This is how I ate a loaf of pain de campagne by myself. -vol.2

It's Friday and I'm happy with it.
And I thought I should be done with this series of posts before the weekend.

I've noticed that the pictures uploaded here look more saturated than the original because of the reason I can't know, but actually I don't dislike it.

Well, now I should resume the series, shouldn't I?
Do you remember that we've done with Day 2 last time?


Day 3:
The top picture is the one from the breakfast on the day 3.
I'd decided that I cut slices just before I ate those, and this morning I cut 2 thin slices.
Then I toasted them, smeared butter, put thinly sliced avocados and finished with freshly ground pepper on top.
For this menu, "thin" is good for both bread and avocados.




In the evening of the day 3, I was inclined to have something warm and comforting.
So I fixed soy milk clam chowder.
You can make it easily and quickly with a can of chopped clam.
Can you imagine how the dinner of soup, bread & wine is good?




Day 4:
In the morning, I had to think about what I wanted.
Also as the bread was gradually getting stale, I needed to use my brain to make my breakfast something palatable and exciting.
Then the idea of French toast came to me.
For this one, a bit thick cut worked.
After soaking in the mixture of eggs, soy milk and sugar, I panfried them slowly.
I thought slices of banana and good amount of cinnamon would work, and so did they.




At lunch time, I thought maybe I'd better have some of the rest of the bread for my lunch so that I would be able to skip it in the evening.
This is bread salad.
I firstly met this menu at my favorite cafe at that time when I was a college student .
Since then, this is one of my favorite way to eat old bread.

I put romain lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, sliced kalamata olives, corns and cubed bread.
Then I tossed altogether with salt, pepper and a good balsamic vinegar.
Sprikling parmesan cheese at the last moment is going to give you more flavor, and I did it.




Day 5:
So I skipped the bread the night before and the morning of the day, I had my last pieces of bread for the lunch on the day 5.
As you can guess easily, the bread was fairly stale.
But it was still good enough to be happy to eat when you knead your brain.
Eating the last pieces in bread gratin was a quite good idea.
And who can imagine I used the leftover of soy clam chowder from the day 3 for the sauce!
The cubed bread soaked the soup and got soft, but the top is crisp with melted cheese.
This was very good lunch item you can fix quickly, if you have some old bread and the leftover soup.



This is all about how I ate a loaf of pain de campagne all by myself without being miserable. :)



Stay warm and have a good weekend, friends!

This is how I ate a loaf of pain de campagne by myself. -vol.1

In January, for the latter half of the month my husband hadn't been here for his business, and I had stayed in our home in the midst of struggle with some problems to be faced.
I was so frustrated and needed to find something that would comfort me a bit, so I bought a loaf of pain de campagne at my favorite co-op store, though it hadn't been planned.
Well, there was actually another excuse to do that, and it was the small jar of honey which a kind friend of mine sent me several days before.
She sent a note with it and it recommended me to enjoy honey with toasted bread.
I definitely wanted to follow the suggestion, and that way I had two big reasons/excuses to buy a loaf of bread.

If I could, I didn't want to buy such a big loaf of bread with my husband's absence.
I wasn't sure if I would be able to eat it all by myself without him or freezing it.
I didn't want to freeze any because the bread was really artisan, and should be eaten fresh even though it gets old, I thought.
Even above all the consideration, I found myself couldn't help buying it.
And I ate it all fresh, a bit old at its last minuites, and enjoyed my days with the bread.

Here is the record how I ate the bread for first 2 days, and the latter part is going to be followed by the next post.




This is the first dinner with the bread.
In the evening of this day, I went to the co-op store for some other purpose to be done there.
But as soon as I entered the entrance, I found myself to go straight to the bread shelf in spite of having prohibited me from doing so in advance.
I got a loaf of pain de campagne that way.

That night I was so pleased with the bread, I didn't cook much for dinner.
Just a simple salad and sauteed veggies.
And a piece of soft cheese and a glass of red wine for the bread.
Simple but yet perfect dinner for myself.



Day 2.
In the morning, needless to say I ate slices of bread with honey I talked about before.
It was awesome, bread and honey well matched.
They were so warm and comforting.
Eating a small bowl of yogurt with some fruits or fruit jam/preserve every morning has been my habit for quite some time.



I fetched a portion of salmon at the grocery shopping of the day.
I thought it would be great with bread and read wine for dinner alone, and it really was.
Though I usually don't care much about seafood, I always think special dinner has to go with some seafood.
On the plate, there're blackend salmon with sour cream and mandarine orange preserve on top and sauted veggies.
A slice of lime is the one I got in the same box that the honey was shipped to me from my friend.
Everything there was very feast for me that night.


And more of the rest is coming soon.

Stay warm and have good rest of the day, friends.

Random thoughts and a bit about pockets

I've had quite strange weather for last two days.
It rained, sleeted, even hailed, sometimes shone with the bright Sun, but mostly cloudy.
It's rapidly changed and so has my emotion.
Busy days.


- I wished I had a lot of pockets with me.
I'm not talking about my clothes, but myself.
I have a lot of thoughts to be thought everyday, and I don't want to give up thinking about those, but am just short of time and energy both.
Then I thought if i had a lot of pockets that I can store them for some time after fold all them down to small.
Even though they are sorrow, worriment, and that sort of things.
They all are important things that feed me, but I just can't handle them right now.


- Then I remembered that I thanked pockets on my clothes when I was a child.
Since I was a very picky girl for my food, I had a lot of food that I wasn't able to accept.
Whenever I had meat on my plates at school lunch, I put them into my both right and left pockets on a jacket.
I can't or don't want to imagine that now, and my mom had been astonished and stumped by that strange habit of mine, but young me appreciated my pockets as if it had been a life line.
Of course, I don't do that now though I still don't eat meat.
I have a right to say "I don't eat meat." now.
I'm glad to be an adult.


- Sometimes I notice that pockets on my clothes and aprons ate some food, like 2 grains of rice, a chip of bread, a piece of cabbage, and so on.
When I found them, they are totally dried out and shrunk.
And I heard someone tweeted on its Twitter page that "the food you find sticking on your elbow must be emergency provision.".
I love that idea so much.


-When I start to think about something, like pockets this time, I'm inclined to think about all the possible consideration over the thing.
So I've been thinking about pockets all the day today.


Have a pretty weekend, friends!

Cozy winter days

Hi, friends.
How've you been doing lately?
Did you get any tiny signs of coming spring?
I had a few.
One is a pretty Saturday with rather warm air last weekend and another is the symptoms of my husband's nasty allergy.
I feel the air is getting softer and softer day by day, and noticing that is one of the prettiest events of the year for me.

These pictures were taken this winter.
From the top to the bottom, 1- an inspiration wall in my studio, 2- a cyclamen that my friend gave me for the new home, 3- a large grapefruit and 2 persimmons by the window, 4- our 8 year old cat, Hamme loved sitting on my husband's lap while we're eating, 5- a rose tree in the garden with a light snow, 6- milk was napping on our bed.

We didn't have much to do these winter days, but we enjoyed our new life in the new home together.
We started to feel the ultimate coziness here.


Making an inspiration wall is always fun.
Since I've been a collector of pretty postcards since a child, do photography myself, and some of my friends are genius photographers and crocheters and those sort, I'm never short of art works to make the wall.
An inspiration wall is not necessarily full of stuff gives me mere inspiration but love, too.
Winter is such season people pile up their motivation to create something in coming seasons, reorganizing one's possession and making sure what they really want to create by making an inspiration wall are very suitable activity in winter, I think.


When I got a pot of cyclamen from one of my friends, to be honest to you, I was puzzled with it.
Since I came to be aware what I liked or disliked, I haven't felt even tiny fondness for cyclamen, or rather felt unwelcome to the indescribable balance of its gaudy flowers and the deep and dark leaves.
I remember that I told my friend a thanking word with a best smile as I could make at that time in spite of the difficulty.
After that, I kept considering how to live with it in my room ( as you can easily imagine, its pink was standing alone like a girl who would never be the part of fellows in a class room.).
It's not true if I say I never thought of eliminating the plant which would have withered from the room superficially because of the way of nature, but actually the owner's apparent intention.
As I was considering that way, I actually kept watering and clipping its finished flowers.
And one day I came up with the idea to replant it in the old tin plate bucket which I bought several years ago in a local antique shop.
I wrote some words with tiffany green paint on the side, and made it looked much prettier and hippier.
This way she's surely become a part of our family.


I like our 3 cats being relaxed at their each favorite places alone, and also I love them having contacts with my husband and me in their own ways.
Hamme is a guy to feel awkward to be with human beings all the time, but he loves to sit on my husband's crossed legs on the chair, sniff the food out of mere curiosity and never eats, gaze what's going on at the table without any interest.
I know how it works for him.
He knows that the body temperature is going up slightly while people are eating, and he enjoys very the warmth produced that way.
Especially in winter.


Winter is the cold season, but I don't dislike its cold color.
I love the transparent bluish air outside and inside. ( just as seen in the 3rd, 5th and 6th pictures.)



I liked winter this way this year.
And now I'm looking forward to living in warm Spring.
I'm so ready.

Via Margutta

These pictures were taken in Rome last spring on my and my husband's second visit there.
They're all about via Margutta.

Via Margutta is famous partly because the film "Roman Holiday" was shot in 1950'.
And the reason why I strolled the street is just because I've adored Audrey Hepburn for long time.
The street is located just off the Spanish Steps.

Though the first motivation came from such girl's fanatical adoration for her star, It was clear that I'd come to fall in love with this street because of its plenty greens if there'd not been any other reasons.
On the street, I enjoyed the fresh light and air.
I didn't expect this type of pleasure there since the place is just the center of Rome.
It's quite a hidden forest in the middle of the big city.

I highly recommend you to stop by this pretty and cozy street when you're in Rome.

Missing cafe days

Good evening.
I'm watching an NBA game on TV and considering which team Boston Celtics or Portland Blazer I should root for with drinking wine.
As I used to live in Portland and stil love the city sooooo much, I can't decide that though I usually root for Celtics.
I like Celtics, love their green.
(FYI, I really love to watch sports games on TV though most of you might not imagine.)

Well, I'm enjoying my last night of being alone ( with 3 cats) this way, and at the same time I'm a bit missing my very last cafe day and expecting a near future cafe day.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that my husband has been in Singapore for about 2 weeks now and now he's supposed to be heading back to the home now.

Below is how we enjoyed our last cafe day on very sunny early fall day.



I was extremely pleased with a tag for our order.
It was a hand drawn cat!

He's so ready for his order with a bottle of spicy sauce.



Don't know why, but I love taking pictures of someone's table just left.



Him very ready to eating and his favorite dish, Spanish wrap dish. ( 2 whole wheat tortilla with scrambled eggs, cheese, avocados, tomatoes and side of fruits.)



I'd prefer going with the lightest dish of the cafe, whole wheat toast and fruits.



At this cafe, water is always served in a jar.
That's just cool.



This place is filled with a lot of junk (like signs no more effective nowadays).
And I love boy's curly hair very much.



It was as unbelievably sunny as I can't remenber now as I've been having a lot of rainy and cloudy days lately, and I can't see this picture straight because it is too bright!!
Could you get me a pair of sunglasses, someone please?

A happy finding

As my husband and I are originally from Japan, we've consistently followed the traditional way to celebrate a new year's day by having a special feast even after we came to the U.S. 11 years ago.
The picture above is that of 2009.
And today I came across an interesting article whose content is about some interesting soup.
As our special feast for a new year's day contain the one (most left orange one in the picture) which is based on the similar idea as it, I was so pleased to find the article.
In the plate in the picture, I topped mashed sweet potato which contain juice of squeezed orange and a bit of Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) on a sliced orange.


I don't remember exact when, but I came up with this idea several years ago to substitute for the menu which is usually included in the traditional special new year's feast.
It is so-called "Kuri-kinton".
"kuri" is a Japanese name for a chestnut and "kinton" is the name given to mashed Japanese sweet potato.
So "Kuri-kinton" is the dish the both are mixed , and this dish is usually quite sweet because "kuri" candied in advance and "kinton" has a lot of sugar in it.
When I was a child, I hated this dish because it was too sweet for me.
And I also couldn't understand why this dish was dished up with other salty and savory dishes in one plate as if it had been a side dish as well.
For me it should've treated as a desert rather than a side dish.

Anyway, in the U.S. it is difficult to get chestnuts and Japanese sweet potatos (Japanese ones are different in color and texture from those of U.S.'s) in a good timing, I need to replace that side dish with something new that I can make with the ingredients which are easy to get here for me in the end of December.
Thus I came up with my new creation, "Orange-kinton".
It is definitely for adults, because I use sugar modestly to bring out the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes (actually I use honey not sugar) and drizzle one or two tablespoons of Grand Marnier.
My kinton is kinda dip, and we eat our Orange-kinton like we eat "chips and bean dip" or "strawberry and melted chocolate".
I have to wait this side dish ( "Kuri-kinton" or its sort) became one of my favorite new year's feast till my creation showed up.






We've been pleased with this new version of "kinton", I just haven't been sure if this is acceptable for other people or not.
Because it's not Japanese or American, and the idea was accidentally introduced to the world, I was just curious about that.
But today, I made sure that it's OK.
I don't know how many people accept or are pleased with this idea, but at least one cook has adopted and introduced it to the world, and it's enough for me to be happy. :))
(The second picture is the version of 2010's new year's day.)

Crazy about eggs

I've adored eggs since I was a child.
And it's not an exaggeration to say that almost only protein I could eat in my childhood was eggs.
Though there's the time I had been apart from them for a while (4~5 years), the most powerful attraction which pulled me back to the normal diet from macrobiotic/vegan was eggs.

I know I've sometimes made the repetition of this kind of confession here.
So some of you may have been tired of hearing the same word from me.
I'm sorry for that, but as eggs have quite a big roll in my everyday life, I'll even do this sometime in future.

When I eat eggs, it is mostly at lunch time.
Since I've been very concerning about my husband's cholesterol level (he once had a much worse number than we'd been afraid.), I'd rather eat eggs for lunch by myself than for dinner together.

And when I eat my eggs for my lunch, I have the urge to take some pictures of them almost all the time.
The only thing makes me feel awkward to do it is my inner voice to tell me " hey, you took the same picture 3 days ago!"

In spite of that inner voice, I can't help but take a picture of it.
And even worse, I'm enticed to take another picture when I break an egg and find its yolk is very pretty yellow.

This way, I have a lot of same sort of pictures of my lunch with eggs.

Do you think this is kinda addiction?

Winter prettiness

If you have some time and bravery to wade across wilderness in spite of the harsh winter weather,
you'll find something pay off.
You won't get only satisfaction of good exercise outside, but also the feeling of admiring how wild animals live and enjoy their life in the midst of harshness.
The moment that we come to know that we're the same creature which live on this earth as those animals is simply precious, isn't it?

And I think, winter is just such season tells us a lot.

Love your winter and neighborhood. :)

A change has adopted.

I've just come up with the idea that I may adopt a change for this blog.
After 2 years of blogging here, I realized that my everyday life is not necessarily related to something around the table.
the events take place around the table are just part of my life.
Since I'm not a vigorous cook nor a fashionable kitchen prop decorator, I'm sometimes at a loss to talk about. (only very sometimes, because I've talked about a lot of random things ever here.)


Though the stories talked here have included many different things, I mostly uploaded the pictures only around the table.
I've kept the rule strictly for the blog name's sake.
But now I just wonder if I really have to stick to the rule and if so, what's the significant meaning to do so.
I took and will take a lot of pictures at somewhere other than around the table.
Like around the fire place, by the window, and outside the home.
I want to share those pictures that make me happy with you here.


So, from now on, I'll adopt a small change for this blog.
I won't change the blog title or main parts of this space, but each post will have more pictures in bigger size.
As you've already known or just noticed, all my pictures were taken with old manual cameras that I adore, and it won't change, either.
So the change is as possible as minimum, just the quantity and the size of pictures, and the widened variety of the topics.

I promise you'll find more fun here!