Tuna Salad

Spaghetti and Mussels

Serves 2 The weather is getting hotter and I bet you feeling like eating food that can have a cool and soothing effect with your taste buds. One of Japan’s favorite summer menus is Spaghetti with mussels and fresh tomatoes with parsley. If you have those plants in the garden you can make it fresh…

Food Photography

Strawberries

Strawberries are loved worldwide. The most cultivated and consumed are from the genus-species Fragaria ananassa. Another species grown wildly is the Fragaria Vesca. Wild strawberries were found more than 2000 years. Now, America is the worlds to producer. The earliest strawberries were grown in Brittany, France in the 1950s. Nowadays, people eat strawberries fresh, cooked,…

Dessert

Gulab Jamun

Makes 12 pieces My most favorite Indian sweets is gulab jamun. I love it so much that I like to buy it for take out at lunch time. They are very expensive in Jakarta. 3 pieces for 18,000 Rupiahs. You can have 2 complete set of rice with meat and veggies for that price. It…

International Food

Cajun White Fish

Serves 3 I am mad about Cajun cooking. I had a bag of white fish fillet and craved for cajun cooking. Luckily all the ingredients were available in the refrigerator. Look at all those beautiful colors, white, red, orange and yellow in a bowl. I had it for lunch with my daughters and they loved…

Onions

The common brown onion that we use daily in our food and cultivate around the world belongs to the genus Allium with the name Allium cepa. There are a lot of ways that you can eat them, raw, pickled, sauteed, boiled, you name it. When raw, it exhibit a pungent smell but becomes savory after…

Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Makes 12 tarts My all time favorite sweet dim sum is Hong Kong egg tarts. I could eat as much as my tummy can hold. They are pretty, sweet and the texture is soft. My mom likes to make it as present for her friends. She says that it is easy to make but all…

Chinese Restaurant Curry

Serves 3 The first time I ate curry was the one available from the local Chinese restaurant. It was my neighbor from Colombo who treated us with this meal. Her family was the famous musician and all her siblings could play the piano well. Her favorite song to play was “La Paloma”. Anyway, I went…

Bell Peppers

Aren’t these peppers pretty? I bet you want to plant this in the garden. I did it last year but it seems that it needs a lot of space to grow healthy. These peppers belong to the species Capsicum. The taste is sweet and crunchy, you can eat it fresh cut on salads. The…

Pacar Cina

Serves 4 This is a dessert that most of Indonesian children loves, Pacar Cina sweet porridge. These are colored tapioca pearls with coconut milk. In Javanese traditional market they combine this with biji salak and sweet rice flour porridge called bubur sum sum. I got some sent from my mother and my daughters always asked…

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Serves 2 I use to eat at hawker stall and order flat rice noodles with thick beef stock heavily spiced then topped with fresh beansprout. As side, they provide some chili sauce and little lime to enhance the taste. I never knew the name of the dish and never tried to find out also. Every…

Eggplants

Todays food photography models are eggplant. It turns out that eggplants are not considered as vegetables but are berries. Eggplants came from India and Bangladesh. They belong to the night shade members together with tomatoes and potatoes. Asian used eggplants as cooking dishes at around 3 A.D. Eggplants are healthy substitute for meat perfect for…

Suriname Coconut Milk Shaved Ice

Makes one portion One of my favorite style of shaved ice is the Suriname one. It is shaved ice, covered with syrup then added with coconut milk. I always let the ice melt a bit so that the syrup can blend with the coconut milk. Usually they sell this on stick in the form of…

Sauteed Oyster and Pokcoy in Oyster Sauce

When my family partied at the oyster festival in Matsushima. I observed that one of the most favorite stall was sauteed oyster and pokcoy in oyster sauce. I craved to make them at home and the great part is that oysters are in season. This dish is easy to make and tasted so good that…

Tomatoes

Spring is here, the weather is warmer and Sakura flowers are visible here and there. Rather than the usual restaurant review, I wanted to share some of my attempt for food photography starting today and the following weeks to come. My debut model are these pretty tomatoes. These are categorized as “globe tomatoes”, the usual…