miso tuna potato recipe

I went to my friend's birthday dinner today, so I didn't cook dinner :)
But I became really hungry before I left my house so i had "miso tuna potato" as a snack/ entree.

Ingredients

*potatos (medium size) 2
*onion (small size) 1
*canned tuna (I used lemon flavoured tuna, but you can use normal tuna too. )
*smashed garlic 1/2 tea spoon

Sauce
*miso 1 tea spoon
*soya sauce 2 tea spoons
*sugar 1 tea spoon


Instructions

1. cut the potatos into thin slices and the onions into small pieces.

2. put the potatos into a bowl and heat them up for 2-3 mins until they get soft.

3. heat up a pan with some oil and the garlic. cook the onions and the tuna until the onions become transparent.

4. Add the potatos and the sauce ingredients. Stir well.

*western flavour*
add some cheese on the top, microwave it and eat with some ketchup.

*Japanese flavour*
add some pickled plum paste (or smash some pickled plums and add them on the top).

***Happy birthday, Rick!***

*Cooking Ingredients*

1. Japanese soup stock

←crooked. But I don't know why. haha

2. Konsome

Cream pasta recipe

☆Today's lunch☆

Cream pasta

I forgot to cook rice this morning so I decided to have pasta for lunch :)



Recipe- serves 2-

Ingredients

*fettuccine (or you can also use spagetti) 120g

*ham 4 slices

*small onion 1

*smashed garlic 1/2 tea spoon

Sauce

*konsome 1 cube

*fresh cream 1/3 cup

*a bit of pepper

Instructions

1. cut the onion and the ham into small pieces.

2. while boiling the fettuccine, heat up a pan with the garlic and some oil. cook the onions until they become transparent. Then, add the ham.

2. Once the fettuccine is cooked, take it out from the boiling water and mix it with the onion and the ham.

3. put the sauce ingredients, stir well.

Darwinism and "Disgrace"

I had a lecture on darwinism this morning.


When I say, "I'm studying darwinism this semester,"

people often ask me, "is it related to Media at all?"


Well, in fact, No.

But I'm taking it because it seems fun!

And my lecturer for darwinism is the same lecturer for the subject called "Minds and Madness" which I studied last semester.

I loved studying "Minds and Madness"!

The subject was about the history of mental illness
-- people thought that I was a bit mad to take this unique subject but actually I was not mad at all! This was a great subject!
Besides, the teachers were friendly and the subject was very interesting!


Anyway, I've been taking those random subjects which are not really related to media. and I was very happy about it because I really enjoyed studying them.

And I thought that I was allowed to take these subjects because they are under Arts, and media course is actually part of Arts degree!


But then, I found that I wasn't.


A few days ago, I found that I've completed 3 Arts subjects as my media optional subjects while these subjects are not media optional subjects!

Basically it means, I completed 3 wrong subjects during my 2nd year. (and I'm still doing it for darwinism in my 3rd year).

I was very upset when I found about this huge mistake!
Becaues I might not be able to graduate on time.


I went to talk to my course advisor straight away (there were few course advisors but I went to talk to the one my friend recomended to me).

She was nice.
She suggested to me that I can try to seek approval from my course co-ordinator to accept those unrelated media subjects as my media subjects... (sounds hard, but i personaly believe that these subjects are actually somehow related to media) *finger corssed*

If she says yes, then I don't need to take 3 new subjects or extend my study.


Well, I sent her an email to seek her approval, but I haven't gotten any reply yet...
Hope she can help me.... :(:(




Anyway,


I also went to watch a movie called "Disgrace" tonight.

My friend went to SouthAfrica for an exchange study and she just came back to melbourne a few weeks ago!

She is taking part in her university's fundraising group for SouthAfrica and she told me that if i buy a movie ticket for "Disgrace" from her, some money goes to help people in Africa.

The ticket was slightly more expensive than normal ticket, but I looked at the movie review and critics and the movie seemed interesting so i went there.

The movie theatre was just across my house anyway!


Well, the movie was about SouthAfrica and how people live there.
It was a bit shocking.

I felt that the ending was not that good though...
Also I couldn't sympathize with the main characters at all...

But I think the show was good as in it effectively showed the way people live in SouthAfrica, and how hard the life can be there.




My new housemate is moving in tomorrow morning!
I gotta wake up early againnn :p

cucumber and ham salad recipe

Cucumber and ham salad recipe serves 4

Ingredients

*cucumber 1
*ham 4 slices


*dressing*

-soya sauce 2 tea spoons
-mirin 1 tea spoon
-vinegar 1 tea spoon
-smashed dried garlic 1 tea spoon
-mayonnaise 1 tea spoon



1. cut both the cucumber and the ham into thin slices.

2. leave the cucumber in salted water for a while.

3. mix all the ingredients for dressing

4. take out the cucumber out of the water, mix it with ham, put dressing on the top, stir well before you eat them.

ma-bo-harusame recipe

Today's dinner

*ma-bo-harusame/マーボー春雨

*cucumber and ham salad/きゅうりとハムのサラダ

*bean sprout soup/もやしのスープ (yes! new soup!)

*white rice with salmon flakes/白いご飯と鮭のふりかけ

*Ma-bo-harusame recipe serves 2*

Ingredients

*sesame oil

*minced pork 150g

*onion 1 (smaller size)

*dried harusame (glass noodles) 100g

*Sauce*

-smashed garlic 2 tea spoons

-soya sauce 1 and 1/2 table spoons

-mirin 1 table spoon

-chicken soup stock 2 table spoons

-toubanjyan (chili) 豆板醤

(you can also cook without chili if you don't want it to be spicy)

Instructions

1. Put dried harusame in a bowl and pour some boiling water in.

(Harusame will be instantly cooked!)

2. chop the onion into small pieces.
Heat up a pan with some sesame oil and the garlic. cook the pork and the onions. (strong fire)

3. Once the pork and the onions are cooked, put harusame and all the sauce ingredients into
the pan. stir well.

New semester

My housemates (both current and new) came back from their home countries today :)


I no longer need to talk to myself!
(I talk to myself a lot when I'm alone at home...)


Anyway, I had a 1 hour-lecture and a 2 hour-seminor about new media today!It was about how new media (such as youtube, online journalism, facebook etc) differs from old media (such as newspapers, TV, radio etc) and how such differences affect stake holders.

My lecturer has PHD in video games.
I found it very cool.

He said that every year, so many media students graduate from universities all over Australia, but there are only few media jobs available for them.



I was kinda worried when I heard this in the lecture because I just started my 3rd year and have to look for a job soon.



But then, he also told us that new media is the field where many of us can find jobs easily (or easier than in the field of traditional old media) because our generation uses and knows more about new media than older generations. And so we can use such knowledge as an advantage when we look for a job :)

Basically, that's why we should study this subject.

I think this subject's gonna be something a bit similar to what i studied last semester (or more advanced version of it) and I think I'm gonna like it :)


I also had uni's orchestra rehearsal tonight♪
(We practice every monday night)



We've got 2 new conductors this semester and they both seemed nice!
Our music camp is coming up soon too :) i'm excited.

I'm so happy nowadays☆☆

hope this lasts till the end of this semester!


I have to wake up early tomorrow again... so i will update my recipe tomorrow.

the secret of miso soup

*picture* my favorite fork and spoon!

I told one of my friends back home that i just started a cooking blog.
She seemed to be surprised and asked me,

"is your blog gonna be all about fried rice and miso soup?"


well, I said no.


She knows that I love fried rice and miso soup.
And she thinks that all i cook and eat in melbourne is fried rice and miso soup.
well, that's not true, but it was a good guess.


When I first came to melbourne, I used to cook fried rice all the time.
And some lousy miso soup... i just boiled water and put miso paste inside.
next day, miso soup was spoilt.
It became so sourish.



I didn't know what happend and called my mom.
She said,
"You have to put soup stock to make miso soup because it's a soup!"


Anyway, since then, i leant how to make miso soup.


I love miso soup.
not the sourish ones, but the proper nice ones with proper soup stock inside.


My friend doesn't like miso soup and she refuses to drink it even though I tried to convince her to drink miso soup so many times.


Well, that's ok.


There are other soups which are healthy and tasty just like miso soup!
And now, i know how to make these different types of soups too!


I will never end up just uploading fried rice and miso soup recipes! hehe


Oh wait... now I realized that i've been drinking onion miso soup for the past few days...almost a week!!
Oh no, this is bad!!


I have to show my friend that i can cook something other than miso soup soon!
(And thank god, i haven't posted any fried rice recipes yet!)

Oh well, but for now, i will tell you how to make a good miso soup... haha

*Onion miso soup*

Ingredients

*onion 1/2
(if you wanna make miso soup with some other veggies, just do it. the rest of the ingredients will be always the same)

*miso 4-5 table spoons (I love marukome miso)
*Japanese soup stock 1 packet
*water (i usually fill up the water until 2/3 of the mideum size pot).

Instructions

1. chop the onions into thin pieces. follow the lines on the surface of the onion.

2. boil the water with the soup stock inside. (strongest fire)

3. once the water is boiled, put the onion inside and cook till onions become soft and transparent.(medium fire)

4. stop the fire and put the miso into the soup. (put the miso on a ladle, immerse it few times while making miso blends into the soup by using a table spoon).

*Add more or less depends on the kinds of miso you use and also on your
taste.

BBQ pork recipe

Today's dinner
*BBQ pork don
*Onion miso soup
*Sweet pumpkin nimono (from last night)


Today is the last day of the winter holiday.
It's time for me to go back to study!


I know that I always become so busy and stressed once uni starts, but I always get excited to start a new semester because I can study new subjects and also meet new people!


Today's dinner is a vital meal, BBQ pork☆so that i can be super energetic to make new friends and study hard!!

I had an early dinner tonight because i need to sleep early tonight so that i can wake up early tomorrow. I hope i can wake up on time...


I just watched a TV program called "Dancing with a star".There is a blind man in the show and it's so awsome that he can dance!I gotta vote for him so that he can remain in the competition..


BBQ pork recipes * serves 2


Ingredients

*thin sliced pork 150g
*onion 1/2

Sauce

*smashed garlic 2 tea spoons
*soya sauce 2 table spoon
*sugar 2 tea spoon
*Japanese sweet sauce (mirin) 1 table spoon

Instructions
1. chop the onion into thin slices. follow the lines on the surface of the onion.

2. heat up a pan with some oil and garlic. fry the pork and the onion.When both pork and onion are cooked, pour the sauce ingredients and stir well.
very easyyyyy

Bean curd recipe

Last night's dinner


*Stuffed fried bean curd 油揚げの肉づめ
*Sweet pumpkin nimono かぼちゃの煮物
*Onion miso soup 玉ねぎの味噌汁
*Fresh tomatoes with plum and shiso dip トマトと梅シソのタレ
*White rice with salmon flakes　白いご飯と鮭のふりかけ


Stuffed fried bean curd recipe* serving for 2 (4 stuffed bean curds)

Ingredients
*minced pork 300g
*onion 1/2
*fried bean curds 2 pieces

*Sauce:
*soya sauce- 1 table spoon
*Japanese sweet sauce (mirin)- 1 tea spoon
*Sugar- 1 tea spoon


Instructions

1. cut each fried bean curd into 2 so that it becomes like a pocket. place them in a bowl and pour hot water to get rid of some oil.

2. chop the onion into small pieces (I think if you wash an onion after cutting it into 2, you get less tears when you chop the onion)

3. heat up a pan with some oil (medium fire) and fry the pork and onion until the pork is cooked and onion becomes transparent.

4. put the sauce ingredients into the pan stir well, cook until the meat absorbs the sauce.

5. stop the fire and stuff the cooked meat and onions into the bean curds. Place the stuffed bean curds in the same pan and cook until the beancard is nicely heated up and gets some brown colour.

**if you have extra cooked pork and onion left, keep it for tomorrow, we can use it for salad!


you can eat stuffed bean curd just like that or with soya sauce or tomato ketchup if you like.

wakame gohan recipe

wakame gohan (seaweed and dried bonito rice) serves 2

Ingredients

*rice 1 cup (=about 2 bowls of cooked rice)
*dried bonito (katsuobushi）1 small package
*dried seaweed （wakame）2 table spoons pour boiling water and make them soft
*soya sauce 2 table spoons

Instructions

1. put the dried seaweed into a small bowl and pour some boiling water in. (leave it for a while till seaweed becomes soft. usually when it gets soft, its amount doubles). then, get rid of the water.

2. mix the bonito, the seaweed and soya sauce. stir well.

3. put cooked rice in. mix everything together.

Butterfish recipe

Today's dinner


*seaweed and dried bonito rice/わかめと鰹節のご飯
*onion miso soup/たまねぎの味噌汁
*tuna curry pasta salad/ツナのカレーパスタサラダ
*pan-fried butterfish with sweet garlic sauce/バターフィッシュの甘辛ガーリック焼き

Recipes *Pan-fried Butterfish* - serves 2

Ingredients

*butterfish - 2 large pieces (substitute with yellowtail or mackerel is also nice!)
*smashed ginger- 1 tea spoon

Sauce

*smashed garlic- 2 table spoons

*smashed ginger- 1 tea spoon

*soya sauce- 4 table spoons

*Japanese cooking sake (alcohol for cooking)- 4 table spoons

*sugar- 1 tea spoon

1. Boil the fish in a pot with water and ginger -- wait until the fish is fairly cooked and fish smell is gone

2. Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a large bowl and stir well. put the cooked fish inside. leave it to marinate for a few minutes.

3. Using strong fire, heat up a frying pan with oil and when hot, place fish in the pan. -- leave the remaining sauce in the bowl till the fish turns a nice golden brown

4. Turn the fire to down medium, pour the remaining sauce in the pan, place a lid on it and cook till all the sauce is absorbed. -- flip the fish over few times so that the fish absorbs the sauce equally.

About me

Hi I'm Tomo.

Thank you for visiting my website.

I love cooking, sewing, shopping and playing flute!
I'm Japanese, but have been living in Melbourne for more than 5 years by now.

I've never thought that I would have my own blog because I knew nothing about blogs! But thank you to my media and com teacher, I just learnt how to blog and how blogs can be useful and interesting in the field of media, and then I decided to have
one!

I love melbourne! --people, varieties of food and even crazy weather (4 seasons in 1 day)!!
But I miss home too.I miss Japanese food and my mum's cooking.
I enjoy studying, hanging out with friends, but i miss my family and friends back home too.Studying overseas is definetely worthwhile, fulfilling and a fun experience, but it comes with so many problems and struggles too.!

And that's what I wanna write about in this blog.I want to write about my everyday life in melbourne, both happy and tough experiences.
And also, my everyday cooking recipes.


To be honest, I didn't know how to cook when i was in Japan and so when i first came to Melbourne, i always had to eat out for lunch and dinner.
But one day, i thought that i should try cooking by myself.


Please don't be scared and run away from my recipes now, because even though my very first cooking ended up awful and I believed that i had no talent in cooking, I improved a lot as compared to 3 years ago! Now i really love my cooking and my friends love it too!


Eating good and healthy food is important no matter how busy you are. Sometimes, I feel like I don't have enough time and energy to cook everyday especially when I have a lot of readings and essays to do for uni. But I still encourage myself to stand in the kitchen and cook something very easy and fast, yet healthy and tasty food!


I like to cook big amount and keep them in the fridge or even in the freezer so that I don't need to be upset about food when i am overwhelmed with school work, especially at the end of the semester. Also, I sometimes use one cooked dish to make something new so that I don't get sick of eating the same food everyday!


Once you can cook well and enjoy the food you cooked, you will love cooking more and more!


I hope you enjoy my blog and try my recipes especially when you are busy with your studies or work and do not have much time to cook... and yet, you want to eat something good!!

Tomo