Since my morning sickness (or rather, morning, afternoon AND evening sickness) is gone, i am able to paste all these pictures on this blog without running to the bathroom to gag.
So here it is, a compilation of food i put together for the family. This is for the future me to come back to read and think, ah, i was THAT amateur. *condescending smile*. Hahhaha no la. Probably more like, wow, i can’t believe i actually at one point know how to utilize the kitchen. Lolol. Either way, i am glad i did.
Meals for Family
Meal #1
Starting off with the best picture, in case you think it’s not worth your time and skip the whole blog post completely.
Menu:
*Banana and peanut butter pancake
*Oil sardin cabbage salad (followed a Japanese recipe but ended up really disastrous)
*Tomato and Mozarella in olive oil
*Dannaben
Meal #2
Oh i love my air-fried vegetable chips!!! This is pumpkin and lotus root. The thinner you slice it the crispier it would be! I would have loved to use a slicer but the week before i just sliced my thumb in half so i’d stick to the knife for a while now.
Recipe: Toss sliced vegetables in olive oil, air-fry and then sprinkle with herb and salt!
Meal #3
This was the one that comes with extra Cheesie blood seasoning. It’s sliced gobo (Japanese burdock) and lotus root. Made with love. And blood. And part of my finger.
Meal #4
Menu:
*Mentaiko Niku Udon with negi and seaweed
*Japanese tofu with shio konbu
*Tako wasabi
Meal #5
This one is a super cheat.
Menu:
*Natto (no cooking required)
*Cabbage salad (tossed in sesame oil, salt, sesame seed and shio konbu)
*Instant Miso Soup (just pour hot water)
*Chawanmushi. This one required quite a bit of work, which is why the rest has to cheat.
And it was the perfect Chawanmushi. The trick is to sieve the egg with a really, really fine sieve and your steamed egg will be smooth like tofu.
Meal #6
Ok more like snacks. Raspberry Greek Yogurt. With Manuka honey.
Meal #7
Rocket salad with shit dressing (not literally, just… you know, i am probably just a very bad dresser. Ok that didn’t sound right. Let me try again. Dressinger. You know what? Forget it.), bacon, sunny-side-up and anyhow-chili-con-carne.
Meal #8
Minestrone with Mac & Cheese.
Meal #9
*Kinmedai grilled fish with grilled ginko nuts
*Kani onion and edamame salad
*Clam & seaweed soup (instant)
Meal #10
*Miso eggplant and pork
*Tsukune (chicken nugget!) with sesame and shiso
Meal #11
*Udon soup with abura age
*Tsukimi Tsukune (See Moon Minced Chicken, literally.)
Papa’s Bento
Meal #12
* Hijiki tamagoyaki
*Steamed vegetables with sesame dressing
*Failed home made siew-yok
Meal #13
*Salmon hamburger steak
*Grilled vegetables
*Scramble egg
Meal #14
*Negi Tamagoyaki
*Prawn Croquette (frozen and air-fried)
* Shredded fried chicken drumstick (because no place to put liao lol)
*Sardin salad
Meal #15
* grilled chicken with vinegar carrot salad
* Hanjuku Tamago
*Spinach in sesame sauce
Meal #16
* Looks like spam but is actually fish steak!!
* Tamagoyaki
* Komatsuna and mushroom salad, and assorted frozen food i don’t even know what was what now.
Meal #17
Beef hamburger steak and baby daikon oroshi.
Meal #18
*Yakisoba
*Chicken ball (frozen food from Ajinomoto), Hanjuku tamago and grilled vegetables.
Breakfast
Recently the danna and i tried to eat better for breakfast cuz we usually will have a hectic day ahead. This is how our breakfast is like typically.
Meal #19
* Steamed tofu with shallot
*Salted egg bitter gourd
*Natto
* Chirimen jyako (dried fish that’s so great as a rice topping!)
* Chicken soup
*Shabu buta with beansprout and Sichuan dressing
Meal #20
* Niku tofu daikon pot (Beef tendon, tofu, daikon, enoki mushroom and negi simmered with pressure cooker. Can just cook it the night before for instant breakfast the next morning!)
* Natto
* Chirimen jyako with mentaiko
* Spinach with garlic and sakura ebi.
Meal #21
* Leftover niku tofu daikon
*Okinawa Hiyayako tofu with soy sauce and minced ginger
* Tororo (Gooey sticky slimy grated yamaimo for rice topping)
* Okinawa mochi tofu pudding with kinako and black sugar.
Meal #22
Pregnancy craving!!!
One day i was just almost dying of craving for Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan and i thought i’d make my own.
Boiled egg, fried shallot, minced meat (must be fatty like belly), and braise for 3-4 hours in slow cooker.
Omg i never knew Lu Rou Fan is THIS FATTENING until i made it myself. Almost everything single ingredient is suppose to make your exercise/diet die in vain. And it’s impossible to make a less fattening version. Because that won’t be Lu Rou Fan anymore. That’s just… Sad Fan.
But… it is probably worth it @.@
Meal #23
Home made gyoza. I didn’t know using the Japanese dumpling skin would make a heaven of difference.
Meal #24
Early Xmas party.
* Grilled chicken with herbs
*Potato salad Japanese style
* Grilled vegetables, weird deviled egg and BBQ corn
* Japanese ringo for dessert
JunJun’s version.
Finally a picture of the cook and her guest Chanwon.
Right from the Start
This is the book i’ve been referring to for some of my recent kitchen adventures. It’s written by my friend Daisy Ng, a certified Dr Sears Health Coach majoring in Children and Family Nutrition.
This is not just a recipe book, but also a guide on child nutrition from infant all the way to, well, your entire family.
I almost always cook separately for Junya, but now that he is 18 months old and has officially graduated from “rinyushoku” (baby food?) , i’m into cooking for the entire family which is also Junya-friendly!
I love how practical it is, nothing too fancy, you’ll probably have most of the stuff in your kitchen but you just didn’t know how to put them together before reading this book. All the health tips really really helped too.
It’s really comforting to know that Daisy is always someone i can turn to when it comes to healthy living. Today i just texted her and asked “how do you feed fever medicine to a toddler who is completely refusing it?”. And she always, always helps.
Herb & butter animal pasta for Junya and mama, just like the recipe and it turned out so good!
Get Daisy’s book from any major bookstores in Malaysia 🙂
That is all for today. Junya is waking up every 30 minutes due to discomfort (fever and diarrhea earlier today) and it took me hours to write this post. I’m going to lie down next to him and hug him to sleep now!
Night! <3
Wow this all looks so great!!! You’re a skilled cook indeed, Junya and the Danna are very lucky 🙂
One of my favorite foods is gyusuji, but I only ever eat it in Asia as it’s not readily available here in Europe. I miss having natto too! And chirimenjyako…*sigh*
Gyusuji is only nice in Japan!!!!!! The one here taste like you are chewing rubber bands lol
For meal 6 do you just scoop out the yogurt and throw some raspberries and drizzle honey on top?
I once bought the same tub of greek yogurt to try and didnt know it was so sour. After making a fruit smoothie once and didnt know what to do with it afterwards, it expired and i threw it away. Such a waste. I have seen a lot of people have it with fruits but I think it still looks sour. ><
Shall give it a try this time.
Actually i didn’t like the yogurt too cuz it’s like you said, very sour hahhaa. But i bought it for Junya cuz i try to not let him eat sweetened yogurt now. If i eat it for myself i’ll add granola or honey 🙂
I swear Cheesie, you took the best food photos! can you write a post on some tips of taking a good food photos especially your flatlay ones! so good! XD
Eh actually i just take with my iphone from a high angle, there’s no tips whatsoever @.@ Maybe it’s the filter i think!!!
Hello Cheesie, I’m from Singapore and I’ve been a reader of your blog since a long time ago 🙂 I can see that you put in a lot of effort in choosing what food to incorporate in your meals, and they all look so yummy and healthy and diverse and colourful and … I can tell both Junya and your danna would look forward to each meal you concoct 🙂
Anyway, what I wanted to ask was, is the serving size of each meal really the same as the pictures you post? Like Meal#13, although I know that in Japan ‘hamburger steak’ is just the meat without the bun, the meal looks very small. And even those meals with carbs, like Meal#11, still seem to have a very small serving size overall.
I’ve also noticed that your 3 meals seem to be around the same serving size, e.g. by comparing breakfast Meal#19 etc with your lunch, for example. I usually eat a smaller breakfast in comparison with my lunch (the serving size is like those you see in foodcourts) but I recently decided I would like to plan healthier and yummier meals, because I would like to lose weight 🙁 but also because it’s, you know, a ‘lifestyle change’. So I was wondering if that’s the default serving size in Japan where all the ladies are so slim (and you too haha) and maybe the serving size in SG is bigger in comparison?
Thank you! :))))
Lisa
Hi Lisa!! Thanks so much for your comment!!
The bento serving size looks small because i cram everything inside a bento box. But the biggest reason is that the danna was on diet so he requested minimal carb and a smaller portion. Usually for a two-tiered bento box, one would be filled with white rice and another with dishes. By cutting down the rice it looks like you are not gonna get full from that hahah it’s true.
The breakfast looks big because it’s shared among me and the danna. Good luck to you! 🙂
Hi Cheesie,
I don’t mean to sound condescending, but is it safe to eat so many ginkgo nuts? Because I read this chinese news (translated by facebookers) that a child died from consuming too much..?