drink matcha in all its good benefits when you are adding calories, sugar and fats in your drink? Most matcha latte recipes proportion has more milk than the plain tea itself 😢. 

Matcha in my conservative old fashioned simple mind must be drank on its own. 

🤣🤣 I talk as if I can taste any difference. Haha! 

Honestly I think this is why few generations people die faster or have health problems, cancers etc… In my ah-ma time when food is eaten as it is, no preservatives no enhancers etc..no wonder they tend to live longer than people now. 

Drink more usucha and maybe I can live longer. ✌️

Verlangen nach

Pics from Mr Google

Suddenly craving for currywurst and … 

Yup! I’m still missing Germany. Been 7 years. Missing Christmas Markets where strong glühwein permeate the air. Adults drinking laughing and talking. Oh! How can I forget my gebrannte mandeln ? 

Aw I think I should go down to German Market soon for that short quick immersion even if they only have not that much German and Netherlands products compared to Lidl or Kaufland. I think that will make me happy right? 

Think coz it’s only 15 Mondays nearing Christmas 🎄so I’m starting to get into the Christmassy mood. 

I really need to drop by German Market, I need to get my curry powder. Please take note and I hope I remember to come back and edit my blog to see if I really went to buy just curry powder or I returned back with 10 other rubbish things I don’t need 🤣. 

Coz I needed to find my picture. Found my FB post 11th Feb 2021, it wasn’t the last time I had currywurst prepared at home but certainly I didn’t have this for 2yrs at least. 

Sprinkle with curry powder bought from German Market

CURRY POWDER

Isn’t all curry powder just curry powder and the same? Nope. It’s different. I bought the curry powder from German Market donkey years ago and it tastes different from Indian curry and Japanese curry powder. In terms of ranking the subtle to ‘sweet’ from gentle to extreme I would rank Indian, German followed by Japanese.

This tune

This tune just keeps playing in my head the whole morning, infact it’s just a few notes. All I can remember is che-che singing this song into my phone recording before. Now where is the recording?

The lyrics starts with “first light” but can’t figure what song it was. Thankfully AI is able to capture my humming and turns out it is an NDP 2012 song - Love at first light. Ahh….that makes sense. She was a 10 yr-old 冬菇头 so obliging and self recorded the song herself. 

Not buying this anymore

Finally finished this bottle. I used to like this but after I bought another >>

>> This one

I decided that I prefer this smell more, that’s why in my solo trip I bought the refill pack. Haha! I’m a sucker for cleaning stuffs. Was using both concurrently in different toilets. But I will use up all the Method brand toilet cleaners first before I use this Japanese brand. I left this green bottle 3/4 empty back into the bomb shelter box and stuck a note not to throw the bottle away 😬. 

How long will it take me to finish using all the Method toilet cleaners? I absolutely have no idea coz I have a lot of cleaners in the huge Toyogo box. But it will not stop me from buying the refills for this and other cleaning stuffs I use in my future trips to Japan.

Since when? !

Since when che-che likes kobucha?!

We were eating in Sushiro n che che was telling me she ate pumpkin almost every day whilst she was in Japan. My eyes widened, “since when you like pumpkin?” “Since I was young but you never cooked anymore.” In my impression, I only remember lil’ one likes pumpkin - specifically only Japanese pumpkin. 

Since when she likes pumpkin? Then she mentioned that she liked my pumpkin porridge last time. I thought it was just lil’ one? Then lil’ one had to add salt to the wound “so we only liked your pumpkin porridge, egg porridge and med hoon kueh. The rest of your cooking ...”  Am i supposed to be happy that they liked one more dish? Hey! She missed out my fried rice. 

That means I will  have to go back to japanese mart to buy the frozen ones. Good! Now I have one more thing I can fry for tempura. 

Suddenly craved

for Moonlight cookies when we were having dinner at Sushiro.

Went upstairs to Donki to grab what I wanted and of course majority of other things (che-che’s snacks) that we weren’t there for 😂. 

Moonlight cookies - used to be available EX-NGO if I remember correctly. We would usually uplift for the return sector crew. 

I saw the grape jelly beans and had to get it. Che-che lamented that they don’t have mango ones - the one that she bought in her recent trip. Suddenly exclaimed “I want to go back Miyazaki again.” I also in my heart wants to go back Japan. But hor….. the world is so big there are many places countries I haven’t been to yet. 

Couldn’t find the milk I wanted. Managed to find it in NTUC, I took the last pack. Then will hv to try to finish it asap once I open it. 

Anyway talking about Japan, while waiting to be seated in Sushiro I made a count on the number of prefectures I’ve been to. 

Not a lot 😢 covered. Need to 頑張って