Category Archives: Nihonryori

Tsuru – Sushi all’osteria

Posted on February 11, 2013 by nekochan

Hey there Beauties!

I decided to make several posts about Milano and start with the last day or more precisely the last evening evening. Living in Zurich makes it kind of impossible for me to eat Sushi at the restaurant because they’re all pretty expensive. And buying many different fishs (as at the sushi bar), shrimps and other sea food for just one sushi evening is rather time consuming.

So every time we’re in an other big city we love going to Japanese restaurants. Since we stayed at my grandmother’s place, and ate delicious home made food, the only chance to eat Sushi in Milan was on the last evening at our departure back to Zurich.

Edamame and Sapporo beer – love that city!

The sushi in Hokkaido is the best!

We decided to go to a simple but friendly place located near the Porta Romana. When we arrived, the restaurant was actually still closed but they were nice enough to let us in and take the orders almost immeditaley. Silvankun and I were totally surprised and happy about it because we were still having a long ride back home ahead of us and driving during night is not definitely not a lot of fun.

Doesn’t this sashimi almost look like a fatty, glossy salmon steak?!

The tableware was rustic and cute and so were the dishes and the whole interior. I know that going to a sushi bar could encourage one to take the fancy and daring things but I love the authentic taste of things and want to taste the same as when I’m eating home made food in Japan. Of course not always but that’s what I usually prefer.

Nigiri zushi …

so yummy!

Maki zushi – always nice for in between

The fish was delicious and so fresh

the pieces though could have been slightly larger and thicker but the sashimi, on the other hand, was perfect! The only thing I could complain about is the Wasabi – it wasn’t strong enough and far too little.
Still haven’t had enough? Then click on “read on” for more lusciousness!

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New Year’s Bento

Posted on January 12, 2013 by nekochan

New Year’s Bento

Hey there Cuties!

I have a surprise for you~ the post title kind of gives it away though..
As soon as the holidays started, an inspirational wave came over me and I started sketching bento on the ipad. The app I used is called “Paper 53” and it’s basically a drawing app where you use your fingers to draw. I must admit that it’s rather difficult because the finger makes it impossible to see what’s right underneath it but if you use it as a sketch book and aren’t too fussy, it can bee quite fun I think!

You can get more tools and colors at the app store but fo now I’m sticking to what is available. There are only two kinds of green for example and they’re both rather dark so it’s was difficult to make it look happy but I gave my best to make it look at least a little bit realistic. Details can be challenging, especially if they’re small!
I’ve never done a sketch of my bento before but after trying it for the first time (yes, after looking in the fridge to see what’s available and sketching the bento, I finally even made it!) I must say that I’m really amazed about how helpful it is, to sort your ideas first and then start the bento instead of bustling around without a plan!

haha.. you can try reading my ~~hand~~fingerwriting! I’m not a penman..

I can’t say if I’m going to do a sketch every time I make a bento now but if I feel creative it’s definitely a nice option to let out the little inner artist~ I already made sketches of two more bento that I can’t wait to realize.

*nyaaaaa* can you see what is different?! .. I forgot the renkon~

Read on to see more pictures & know about what’s inside~
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Mochimochi Daifuku

Posted on September 29, 2012 by nekochan

Mochimochi Daifuku

Hey there sweet peas~

After my last attempt at Washoku (traditional Japanese cooking) I thought it was time for my next adventure. This time in Wagashi though! Wagashi is traditional Japanese confectionery. Yes you guessed it, the “wa” in both words means “traditional Japanese”.

Wanting to make Ichigo Daifuku イチゴ大福 (strawberry mochi) at this time of the year sounds pretty lunatic, doesn’t it? And well it really is a little crazy but crazy things are so much fun! Ichigo Daifuku is Mochi, a chewy and very sticky rice flour dough filled with Anko (sweet bean paste) and a whole strawberry. If your look for pictures of Mochi on the internet you will mostly find Mochi covered in potato starck because that’s the only way to handle them! Once touched the dough is really difficult to remove from your hands so the cute things need to be wrapped in a leaf, starch or soybean flour.

Personally I‘m more into the salty version of Mochi that is grilled and wrapped in a sheet of salty and roasted Nori and eaten with soy sauce. You can find it on top of soups or even in soups although the consistency then changes significantly. For some reason I don’t really enjoy the flour that is used to spread on top of Mochi so I made some glossy and wet ones and some floury ones..

The texture and feeling of the glossy ones is so much more my taste! hehe..

eee?!

sweet Mochi with Nori? Oh yes please! I love the taste of Nori everywhere..

it honestly tasted so good!

Basically it‘s three things you need if you want to make simple Mochi: Mochiko (sweet rice flour), Anko (red bean paste) & water. For my Mochi I didn’t use Anko but Taromochi. The difficult thing is to handle the unbelievably sticky Mochi dough and wrapping it around the filling… but the feeling is priceless. It‘s so soft and bouncy and it feels like a living thing!