Hiroshima Today, 6th of August

On the day I was leaving my home in Hiroshima for the United States 3 years ago, my grandparents told me something I will always remember.

As they noticed I was already missing them, my grandpa who was a (Kamikaze-like) pilot during WW2 said to me "Don't worry about me. I'm already lucky enough to live up to now."
My grandma who was in Hiroshima City when the a-bomb happened also said "Right... I should have died in 1945. We are just living a given extra time."

Those two survivors from WW2 told me that, so I, another generation, could live my own life no matter where I would be.

People have their own life and just want to live it.
We just want to keep our peaceful life and pass it on to the future rather than becoming a hater, a revenger or a drama queen.

May Hiroshima have a peaceful 70th

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Reimen with Shrimp and Seaweed

Reimen (or hiyashi chuka as I posted before) is one of my favorite summer foods.

I usually use reimen noodles and sauce from a package but the style can vary depending on what you put on your noodles.

For this time, I put boiled shrimp and wakame seawed besides kale and chopped cucumbers from our garden.

A little bit of Japanese mustard (Be careful! It's very hot.) gives a nice bite to the sauce.

Oh my reimen,,,

I can't get enough of you...  

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Yakiudon: Sauteed Noodles with Okonomi Sauce

When I want to kill a lot of veggies before they go bad, sauteed veggies (Stir fry) can be one of the options.

If you saute boiled noodles with those veggies, it will be yakiudon♪

How you season yakiudon varies.
Some people like it with soy sauce based flavor, while others prefer Worcestershire sauce.
Also, there are a flavor with miso and simply salted one.

My style here is done with Otafuku okonomi sauce which is often used for my hometown Hiroshima's soul food okonomiyaki.
This is a little sweeter than other sauce, so I like sprinkling some dried chili pepper blend called shichimi which is sold as "nanami" in the United States.  

For today's yakiudon, I killed some mushrooms, a carrot and a leftover green pepper♪

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Ramen Noodles with Black Fungus + Midori Sriracha

I guess Japan must be having its rainy season right now.
It was wet and misting day here in NY too, so I decided to make ramen noodles (chicken) in soup instead of cold noodles.

As I always do, I cooked noodles and the soup separately.

I put some rehydrated black fungus into the soup and cooked them together.
They say black fungus is a great poop medicine and good for a diet♪

The ramen noodles are topped with some steamed veggies (radishes and bok-choy) and cilantro.


I also tried adding this sauce I bought today.

This Midori Sriracha sauce made of serrano green peppers was very hot!!!

The label says "unique Japanese interpretation of the classic sauce" but..
I do not find any Japanese-ish element in it.

Green + spicy → can remind us of wasabi.... but...

Japanese cuisine is not really that hot.

All I could find Japanese was "rice vinegar" as one of the ingredients.

Anyway, the sauce was really hot, so we need to be careful not to put too much, but the noodles with heat of Midori Sriracha was actually pretty good♪

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Soba Noodles in Japanese Broth Accentuated with Basil

Soba Noodles in Japanese Broth Accentuated with Basil

Some people love their soba noodles simply served with nothing but broth.
I always prefer putting veggies and other ingredients when it comes to my home style.

These noodles are topped with steamed broccoli, eringi mushrooms and shrimp.
... basically, what I found in my fridge then.

Not only these extra stuff on top, but a sprinkle of dried basil accentuates the flavor and makes this bowl of noodles more fun♪
(I'm sure few Japanese put dried basil in their Japanese broth though...)

I love this super easy and low-calorie comfort meal :-)


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Hiyashi Chuka (Reimen) Topped with Colorful Salad

Hiyashi Chuka (also called Reimen)

During summer time, I am always down for cold noodles with lots of fresh veggies♪

For today's noodles, I chose "hiyashi chuka" which is also called "reimen" and put tomatoes, lettuce, steamed brussels sprouts, steamed mushrooms, crab sticks and scrambled egg on them.

This is one of my favorite kinds of noodles for summer.

I love this so much that I can eat this everyday changing the salad part♪　:-)


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Ramen Noodles w/ Tomatoes and Basil

Ramen Noodles with Tomatoes and Basil

Ramen noodles are good for your humble life.
It is only 20 cents for one package (Costso price is less about $10 for 48ct).

However, it's impossible to take good nutrition from Ramen Noodles, and they contains some extra substances which you do not want to take too much, such as too much sodium.

So,,, let's add some more good nutrition and reduce bad substances♪

Fry some vegetables (tomatoes, mushrooms and onions) with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and basil.

Boil the noodles as usual...

In another pan, boil the half amount of water as the instruction says... (This is going to be the soup.)
"Top Ramen" says 2 cups of water → boil 1 cup of water
If you are cooking 2 packs for 2 servings, as I do here, boil 2 cups of water for 2 packs.
Then put the seasoning packet into the boiling water, stir and stop the heat.

When the noodles are cooked, drain the water...

Serve the noodles topped with the vegetables in a bowl...

Pour the hot soup into the bowl.... and ENJOY!!! :-)

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Sushi Card for a Birthday

It's fun to choose a nice and unique card for special occasions.

This is what my husband and I chose for our mother's birthday♪

"SUSHI BIRTHDAY CARD"

This is a product of PAPYRUS.

The cover of this simply white card is decorated with 3D plastic sushi pieces on a plate and chopsticks.
This card comes with a red envelope with black lining which reminds me of Japanese lacquerwares.

The premade message "ENJOY and have a happy birthday" is pretty simple, so that the card can be sent to anybody you want to celebrate... or anybody who likes sushi♪

Our mom liked the card very much♪




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