21.12.09: 日式豚肉飯 (Japanese pork belly on rice) - the recipe

Ingredients

• pork belly: 3-4 slices per person. We got them pre-sliced from Japanese grocery store, alternatively, you can buy a slab of pork belly and DIY the slices.
• mushroom of your choice: again, about 3-4 pieces per person
• water: a small bowl 
• soy sauce, mirin: amount to your own liking (add in little by little will be the safest bet)
• white onion, thinly sliced: a quarter of a medium size onion per person (don't be shy on the onion, trust me, the more the better!!!)
• bonito flakes, sesame seeds: flexible, to your own liking
• Japanese barbeque & mayonnaise: as much or as little as you like

Steps

1. Pan fry the pork belly for a little while (you will be able to smell the aroma of the cooking pork belly).
2. Add some water and soy sauce to the partially cooked pork.
3. Let the pork cook, but don't over boil
4. Add some mirin, bonito flakes and sesame seeds- these will give the dish a mixture of sweet, fishy and seedy taste.
5. Add the sliced white onion- it's a must and gives the dish a real oniony taste.
6. (optional) Add some mushroom of your choice, we used abalone mushroom (鮑魚菇)- the mushroom will soak up the sauce. You may choose other vegies if you don't like mushroom.
7. Put rice into bowls, and top up with the pork, onion and mushroom. Squeeze some Japanese barbeque sauce on top plus a dab of Japanese mayo. Add more bonito flakes on top to decorate.

Tip: Don't pour in the left over sauce from the cooking of the pork- it's full of pork belly fat, and it will also make the rice dish overly watery.

豆乳 shabu shabu

After having this delicious 豆乳 shabu shabu in Japan, we decided to try it out at home tonight.


It's pretty simple, you just need (1) unsweetened soya milk; (2) meat of your choice (get those thinly sliced beef, pork or chicken from Chinese / Korean / Japanese grocery shop); vegies (tonight we had 金菇菜, cabbage is another nice choice); and (4) udon or japanese ramen.

  

The soup base- just pour in the soya milk, and add some meat of your choice- tonight we put in some left over chicken and pork balls. We also added some tofu. Let it boil (on low heat) for a little while to get the flavour of the meat into the soup.

Once that's done, you are ready to shabu shabu. Pour some sesame sauce (which you can easily get from Japanese grocery shop) into your bowl, and use that as a dip for the meat and vegies that have been cooked in the soya milk.

At the end of the meal, save some room to have a bit of the soup- it's smooth and super rich in flavour. Awesome stuff!


Ideally we should have a hotpot stove so we can eat at our table... but until we get one, the stove will need to be it for the time being.

Photos from our Japan trip - October 2009

Finally  got around to collecting my favourites from the trip. Overall, we enjoyed our time at Hokkaido the most, because there were just tonnes of fresh and delicious sashimi.

Osaka- we think it was OK, but probably once is enough. The city is a bit too busy to our liking, and shopping wise- I still prefer Hong Kong's... particularly given my lack of knowledge of the Japanese language...

Kyoto was great... fascinating to see the different shrines... but again (for hubby and I), once we've seen 1 or 2, the rest are pretty much the same.

Our best memory of Kyoto is probably our stay at the Westin Hotel... Ooo.... we luvv their Heavenly Bed, they are SUPER COMFIE and totally live up to its name. The hotel do sell the mattress, ensemble and manchester etc... from the Australian price list, just the ensemble will cost you $3,500.... and if you get matching pillow, sheets, doona etc, add another $1,000 to that. I personally think it's worth the bucks, cos the mattress is just divine (and once you get the mattress, you might as well go the full length with the matching accessories)...

Too bad our mattress is brand new, and will have at least another 10 years of life, if not more.....

The "Marriage Contract"...

Came across this article on SMH today...

Magwatch|Emily Dunn

I can understand having a pre-nuptial agreement to set out what happens when a marriage breaks down (especially for the rich and famous, where there are a lot at stake)... but to have it drawn up to stipulate the commercial / financial consequences for things that happen during a marriage... this is just outrageously ridiculous.

Seems sad that for some people, marriage is just another commercial transaction...

Weekend Getaway

Went to the Gold Coast & Brisbane on the weekend for a relatives wedding. Stayed at the Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove and worth a mention is the dinner at The Fireplace- choose from their menu and create your own 2 course dinner for just $59 (including coffee & tea), what a bargain for a restaurant at Hyatt. The food was really good and even hubby gave their woodfire wagyu steak a thumb up.

Entree: scallop on crispy pork belly



Main: woodfire wagyu with potatoes and salad



(yeah was so dark in the restaurant, best I can do with my phone camera)




On Sunday morning, hubby and I walked by the lake at the hotel and took these amazing photos...










The wedding on Sunday was at the chapel at the hotel... It has an AMAZING view... and the fact that the whole chapel is pretty much made of glass, when you sit inside, it feel as though you are in a chapel on water, how awesome!

The view from where I sat:




I've heard the Pachelbel's Canon in D in string quartet many times, and to hear the same tune on this beautiful harp... wow it was good, gives this common wedding song a new sound to me ears.




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