one of our planned activities at christmas was making a gingerbread house.  i don't remember if we were going to bake the house pieces ourselves, but once our trip was cut by a week, my mom just got a kit (from wilton, i think.)  it didn't get done until after christmas, but one day while my mom and i were out getting last minute things bought and finished, my sister and the kids made the house.  it also had a star cookie tree.  i think they did a really great job!  so pretty.

yum!

the 'black' is maa-yu, a kind of oil.  maybe made from garlic?  it's especially popular in ramen here in kyushu.  i dunno, it was pretty good.

i didn't make it, i bought it in a shop called hana-chan, which is here in munakata.



finding fukuoka has started doing posts on ramen.  if ramen interests you, especially fukuoka ramen, check it out!

at the littlest ping's birthday party last month, the kids got to decorate their own cupcake. some kids brought me theirs to photograph, but i can't remember whose is whose. i think these are sasha's, tommy's and the pinglet's.







yum!

i have a couple of minutes to write, before the rice is ready. people are always asking me what i'm making for dinner. they say it's because they want ideas, but i think it's for the same reason i ask what someone is making for dinner: if it's something good, i want to invite myself over to eat! tonight's menu is: buta bara negi shio (pork belly in salt spring onion sauce), veggie miso soup (featuring daikon, carrot, pumpkin, potato, two kinds of mushroom and tofu), corn on the cob ('boiled' in the steam oven) and rice. maybe some cucumber, maybe some natto. that depends on the kids. anyway, the pork was purchased already seasoned. yoshi got it on saturday when we had a BBQ to celebrate a break in rainy season.

oops, time up.

back. anyway, the only reason i mention the meat is i cooked it in a frying pan with some cooking paper. this helps to prevent the sauce from burning. maybe everyone knows this, i learned it from the people who cook free samples at stores (you don't have to worry about shopping when hungry in many big stores here, especially costco!) i just thought i'd share!

today i had to go to the school and get sasha. she had a fever, though she said that her tummy hurt. hopefully the dinner will suit her (i doubt she'll eat the pork, too spicy even if she weren't sick.) fingers crossed she'll feel better tomorrow! hiro brought home some potatoes, i guess they dug them up at school today. he even brought sasha's share, though it's unclear as to whether she actually pulled them up or not.

well, time to serve some hungry kids!

so, tonight's dinner is tuna casserole. last night's was manicotti (for the kids, i had homemade beef stew.) i see a trend here, do you? but then, yoshi had a drinking party last night, kinda last minute, but not nearly as last minute as tonight's drinking party. *huff* but i noticed that half the ingredients tonight's dinner are imported: i got the flat noodles from expat express (and as an aside, why aren't flat noodles sold here in japan?!), and the tuna and cream of mushroom soup are from costco. i got the milk and frozen veggies here, obviously, and although i got the cheese from costco, it was produced here in japan. anyway, it was easy to make (i love my oven. first i microwaved it (without cheese) on high, then sprinkled the shredded cheese on top, then toasted it on 'morning set menu' setting and toasted the cheese on top just perfectly) and the kids love it, they even eat all the veggies (mixed corn, carrot and peas) so that's a good thing. probably took me twenty minutes to make, so not so much moaning before dinner was served!

yesterday's manicotti was kind of a left over. i got the noodles from expat (love them!) and stuffed them with a mixture of cottage cheese, mozzarella (the stuff i used on the tuna casserole) and parsley, but i could only fit half of them into my dish (although i love my oven, it's still rather small inside *sigh*) so i froze the other half. it was great for yesterday because my kids don't really like beef stew (neither did i when i was young) but they love pasta. yay.

i really hope yoshi doesn't have another drinking party tomorrow, i have to take the kids to the dentist so i won't have time for pizza....

today i took hiro and sasha to the dentist (and tommy just came along for the ride). hiro has pain in one of his teeth, and sasha had that 'bad news' the other day at her three-year check. i had to pay for both of them, but since they're both under six-years-old, it was only 600 yen each. that's pretty awesome because they got examined, had x-rays and cavities filled. we do have to go back tomorrow for a little bit of work (they both had cavities in between teeth, so i think they filled the bigger cavity and we'll go back to have the other one done tomorrow. not having it all done in one day is normal here, i think it has to do with insurance billing.) while we were there, yoshi called so then i had to think of what to make for dinner....ugh, i'm just so tired. hopefully the kids will go to bed early today, especially since both hiro and sasha didn't take a nap. wish me luck!

in a recent post, kelly asked about what kind of foods do we eat, japanese or western, or a mix. obviously i cook both, but i don't know if it's one more than the other. it's easier to get japanese ingredients (obviously), but i hate fish so japanese cooking is not always on the menu. western/american foods are expensive, but not too difficult to get these days. when i first came to japan i would have to go to the middle of the city (fukuoka) to pay very high prices for a limited supply of ingredients, or drive to costco (nearly two hours away, unless i wanted to pay for the interchange), which had huge boxes of whatever, and was kinda expensive (especially if i couldn't finish whatever i bought before it went bad. sometimes i would go with a friend and split stuff up, but it was mainly a PITA to go to costco.) and, there was also FBC, but i never ordered from them because that was also in bulk, and as much as i like mac & cheese, i didn't need 48 boxes just for me. (i would like to point out that FBC now has more things that you can buy individually, but i still don't order from them. i much prefer expat express.) since sasha was born, i tend to make more western foods, mainly because that's what i grew up with and learned to cook, so it's easy for me to just throw together and adjust as i may need (say, if i have missing ingredients or whatever). i cannot do that easily with japanese cuisine. with the three kids, i'm too busy to faff around with fiddly recipes.

lulu asked if i would post my favorite japanese and western recipe. hm. that's difficult because i don't know that i have a favorite! i mean, i love tempura, and that is sooooo hard to make, esp. at home. i have tried it, but not for a long time (not just because it's difficult, but because i end up with a LOT of used oil that i feel guilty throwing away. also, yoshi doesn't like a lot of fat and fried foods.) as for a western dish, i just love grilled steak with a baked potato, nothing too difficult there! i do have a cooking blog, that i sadly neglect, but i have to admit i've been a bit of a rut lately (good old winter blues!) and make curry, chili and nabe most of the time. one recipe that i enjoy a lot, and doesn't take a lot of effort is tofu hambaagu (or tofu salisbury steak), which you could think of as a kind of fusion!

here is the batch i made yesterday. as you can see, the sugar and 'plums' have separated already. it was much prettier yesterday. actually, blue lotus wrote a fabulous post last year if you're interested in making your own. it's quite easy, not too expensive and makes a delicious liqueur. it (ideally) takes a year to mature, though i think you can start drinking it in two or three months after it's made. the first time i made this, i got pregnant with hiro the following winter so i had to wait a long time to try my first batch! lol

here is a photo of last year's batch and this year's. ummmmm, umeshu!



and the little jar on its own (i have three jars of last year's brew. i needed the big jar to make this year's!)

...blogged about over here.

so, i made a turkey yesterday, with stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, steamed vegetables and rolls. i also remembered to serve the cranberry sauce (that i forgot at christmas), which tommy and sasha remembered and pigged-out on. yoshi wanted to invite his co-worker and his family over some time, and since i had the turkey (which was marked down to a great price at costco) *and* it's still heavy-dinner weather (that is, winter-cold) we had a nice afternoon dinner with them. afterward wii was played and tired children were consoled, and then we went to costco (they had never been but really wanted to see what it was like). they are nice and their kids are about the same age as hiro and sasha, but oh, what a long day for me. especially since i stayed up late tidying and got up early to clean and prepare the food. i was also worried because as i was stuffing the turkey, i kept finding ice in it! i cooked the turkey on the steam option, and it was done in less than three hours, so now i know what the steam oven is capable of.

at costco sasha and hiro wanted to ride in the cart. i had put tommy in first so there was a lot of shouting and crying. eventually we put tommy in the other cart but then sasha got really worried, asking where tommy was. (we kind of separated as we had different interests) and then later on when we met up, tommy was anxious to be held (well, he also needed a diaper change!) but everyone survived, aided by lots of ice cream!

yoshi's co-worker is new in town, they've only been in fukuoka for about four months. i am sure we will be having them over again some time soon.

this was today's lunch. even though there's a lot to be said about kneading, i just don't have time these days. the breadmaker makes wonderful dough, it's delicious!

it only takes 45 minutes to make pizza dough, and then maybe another 30 to make (one) pizza (the recipe makes enough dough for two small pizzas.) awesome!

today is the first day of july (happy canada day, medea!) and it was quite a nice day, weather-wise. this morning the kids and i went to kashihama, to get a couple of things (american mayonnaise) and get something at TRU. i decided to go to the italian buffet, too, because it's DELICIOUS and even though the price has gone up, it's still a bargain (less than $15 for the four of us; yes, i even got some plain rice for tommy this time.)

we went there with a new friend a week or two ago. she is a vegetarian (something almost impossible to be here, go figure) and she managed to stuff herself. i think she enjoyed it. the lucky woman is going 'home' today, back to great britain for a few months. for business and pleasure. i hope she enjoys her trip.

the kids love the italian place, because of the noodles. i usually get them spaghetti with tomato sauce, and i enjoy just about everything else, as long as it doesn't have fish in it! haha. i even tried the karaage (something i loathe, but the kids like) and it was so yummy, it seemed to be extra garlicky, yum.

this buffet has main dishes (not itialian: curry and rice, go figure) usually four or five pasta dishes, a couple of risottos, hot veggies (usually corn and something potato), and often a potato gratin (to die for). a couple of soups. then there's bread and pizza (and the pizza has been napolian-ized. is that right? naples style.) i eat too much garlic bread! then a salad bar, yum yum yum. last, but definitely not least, there is a dessert bar. cakes, puddings, jellies, tiramisu and yogurt (usually what i get the kids), as well as soft-serve ice cream, ice cream, popcicles, and shaved ice. for a little extra, there's a drink bar as well. it's usually quite busy there, and it's a big place, so taking the kids there by myself can be tricky. i usually get us a table close to the drink bar, get the kids a drink, dash around getting their spaghetti then serving myself. then, being close to the drink bar, i can see when it's busy or not.

we haven't been to this place in ages, probably not since my mom was here last october. it was nice sharing it with a new friend, and then enjoying it again today. but i probably won't go again for a while. *sigh*

yum, doesn't this look good? i baked this in my oven, i am so happy! recipe here.

starbucks has cupcakes！！

this is a phone blog, and now i am editing it. (i haven't read any comments yet.) i did not get any cupcakes, i thought getting a mocha was sinful enough! but man those really looked good! however, i have been burned before by starbucks' goodies. not nearly as yummy as they look (sometimes).

it was so lovely today. perfect weather. i actually opened all the windows in the house in the afternoon! spring is definitely on its way. not that this winter was very cold (it only snowed once!) but warm is good!

we went for a walk today. there's a local produce store nearby and we went there to get some veggies and fried sweet potato chips. hiro loves them but i hate them because they're so hard and cut up my mouth. all the way home he wanted to carry them and eat them! i told him to wait because i didn't want to carry an open bag of chips. so, he gave up, gave the bag to me and then insisted i carry him! ha! since we were pushing sasha in the stroller, he didn't get carried very far. he actually got tired on the way home. i think his nap was too short today, so hopefully he'll go to bed early tonight!

i gave sasha some apples today. well, baby applesauce. i made an order last week with expat express which includes baby cereal, but the box has yet to arrive! i am not happy about this. and i cannot find the number to the local delivery office so i can't call them and complain! expat has a tracking option on its website, so i know the damn box has been in town since yesterday!! and this morning it said it was being delivered, but this afternoon it said it was searching! the only thing i can think of is expat put my old address on the shipping label. otherwise, the delivery people are idiots! *sigh*

anyway, the apples came right back out, but sasha is enjoying sitting in her chair. and she hates the bouncy chair, so i think she wants to be in a more upright position. just as well, since i split my toe on the damn bouncy chair yesterday! time to put it away!

last week i bought two heads of cabbage for fifty yen. good deal, don't you think? then, over the weekend, thinking he was getting a bargain, bought two heads of cabbage for eighty yen! yes, i have loads of cabbage over here. i've made coleslaw, miso soup with cabbage and an interesting dish with ground beef simmered in chicken stock between leaves of cabbage (very yummy) but that about reaches the end of my cabbage recipes. any ideas out there (besides chopped cabbage). i guess i should plan on making okonomiyaki this weekend, but what's your best cabbage recipe? something easy and with ingredients i can get here in japan please!