Friday, February 29, 2008

California Roll for Hinamatsuri

Last night, my boyfriend attended the after-hours party with his work mates.
He often gets a bite to eat when he gets home, so I made "California Roll for Hinamatsuri" for him.

The recipe is simple.
It is a regular California roll but you give it a twist.

You make 3 different colored sushi rice (pink, white, and green) and draw diagonal strokes on a sheet of nori.
The white color is plain sushi rice.
For pink, you mix "Sakura Denbu", which is pink colored & seasoned shredded codfish.
For green, you mix "Aonori", which is a type of edible green seaweed in powdered form.
The order of colors must be pink, white, and then green.
These are the colors of Hishi Mochi (diamond shaped rice cake), commonly consists of three layers; pink, white, and green, from top to bottom. Hishi Mochi is usually presented with hina dolls, which I showed you yesterday. It is said that pink represents peach flowers, white represents snow, and green represents grass.
Those colors have a meaning to get the power of nature.

Don't you think this is a good idea?
My boyfriend enjoyed eating it :)
By the way, I didn't know the actual meaning of Hishi Mochi until I translate this into English.
It was a good lesson for me!

Okay. This is all for today.
I hope you have a nice weekend!!!

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Recipes for Japanese Doll Festival

Hi! I'm back!!!

As I said yesterday, I'm gonna write about my cute recipes for Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri).

The Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri), or Girls' Day, is held on March 3rd.
On this day, we set up hina dolls (hina-ningyo) since they are believed to protect girls from bad luck.
Platforms with red felt cloth (hi-mosen) are used to display a set of hina dolls. Those dolls consist of the Emperor (odairisama), Empress (ohinasama), three court ladies (sanninkanjyo), and five musicians (goninbayashi) in traditional court dress of the Heian period.

2 years ago, I made the Emperor and the Empress using "chirashi sushi rice balls".
I made their court dresses using crepe style fried egg (usuyakitamago).
Their heads are too big, but adorable, right?
The recipe is here.



Then last year, I made them in a different style.
This time, I just made rice balls.
I used candy cheese for their head.
It was pretty easy, but very abstract :)
The recipe is here.





Also, on Hinamatsuri, we eat colorful rice puffs (hina-arare).
You can make this easily from sticky rice (mochigome).
The recipe is here.






Now I am thinking what to make this year.
Hmm...
Will see :)

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Simmered Chicken in Grated Potato

Oops again!
I was so drowsy last night that I couldn't write my diary.
But here I'm back :)

It was pretty warm yesterday since it rained at night.
Also, today, it is like spring weather!

Yesterday, at lunch break, I went to the post office.
My workplace is located near the post office after the relocation, so it is very convenient now!

Anyway, I realized that I am not hearing from many of the contests I have applied for...
I guess I shouldn't look back but go on to the next!!!

Yesterday, 10th person has reported my "Simmered Chicken in Grated Potato" at Cookpad!
I wrote about this report function before.
This is my mother's recipe :)
Actually, the original recipe was pork, but I used sliced chicken breast instead to make it healthier.
The point is you simmer the chicken in grated potato.
The potato adds thickness to the cooking liquid and this comes out verrry delicious!
I love to pour it over the rice ;)
If you are interested in the recipe, let me know.
I will certainly translate it into English!

Okay, tomorrow I will show you my cute recipe for Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri).
Please come back and check it out!
If I don't fall asleep. Ha-ha!

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