Addictive Potato Salad with Dill

Try my famous Addictive Potato Salad with dill. Dill makes this potato salad extra tasty!

Addictive Potato Salad with Dill

·      4 potatoes

·      1 to 2 sticks of celery (depending on the size add extra)

·      ½ of onion

·      3 to 4 boiled eggs

·      100cc of mayonnaise (preferably Japanese mayo)

·      salt

·      pepper

·      some dill

1.     Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Place the potatoes in a pot. Add enough water to cover the potatoes. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Let it boil until the potatoes are soft. Once if softens, drain the water and heat up just the potatoes in the same pot until the water evaporates.

2.     Finely chop the celery and onion.

3.     Chop the boiled eggs into ½ an inch cube.

4.     Combine and mix everything in a bowl and add mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper.

5.     Finely chop dill and add to the bowl, and mix.

Store demo at WILLIAMS-SONOMA!

I have some exciting news I would like to share.
I will host the Japanese store demos at WILLIAMS-SONOMA in January!!  
WILLIAMS –SONOMA is featuring a Japanese floor set this month and I have been requested to present the Japanese cooking demos at the stores in Massachusetts and NYC.  I am honored and excited to host such a wonderful event.

The store demos in Massachusetts will be at the following locations and times:

Saturday, January 7^th, WILLIAMS-SONOMA at Burlington Mall  12 PM to 14 PM
Sunday,  January 8^th, WILLIAMS-SONOMA at Natick Mall  12 PM to 14 PM
Both demonstrations will be “How to make Maki Roll Sushi”.

YES, this weekend! I know it is short notice but please try to stop by the store and say hello to me! I am a little nervous but very excited!

The demos in NYC gives us a little more time to work with.  They will be at the following locations and times:

Saturday , January 21^st, WILLIAMS-SONOMA at Columbus circle 2 PM to 4 PM
Sunday, January 22^nd,  WILLIAMS-SONOMA at Madison Avenue 2 PM to 4 PM
These  demonstrations will also be “How to make Maki Roll Sushi”.

I am looking forward to meeting you all so please come out to see me!

Cozy Chicken Pot Pie

Enjoy this classic chicken pot pie with variety of vegetables and keep yourself warm and cozy. It is well worth your time!

Cozy Chicken Pot Pie

(serves 6-8 ppl)

-Chicken White Stew

·      1 tablespoon of butter

·      1 tablespoon of olive oil

·      500g of chicken

·      1 onion

·      2 to 3 carrots (200g)

·      3 potatoes (500g)

·      50 to 100g of celery

·      4 to 5 mushrooms

·      1 cloves of garlic

·      700cc of chicken broth

·      1 to 2 bay leaf

·      100cc to 150cc of green peas

·      50cc of heavy cream

·      a pinch of salt

·      a pinch of pepper

-Sauce

·      3 tablespoons of butter

·      7 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

·      1 to 2 frozen pie sheet, defrosted

·      a little bit of egg wash

1.     Cut the onion, carrots and celery into ½-inch cubes. Potatoes are easy to break so cut them a little bigger than the other vegetables. Finely chop the garlic.

2.     Cut the mushrooms into ¼-inch thick slices. Cut the chicken a little smaller than an inch cubes.

3.     Heat up butter and olive oil in a saucepan. Cook the chicken and season with a little bit of pepper.

4.     Once the chicken starts to turns brown, add garlic and all the vegetables from step 1) in the pan and stir-fry until the oil is well coated.

5.     Add chicken broth and bay leaf. Put a lid on the pan and simmer until everything is cooked through.

6.     While the stew is cooking, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a smaller saucepan. Add flour and cook for about 3min. Continuously stir to avoid burning the flour.

7.     Add some soup from the stew in the sauce and mix using a whisk.

8.     Once the sauce becomes liquidly, pour it over the stew.

9.     Add heavy cream.

10.  Add green peas and season with salt and pepper.

11.  Pour the stew in an oven safe individual dish.

12.  Preheat the oven to 375°F (190 ℃ lace the dough on the bato the ).

13.  Roll out the pie sheet. Cut out the pie sheet into appropriate sizes (about an inch bigger than the dish).

14.  Cut an “X” in the middle of the dough.

15.  Brush some egg wash on the edge of the oven safe dish.

16.  Place the individual dough on each dish and brush some egg wash over the pie sheet. (If you like to serve the pie later, saran wrap it at this point and keep them in the fridge.)

17.  Place in the oven for 30min.

18.  Once the pie turns golden brown and the stew starts to boil inside, it’s done. Serve while it’s hot.

Flowers in the Kitchen

A very Happy New Year to you all!

As a New Year’s resolution let’s all try to decorate our kitchen with flowers. I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen and I’m sure you all do too. Why not add some fresh flowers to create a happy, relaxing, and motivating atmosphere. Adding flowers don't have to be fancy. I even pick the small flowers from my garden when available, but just having the colors makes our kitchen brighter and cheerful. Since we are going to be in our kitchens, we might as well enjoy the time. This is a tip I give my students in my cooking lessons, to make the kitchen more than just a working space.

Here is an idea for a New Year’s arrangement that I want to share with you. This is a small Japanese lacquer vase that I always have hanging in my kitchen. This one is from Japan but you can find similar vase in Japanese or Asian shop or any pottery shop. It doesn’t have to be a hanging vase if you don’t have a place to put one. You can use a small standing vase on a shelf, window, or the counter. To make a Japanese style flower arrangement for New Years, I arrange the colors of red, white and green. These colors represent Japanese New Year’s celebration. I used the chrysanthemum (Fuji mum) for the green, winterberries for the red, and some small white mums to complete that Japanese New Year’s look.

It is always nice to have flowers in the place we spend a lot of our time. Let’s keep adding flowers to our kitchen and enjoy our cooking time!