Pay it Forward

I got this from Bint (The life of Bint) who got it from someone else..I like the concept - the world needs a little more kindness.



"The idea is that random acts of kindness are given without expecting anything in return. Just passing on the kindness, hoping that your recipients will do the same and forming a never-ending chain of kindness.


I promise to make and send a gift to the first 3 friends who comment on this post requesting to join in and promising to Pay it Forward to 3 other people etc..... I don't know what my gifts will be but I promise to send them within the next 365 days. What you then have to do in return is to promise to Pay it Forward by making the same announcement and promise on YOUR blog."

The bee's knees, the dog's er..waggy tail?

I recently combined an order with a friend from Japan Centre (here) online. As she had said that she only likes the Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, I thought I'd try some.

I did buy some other bits as well - and you've seen some of the results of that order - the sushi, the onigiri..but I think this is one of my favourites. Life changing and AMAZING!



I definately recommend a bottle of this stuff if you have a chance. Kewpie. Mmm. It's gorgeous on chips, as a salad dressing..er with sushi..

There's something fishy about this - good fishy

I love seafood. Well, fish, prawns and crab. I'm not keen on molluscs or squiddy things.

Anyway, steamed fish was always one of my favourites growing up. It's refreshing (coriander and ginger - always a winning combo), delicious and er..well, it can be healthy.

So, let's have it. I'll tempt you with a photo first.



I'm going to give the ingredients to serve 2. It's generally used as a central dish Chinese style. You can use any white fish (cod, bream and sea bass are the most popular) I use about 150g per person and tend to go for cod loin fillets. They're good if you don't want to deal with heads and tails and de-boning.

Ingredients:
300g white fish (obviously)
1 tab soya sauce
coriander
2 tabs water
1" piece of ginger - finely shredded
about 1/4 of a stock cube
a dash of sesame oil

Place the fish in a heatproof dish (I often use one of those pyrex things). Place the shredded ginger and half of the coriander on top. Place the dish in a large shallow pan (with a lid) and add some water to the pan (but OUTSIDE the fish dish). You'll then need to put the lid on and turn the heat on. The aim of this is to steam the fish. Some of the steam will condense and settle in the fish dish but that's ok. You may need to experiment a bit, but this amount of fish should take about 15 mins to steam. When the fish starts to flake, it's ready. Don't overcook it or it'll be dry and a bit rubbery.

In a small separate pan, add the oil, stock cube, water and soya sauce. You'll need to heat this up on high. It only needs about 3-4 minutes to get super hot. Time it so it's ready just when the fish is done.

Pour the sauce over the fish, sprinkle the remaining coriander over it and serve immediately. Serve with rice and perhaps some braised pak choi or stir fried veggies.

Enjoy!

Back to food - hurray!

I've recently become rather obsessed with Japanese food. Especially bentos. I'm not sure why. My daughter was given a gorgeous little lunchbox and matching cutlery set (with spoon, fork and dinky chopsticks, which she insists are knitting needles) by a friend and, as she'll be having to take a lunch in to pre-school one day a week from September, I suppose I'm planning ahead. I know, who is this person who has taken over my body..planning ahead indeed!

Annnyway, so I decided that my hubby also needs a decent packed lunch and prompted investigated lunchboxes (minds out of the gutter if you please). A friend of mine sent me a link to Bento & Co, a company based in Japan (but of course) and the rest is history.

I got a funky, compact, microwavable lunchbox for DH and some lovely things to use for my daughter's lunches (and they might find themselves in his too - kawaii cartoon cuddly bear ketchup pot in his lunch? Muhahaah!). She loves the little sauce pots (tiny, lidded plastic pots big enough for about one teaspoon of ketchup - not nearly enough for her).

Here's a picture of the pots. They come in packs of four, each featuring a different cute animal.



I love these!



They're rice moulds for making onigiri (rice balls). There's a star, a heart and a bear. Very cute.

And here are the results (there were more but er..they were used for "testing").



I'm going to try making Japanese omelettes and stuff next. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that I've been making sushi! I make gaijin (foreigner) sushi, of course. I use smoked salmon and cucumber, which isn't that far out, but I also experimented with frankfurters (those Hertz ones - yum) and cucumber.

Gosh, that's a rather picture heavy post. So, no recipes - I'll have to put some up another time. I've just seen a lovely photo of steamed fish (Chinese-style) saved to my "blogging" photos folder so I'll have to do a write up of that one too.