Patak's Rogan Josh Curry with Chicken & Awards

Yes, it is Patak's again. I know this is not really cooking because I just need to sautee some meat and heat them up with the cooking sauce from Patak's. I its convenient and fast so this is my to go meal when I don't really have time or energy to cook.

This time, I tried what is called "Rogan Josh". I have never tried this curry and I never heard of this before so I wanted to give it a try.

This is how it looks with chicken cubes.

I am not sure what defines Rogan Josh but on the package it says "spicy tomato and cardamon". However it was not spicy at all. I can taste spices but it was not spicy. I wish it was spicier. The taste was good. I think it was bit similar to Chicken Jalfrezi curry from Patak's. Maybe they make everything less spicy so people who can not tolerate spicy food can eat also.

If you are interested in this Patak's product, you can purchase them from Amazon.

 













Do you remember I talked about my parents in law finding this beautiful seashells on a beach near by during the Christmas holiday?  I have been looking for this kind of seashell ever time I go for a walk at the beach since then. The other day, I finally found one!

This one is such a great shape. There is not too much damage to it and it looks beautiful.

It might be difficult to see the size on its own so here is the picture of the seashell with my hand next to it. Isn't it pretty big?

This will be a great home and table decoration for summer. I can not wait for the summer to come!!

I think it is wonderful to live close to the nature (though I need to live close enough to the big city..) Since I grow up in Tokyo, these things such as finding a wild harp seal (this does not happens often) or finding these beautiful seashells during a walk is unbelievable experience.

Now, award time. Deepa from Hamaree Rasoi  gave me two awards! Thank you so much. Her blog is full of REAL indian cooking. They are mouth-watering. Her dishes are not like my out of jar curry. They are real and impressive. Please visit her blog for great indian recipes :-)

I am very honored to receive these awards! Thank you so much!!!

Homemade Pasta with mushroom cream sauce and award

One thing I always wanted to try for a long time was making your own pasta at home. Watching Jamie Oliver and iron chefs making fresh pasta so easily on TV, made me think "Mmmm, maybe pasta making is not as difficult as I think."

I found what they call pasta flour which is semolina flour at local supermarket. I purchased it and decided to try making fresh pasta at home for the first time in my life! (Am I too excited?)

Well, I was so exited about it but I have no clue how to make fresh pasta. I turned into my savior of all time. "Internet" I found this You Tube video which shows how to make pasta with semolina flour so this is what I used to make mine. Click here to see the video I found on You Tube.

This video used only semolina flour so I did also but other videos I found use regular flour or 50% of both. So I guess it is depends on how you like it. I think I should try everything and see which one I like best. This time, only semolina.

First, I mixed egg, salt, olive oil and flour.

When it became a dough, knead them and rest it for a little bit.

I think the best way to roll out the dough is using pasta machine but I don't have a pasta machine so I did it in old school style. Rolling stick.. I cut the dough into a few pieces and rolled them out thinly.

Then, fold them and cut them into thin strips.

Separate each strips and flour it.

Repeating this for a few times, I ended up with these not so good looking fresh pasta!

This is my fault but the size of pasta is totally different for each of them. Well, I could say this is the best part of homemade anything and that's the beauty of it!

While I was making this pasta, I remembered making Japanese noodle called "Udon" with my best friend at her house. Her mom made Shrimp tempura to put on top of Udon and we had Tempura Udon. It was so much fun and so good. I think there is something about cooking together and it stays with me for a long time. Some of the great memories I have is cooking with my mom when I was a little. I think it is a great activity for a family :-)

Anyway, I made mushroom cream sauce for this fresh pasta. Here it is.

I think you would like to know how it tasted. Well, it is difficult. The taste was good but I did not like the texture. I don't know what I did wrong but the pasta was bit hard and breaks easily. I was expecting more like silky smooth touch to my mouth. What happened? Will anybody tell me what I might did wrong?

My wonderful husband ate them saying it is really good :-) He liked pasta so much. He told me that he has never seen anyone who make pasta at home ;-) I take it as a compliment. OK. Homemade pasta need to be practiced and improved. Someday I would like to make pasta which is just like fresh pasta I eat at restaurant. To be honest, I like dry pasta better than fresh pasta. So why am I going through this hustle of making fresh pasta? I guess it is pure "Curiosity"

Anyhow, it was a snow storm here in NY. I need to shovel the snow off the porch and the walk way. It will be a great exercise. I know I will get a muscle pain tomorrow :-)

And, I have received cheerleading blog award from Devi at Devi's blog. It is such an honor and encouragement that some people enjoy my blog! Thank you so much Devi! She has a lot of mouthwatering Indian recipes on her blog. Please visit her blog also :-)

Thank you so much for reading my blog.

Happy 101 Blog award

 I have received yet another award from my blogger friend Catherine from Living the Gourmet. It is very nice of her to think of my blog for this award. This is my 3rd award this year! Thanks :-)

Here is how it works.

There are four rules for this award:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

So here is 10 things that make me happy :-) 

1. My husband 

2. My family and friends who are all over the world

3. Eating/Cooking/Thinking something delicious to eat

4. This blog

5. grocery shopping

6. Sunny Warm weather

7. Seeing vegetable grow in my garden 

8. reading a good book 

9. watching a good movie (with popcorn)

10. meeting people who are genuinely nice to other people

Well, there are so many other things which makes me happy but those are the things I just thought about. 

Anyway, I would like to give this award to following three blogs which I like. 

Lynda from Food, Fun & Farm Life in East Africa

Emi from Emi's Cooking Diary

Camenberu from Camenberu.com

I hope everyday enjoy above blogs as much as I do. Thanks! 

Chikuzenni and the search for Softasilk is complete!

Chikuzenni is a Japanese dish with many root vegetables. It is very common dish in Japan and many people like it. The flavor is typical Japanese flavoring with Soy sauce, Sake, sugar and fish bouillon.

I did not like this dish too much when I was in Japan. I did not dislike it but I did not care too much about it. However, when I went back to Japan last year, I went to visit my aunt and uncle who lives about 1 hour and half away from us. One of the dish my aunt made was this "Chikuzennni". For some reason, I really liked it so I made this a few times when I came back to the U.S. Here is the link for the previous attempt.

Here is yesterday's attempt.

I let it simmer for a while and I forgot about it. So it was cooked longer than it was supposed to. It tasted good but when I looked at the previous post for this dish, the last attempt looked better. Maybe it is just the lighting. Natural light makes it look much better, I think.

So yesterday was quite healthy Japanese dinner. I also made miso soup with Chinese chives （Nira in Japanese) and tofu and egg. Normally, I use Chinese chives only when I make Gyoza but I wanted to try different recipe using this vegetable so here it is.

I was pretty happy with how the egg looks in the soup.

By the way,  Do you remember I was asking about Softasilk the other day on this blog? Softasilk is cake flour from Pillsbury and I have read that you can make a great cake if you use this flour.

Because of my ambition for becoming a excellent baker this year, I need to find this flour. (I thought this flour might be able to help me to be a better baker!) I went to a few supermarket but so far I hadn't found it yet until yesterday.

Yes! I found it. I went to a super market in next town and they had it. By the way, I also found "Red Mango" (frozen yogurt place which is similar to pinkberry) right next to the super market. That was a bonus. I would love to go have some frozen yogurt with fresh fruits when it gets warmer :-)

Anyhow, here it is. SOFTASILK!!!!

I hope this flour makes me a better baker. Don't let me down, Softasilk!

So, I am thinking about what I should make with this Softasilk. This cake on the front package looks good also....

When I was in Japan this fall, I realized that "Rolled Cake" was so popular. It is funny that in Japan, you will see some trend in sweets also. I saw rolled cake everywhere. Basically, you bake a sheet of sponge cake and put cream and somethings like fruits in it and roll it up. I tried to make this cake once before. And, it was not exactly what I wanted to be. The sponge cake was too hard and it broke when I tried to roll it. So I think it is very important to bake a soft moist sponge cake for making roll cake.

If this Softasilk is a magical flour, I should be able to make a beautiful roll cake or cake roll or whatever you call it. Maybe I am asking too much for Softasilk. Maybe I should improve my skill instead of rely on this flour to be a better baker. Well, I got to get all the help I can get. I am sure that I will be a better baker sometimes if I keep on baking :-)

And, I have recieved an another award. This Beautiful Blogger award was given to me by my blogpal Dolly from Curry and Beyond. 

I am so honored to receive this award. Dolly has been a great blogpal and I am always happy to read her thoughtful comment and am encouraged by it. Thank you so much Dolly. Her blog is wonderful. Click here for her blog Curry and Beyond

Sukiyaki and the movie "UP"

Sukiyaki is one of Japanese popular hot pot dish with many vegetables and beef and so on. Since we went to a Japanese super market the other day and purchased many different kind of vegetables, we made Sukiyaki at home.

Here is how it looks.

And this is how I made it.

Ingredients (about 3~4 people)
Napa Cabbage 1/4
Tofu (firm)  1
Shiitake   4~5
Enokidake 1/2 pack
Japanese Green Onion 1
Thinly sliced beef  1/2Lb
Bean starch vermicelli  20 sticks
Burdock Root     1
Soy sauce   1/2 cup
Sake           1/3 cup
Sugar          2 Table Spoon
Water         1~2 cups
Oil              1 table spoon

1. Cut all the vegetables and beef into bite size pieces. Cut Tofu into 6~8 pieces.

2. Add oil into a hot pot and start adding vegetables, Tofu, and beef.

3. When the vegetables started to get soft a little bit, add soy sauce, sake, sugar and water.

4. Add bean starch vermicelli and put the lid on.

5. When all the vegetables get soft, it is ready. Eat it with some rice.

I like this sweet soy sauce taste. You can add more or less water depends on how you like it. You can eat lots of vegetables this way.

Yesterday, I watched a DVD called "UP". Before I watch it, I thought it is a movie for a kid so I did not have too much expectation. However, I was surprised how much I liked it. It made me cry, laugh and warm inside.

I think this movie had more effect on me today because of this one old guy I talked to today. My husband and I were queuing for a casher at a super market today and this old guy behind us started to talk to us. He told us about his wife of 35 years passed away and he miss her a lot. He went to a New Years Party and danced until the morning but he prefer having quiet New Year with his wife.

He said the marriage was the best thing happened to him. He seemed so lonely and I felt really sad. So this old man from the super market and the character from the movie overlapped in my mind. By hearing what this old man said and also watching this movie, I thought myself again to appreciate my husband everyday and the life I have with him and not take it for granted. It is easy for take whatever you have for granted. I would like to remember to thank everyday for what I have.

If you think you are taking things for granted and often forget thanking someone of somethings you have, I recommend you to thank them today. It is very easy to do and make you happier and possibly make someone else happier also :-)

If you have a chance, watch the movie "UP". I think this movie is also good for adults.

Also, I would like to thank Anncoo for giving me a Lovely Blog Award. Thank you so much, Anncoo!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Katherine from Living the Gourmet  gave me a kreativ blogger award. Thank you so much Katherine. This is my first award :-)

So here is how it works.

Rules for accepting this award:

1) Thank the person giving the award

2) Copy the award to your blog

3) Place a link to their blog

4) Name 7 things people don't know about you

5) Nominate 7 bloggers

6) Place a link to those bloggers

7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

7 things people don't know about me. 

1. I love drinking wine and cooking at the same time. 

2. I was a big fan of New Kids on the Block. (Jordan Knight) 

3. I love taking a bath. 

4. I can not swim well. 

5. I like hip hop. 

6. I like to read and write down the sentences I like. 

7. I am not good at any kind of sports. 

I would like to pass this award to my 7 favorite blogs below. 

1. Dolly at Curry and beyond

2. Mary at One Perfect Bite

3. Valerina at Une Gamine dans la Cuisine

4. Saju at The Novice Kitchen

5. Anncoo at Anncoo's hobby

6. Kothiyavunu at Kothuyavunu.com

7. Nostalgia and Gulmohar at Collaborative Curry 

Thank you!