Hello! Today’s new topics will be on a Japanese ceremony and hobby! The Japanese ceremony that I have research on is Japanese tea ceremony. In Japanese, tea ceremony is call sado(the way of tea) or chanoyu(hot water for tea). It is a multifaceted traditional activity in which matcha, powdered green tea, is ceremonially prepared and served. There are two types of tea gatherings. Firstly is call chakai which refers to a relatively simple course of hospitality that includes the service of confections, usucha(thin tea) and tenshin(light snack). Secondly is call chaji which refers to a more formal gathering usually include a full-course meal call cha-kaiseki followed by confections, koicha(thick tea) and usucha(thin tea) and it can last for more than four hours. Some history: Drinking tea was introduced to Japan in the 9th century by the Buddhist monk Eichu who had returned to Japan from China. It had started when he personally prepared and served “simmered tea” to Emperor Saga and through this, tea plantation began to cultivate. However, the interest of tea in Japan faded after this. Ideas of developing Japanese tea ceremony began when a Chinese author Lu Yu wrote a book about tea cultivation and preparation. Around the end of 12th century, the style of tea preparation was introduced by a Japanese monk Eisai who return from China and brought back tea seeds. Tea became popular in the 13th century and the actual Japanese tea ceremony was founder by Murata Juko. By the 16th century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society in Japan.


shalalalala' 11:46 PM

Hey! This will be the last post on food! So the two last types of food that I will be doing this week will be on tempura and katsudon! Firstly is tempura! Tempura is a popular Japanese dish of deep fried battered meats, seafood or vegetables. Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese missionaries and traders. The word tempura comes from the word “tempora”, in Latin means ‘times’. It is used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days(refer to holy days when Catholics avoid meat and instead eat fish or vegetables), Fridays, and other Christian holy days. Today, tempura is widely used around the world. Some make into tempura sushi, tempura ice-cream while others make into tempura meat and cheese etc...So how do we prepare tempura? A light batter which is made of cold water and wheat flour is mixed in small batches using chopsticks. This creates lumps which result in unique fluffy and crispy tempura structure when cooked. The batter have to be kept cold by adding ice and over mixing the batter will create wheat gluten which causes the flour mixture to become chewy and dough-like when fried. Varieties of tempura can be made by just dipping in final coating such as sesame seeds before frying. Vegetable and canola oil is commonly used but the traditionally one would be using sesame oil. Oil temperature of between 160 and 180 is used, depending on the ingredient. It is important not to overcook if want to preserve the natural flavour and texture of the ingredient. Cooking time range between a few seconds for leaf vegetables to several minutes for thick items. It is also important to scoop out the bits of batter between batches of tempura so they do not burn and leave a bad flavour in the oil. Some common ingredients are: Prawn, scallop, eggplant, carrot, yam, potato and mushroom.


shalalalala' 2:52 PM

Time flies! So fast its already june holiday! The first long break since the first day of school! Quite excited. Ok. Today what have I found out? Erm... I have found out another two more popular food which are udon and soba! Thinking of them makes me hungry! So first I will start of with udon.This is what I have research: Udon is a type of thick wheat-flour noodle. It is usually served in soup form with toppings like thinly chopped green onions, tempura, deep-fried tofu pockets, a thin slice of kamaboko( a type of seafood which is pink and white in colour), and a halfmoon-shaped fish cake. The flavour of broth and topping vary from region to region. Usually dark brown broth made from dark soy sauce is used in eastern Japan, light brown broth made from light soy sauce is used in western Japan. This is noticeable when buying packaged instant noodles, which are often sold at two different versions for east and west. Whao I didn’t know that different region have different taste. Next time I will take note when I visit Japan! Udon can be served in both chilled(in summer) and hot(in winter). The toppings chosen also depends on the season and to balance with other ingredients. Some examples of hot udon are: Kake udon known as plain udon served with just green onion and kamaboko. Kitsune udon: topped with Aburaage( sweetened deep-fried tofu pockets), favourite in Osaka. Houtou udon: a type of miso soup with udon and plenty of vegetables. And Tsukimi udon, “moon –viewing udon”, : it is topped with raw egg which poaches in the hot soup. An example of cold udon is: Zaru udon: chilled udon noodles topped with shredded seaweed and served on a draining basket made of bamboo and is usually accompanied by a chilled dipping sauce.


shalalalala' 11:00 PM

Hello! Guess what is today’s topic??? It will be on Japanese’s food! Although I had already told u about food last week but that is an overall. This week, I will tell you more in depth of Japanese food, food that are common. So this week , I will tell you about sushi and ramen. Firstly is sushi! Do you know that sushi is vinegar rice? It is usually top with other ingredients and is wrapped either around or inside with seaweed. Some background: The traditional form of sushi is fermented fish and rice, preserved with salt. Sushi means “it’s sour”, a reflection of its historic fermented roots. The reason why fermentation of fish is packed in rice is that the vinegar produced from fermenting rice breaks the fish down into amino acids. Originally, when the fermented fish was taken out of the rice, only the fish was consumed and the rice was discarded. Beginning of Muromachi period (AD 1336–1573) of Japan, vinegar was added to the mixture for better taste and preservation. The vinegar accentuated the rice's sourness, and was known to increase its life span, allowing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned.


shalalalala' 10:20 PM