May 15th Lunch

May 15th,

I really wanted to eat a Japanese menu.

Maybe my stomach needed something gentle.  There's a lot of Japanese dishes that are delicious but are easy on the digestion.  Maybe the day after binging on junk food.  Also miso soup as part of your breakfast is good for mornings you have a hangover, it will help rehydrate you.

Lunch:

Tofu Salmon Stew, Cucumber Otsukemono (Pickled Cucumbers), Tamago Yaki (Japanese Style Eggs), and Miso Soup with Onions

Tofu Salmon Stew.  Very simple to make but very delicious.  The main flavoring I used was ginger which is also very good for you if you aren't at your 100%

Japanese style eggs, known in Japanese as Tamago Yaki (tamago = egg, yaki = cooked). It's basically scrambled eggs wrapped into a roll and cut into thick slices.  You see them a lot in Japanese bento.  There are two types of tamago yaki; sweet and non-sweet.  Sweet type of tamago yaki typically is plain but non-sweet type of tamago yaki can have various other ingredients mixed in with it such as fish like salmon and tuna, and veggies like carrots, daikon raddish, and sea weed.

Whether the tamago yaki is sweet or not depends on the preference of the maker, but in Sushi restaurants tamago yakis are typically sweet.

Of course, I have had tamago yaki since I was little but this is the first time I have ever made them.  The ones I made are the sweet kind, not too sweet.

My mom always made non-sweet tamago yaki for me at home with plenty of spinach.  I didn't particularly dislike spinach but it definitely made it easier to eat it.

May 5th Lunch

May 5th,

Early this morning, we were hit with a pretty sizable earthquake.  Luckily, only 17 non-serious injuries.

Still was not happy to wake up at 5AM to an earthquake.

For lunch, I tried a new version of hamburger.

Cheesy Italian Style Chicken Burger with Tomato Sauce, Avocado Salad, Tofu Pumpkin Potage with Bread Sticks.

I mixed basil in with the ground chicken and filled the burger with melty cheese.  It's topped with a garlicky tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes.

Mmmm~... cheesy goodness.

May 3rd Lunch

May 3rd,

They were having a sale of one of my favorite things, negitoro!

Negitoro is a tuna pate that is used in sushi.  It is usually topped with chopped scallions.

I used it to make today's lunch.

Negitoro Cups with Kabocha and Tofu Potage

I toasted gyoza skins to make cups and filled it with rice then topped it with negitoro (which I mixed with a little bit of soy sauce and wasabi paste), minced tomato and cucumber.  It was like a Japanese taco cups.  I love it!

May 1st Lunch

May 1st,

Last night, it was raining so hard I thought my apartment would be swept away!

It's lovely today though.

Lunch:

Non-Spicy Japanese Style Mapo Doufu Don

Just used ground chicken, tofu and onion.  Instead of using doubanjiang (a tangy Chinese miso that helps give it its spice) I used regular miso.

April 25th Lunch

April 25th,

When seasons change and the weather's not so great... rainy and just ugh....

I always suffer such horrible migraine headaches.

So it's not good when the rainy season starts in the spring.

Oh well, we must soldier on.

Lunch:

Sweet and Sour Drumsticks with Hard Boiled Egg, Carrot Tofu Soup with Bread Sticks, and Cucumber Salad

Mmm~.

I love chicken drum sticks, but it is hard work getting all the skin and fat off when preparing the chicken... but so~ worth it.  Always good to cook boiled egg with your chicken, it's a yummy plus.

April 17th Lunch

April 17th,

Used the last of the carrot tofu burgers to make this delicious creation.

Tomato and Egg Tofu Rice Burger with Avocado Chips

Delicious!!

April 15th Lunch

April 15th,


Kind of windy today, but I like it especially since I did my laundry a little late.

And WOAH!! Quite a big quake just now... (earth quakes I'm used to here).

Lunch:

Carrot Tofu Burger with Bulldog Sauce and Mayo Mix

Japanese Style Clam Pasta

I used canned clams so it was really easy to make.

April 14th Lunch

April 14th,


I made tofu carrot burgers.

And I used this burger to make...

Teriyaki Locomoco Bowl!!

Instead of gravy sauce I used teryaki sauce as a healthy and easy alternative.

It was DELICIOUS!!

Definitely making this again.

One thing to note if you are a vegetarian and planning to come to Japan.  Just because it says "tofu burger" does not mean it's vegetarian.  Many tofu burger recipes include meat, usually ground chicken, to help the patty keep it's shape so be sure to ask if you do order the tofu burger.

March 12th Lunch

March 12th,

Today, lightly roasted bonito was on sale.

In Japanese it's called かつおのたたき (Katsuo no Tataki) and as I said it's lightly roasted on the outside and raw on the inside.  Usually you add a dab of pureed ginger on top when you eat it.  It's got a bit of a stronger (fishy) taste compared to maguro (tuna) so fair warning before you try it.

For lunch the tataki was accompanied by miso soup with tofu, broccoli, and rice.

February 15th Lunch

February 15th,

It's so cold!!

Pumpkin Tofu Pottage with Ginger Chicken Meatballs

Open Tuna Melt

February 14th Lunch

February 14th,

It's cold, it's cold, it's co~ld!!

Pumpkin and Cucumber with Meat Ankake

Ankake is a thick sauce.

Curried Carrot and Daikon Radish Yogurt Salad

Onion and Tofu Miso Soup

February 12th Lunch

February 12th,

Easy Japanese menu using canned sardines

Miso Sardine with Cucumber

Avocado and Tomato Yogurt Salad

Pumpkin and Tofu Miso Soup

February 6th Lunch

February 6th

Today's Lunch:

Avocado and Cottage Cheese Open English Sandwich with Daikon Radish Carrot Salad

Tofu and Pumpkin Pottage with Chicken

February 4th Lunch

February 4th

Lunch:

Egg and Tofu Stir Fry and Sweet and Sour Chicken

Daikon Raddish and Carrot Miso Soup