Came back from work this morning, was thinking what to cook for lunch before sending the kids for volleyball practice. Then, I wanted to try to have hamburger at lunch. Normally we have it at dinner when I have more time to cook. Somehow I thought to make it once at lunch.

I used the frozen burger. Last time I used beef stew paste, today I used tomato ketchup. Added sliced onions, it's all ready. Not in the photo, I made dumplings too, with a bit of Tom Yam soup paste and spinach.

My little boy starts to enjoy using knife to cut the hamburger now.

Radio just mentioned that normal Japanese household can cook at least 6 national cuisines at home: Japanese, Chinese, french, Italian, Indian, and Korean.

How many can you?

 

Japanese seems like to have don; bottomed with rice, if it tops with mabo-tofu, it becomes mabo don, if with tempura, it becomes ten don, etc. 

Apparently there isn't Tenshin Don in China, it is one Chinese dish by the Japanese. According to wiki, there are many unconfirmed sources about the original name, though Tenshin is Tianjin city. 

This Tenshin Don made by one Hong Kong restaurateur, appeared on TV program on Saturday night, Chubo desuyo! (Kitchen here!). 

For the gravy called An, west Japan likes to use soy sauce as the base. Whereas for east Japan, normally black vinegar is the base. I like black vinegar very much. 

The eggs fried with crab meat is a dish in Chinese called fuyondan. Japanese used that and turned it to be one Donburi.

This is another Hong Kong Restaurant dish. The beef was tender, black pepper was mildly flavored, and oyster sauce coated the all the ingredients, created an aroma that tasted a good balance that stayed in the mouth after each bite.

Chinese cuisine is deep.

Watching the chef cooked, he kept tasting the food he cooked, I think when he made more than one person's plate. For instance, 3 or 4 same orders for mabo tofus, or 6 Cantonese fried noodles at once, he would check with small portion. He did after the food was served, so I imagined he was reviewing his own "artwork."

Professionals keep repeating and double check their work, a never-ending repetition.

Chef made one fried rice in soup for me. Both blend excellently together, especially on a cold day. With the soup, it lessen the oily feeling thus gives a better taste of fried rice. I am still not good at fried rice. To let the rice dance rock n' roll in the pan is my next todo.

*Soup was clear but polarize makes it look like a curry.

I basically don't skip cooking, especially for my kids' meals. Somehow was rushing for an assignment so time to cook has be shorten eventually. Bought some instant foods like hamburgers last weekend and it was useful at such occasion.

I like to teach the kids how to use folk and knife for table manners. Kids tell me what I learned easily before wasn't as easy as I thought it is to them. The way to hold both seems like something alien to them.

From their reaction, I learned that I was actually very accustomed to western culture than my kids though I would expect they expose more than me in today's digital environment. This could be due to we are in Japan, an island country where she has all the seas surround to give her the leisure to filter the foreign culture that comes in unprotectedly.

Being a Malaysian, I didn't even have the thinking that I was more brought up by foreign culture than my own.

The "who am I" dilemma comes back again.

 There is a 3 in 1 yakisoba sold under a brand called maruchan. Apparently yakisoba makes the best seller among other instant noodles of its manufacturer Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Ltd products like Akai Kitsune (udon), Midori no Tanuki (soba), and other noodles.

Yakisoba, literally means fried noodle in Japanese, has become a brand to represent Japan. For all the festivals or matsuri one goes, you will never miss the chance to not seeing at least a few stores selling it.

The above yakisoba was taken at one izakaya, Kushi-hacchin. Whenever I go with a group monthly, we always end the gathering by ordering yakisoba. It's delicious and the taste and the volume are so great yet yummy that you wonder if this is manufactured at factory and just heat up at the kitchen.

Coincidentally, I found that there is a manufacturer in fact makes an automated machine that produces yakisoba. With it, you can make perfect yakisoba without thinking whether your staff cook the same every time etc.

By the way, the yakisoba just costs about 493 yen. You wonder how many yakisoba needs to be sold in order to get the returns. But there is the need and there is the machine available.

I bought my coffee mill quite some time ago, thought it was cool to grind the beans in the morning. Somehow busy routine didn't allow me the luxury and I only managed to make it on the weekend, once in a while, till the beans ran out, and couldn't be bother to purchase more to grind. Instant coffee become my mate for quite a while. I thought she was my best friend. A month ago, someone gave me some beans, alas, she instantly got replaced. What a cruel world it is! Now, I do it almost everyday. Think of the reason why I do so, I guess it's because I am more relax now. I can sit down and look at things slowly without getting too panicky. It's a sign. Life with a cup of freshly brewed coffee just makes you appreciate the surrounding, and it's really awesome.

P.S. Do you know that coffee grinder has another meaning in American English? Figure it out!