EKougi & Food

Small Serve: Japan Photos II

ekougi — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:16:06 +0000

Another post of photos from my previous trips to Japan. The alien above I spotted when I was walking around the shops in Harajuku, it was nice to see him getting into the Christmas spirit.

Kamaage Udon – The noodles are sitting in boiling hot water. You take them out and put them in the dipping sauce, which is in a small bowl underneath the sesame, ginger and scallions. Sooooo good.

Why, Hello Kitty.

My breakfast on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka.

Octopus at one of my favourite aquariums in Osaka

Green tea panna cotta

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Small Serve: Japan Photos I

ekougi — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:02 +0000

My lovely friends, I’m off to the Land of the Rising Sun for a couple of weeks. I’ve scheduled a couple of posts during my absence with photos from my previous trips to Japan.

As you’ll see below and in the next post, Japan isn’t just a land of contradictions (where traditional meets modern culture), but some times it’s just dizzingly cute and strange, in a good way.

If there any places you think I should check out while I’m travelling, leave me a comment. If I’m in the area, I’ll do my best to check it out.

P.S. To follow along on my trip you can follow me on Twitter (@ekougi), I’m sure to be sending out updates with pictures and comments that don’t usually make it to my blog.

One of the quick meals I picked up before jumping onto the Shinkansen

If you pay attention to your surroundings you might just spot a Ninja.

“I hope this SPECIAL SANDWICH makes you smile. Smile brings you happiness. And that’s just our joy.”

Outside the Dotonbori Hotel in Osaka

Tokyo Banana! I had a Kagome juice for breakfast every morning.

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Xanthi Restaurant and Bar, CBD, Sydney

ekougi — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:18:30 +0000

Being that I’m Greek I don’t usually visit Greek restaurants. There’s no real point when I can get this kind of food at home and, I realise I could be just a little bit biased, it doesn’t compare to my parents’ cookings. Mum and dad take on quite traditional roles when it comes to food, with mum mostly cooking in the kitchen, and my dad happily manning the spits, both large and small.

So how is that I came to visit Xanthi Restaurant and Bar? I was homesick. I’d been traveling for over two months, and I guess subconsciously I wanted to be close to what I knew. I don’t imagine for a second that I have such great insight into my thoughts and feelings, it was my mum who pointed it out after I sent her about 15 SMSs during this dinner.

The place had a kind of Greek feel to it, it’s an unusally subtle style, accented with the blue and white of the Greek flag.

I was eager to try the dish that everyone had been raving about, the Pork Belly Baklava. It suffices to say, it lives up to expectations. If anyone is interested in reverse-engineering the date sauce, let me know.

Pork Belly Baklava: Twice cooked pork belly with a date and pistachio filling. Served with a date mastic sauce and pork crackling.

The Lamb Skaras was also delicious, with a more traditional flavour. I’m a massive fan of lamb and beef with lemon and olive oil bastings. Even just a grilled steak with lemon juice squeezed is so tasty in it’s simplicity.

Lamb Skaras: Slow braised lamb shoulder marinated in paprika, garlic & olive oil. Barbecued & served with a lemon and olive oil baste, with baked lemon oregano potatoes & steamed string beans.

I couldn’t finish the lamb AND order dessert, so I asked for a doggy bag which you can see in the photo below.

For dessert it was a choice between the Snicker Bougatsa or the Banana EkMek. As a family we love bougatsa, just ask my dad I decided to try the ekmek which was a lovely finish to the dinner, not overly heavy and the sea salt on the caramel was interesting.

Banana ekmek

Xanthi Bar and Restaurant
100 Market St
Level 6 Westfield
Sydney, NSW 2000
http://www.xanthi.com.au/

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Japanese edible art by Risa Hirai

ekougi — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:11:50 +0000

Even though my trip to Japan is only… let me count… 19 days away, I’ll still be missing out on seeing the baked art exhibit by Risa Hirai at Galerie Tokyo Humanité. Showing from the 11-16 of March, the Tama University art student will be sure to create a lot of new fans of her art work, what with the smell of freshly-baked cookies wafting throughout the gallery and all.

Source: I’m in major Japan research mode at the moment. As part of my research I make sure to check out Spoon & Tamago daily, which is one of my favourite sites, for the goings on and happenings in Japan.

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Capers Epicurean, Rotorua, New Zealand

ekougi — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:02:10 +0000

Capers Epicurean is a great place to eat, or pick up some gourmet supplies for your campervan adventure.

There was a lot on offer at Capers Epicurean, their menu was extensive, and for me a little overwhelming. While I was trying to decide what to have for lunch, their gourmet products section was distracting me, beckoning for me to explore. I hurriedly let Ninja know that I was interested in the Smoked Chicken and Aspargus Pie and quickly disappeared, leaving him to choose what he wanted.

As he lined up to place our order, last in a queue of 10, I was mesmerised by the gourmet products they had on their shelves. Oils, rubs, teas, chocolates, pastes, jams. I fell in love with the boxes of illustrated recipe cards they had on display (see below). I was oohing and ahhing over so much of their stock that it was audible to a chef who was at the kitchen’s doorway. I caught him laughing at me a couple of times.

Eating at Capers Epicurean was something like visiting a gourmet land of the giants. Each meal was the size of my head, so it was imperative that we shared our lunch and sweets. Well, I thought it was a must but Ninja had other ideas. He wasn’t too keen on sharing the Double Chocolate Brioche as it was as delicious as it looks in the picture below.

A large and busy cafe in the heart of Rotorua, I would recommend anyone to stop by and take a look for themselves.

Capers Epicurean
1181 Eruera St
Rotorua 3010, New Zealand
http://www.capers.co.nz/

Double Chocolate Brioche

Studio Oh box 20 illustrated recipes. I bought myself the French Cookie box because the art work of each recipe was so beautiful. I also bought some online for my Secret Santa giftee last year (buy online)

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Jelly Belly Concept Store, Rotorua, New Zealand

ekougi — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:14:50 +0000

Once again I was surprised! I was getting ready to speed down a luge track from on top of a hill which overlooks all of Rotorua and low and behold, a Jelly Belly Concept Store.

My mum goes nuts for jelly beans, and it was such a shame she wasn’t here to shop up a storm.

Part art gallery, part gift store, part sugar dispenser with the pick and mix columns of flavour, this place was a nice and unexpected treat.

Jelly Belly Concept Store at Skyline Rotorua
185 Fairy Springs Rd
Fairy Springs, Rotorua 3015 New Zealand
http://www.skyline.co.nz/rotorua/jelly-bean-store-rotorua/

Pick and Mix of almost 100 flavours

Captain Gravity made with 25,000 jelly beans

The Starry Night made with 11,500 jelly beans

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Singing All About Nutrition

ekougi — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:49:22 +0000

I was singing about nutrition from a very early age, when I was too young to even know what I was singing about. This was all thanks to a set of community service announcements from one of our local television stations.

These ads have to be some of the catchiest and educational commercials about food that were ever made. Listen to these a couple of times and you too will soon be letting everyone know that eating “is just like putting petrol in a car, but it’s not that simple”

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Huka Honey Hive, Taupo, New Zealand

ekougi — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:05:36 +0000

My dad is an urban beekeeper and he loves his bees. He gets so much joy just watching the bees fly back and forth from their hive. Me, I just imagine them doing the waggle dance and it makes me laugh. As bees are such a big part of our lives there was no question that we had to stop at Huka Honey Hive and check out what this place had to offer.

With free entry, Huka Honey Hive is a great rainy-day place to sample some honey or mead, or see the bees busily working in their indoor hive. They have the largest show case of bee products in all of New Zealand.

A lot of the products you can purchase here make really great gifts, with Manuka honey being one of New Zealands shining stars. Manuka honey is revered because of it’s antibacterial properties.

It is incredibly important to note that there are strict quarantine laws around importing honey from one country to another, so check with someone who works there if you do buy something you’d like to take home. Because I couldn’t bring any of the honey products back home to Perth, I had to settle for a tea towel with an embroidered bee instead.

Huka Honey Hive
65 Karetoto Road, (off Huka Falls Rd And SH1)
Wairakei 3377, New Zealand
http://www.hukahoneyhive.com/

Beenut Butter: Honey and Peanut Spread

Lemon, Ginger and Honey drink

This honey was new to market when I tried it and it’s my absolute favourite. It’s sad that I couldn’t bring any home with me.

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My Life From Scratch by Gesine Bullock-Prado

ekougi — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 07:27:57 +0000

If you’ve ever dreamt of throwing in the towel at work and starting up a bakery, read this book first. Gesine Bullock-Prado tells her honest-to-goodness tale of going from Hollywood big-shot to baker in My Life From Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over.

I loved this book because Gesine is very funny and forthright about what her life is now like, having left the world of movie-making behind. She talks candidly about the stress, the lack of time for herself, and the retired gowns and high heels. She also lovingly recounts her life growing up with her German family, her famous movie star sister, the characters that make her every day life an ongoing adventure and her love for all things sugary.

At the end of every chapter she gives us a recipe, and she promises her readers that every ingredient and measurement is exactly what she uses. You’ve got to love the honesty. I can’t wait to try her Apple Pie and Carrot Cake recipes.

You can buy My Life From Scratch from The Book Depository (UK) or Amazon (US).

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Bodyfuel Cafe, Taupo, New Zealand

ekougi — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:17:44 +0000

Would you like some savoury mince with your eggs? How about some black pudding instead? Are huge servings ok? If so then Taupo’s Bodyfuel Cafe is where you’ll want to go.

It’d been a cold and drizzly morning when we loaded up our rental car, getting ready to hit the road. First stop, breakfast.

The Bodyfuel Cafe breakfast menu was relatively traditional, even with the mince and black-pudding listed amongst their big breakfast options.

Managing to avoid the breakfast rush (this place is very popular with the locals) we ordered our hearty breakfasts from the friendly owner who’s name I never learnt. Ninja ordered the French Toast with Bacon, Caramalised Banana and Maple Syrup (pictured above) and I went for my standard Scrambled Eggs with Bacon.

Fueled up we left Taupo and made our way to Rotorua. Not before checking out some of the local honey.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve had for breakfast?

Bodyfuel Cafe
67 Tongarriro St
Taupo Town District New Zealand 3330

Scrambled eggs, bacon, fried tomato

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