Ohmygod, it's hello kitty !

It had to happen sometime.
I found this advertisement on my way to work.

( click on the picture for a larger view)
IS THERE NO STOPPING THIS KAWAII ONSLAUGHT ?
I'm constantly exposed to it on my friend Kirin's blog so I'm not totally shell shocked , but still. I have to drive past this every day to work !
I can't even blame the Japanese for this , because it's a Korean brand.

What does the advert say ? Well for those of you who aren't fluent in Dutch ( that's 99.5 % of the planet ) it says in the balloon "(It's) Time to change your mobile phone"
and the horn blowing mouse announces 20 Euros per old mobile phone handed in.
The fine print explains you get 20 Euros for up to 3 phones in working order in vouchers.

Thankfully, I have a real cat at home to remind me cats aren't always white with a pink ribbon around one ear.
Meet my very real cat Kedam, everybody , lurking in the grass for passing prey she can kill

( click on the picture for a larger view of my backyard predator )
and sitting on her favorite cushion in HER house

( click on the picture for a larger view and check out the spooky green reflection in the eyes)
I'm only allowed to live here provided I open doors for Her Highness, fill the water dish and fill up the food container. I'm on constant probation : one too many mistakes and I'm sooo fired!

Moroccan delights : lemons, olives and turkey

One of the most wonderful combination of tastes is this Moroccan dish, which mingles the robust tastes of olives with lemon and chicken ( or turkey ).
The original recipe uses whole chicken drumsticks, I'm replacing them with diced turkey.
It is cooked in a tajine, which most people don't have. The tajine is a clay pot , which has a large conical closed top to let the heat and steam circulate and is meant for slow simmering dishes. (This is not my kitchen , I don't have a tajine)

I'm replacing it with a large heavy pot, which works just as well.
You'll need :
1 kilo of turkey breast, diced roughly in cubes of 3-5 cm
3 medium onions ( red or yellow), chopped

2 citron confit ( pickled lemons ) chopped with all the juice ( there's an explanation below on how to make it or how to use fresh lemon) with the pips removed!
(the zests are separate in this picture , that's not required :) see below)

300-350 grams of green pitted olives (mine are straight from the jar!)
2 or 3 teaspoons of turmeric powder (yellow root , we call it curcuma here ;)
2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 or 3 garlic cloves , peeled, core removed and diced in 3 or 4 bits
1 slice of ginger, diced finely or grated


1 - 2 handfuls of fresh coriander leaves, shredded by hand ( if I can't find it fresh , I don't use any,I find the taste hardly changes )
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of pepper ( 10 twists of the pepper grinder )
no salt ( the traditional recipe uses salt, but the citron confit already has a lot of that )
Large pot with lid.

Heat the oil in your favorite large pot on a medium fire.
Brown the turkey cubes lightly on all sides by stirring them in the oil for about 4-5 minutes or so.
Add the onions and stir fry for another 5 or so till the onions are glazed.The turkey tends to stick to the pot, keep stirring.
Pour the turmeric powder all over the meat and stir to get them all colored.


Put everything else in , except the olives and the coriander leaves.
Pour water in till the meat is a bit more than half covered.
Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to very low ( 2-3 electric) so it keeps slowly simmering : check regularly that it simmers : boiling dries out the meat !
Leave to simmer for half an hour to 40 minutes and add the olives and the coriander ( if you have any ).

Leave to simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
Done ! My advice : serve this robust dish with couscous (made from semolina ). ( I feel steamed rice is not the proper companion for this taste ). There's still a lot of moisture in there and the couscous absorbs those lovely juices so well.


It keeps well in the fridge (must be the lemon acids). I'll be having it on and off for the next 10 days with couscous : about 8 portions. Hmm! The SMELL ! To die for.

I use precooked couscous and add boiling water and a small dash of olive oil ( as on the package ). Add a portion of the hot dish in a deep plate , eat with a spoon. Lovely.


My selfmade citron confit. Why are the zests separate ? Because I had started to peel the zest of 4 lemons when I suddenly decided to use 2 of them for citron confit.

Citron confit can be made by cutting whole lemons lengthwise with 2 deep slices down the middle, , but not all the way down, so it doesn't fall apart. Pour a tablespoon of salt in the middle of each lemon and put them in a glass jar with a tightly fitting top. Leave the pips in, you'll remove them when you use it.
You'll need untreated lemons , not the normal kind whose skin is treated with chemicals to prevent rot.Don't wash a treated lemon with hot soapy water as a replacement , it doesn't get rid of the chemical.
Leave the jar in the room for a day and then keep it in the fridge for 2 to 4 weeks.The lemon juice will run out and the lemons will become glazed. Use both in the dish.

When I'm out of citron confit or untreated lemons , I cheat by peeling and dicing a normal lemon and leaving some of the white skin on and adding salt.

Here's a tip : if you buy garlic it usually comes in a bunch of pods. I find they dry out or start to go bad after a few weeks.
To have a fresh supply that's quick to use, peel the cloves, remove the cores and keep them in a jar with a tight lid in the deep freeze. Same for the ginger : peel and slice. Glass jars have the advantage that you can see what's inside.
Also I find the frozen ginger is very easy to dice finely.

Beer trek : the new frontier.

It was bound to happen sometime: we Belgians make beer , drink beer, cook with beer and make world famous chocolates.
Beer Brewery De Ryck has boldly gone where no one has gone before.

They sell a collection of beer chocolates (no no ! not chocolate beer : Beer Chocolates ! )

Unfortunately even the English version of their website will only give you a Dutch description of these delicacies, so for you my dear readers , I've translated it into English.
( Because I like you all so much, I want to share this inside knowledge with you ! :)

( Want to get a better view ? Leftclick the image for a mouthwatering larger view )

Oh and did I mention they also have beer cheese, beer marmalade, beer sorbet and beer pâté ?
Belgian type breakfast , anyone ?

Japanese Art Festival Richmond : everybody arrives for the great kimono show

Finally : the kimono show post. Do a leftclick on the pictures to get a larger view.

A bit later on the first day of the Festival , April turned up, everybody got into kimono , so I made them all pose !
Everyone getting ready for the group pose :
They're ready ! From left to right : Isla, Hong, Chantal and April.
The kimono showing was held in the main hall. Thank God I photographed it , it was all over in under 15 minutes!
April walked on stage first with Chantal and Isla, introducing everybody.
Commenting on their kimonos for the public.
Akemi comes on , telling us she's dressed up her friends in some rare and expensive kimonos from her collection.
Akemi's friend n° 1Akemi's friend n° 2View from the back : the red and yellow bow is a clip-on bow ( they have that ??!) , the right is a genuine folded one.

Akemi's friend n° 3 : this furisode (long sleeved) is worn only by unmarried women (Aha! Must remember that when I visit Japan ;)
The "Aaaaaah, she's so kawaii !" moment : the girl from the Chibi stand.

" Thank you everybody ! " ( I really need a bigger flash)
Day 2 : Kelly visits the stand .
(Chantal , if you want the RAWS , use the email me Form on my blog site )

Cooking lesson with Atsuko : hands-on cooking

On Sunday I had booked a cooking lesson with Atsuko from Atsukos kitchen to learn hands on how to make proper onigiri.
The lesson was great , I can recommend it. If England wasn't so far to commute, I'd sign up for more lessons!

Atsuko-sensei herself.
More students arriving.
Ingredients for the wrapping and the filling.

More ingredients. Check out those lovely origami cranes.

With the rice precooked ( and after being explained how to make proper 'sticky' rice : you need to use Japanese rice and wash it properly before cooking with the right amount of water.) Knew that.

Put the rice in a large wooden tray (rub with a wet towel to keep from sticking) and fluff the rice before use. Take a small handful of rice , add a small amount of filling in the middle and quickly knead it into a triangular shape, then wrap partially or completely with nori, while still warm.
I also made one with some stringy konbu ( seaweed) around it.
Some were with beef , some with salmon, some with umeboshi ( I love umeboshi !)

According to Atsuko sensei my onigiri looked good enough to sell and her assistant complained mine were better than hers. I know how totally polite Japanese are, so I'm always suspicious of so much praise, but actually , they do look OK.
I just have to learn to make em more quickly.

I didn't like this picture I'd taken , so I made a new batch at home.
Check it out these triangular ones : you were right Atsuko-sensei , they're good enough to sell.

I also made a round one and one fully wrapped. I call it the 'surprise package' ( it has umeboshi in it).


Of course I didn't sell the ones I made at home : I ate them and when the sun came out I had this lovely Japanese beer to finish it off. It's way better than the Asahi super dry. It's right up there with the best German pils beers. Hontoni!
Cheers!

Japanese Art Festival in Richmond

On 11th and 12th of June I drove up to England for the Japanese Art Festival in Richmond ,

Busy parking my motorbike in front, saw Hong (see MCM Expo) pull up and unload boxes from a car. Turns out she would be running a stand offering manga, obi and kanzashi.
Hong is a total sweety : she let me stash my gear behind her stand.Not wearing the vest keeps me from turning into a total sweaty ;) Thanks, Hong!

A bit later Chantal and Isla turned up and started helping out ,before they went to get changed into kimonos.
The stand : Chantal taking stock, Hong tying a thingy around her obi and Isla praying ?!
The goodies : beautifully handmade kanzashi.

More beautiful kanzashi.
The nice lady with the Chibi stand.
The stand of Japan Centre (left) and the people from JP books (middle) , where I bought a few books. "Learn japanese for busy people" . I asked for " Learn Japanese for people with absolutely no spare time" , but it is not out yet.

I didn't go for their suggestion to buy 'How to speak Japanese with Osaka dialect' . I'll try to learn the standard first.
The hallway leading to the Main hall aka the QCH , rushing towards us is Akemi Solloway ,the lady who is the main organizer for the event and in the back you can see the stand of Karen and Nanniiebim , where I bought a few nice manga ( every manga she had basically :). Nanniebim is the one standing behind the table with the red and yellow books.
In the Queen Charlotte Hall , I saw plenty of nice performances, like these awesome Taiko drummers.

Back at the stand , business was a bit slow , so they're having fun with their fans.

Keep checking this blog, I'll be back with more pics.

MCM Expo May 2009

I've been too busy to keep up my blog for too long, but I have a good excuse : I've been visiting London on and off during long weekends the past month.
The MCM Expo of London is billed as one of the largest anime, manga and film festivals. No otaku or cosplayer should miss it and judging from the incredible amount of people waiting in rows for an early entry, I don't think any did!

I didn't take pictures of cosplayers this time around , but I couldn't pass up on this couple in a pirate ship . ( IS that One piece ? )
The actual hall was actually smaller than a similar event ( FACTS ) we have in Belgium , but you have so many people rotating through this that's it's has more visitors than ours.
It also allows major producing companies , while we don't allow any but small vendors.
Also a number of movie and tv celebrities attend, which we do have (but only for signing sessions) and here they do Q&A sessions.

I got to see the lovely Linda Hamilton live doing a Q&A. She explained there was no shortage of rolls offered to her after the Terminator movies, if she wanted to play a tough cop or similar parts, but nothing interesting. Hollywood typecasting, sigh!

The highlight for me came on day 2 when I met Priscilla of Kimono Daisuki and some of her friends.

From left to right : me, Priscilla, Mel and Hong. I 'borrowed' this pic from Priscilla's Flickr page.

We went inside to browse around a bit : I'd already seen everything three times over , so I just tagged along.

As elegant as Mel looks in her Lolita outfit she also has a (dark?) other side you wouldn't expect.
Here's Mel competing with the guy next to her . He's being demolished and by the look on his face , totally not believing this is happening to him.
Get them , Mel!
After the show we went outside for a few pics : Hong and her boyfriend : Francesco.

Priscilla and Mel. The black stuffed animal with the blue stone and the huggability factor of 1000 ( according to Priscilla) is Larg the Mokona from the Tsubasa series.

Afterwards everybody went to a Chinese restaurant where we ate a Chinese 'delicacy' I'd been looking to eat for a long time : Century eggs.
They're an interesting taste : a bit salty and sort of rubbery and of course they look very black.
I found a recipe here. I really liked it, thanks again for the treat and the nice time , guys !