Finished #OurDiningTable. Even though very little actually happens in each episode and no one saves the world, it’s an absolutely riveting, subtle and thoroughly wholesome must see on the love of food and found families. Do yourself a favor. #JVwatches 📺

For #OurDiningTable episode 10: bento box with my own stank on it. This was one of my reserve menus, taken from the show instead of the comic, because there weren’t enough that were easily veganized. Since it was the last episode (apart from next week’s bonus), I wanted something elaborate too. #JVcooks #JVwatches 📺🍱

For #OurDiningTable episode 9: Chocolate bananas, as spotted in the background in the comic when they go to the shrine (had to dig deep for some of the dishes, as not everything was equally easy to veganize). Easily the simplest dish of the project, but cute with these baby bananas. Also delish. But I only ate one of them so far, because they’re rich. #JVcooks #JVwatches 📺🍌🍫

For #OurDiningTable episode 8: Red bean soup!
Now… I’ve made one from a Chinese recipe a few times, with rock sugar and roasted rice cake, so this is the same but different. Both recipes are way too sweet for me though, so I ended up holding back some of the sugar. #JVcooks #JVwatches 📺

For #OurDiningTable episode 7: Japanese potato salad! A superior potato salad, as I’ve discovered.
However… I have no idea where I got this from, because I can’t relocate anywhere in the comic book where potato salad is mentioned. …either I kept missing it (didn’t reread carefully), or I’ve made it up. But whatever. That’s what I made. #JVcooks #JVwatches 📺🥔🥒🥕🧅
I’m pretty weepy every episode (I can’t be PMSy *every* week), as the happiness of found families hits close to home.

For #OurDiningTable episode 5: Ueda family dad’s special: kimchi tomato stew.
Now… I’ve eaten many a kimchi stew (usually a la Maangchi), and frankly, the non-traditional adding of tomato for the stock (and also potatoes, as the comic suggests) does not make that much of a difference. The tomato gets very much lost in the kimchi anyway (I of course used my own home-made variety, which I usually have in the fridge these days), and so seems superfluous. #JVcooks #JVwatches 🥫📺

For #OurDiningTable episode 4: strawberry ice cream cake!
Now… The traditional Japanese xmas cake is the strawberry shortcake, but I do loathe whipped cream, so, since ice cream is mentioned in relation to it in the comic (whether as an ingredient in it or accompanying it, I couldn’t say), I decided to make a single portion ice cream cake instead. #JVcooks #JVwatches 📺🍓

For #OurDiningTable episode 3: rice porridge with fake salmon, inspired by last week’s episode. #JVcooks #JVwatches 🍚🍣
The porridge recipe didn’t have a great water to rice ratio, so I had to improvise. The tofu “salmon”: pleasant, but not really reminiscent of salmon, taste-wise.

I originally had the Xmas cake scheduled for next week, but I might do some rice porridge like last night’s episode, because so far, I actually don’t have enough recipes for the number of episodes.
Also… My hojicha adventure continues, today with yuzu (yuja, I know it as) latte. This is delicious too. I keep being surprised at how well it works after a very bad first encounter with it a couple of years ago. #OurDiningTable #JVcooks #JVwatches

It’s #OurDiningTable time again! Ah, it’s lovely doing a project again! This time, for episode 2: Japanese curry, which our heroes didn’t get to eat this episode because Tane made himself sick, but whatever. This is a recipe I’ve used before, but I altered it to include sweet potato (and I dropped the regular potato), like in the comic. I had it with breaded tofu and a salad which included some radish/onion pickles I made last week. #JVcooks #JVwatches 🍛📺

Now…
I bought the hojicha for something completely different ages ago, used it for that recipe, found it absolutely foul, put it away and forgot about it. However,I found some other recipes and decided to give it another try.So I made lemonade. …shockingly, it was really good, so I’ll keep making different ones from the same website throughout.I also made some green tea that I picked up at Japan Centre in London years ago,just because the tags were cat-shaped. #OurDiningTable #JVcooks #JVwatches

I based my rice ball on a recipe for one with wasabi, mayonnaise and tuna, and swapped the tuna for vegetarian sausage, which *also* comes up in the comic. It wasn’t half bad, but was a bit wasabi-heavy for me. …burned my sinuses…
I’d searched through the tea cupboard for what Japanese teas might be lurking in there to pair it with. Found an almost unused baggie of hojicha.
#OurDiningTable #JVcooks #JVwatches

It’s been forever since I did a TV/food project! So, for #OurDiningTable episode 1: rice ball!
Now…
I LOATHE nori sheets, so there was no way I was going to use that. Dominant in my mind were Korean rice balls, which are often nude, and with the ingredients and spices mixed evenly into the rice. So I made something of a combo, because, after all, Yutaka says that rice balls are all about freedom. #JVcooks #JVwatches

Been rereading Mita Ori’s excruciatingly lovely #OurDiningTable today. It’s been a while since I last did a TV food project (I think the last was mocktails for Mama Gogo last summer), and it seemed an obvious one to do, since the series is coming up. I’ve been going through it making notes of recipes to do and looking at what I can eat as is and what needs to be adjusted and veganized… Pretty sure I came up with some exciting shit. Stay tuned. #JVcooks