Outside the Asylum

Category: fun

  • Japan

    I was in Japan recently for a holiday. This time it was longer than usual, 3 weeks. Chika went ahead of me and stayed an extra week too.  We traveled around together; 2 weeks in Osaka and 1 week in Tokyo. This was my first proper trip to Tokyo.  I love it!! I’d very happily live there.  Hopefully my career will take me there in the future.

    I dusted the camera gear off and took it with me. I mainly focused photographing all the food we ate. For me Japan is food paradise.

    I bought a new lens in Tokyo, the Canon EF-S 17 – 55 mm F2.8 IS.  This is a sensational lens for pics indoors without flash. Perfect for food pics 🙂

    This time i was introduced to properly good Izakaya(s). Also, we visited Tsukiji markets in Tokyo.  Check out the pics in the gallery (also linked at the top of this page).

    Here’s a sample

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  • Hunter Valley wineries

    Pictures from a recent trip to the hunter vallery visiting cellar doors.

    We visited our old favorites Moorebank and Petersons and 8 others. Standout new winery for me was Calais Estate. Most of the rest were passé. Still, you don’t discover good things if you’re not adventurous.

  • Tips when visiting Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo

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    From Kateigaho 2007 Summer edition

  • Fishing again

    We went fishing again today, with four friends. It wasn’t a great day for it, the fish weren’t biting as well as in the past. However with some concerted effort changing rigs, bait and location, we managed a decent haul that will feed us tonight.

    23 Yellowtail (yakka), 4 Mackerel (slimy/blue) and 7 Snapper.

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  • R/C car nostalgia

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    When I was a kid Tamiya R/C cars were all the rage; The Hornet, The Frog, The Grasshopper and the top of the line 4WD Hotshot. My memory is that only rich kids had them. The one I craved most was The Hornet.

    Well recently I discovered that Tamiya have released a range of smaller scale retro “expert built” cars. Awesome! Completely assembled, all the parts you need included. Just charge the batteries and away you go! Someone has done an excellent review of The Frog, which is mechanically identical to The Hornet.

    Hobbyco in the QVB was sold out so I went searching. I found an ebay seller in the states that was selling The Hornet; cheaper too, even with FedEx shipping. The box arrived this morning. I opened the box, stuck the battery pack on the charger and headed off to work.

    Mucking around with the car this evening, I’ve found that our apartment block’s underground parking area is perfect for racing. The pillars make a great obstacle course.

    Woot!

  • Fishing

    We went fishing yesterday, and overdid it a bit. 8:30am till 7pm. The hat, shirt and sunscreen weren’t enough, I still got a bit cooked.

    The upside was that we caught a variety of fish, sadly none very big. We got lots of Yellowtail, two Tailor, and one each of Leatherjacket, Pike, Trevally (some kind), Whiting, Bream and Tarwhine. We were continuously catching and throwing back tiny Bream and Tarwhine, some too small to even fit the whole hook in their mouths. Greedy little buggers.

    We ate one or two of each, some as sashimi, some fried whole. The standouts were the whole shallow fried Tailor and the Trevally sashimi. You can tell that Trevally is in the same family as Yellowtail Kingfish. The meat has a similar texture and taste. The Leatherjacket is destined for hotpot tonight!

    People seem to be hesitant to eat fish they catch raw.  All you have to do is make an effort to keep the fish in good condition. Fish should be kept at about 0°C because the protein fibers are shorter than in meat, making it easier for microorganisms to propagate. We take an esky full of ice along with us, the caught fish goes straight into the ice/water slurry. The fish die quickly and painlessly (in theory).

    When preparing the fish, carefully remove all of the scales and inner organs. Cleaning the fish properly is even more important than true freshness. This part can be done wet. The next step, filleting, should be done dry. Water can ruin the texture of the meat. When cutting and cleaning the fish, keep your knives, the knife handles, the cutting board and your hands as clean as possible. Small fish, especially those with shiny bluish backs, like sardines, tend to bruise easily, and even the Japanese will not eat them raw unless they are super fresh.

    A technique I hope to learn someday is ikejime. As soon as the fish is taken out of the sea, a special hooked tool is used to crush its hindbrain. The heart keeps beating and pumping blood. The idea is to get the fish to pump out its own blood by cutting arteries in the gills and tail. You have to remove the blood because otherwise the fish will retain an unpleasant fishy smell. And you have to restrain the fish because otherwise it will flap about, making the flesh less tasty. A fish restrained the ikejime way is only brain dead—it is so fresh that the muscles still move a little.

  • New Citroen concept car

    There’s a remarkable similarity I think.

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    Citroen C-Cactus & Makibao

  • Home Espresso

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    We bought an Ascasso Dream a few weeks ago. It was a bit of an impulse buy, although we’ve been pondering getting an espresso machine for some time. It’s just so sexy we couldn’t resist. I knew making espresso wouldn’t be easy, we’ve been practicing over the last few weeks and just recently starting to get good at it. Chika made a great cup this morning! Good fresh beans seem to be one of the critical factors. Our favorite at the moment is the house blend from Forsyth’s in Naremburn. Another discovery was that our cheapy grinder just wouldn’t cut it. I splurged on a Rancilio Rocky.

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  • Simmered Fish

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    Chika usually cooks. She’s much better at it than me and enjoys it. She’s still recovering from the flu so today I tried making one of my favourite dishes, Japanese style simmered fish. Redfish (金目鯛) is in season at the moment and suits this dish. Its related to Snapper with a slightly lighter taste. I followed the recipe as closely as I could and Chika called out advice from the couch. It was a success! woot!

    We have a bilingual cookbook that we picked up in Japan. Best cookbook I ever bought. I used a large shallow pot/pan. The normal drop lid made from foil didn’t look like it would sit on top of the fish very well, so I used a paper towel (with a few holes cut in it to let the steam out) instead. From time to time, spoon sauce over the top. Apart from that, I did exactly as shown in the book.

    Here’s some extra pages from the book on the basics of simmering

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  • Quality (authentic) Japanese food in Sydney

    I’ve been lucky enough to be introduced to seriously good eating places in Japan; Kaiseki, Sushi, Yakitori, Tonkatsu, Tempura, Izakayas etc. Restaurants in Japan tend to specialize in just one kind of food and concentrate on doing that as well as they can.

    Back in Sydney, its a bit of a let down. Places I used to love now disappoint me. All is not lost. There are places to get quality Japanese food here that will give the good places in Japan a run for their money.

    I think people will fall into two camps, the western palate and the asian/japanese palate. SMH’s Good Food Guide and other trendy mags rave about places like Yoshii, Toko and Wasavie. Their menus are styled to suit the customers, us westerners.

    I fall into the other category. I’m not sure why. I just like the lighter, subtler style that you get in Japan. For me, there are only two places to go, Kabuki Shoroku and Toriciya. Shoroku is a traditional japanese resturant that you find all over japan. traditional dishes done in the traditional way. Its sublime, if what you care most about is the food. The service is simple but friendly and decor, average.

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    Toriciya is my favorite. It’s an izakaya just like the ones in Japan. Sake and yakitori are what they’re famous for. The range of sake is mind-boggling, over 2 pages on the menu. Japanese customers who think they know sake are regularly humbled. In quality, the bottom of the range starts just above the best any other place in Sydney has to offer. Pretty much all of the sake comes from small breweries that still make sake using the old techniques. Also, they hand make all their food from scratch, including the soup stock. Another highlight is the eccentric owner, Takahashi-san. He’s absolutely mad keen on sake. If you’re not into sake, he’d rather you not come. A recent renovation reduced the number of seats and aimed to make the restaurant look less inviting from the outside. On the other hand if you’re keen on being educated on sake, he’ll brighten up and chat your ear off, forgetting that there’s orders piling up in the kitchen.

    Note: Tetsuya is Japanese, but his restaurant isn’t. He’s broken out of the restrictions of any one country’s food. He invents his own. Going there for the first time in September this year. Cant wait.

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    UPDATE: I forgot about Uchi Lounge in Darlinghurst/Surry Hills. To sum it up simply, its like “modern Japanese FOR Japanese”. Every dish we tried we loved. I particularly like the Houjicha Panna Cotta. There’s talent and passion going into the food here. I’m surprised its not better known.

    UPDATE 2: Went to Toriciya again tonight. There’s a new beer, Yebisu – “The Hop” which has replaced the old standard Yebisu

    UPDATE Mar 2009: There’s another restaurant to add to the list, Ju-Rin.