Survival Food Recipe Contest @ Tokyo International Fire and Safety Exhibition 2008

In April, Tokyo Fire Department has asked for the survival food recipes (using canned and bottled products, dried foodstuff, emergency food supplies, familiar vegetables, etc...) that makes disaster victims in difficult circumstances happy. Luckily, my recipe passed the initial screening! So on June 7th, I attended the finals which was held at Tokyo International Fire and Safety Exhibition 2008.

There were six finalists. We cooked our recipe on stage in front of the audience and the press. The time limit was 30 minutes.
The winner was a man who cooked paella using Japanese traditional dried foodstuff (such as sakuraebi (Sergia lucens)) and canned tomato. The biggest reason he won was the usage of dried foodstuff, which keeps well and rich in nutrients! Also, his recipe was home-style dish, so that was highly evaluated!

One of the judges was Hiroko Sakamoto (a cooking teacher), who has actually been in the disaster of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
She said, it took for about a week until food supplies arrived in general household. Until then, she needed to survive by eating foodstuff at home. Under such circumstances, most people didn't want to eat emergency food supplies but regular home-cooked meal. Therefore, she recommended people to stock up on their favorite canned food, retort series, or whatever that makes you happy. Also, she said it is important to stock up on water and drink to stay hydrated.
Her actual experiences were informative!

Anyway, rest of us all received outstanding performance awards!

Moreover, at this exhibition, there was a booth that lectures on CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and how to use AED (automated external defibrillator)! I remember that I read about these in a text book when I was a high school student, but it was something I've never done before.
I think we learned a lot on this day!

Last but not least, June 7th was the 5th anniversary since my boyfriend and I had met. After the contest, we went to a nice Vietnamese restaurant in Yebisu. We were pretty tired, but the jazz music they had playing was relaxing. We talked about the day we met and had a good time :)



Okay, this is all for today.
The rainy season came back!
We had a rain and thunder this evening :(

Somehow, I got very bad stiff shoulders today...
Good night!

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Balsamic Marinated Avocado and Tomato

Hello!
The sky is starting to clear up! The rainy season is going to have a break for few days :)
As I wrote before, I am going to attend the finals of the survival food contest tomorrow! I hope it will be nice and sunny. I will write about the contest next week if I get a chance.


Today, I will translate my easy recipe using balsamic vinegar.
My photo doesn't look good, but tastes great!
I took this picture 3 years ago. How time flies!

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Balsamic Marinated Avocado and Tomato

Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: 5min or less
Number of servings: 2

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 tomato
1.5 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. powdered cheese

Directions:
1. Cut avocado and tomato in cubes. (If you want to serve in the avocado shells, cut avocado in half (lengthwise), gently scoop out as large as possible, and cut.)
2. Place the avocado and tomato in a bowl or dish, add balsamic vinegar, and toss lightly.
3. Spoon the mixture into the avocado shells, sprinkle powdered cheese on top, and serve.

My original recipe in Japanese is here.
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Yesterday, I went to the spa again. I had the third (last) free facial treatment. This time, I had a powerful vitamin therapy, which involves the use of ultrasonic wave. They say it facilitates penetration of vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene 100 times more into the skin (compared to the first treatment). Hope it did... Anyway, I had a good chance to learn about beauty salon treatments!

I want to try to keep up my sense of beauty.
I believe this idea is important to keep one's youth!

Okay, see you next week!
Enjoy your weekend :)

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Oyakodon: Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl

Last night, I nodded off while writing my diary...

Yesterday was rainy and today is cloudy.
We are expecting rain this week :(
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the rainy season has begun on June 2nd in the Kanto region, 20 days earlier than last year! They say it is because of typhoon No.5, which is slowly moving northward, pushing up the rain front!
I hope it clears up this Saturday, as they say now!

Talking about my cooking, on Monday, I made oyakodon using Kibun's minced fish product called "Tamanegi-Ten".
Oyakodon, literally "parent and child bowl", is a Japanese donburi (rice bowl) dish. Chicken, egg, onion, and other ingredients are all simmered together in a slightly sweet dashi sauce and served on top of a bowl of rice. Why we call this oyakodon is because both chicken (oya=parent) and egg (ko=child) are used. It can be whipped up relatively quickly, so it is a staple for Japanese home-style cooking. Moreover, oyakodon is often served in soba restaurants and other traditional Japanese restaurants.
On Saturday, I won free samples of "Tamanegi-Ten", which is a satsumaage (fried minced fish) using a lot of chopped onion. It tastes little sweet and rich.
Usually, when cooking oyakodon, we take time simmering onion, so I shortened the time by using this satsumaage! I used less sugar for the dashi sauce, because satsumaage itself was sweet enough.
Just as I thought, this oyakodon was great :)

You know what!? I think my supervisor is a toast. He says he cannot start the next project until he has time... I'm sorry to hear this since my coworker has so little work to do. But whenever I see him doing slow, I try to remind myself that "there is no rush"...

I'm kind of busy and drowsy this week.
I hope I can write tomorrow ;)

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