Christmas Table Setting - small group dinner party

For small group dinner parties for Holiday season. Working on a menu and table setting.

Chrismas Table Setting - Buffet party

I am going to cater some appetizers and deserts for over 50 people at a Christmas party. I am currently working on a table setting.

November birthday dinner

A special dinner for the birthday boys - my husband + our friend, Mark!
Here is the menu for the night
* Lentil and white kidney basil curry soup w/orzo pasta
* Japanese style cold roast beef
* Chick peas and apple salad on the endive boat
* Beets and zucchini salad
* Canneroni
* Panna cotta w/blueberry sauce

Beef Stew/Grilled stuffed peppers w/ricotta and tomato meat sauce/Chicken and Veggie soup

Pot Roast

Banana mousse

Party time!

Our dearest friend, Goro Koyama won the emmy award for an outstanding Sound Editing. He is a talented foley artist, who followed his childhood dream and he now became a world well known foley artist. We are very proud of him and wanted to celebrate his amazing compliments for over the past 15 years. We hosted a party for Goro. All of my Japanese friends in Toronto are amazing cooks and we believe that we had the best potluck party ever!

Spaghetti with turkey meatballs

Slow cooked stew/Chickpeas and apple salad/Potato papollote/Apple tatin

I have been taking a French cooking class once a month since last May. I found the class through my organic bread baking class that I used to take two years ago in Oakville. A Japanese lady who used to live in France with her husband and his family, after they moved to Toronto, she started her cooking class at her house. She is very creative and talented cook. I always enjoy learning new recipes from her. This is my precious time once a month that I totally get inspired and loved.
This month, what we cooked;
- Goulash aux Trois Viandes (slow cooked stew)
- Pois chiches aux Pommes (chickpeas and apple salad)
- Pommes de terre en Papollote d'automne a la vapeur (Potato papollote)
- Tarte au tatin (Apple tatin)

Japanese dinner (Soboro-Gohan/Pork ginger)

Soboro-Gohan
This is my boys favorite Japanese dish. I normally use a grand pork, but you can also use a grand chicken. Cooked the ground pork with soy sauce and ginger, add a little bit of honey and maple syrup for a flavor. Eat with scrambled eggs and some steamed vegetables. Mixed all together with rice. I like to eat with a mixed grain rice (brown rice, brown sweet rice, black sweet rice, barley, red bean, black bean and mung bean). You can buy a pack at Korean super market.

Pork ginger
This is also a very traditional and one of the most popular home-made dishes in Japan. We use thin sliced "shabu-shabu" pork meat. Some people prefer to cook with onions, but since my younger son doesn't really like onions, I just cook with the meat. I make an extra sauce and drizzle on top of the rice and eat with it. Yum-yum!!!

Filipino Dinner - Sinigang/Adobo

I met my husband in Japan. We got married in Tokyo and moved to Toronto in 1998. The first year after I moved, we attended 14 weddings, many birthday parties and family gatherings. I didn't know a concept of "extended" family, but once I met somebody, the next day, people called me that I am his/her "cousin". so, even though my husband only has a very small "blood related" family, he has soooo many "cousins". Over the years, I gradually learned a Filipino culture and all the yummy dishes. Sinigang and Adobo are one of my favorite Filipino dishes that I cook often at home.

Roast Chicken

When my 4 year old is coming home from the school, which is around 3:30pm, normally after his long full day JK, his is very tired, hungry and grumpy and he needs mommy. That is the time that I need to start preparing the dinners. Something it doesn't require a lot of chopping and the oven can do the job, like this roast chicken - this is my rescue dish when my little guy is not letting me stay at the kitchen. While the chicken is in the oven, I can built my son's Lego! I sprinkled a pinch of dried oregano/basil/garlic powders, sea salt and pepper, maple syrup, fresh squeezed lemon juice, soy sauce and olive oil. We eat with a special BBQ sauce.

BBQ sauce for Roast chicken
oyster sauce 1 : ketchup 2: maple syrup 1.5: fresh squeezed lemon juice 1

Curry basil orzo pasta soup

After making the bacon pesto pasta, I had a little left over pesto sauce, so I made this soup. Garlic, onions, zucchini, red peppers, carrots, mashrooms, led lentel beans, white kidney beans and orzo pasta. I put about 1 tsp curry powder and 1 tsp "shio-koji" that my friend made it for me. "Shio-koji" is a fermented seasoning made from rice malt and salt and has a long history as a method for enhancing a dish’s flavor. It has recently come back into fashion in Japan. It adds umami to just about anything.

Bacon pesto pasta

I always wanted to grow my own fruits and vegetables. The house that we moved at the end of this summer, there was a setting for a home vegetable garden. So far, I only grow basil because it's getting colder here, but we will grow more veges next spring. With my food processor, it only takes 3 min. to make this pesto sauce. Fresh with no preservatives, so just before I boil spaghettini I make this sauce.

Homemade Pesto sauce
60 g fresh basil
3 tbsp roasted pine nuts
1 3 cup grated parmesan
1 4 tsp sea salt and pepper
1 4 cup olive oil

Put all together in a food processor and mix well together.

Tomatoes and bocconcini salad with basil dressing /Caesar salad

This years family Thanks giving dinner, I had to bring some salads and deserts. I wanted to make something simple and basic salad that everybody can enjoy. I made my croutons and salad dressings.

Caesar salad dressing
2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp milk
5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp stone ground mustard
a pinch of pepper

Mix all together well. You can add more olive oil to change a thickness of the dressing if you like.

Bail dressing
1 tbsp Basil paste
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 2 to 1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all together well.

Korokke (Japanese croquette)

This is a request from my younger son. Korokke - Japanese croquette, Mashed potatoes and seasoned grand beef (or pork) with crunchy panko crumbles, baked in the oven. Original recipe is deep fried, but I baked them in the oven instead. This is my son's favorite thing to bring for his school lunch. I make a lot and freeze them. It became very handy for busy everyday morning to prep the boys lunch.

Deep fried bananas

An another left over banana recipe. I made more dumplings and I had some wrappers left, so I put sliced bananas and sprinkle cinnamon powder inside and deep fried them. My boys loved this snack after the school. I personally like to add red bean pastes inside.

Banana bread

After the trip, the first thing I did was preparing all the snacks and food for the next day school lunch for my boys. I had a few left over bananas from the trip, so I baked a banana bread. I tried a new recipe from "FallBaking" magazine and I quite liked it. But next time I will probably reduce an amount of sugar to bake it.

Banana Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (4-5 medium)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
( 1/4 cup chopped walnut - optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease the loaf pan(s), set a side. In a large bowl combine all the try ingredients.
2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (butter should be lumpy) (* Fold in walnuts - optional)
3. Spoon batter into pan(s). spread evenly. Bake for 55-60 min. for 9X5X3 pan or 40-45 min. for two 7 1/2 X 3 1/2 2 pans.
4. Cool in pan(s) on a wire rack for 10 min. Remove from pan(s). Cool it completely on wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before serving.

Wonton soup / Udon Japanese noodles

An another detox dinner. We didn't want to eat anything heavy. I made a wonton soup using my Japanese dumplings. Put some Asian chives, bok choy, shimeji and enoki mushrooms, gingers and sesame oils. My next day lunch, I transformed this soup to Japanese udon noodles.

Detox dinner (Japanese style paella and soup)/ Pancit (Filipino fried noodle)

While we were on a road trip in the States, especially when we were driving somewhere in the middle of no where on the highways, only the restaurants that we could find was fast food chains. We try to eat as healthy as possible, so we wanted to avoid to eat there. However, over 16-17+ driving, we had no choice but had to eat junk fast food few times. My younger son threw up every time after he ate those food. His body was refuse to take those chemicals in his body. so, after we came home from our one week trip, we had to detox. I made a special detox dinner using a traditional Japanese detox vegetables - gobo (burdock) and konnyaku (Konjac). I made a "takikomi gohan" (Japanese style vegetable paella) and "Buta-jiru" (vegetable soup with thin sliced pork for flavour) - I used a lot of gobo and konnyaku. I also made a "pancit" (Filipino fried noodles).

Gobo root is traditionally valued for its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. It is highly esteemed as a blood detoxifier, a diuretic, and a topical remedy for maladies of the skin, including psoriasis and acne. In Chinese herbal medicine, it is used in concert with other herbs to allay the discomfort of sore throats and colds.

Konnyaku is a water-soluble dietary fiber derived from the root of the Konjac plant. It contains zero calories. The Konjac root is highly rich in positive vitamins, minerals and fiber. Besides its most beneficial nutritional quality of being high in fiber, Konjac contains vitamins such as iron, potassium, phosphorous selenium and calcium. The root also contains many types of essential amino acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Both of them are amazing detox vegetables and so many other health benefits to your body. I am a huge believer in natural cures and I am fortunate to be a Japanese that we have a long history of use of all kinds of vegetables/fruits as natural medicines. I have a commitment to feed my boys healthy food every day. It's a time consuming work but it is totally worth it and I believe that this is the best thing that I can do for my kids as a mother - beside giving them hugs and kisses :-)