Ganso-new ramen joint

Ganso had their soft opening September 17th and I was there for some of their first steaming ramen bowls. I've been to few places that get it right from the first day, but Ganso did it perfect! I was thrilled when I found out the place I saw on my way to the train station every day was going to be a ramen restaurant and a bit of an izakaya with all its delicious small dishes and beer and sake to come soon (they are waiting for their liquor license). I had the Ganso ramen, a soy based broth with yummy tender pieces of pork and all the prerequisite ramen trimmings. My friend, Michelle, had the spicy miso ramen and that was also scrumptious and came with pork. We also ordered the karage (fried chicken) and the steak as appetizers and it was all delightful. I will be ever so grateful that they are a block away come the bitter New York winter. I came across this review for ramen in Japan and I was wondering if this where they got their name, hmmmm....

getting there:
25 Bond St,
Brooklyn, NY (btwn Livingston and Fulton)
Trains: R, Q, B to Dekalb Station,
A,C,G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station,
2,3,4,5 to Nevins Station

Summer fun: Japanese Food Festival

These past two months have been crammed with summer goodness which is why I've been a little scarce on the blog and I do apologize for that. In NYC one of the biggies for summer is food festivals and we got to enjoy an amazing feast at the Japanese food festival in Astoria. Here is a roll I just back filled with mouth-watering dishes.

A little Japan in your Kitchen-Seaweed wrap

I started making these, salmon avocado seaweed wraps, after I had one at my favorite japanese cafe in Greenpoint I thought I'd share since they are really easy to make and quite tasty.
Things you'll need:
Makes 4-5 wraps
-Nori (roasted seaweed wraps not the little snacky ones but the full sheets)
-1 can of salmon
-pinch of salt
-1/4 teaspoon sriacha
-2 tbsp kewpie mayonnaise
-1 ripe haas avocado, sliced into quarters lengthwise
-1 cup of steamed sushi rice

Step 1- cook rice according to package. Let rice cool a little, it should be warm not burning hot.

Step 2- add pinch of salt to salmon

Step 3- slice your avocado into long slices like these. Avocado should be ripe.

Step 4- cut with a pair of scissors your nori into 4in wide strips, leaving them long to roll.

Step 5-mix sriacha and mayo, it should be like peach color when mixed. Also you can adjust spiciness to your taste by adding more or less sriacha.

Step 6- Assemble! lay the Nori on a flat surface, on one end put a good amount of rice, then add your salmon, your spicy mayo next, and lastly a slice of avocado. From the end that's filled with all the goodness, start rolling the steam of the rice will help it all stick together.

Repeat to make more, I usually eat two. You can always refrigerate your ingredients separately and warm the rice up again to have it the next day.

Collage and Bento!

This week I popped into Kinokuniya for lunch and to buy a gift and of course I left with two books for myself. First the amazing Collage book with endless pages of collagie (I know that's not a word)goodness. It's hard to say what's my favorite project because it's all so beautiful! I love the matchbox ideas, the collaged tees, and the lovely travel notebooks. There's a site with a mini movie of the whole book here. Next up is the Just Bento Cookbook by Makiko Itoh. She makes cooking sound easy especially quick bento lunches. I've been wanting to do this every since I been working at a client's office in Herald Square where the food choices are Korean or fastfood, I like Korean I just can't eat it all the time. I'm not a cookbook kinda gal either but I thought this one was an easy one. Let's see what I come up with.

Last weeks reading- Oz, Ku:nel, Brutus

Last week I picked up a few magazines to enjoy while I was off. I picked up another Oz and collage book this weekend but will post later this week, I went back to work and it's kinda a bit hectic around here. Here is Oz, January edition, which has the sweetest patisseries (no pun intended)in Tokyo. Brutus, special photography issue with a mini ,Kotori Kawashima, photo book. And Ku:nel focusing on indie fashion and accessories designers and artisans like textile makers and lots of food.







I love Kawashima-san's photo's I have his book of little daughter, Mira-chan.






Kun:nel, has a lovely arcticle with photos about Vacenovice and Kyjov, two villages in the Czech Republic. I also love the sock photos since I design socks and it's wonderful to see all the yarns used.




Oz, January issue has feast for the eyes and great guide to finding all the yummy Japanese treats in Tokyo. This is one of the things I miss about Japan, being to find a pastry shop pretty much on every block and in the train stations!!! I would go to St. Honore in Shinjuku station all the time. There are a few in New York but really scattered. Panya is my favorite.

Winter has arrived it's time for the hot foods-Making Ojiya

It's quite chilly now in New York, it's time to eat lots hot foods. Ramen and Udon are at the top of my list, but a really easy one to make at home is Ojiya(basically Japanese risotto). Ojiya is a rice porridge and you can make it with all sorts of ingredients but a basic and tasty one is Yuzu Ojiya.

Makes 2 servings (double for 4):

2 cups of cooked short grain rice (like sushi rice)
2 cups dashi stock (from mix, use 1/4 tsp in 2 cups of hot water)
soy sauce or salt
1 to 2 eggs
finely chopped scallions
yuzu (or lemon) rind cut into very small fine pieces

In a pot put your rice and dashi stock and cook at medium heat, keep an eye on it
and stir occasionally. Let the rice absorb most of the water, it should have the consistency of a thin porridge. If the dashi is too bland tasting you can add a little salt or soy sauce. It will take about 5 to 8 minutes.
Mix an egg or 2 in a bowl and slowly pour in while stirring gently to get the mixture spread evenly this will also give your porridge a smoother consistency.
And your done cooking!
Next pour out a portion into a bowl and top with scallion and yuzu(or lemon). Mix and ready to eat! Enjoy!

Little treats from Japan

Our neighbor, Alice, was away in Tokyo for 5 days and we were watching her cat, Max, (lil'hangry as I like to call her). Alice was nice enough to bring us some tasty treats, dango, and a beautiful piece a fabric. I did a search for dango online and came up with this awesome cooking video, "Cooking with dog!" Of course I'm keeping the gift wrap and recycling into another project :)