Thursday 2 August 2012

My Argyll Japanese Breakfast.

I wanted to copy Shiho's breakfast from last friday because it looked tasty. We have really nice seafood where we live. I like the crabs and prawns best. Sometimes Dad swaps our pork and lamb for prawns. You might call them langoustines. I went to our fishmonger and bought a kipper from Tarbert and an Arbroath Smokie because they looked like the fish in Asuka's picture.


I couldn't find any white tofu but we found a tin of braised tofu and packet miso soup. The tofu sank so you can't see it. There was seaweed in it but it sank too. I put raspberries in our pancakes because they are ripe in the garden. I found the grapefruit hard to eat so Dad cut between the sections and around the edges. The beans we had aren't fermented but called borlotti beans and we heated them up. The Arbroath Smokie is on top and the Tarbert kibpper below.


I used the chopsticks for the beans and rice, well the big chunks of rice! I put the rice and beans in the miso soup but then I had to use a spoon. The fish smelled like smoke from a bonfire but I liked it. Please let me know what food-o-meter and health ratings you'd give it. Also marks out of 10 for how close I copied Shiho's breakfast!

It's funny Jakarta (19s, I got distracted when I found Christmas Island) is closer than Canberra. On the globe it looks like Dublin is closer to me than London. Oslo is closer then London to some parts of Scotland. I hope you have lots of lemons on your tree so you can make enough lemonade to take our total to £113,000. We are only £100 short! That is a lot of lemonade though. Good luck with your sale and thank you.

Jags today, aaarrggghhhh!

Veg



17 comments:

  1. It is interesting how much harder it is to do some dish in some other part of the world. I give you copy rating 5/10 because you managed to create some look and feel, but had to replace almost everything with something similar. Although, the original had omelette instead of pancakes. You might have been able to do a Japanese omelette, because it is more about the recipe than ingredients. Then again, fermented beans are probably hard to make. You might find them in some special store with the name Nattō written on the. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D

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  2. I think you did a great job! I give you a 9/10 copy rating because it looks the same. It is all very healthy too so 9/10. I am sure it was perfectly tasty so 10/10. I also know you are careful so NO HAIR!! I hope you are having a nice holiday! Seattle says HELLO! The raspberry pancakes look like my son's favorite treat!

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  3. Looks great!

    Food-o-meter - 10/10
    Health rating - 9.5/10

    Copy rating - 7/10, due to the fact that certain items were replaced with equivelents. Even in my large town, some of the ingredients would be impossible to get hold of, so I couldn't even make it exact.

    Effort - 10/10, you must be congratulated on your attempt to replicate the meal with what you could find.

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  4. Food-o-meter - 9/10 because it is certainly more healthy than bacon and eggs and fried bread!

    Copy-o-meter - I'd say 9/10 for the best possible copy you could make from what's available to you. Well done.

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  5. Quick, somebody send Veg some natto!

    It's something that everybody should experience at least once... kinda like haggis... :]

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  6. Loving the fact the fish is from Tarbet as I am up there on holiday at the end of the month (well just up the road at Scourie)so it has made me very excited.
    You did really well to produce such a good copy from the ingredients you have available so I give you 10/10. Keep up the good work with never seconds and Mary's meals

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    1. I think the fish were from Tarbert! You don't get many kippers swimming in Loch Lomond. :-)

      (Tarbert - Loch Fyne, just down the coast from Lochgilphead.
      Tarbet - half way up Loch Lomond near Arrochar.
      Though there are also many other Tarberts around Scotland)

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  7. I'll give you a 10 for your copy, Veg. I think your substitutions for things you couldn't find locally were great.

    Did you know there are knives with serrated and curved blades that are made especially for cutting the sections in grapefruit? There are also "grapefruit spoons" that have little serrations on the end of the spoon to make getting those sections out easier.

    Lastly, part of the reason us "Westerners" have so much trouble eating rice with chopsticks is because we try to pick it up out of the bowl. If you go to China, you will find that rice is served in its own bowl and it's perfectly acceptable to lift the bowl in front of your mouth and then just sort of scoop the rice into your mouth with your chopsticks. It's a lot easier that way! :)

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  8. What a brilliant idea! I want to make that for breakfast too... I wouldn't need to eat again until teatime. It's so good for you, too.

    Foodometer: 9/10 - I want to eat this right now.

    Health rating: 10/10 - nothing fried or slaked in grease, and you have lots of different food groups (even some fresh things).

    Copy-ness: 10/10 - I can't fault your presentation! And a great idea to substitute your local ingredients!

    いただきます! ("itadakimasu" - Japanese equivalent of "bon appétit"!)

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  9. A Good Effort

    Food-o-meter - 9/10
    Health rating - 9/10

    The hardest item on the menu is nattō, which is a rather acquired taste for most both in smell and texture. Borlotti beans just can't compare. You would really have to find a specialty store that sells it.

    The other item that wasn't replicated was the tamagoyaki or Japanese omelette. It has a slightly sweet taste to it. You can read up on how to do it here: http://www.justhungry.com/tamagoyaki

    Shiho-san also mentioned using bonito flakes with the tamagoyaki. This is basically thin shavings of dried bonito and is probably only found at a specialty store as well. It's quite lovely alone sprinkled over rice.

    Also, the rice used for the meal also makes a difference, especially for the taste and texture (also easier to handle with chopsticks). A Japanese rice such as Koshihikari would be typical. Did you know that there are over 40,000 varieties of rice worldwide? It's quite a staggering figure.

    For the copy, I'd go for 7/10. But it's still a very good effort considering your limitations and location. Well done, VEG!

    A side note: The Japanese usually don't use a spoon with miso soup. They raise the hand-sized bowl to their mouths and sip it and use chopsticks for the bigger pieces in the soup. It is considered proper etiquette in Japan. If you were served a large bowl of ramen noodles, then a soup spoon is provided to use together with chopsticks.

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  10. hi i would like to follow your blog but you don't have the GFC follower widget on..Could you put it up please? :)

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  11. Hi Veg and Pavlova - great blogs from both of you. I love the food from around the world, and your stories Veg, about the food you get from your smallholding and from around Lochgilphead.

    As you are both interested in geography, maybe you won't mind my saying that actually, the closest national capital city to Perth Australia is not Canberra (3rd closest), nor Jakarta (2nd closest), but the capital of East Timor, Dili. How many seconds Veg?

    All best wishes.

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  12. Well done, Veg. I'll give you an 8/10 for the copy because it can be really hard to replicate foods from other cultures, especially when the ingredients aren't readily available.

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  13. Hi Veg and Pavlova - great blogs from both of you. I love the food from around the world, and your stories Veg, about the food you get from your smallholding and from around Lochgilphead.

    As you are both interested in geography, maybe you won't mind my saying that actually, the closest national capital city to Perth Australia is not Canberra (3rd closest), nor Jakarta (2nd closest), but the capital of East Timor, Dili. How many seconds Veg?

    All best wishes.

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  14. I think your breakfast imitation looks great, VEG!

    Food-o-meter: 10/10 - it looks delicious.
    Health rating: 10/10 - many kudos for the healthy substitutions, like raspberry and regular (not fermented) beans. Also, "rice and beans" is a very healthy combination, the two cereals together provide you all essential amino acids! In Brazil (my country) and some other countries, rice and beans are always the main meal. :)

    Copy-o-meter: 9/10 - though you had to change some ingredients, I think the main idea and the presentation were preserved. So, very good work!

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  15. Hi Veg,
    the problem you had with the Grapefruit is that you need a proper "grapefruit spoon" rather than a normal "Tea-Spoon" to eat one.

    Grapefruit spoons are shaped to suit the shape of the segments in the fruit. Plus they are serrated (sharpened) at the tip to help cutting the segments out of the rind.

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I709Sk1yZIs/S-tDywtBzpI/AAAAAAAACxU/S_KTub1ZoF4/s400/grapefruit+spoon

    10/10 for the copy- some ingredients not locally available, so substitution worked.

    Keep up the good work!

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  16. I really liked Tarbet when we went there a few years ago.
    Well done on your breakfast - good effort! 12/10 ;-p

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