In My October Kitchen
In my kitchen it’s cherry blossom time and I’m about to embark on the exploration of simple Japanese food. After spending hours in the bookshop browsing, I bought two new books “The Japanese Kitchen” and “Sushi Simplicity”.
After my book purchases, I was compelled to visit the Japanese grocery store. Consequently, in my kitchen I now have white and red miso, powdered wasabi, kombu and bonito flakes, all essential ingredients for making recipes from my new cook books. I also have mirin, sake, nori and soba noodles. I always have tamari in my kitchen.
In my kitchen I have a jar of home pickled ginger, ready to garnish my Japanese recipes.
In my kitchen I have a new mandolin to help me finely shred the vegetables for sushi, salads and soups. My old mandolin had seen many years of active service. It was blunt and the blade opened wider with each slice, so it’s been retired to the recycling bin.
In my kitchen I have his ’n’ hers bento boxes I bought online from Japan. If I’m going to eat Japanese food I need the appropriate accoutrement for an authentic experience. I admire the Japanese aesthetic and the practical design of my lunch boxes. Move over Mr Tupperware!
Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial hosts a monthly forum of worldwide food bloggers show casing what’s happening in their kitchens. Each month I learn something new, it’s worth taking a peek. Thanks Celia, I know it’s a huge effort.
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36 comments on “In My October Kitchen”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
Hi Sandra. Love the theme this month!!f Those bento boxes are absolutely gorgeous – next month we will need to see a little photo gallery of what you have been putting in it. Love your homemade pickled ginger too. And you have inspired me to invest in a mandolin – will look at the Borner ones to start with…thanks for a great IMK post!
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Thanks Selma, we’ve been munching our way through lots of Japanese goodies, but I need to take photos!
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I felt inspired to try myself from this blog. Love preserved ginger. Is it easy?
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Hi Susi, this Japanese, savoury pickled ginger is super easy to make
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I’m pinning yet another of your recipes to try later Sandra (your tandoori marinade is next on the list). Have never tackled home-made pickled ginger, and I really should as we plough through jars of the store-bought pink stuff! Sushi Simplicity looks gorgeous. I make sushi once a week for our lunchboxes – I really need to lift my decorating game! Love the tiny cucumber flower.
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Good to hear from you Saskia. There are so many simple ideas in that book, different ways to form and flavour sushi rice. The pickled ginger is sooo much better than the commercial variety. I’ll be pickling in bulk when the fresh young ginger hits the shops.
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i love the japanese theme. it seems to be a bit trendy at the moment.:) gorgeous bento boxes.
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Funny how we bloggers subconsciously head in the on direction. Thanks for visiting Sherry…..
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Sandra love the sushi theme in your kitchen this month and also a big sushi fan, would love to be in your kitchen right now. Home pickled ginger… delicious. 🙂
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I’m having a ball trying out new recipes, everything so far has been simple to prepare, light to eat and totally delicious. Thanks for visiting my kitchen Moya
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I was led to understand that kombu could not be purchased in Australia. Interesting that you were able to find it. I just purchased a large amount overseas. I have miso in my kitchen this moth as well 😉 Must be something in the air. Those bento boxes are gorgeous.
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Hahaha…I love a new food quest! Bet you’re excited, Sandra! 🙂 And that plate of sushi on the cover of the book looks as pretty as a plate of decorated cupcakes! Beautiful little bento boxes, although I thought the one in front would make a lovely spectacle holder! 🙂
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We’re loving the Japanese try outs Celia, everything so far has been excellent!
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G’day Love Japanese food and love home made pickled ginger too!
Thanks for this month’s kitchen view also!
Cheers! Joanne
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Lots of goodies, I like the look of that sushi simplicity book!
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The sushi book is a beauty, lots of quick ideas that don’t include nori rolls
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Great theme and I love those beautiful Bento boxes. Haven’t made sushi for ages – very rewarding. There’s a lot of hidden sugar in the rice in maki rolls so good to make your own.
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Thanks Sally, sushi hand rolls have been a staple in our household for years so I’m really enjoying moving beyond sushi in my exploration of Japanese food
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Hi Sandra, Your bento boxes are lovely. I think they are pretty enough to use as ornaments. I have the same mandolin, I would love to know what you think of it. I don’t like it anywhere near as much as the Borner brand.
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I looked at the Borner mandolin online Glenda and I suspect it is far more user friendly than the Japanese model I bought. I’ll bookmark the info in case of severe frustration. I should have asked about first!
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I know next to nothing about Japanese food, but it looks like you will soon become an expert! You’ve also reminded me to get another mandolin and recycle the old one. Love those bento boxes.
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Like you, I know next to nothing about Japanese cookery, but I do love eating the food, so I decided it was time to experiment. We’ve tried some terrific dressings for vegies in the last week.
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A beautiful themed post around Japanese cooking. The Bento boxes are really lovely and I now want some! Also I notice that you have a Japanese mandolin and so may need to find the source of this as the Tupperware version I have is a killer to use. Great photography too.
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Thanks Francesca. The bento boxes are from Bento & Co online. The mandolin is from Sazuran AKA Japan Trading on Burke Rd Camberwell, just near the Canterbury Road corner. It was about $25. It’s taken a bit of getting used to, but it’s a huge improvement on the old one
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Francesca, Glenda at the Passionfruit Garden has told me about a Borner brand mandolin which she likes far more than the Japanese model. It has a “V” shaped blade which I suspect is far more efficient than the design of mine. You might like to check it out.
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Thanks for the tip. Always good when someone else has done the research.
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Aha! So you have two identities! And still I don’t know your name, only ‘ladyredspecs’ so I will just thank you for this little treat of Japanese cookery!
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Okay, I see Sandra, is that it? I do hate not to know people by their names! 🙂
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Yes, that’s me. I was very reticent about social media privacy when I first started blogging so was shy about revealing too much. After making so many wonderful new friends through the blog, I’m happy to reveal myself!
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What a nice Japanese theme! Homemade pickled ginger is definitely the way to go and I love bento boxes.
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The bento boxes are almost too beautiful to use, so I hope my feeble attempts at sushi will do them justice.
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I am loving the Japanese theme this month… it is just fresh, tasty food… I must confess that I haven’t ever been bothered to make sushi… as for me it is just easier to buy it at a great place, just up the road…. but I have tried my hand at other Japanese dishes! Enjoy exploring this fabulous cuisine! Thanks for sharing! Liz x
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Thanks fir visiting Liz. Making Sushi can be a fuss, so much simpler to buy it if you have a good place locally. I’m really enjoying the simple but tasty dressings for veg…..
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I love the home made pickled ginger – it tastes way better than store bought for sure 🙂
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Thanks Tandy, the ginger is great. I have tried the last couple of months to comment on your IMK post but your google host security has blocked them. Just yesterday I tried again to no avail…..
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