Jamie's 15 Minute Meals Challenge #2

This is round two of the J.O. vs Jo 15 minutes smack down, I am testing Jamie Oliver's recipes for his new 15 minute meals book. If you are playing along, leave a comment with your blog post link or just talk us through it in the comments section.

Recipe #2 Steak Medallions, Mushroom Sauce and spring Greens pg 82

Sourcing the ingredients:

I had to improvise quite a bit with this menu, this is what I swapped...
Porcini mushrooms (expensive) for dried shiitake
Baby new potatoes (out of season) for regular old potatoes
Tender stem broccoli (whatever that is) for regular broccoli
Savoy Cabbage (out of season) for sugar snap peas

Everything else was bought at the supermarket or Hanamasa.

Ready, steady, cook...

It all pretty much went to plan, I remembered to wash everything beforehand except for the potatoes. I washed and quartered them but left the skin on. This meal did seem to generate a lot of washing up, I'm not sure whether cutting down on cooking time but having more washing up time is my idea of fun! I loved how the green veg turned out, really tasty and the mushroom dip was very more-ish,  I made too much so used the leftovers on baked potatoes the next day.

Verdict

J.O.'s time 15 minutes

Jo's time 19 minutes

Family opinion - Ebi-kun 7/10 (he had trouble chewing the steak)
                           Daddy 9/10
                           Me 8/10 (new potatoes would have been so much better)

Notes to self:

Double check the table top grill is heating up!
If using bigger potatoes keep an eye on the cooking time

I would love to make this a community post so if you are joining please comment below, if you have landed here from a facebook group, I would love it if you could add your comments here rather than facebook so that everyone can read your feedback. If you have blogged about one of the 15 minute or 30 minute recipes then feel free to leave the link to the actual post and remember to say which recipe you used in the comment.

I have also started a pinterest board for my photos for the challenge, it you are a fellow pinterest addict and would like to contribute to the board, let me know and leave your pinterest name in the comments.

That wraps up round two, pop back next week for round two...

Do you blog & want to make some money?

It is time for me to open the doors for My Organized Chaos again. This time round I am looking to take on more affiliates.

I will walk you through this because I know, not everyone knows or understands how affiliate links work.

First you need to register with My Organized Chaos as an affiliate (you can do that HERE)

You will get access to the affiliate panel which has your personal link, plus links and banners with your affiliate ID embedded into it. I have also made a step-by-step PDF for those needing a bit more help.

You then copy and paste the banner onto your blog, you can use them as sidebar ads like those on the right and/or in the blog post itself. The banner is coded with your unique affiliate ID, when one of your readers clicks on the banner, they get taken to a specific page on My Organized Chaos and the computer does all this magic stuff where it records your readers cookies and your affiliate ID. 

What if the reader doesn't buy right then? That is no problem, the computer stores the cookie information for 60 days, if you reader comes back a few days later and makes a purchase, then you score the commission.

What is the commission rate? Most sites, such as the Book Depository offer 5% - 10% of the sale. I give you 30%, which is a nice chunk of money each time for you!

Interested? Then sign up here for the affiliate program. 

Got questions? Email me at jo 'at' my-organized-chaos'dot'com

International book giving day is coming up...

Do you know about the International Book Giving Day?

It a volunteer initiative to try and get books into the hands of more children. It is easy to get involved you can...

1. Give a book to a friend or family member

2. Secretly leave a book in a waiting room for children to read

3. Donate books to a charity, hospital, shelter or an organisation that distributes used books.

It is a great way to get kids involved with giving books to others. We recently had a big sort out of all our books to make room for the new ones we got at Christmas. Most of the Japanese books went to Books for Japan, (the site is in Japanese). You can call the number provided and arrange for Kuruneko to come and pick up the box of books for free. They then get sent to Books For Japan where they sort them, some get sold and the money goes towards the running of the charity and some get distributed to places that need them. The books need to be in good condition and have an ISBN number.

We also gave some books to a favourite little friend of ours.

If you want to get involved, find a way to give a book and then write a blog post about it. On Feb 21st we will have a post where you can add your URL and share what you did to participate. If you want more information, pop over to Book Giving Day. 

Let's go fly a kite...

Yesterday, we had some errands to run in the morning but then in the afternoon we decided to go and try Ebi-kun's kite out, that he had made at school. Actually, I think it was pre-made and he just decorated it. I won't let him fly the kite near our home because there is nowhere that is clear of trees or electric cables so we drove down to the river as that is nice open space.

It was a beautiful clear day, bit chilly but we did have a nice view of Fuji-san in the distance.

And it was absolutely perfect kite flying weather, just the right amount of wind...



He managed to get flying at the full length of the sting, all 50m of it, there is some exhilarating about flying a kite isn't there?

How to add a floating pin it button to your posts

You may or may not have noticed that I have a new pin it button to make it easier to pin to pinterest. If you are wondering what I am talking about, roll your mouse over this image...

See the 'p' in the corner? If you click on it you can pin the image straight to your boards, go on, try it out!

So how did I do this? Well I would love to take the credit but this is way above my geeky level, instead pop over to bloggersentral to grab the code for blogger, it is really easy to do, no geeky genes needed! If you are on a self hosted wordpress site, then you can get the code at Kevin & Amanda.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals Challenge #1

This is round one of the J.O. vs Jo 15 minutes smack down, I am testing Jamie Oliver's recipes for his new 15 minute meals book. If you are playing along, leave a comment with your blog post link or just talk us through it in the comments section.

Recipe #1 Chicken Dim Sum pg 24

Sourcing the ingredients:

I couldn't get broccoli stems so I used regular broccoli and I ordered hoisin sauce from Kenko. Everything else I could get at the local supermarket, I imagine coconut milk might be difficult in some places in Japan, it is only recently that we have been able to buy it at the regular supermarket but I have been able to buy it for years at Yamaya.
I also used red pepper instead of chili pepper, out of personal choice.

As the book suggested, I got out all my ingredients and equipment before I started, I do feel this is a bit of a cheat but it did only take a couple of minutes.

Ready, steady, cook...

My first mistake was trying to fit all the ingredients for the buns in my tiny mixer, so then I had to tip everything into a bowl and mix it by hand. I lost a few minutes doing all this!

Once the buns were on, the rest went pretty smoothly. My second mistake was not washing the veg before I started, not such a big deal as it has to be done at some stage but again, I lost some time doing it.

The final point was again having equipment smaller than Jamie's, he must use a steamer much bigger than the one I have because the chicken took a few minutes more to cook through and because of that the broccoli was over cooked grrr. I love the steamed buns and will use that part of the recipe again on it's own, Ebi-kun already had suggestions on how to serve them.

Everything else was quick and easy to do, and I love the idea of just slapping it on a big serving tray and  putting it on the table. 

Verdict

J.O.'s time 15 minutes

Jo's time 24 minutes

Family opinion - they loved it, everyone scored it 9/10

I am pretty sure I can get the time down next time, I am actually chuffed to get such a fab meal in less than 30 minutes, which even with the prep, it was under 30 minutes. 

Notes to self:

Remember to wash the veg before you start!

Mix the buns by hand

Steam the broccoli separately

I would love to make this a community post so if you are joining please comment below, if you have landed here from a facebook group, I would love it if you could add your comments here rather than facebook so that everyone can read your feedback. If you have blogged about one of the 15 minute or 30 minute recipes then feel free to leave the link to the actual post and remember to say which recipe you used in the comment.

I have also started a pinterest board for my photos for the challenge, it you are a fellow pintest addict and would like to contribute to the board, let me know and leave your pinterest name in the comments.

That wraps up round one, pop back next week for round two...

Ohhh and on a kitchen related note, if you haven't signed up for the Ultimate Kitchen Clear Out yet, you can do so HERE.

Hanging out with hairy friends....

We were at a lose end on Sunday and ended up doing out fallback activity - going to the zoo. Because we go so often, there is no stress or worry at trying to fit everything in, of course we have to visit the favourites... which includes the petting corner, Ebi-kun was a bit put out that there were no snakes out, he had to make do with a guinea pig!

We also made friends with a new addition to the zoo, a coffee coloured alpaca, seriously cute, Ebi-kun was quite smitten, alpaca-chan must have liked us too because there was no spitting.

The little photographer at work....

It was cold, especially when the wind blew but we had beautiful blue skies, I love the winter here, sunny and bright and dry most of the time.

Whilst we were at the zoo we decided on a family challenge for the year. My husband announced that the 2014 Chinese year is the year of the horse, last year he used a picture of Ebi-kun at the zoo with a snake around his neck for the year of the snake, for the New Years cards. He wanted a picture of Ebi-kun on a horse for this year, I upped the anti and declared that the challenge is to get a horsey picture every month for 2013 (I am think this will make my calendar making so much easier!) Ha!

Do you have any family challenges for the year? Share in the comments, I'd love to know what others are up to!

If you have been dilly-dallying about signing up for the ultimate kitchen clear out, sign up HERE, come on, you know your kitchen deserves it!

Are you going to join me?

I feel like the kitchen is really the core of the home, it is where food is prepared to feed the family, to fuel them with the energy that they need to survive. On a whole I enjoy cooking for the family but like most people have those days when I wish I could afford my own private chef or at least someone to come and clean up after I have made a complete mess in there.

What I have found though, is that even on those off days, it is not so challenging if I can just get in, do what I need to do and get out. Then only way that this works is if my kitchen is properly organized, I have a couple of cupboards that need a good sort through and then I thought it would be fun to run a bootcamp, so we can all tackle the kitchen chaos together.

So here it is... the ultimate 7 day kitchen clear out...

Want to join in? Just sign up HERE. (it's totally free!)

We will kick off January 28th and each day I will send you an email telling you exactly what to tackle. I believe in doing things little by little, baby steps if you like, so each day should take only 15 - 30 minutes.

Plus, I am going to be giving away prizes through out the week and at the end of the week you will have a beautifully organized kitchen. Are you in? Just click HERE to be taken to the sign up page.

please pin me!

I would love to get 100 people signed up to do the bootcamp so I need your help to get the word out, please share this post on Facebook, twitter etc. Thank you so, so much!

Bring a smile to your face for Blue Monday

Apparently, research shows that January 21st is the gloomiest day of the year! This was posted on facebook a few days ago and really bought a smile to my face, in fact it went as far as make me giggle out loud! Reminds me of the old 70's TV show with Johnny Morris

And for a flashback to my childhood...

And finally, we can't have a post about Blue Monday without featuring the brilliant New Order, now can we? Here they are live at Reading festival and a little know fact for you, Bernard Sumner (singer) once gave me a a full bottle of vodka at Reading Festival (different year to the video) and thanks to that, I remember very little of the rest of the day!

Do you have any obscure claims to fame? Time to brag in the comments section!

Our UK Top Ten & photos by Ebi-kun

Ebi-kun's top 10

1. Tower Of London

2. London Eye

3. Staying with Nana and Papie

4. Going on the steam train and seeing Santa

5. Ice-skating and Santa's Grotto

6. Eating loads of food like...Muller Corner Yoghurts, Christmas dinner, Chinese take-away, Spicy Mexican

7. Meeting Max & Cassie, Declan, Mia and Jasper, Carmen & Frank, George & Iris and RYLAND.

8. Vertical drop slides

9. Pantomime (Cinderella)

10. Saw a badger and fed a squirrel

I would say that my top 10 is very similar but would add in catching up with lots of old friends, rocking it out to The Wonder Stuff and relaxing with relatives is up there too.

If you remember, Ebi-kun got a camera before Christmas, so I thought i would share some of the pictures he took....

I have singled this one out because I love how he has framed the picture, I feel it really captures the moment and could see it in some kind of exhibit on life. Very deep :)

The rest I picked because I find them amusing, it was interesting to see what he was drawn to taking photographs of, I set the camera on auto for the sake of ease but we plan to work through the manual and try out and learn the different functions, I am thinking of setting him a project for each one.

 Probably because he is a lot shorter than me, I really like the angle these are taken at, a little reminder to myself to get down low occasionally. The one of my mom and the clown is fab.

 I think this is a lovely shot of Nana and Papie and the shot below is a of a ghost skateboarder, looks for the skateboard (bottom right) and you can just make out the figure of a ghost. Turns out that this is the exact spot where a teenager was gunned down by a rival gang 20 years ago and on the eve of his death you can see him skateboarding*

*Sorry, I totally made that up :)

Breaking News - Snow in Tokyo

Well, OK, it was breaking news 4 days ago! Tokyo is very much like London when it comes to snow, more than 10 snowflakes and the place is thrown into chaos. Luckily for us, Monday was coming of age day, so we all get the day off - hurrah.

Perfect timing for playing in the snow....

Of course, there were snowball fights...

And snowball rolling or even snowman making

We even had daddy on the job, i should point out that we were the only family playing out in the snow on the whole street with exception to the two little boys up the road that came out for a short time, what is wrong with people?

Out punk snowman, looking rather fine in the yard, he looks a bit worse for wear now since he has started to melt. 

On a more serious note, there have been calls for people to monitor their electric usage, since the cold snap everyone must be wacking on the heaters and the Kanto grid is almost at full capacity, if you are in the are, remember to turn electrical items off if you are not using them. We will freeze if the electric goes off! Thank you - public service announcement is over.

Are you up for a challenge?

One of my Christmas presents was Jamie Oliver's new book, 15 minute meals. Since living in Japan, I have become very skeptical about cook books written in English basically because it is usually a nightmare trying to source the ingredients. I have, over the years I become an expert at bodging recipes together, using what I can get.

There is a pantry list supplied with the book and you can download the PDF version here, I don't have everything on the list but what I have done is to go through the recipes I will be trying out first and stocked up with anything I needed, what I haven't been able to get in the supermarket, I have been able to order online (three cheers for the internet!). Anyone IN Japan, there is a great facebook group, Japan Friendly Recipes - When you go to sign up, please leave a message to the group owner telling where abouts in Japan you live. (The group is for Japan residents only).

The recipes in the book are all healthy and there is a nutritional breakdown for each meal at the back of the book. We are trying to move away from eating processed foods or at least in moderation, choosing freshly prepared if possible. I am also all for getting in the kitchen and getting out again quick, I do enjoy cooking but not all the time, some days I just want the food on the table already, so the idea of doing it in 15 minutes really appeals.

Now, I know there is a lot of skepticism about actually putting a fab meal together in 15 meals and when you look at the pictures you think, no way! So, I thought it would be fun to do a challenge, want to play along?

Get 15 minute meals From Amazon or The Book Depository

This is how it will work:

On a Thursday I will do a blog post reviewing one of the meals from the book. Whether I managed to meet the 15 minute challenge or not. If not, where I thought I had gone wrong or how I think I can do better next time. I'll also add any Japan cheats for those of you in Japan and facing the same issues. Now, I don't eat fish and I don't cook it so there will be no fishy recipe reviews!

If you want to join in and you blog, grab the badge, link to the new weeks post and write up your review on your blog then add the link in the comments. 

If you don't blog or you do but this doesn't fit with your bloggy theme then just leave a comment with your chosen recipe, review and feedback.

The first recipe I am going to try is Chicken Dim Sum on page 24, you can either do the same one or pick something completely different. If you don't have the 15 minute meals book but you do have the 30 minute meals, then use that.

I reckon it should be fun, learning some new recipes, challenging ourselves to get dinner on the table in record time and eating healthily too. If you are thinking of playing along, please leave a comment....

Vertical drop slides and go-carts

One of the last places we went to was the National Forest Adventure Farm near Burton-on-Trent, where we met up with Di and Ry. This place is great, well worth the money, considering the local wacky warehouse place costs about 4 quid to get in, this place cost a couple of pound more and you can easily spend all day here without getting bored.

Inside is a big soft play structure which include a place for under 5's, some giant Lego and vertical drop slides and yes, they really do have a vertical drop. Ebi-kun being well, Ebi-kun was straight up there, it didn't cross his mind to try the smaller of the slides first, oh no, straight on the big one! These slides are not for mothers with a weak heart, I can tell you. Apparently adults can go on too but I didn't see any try it out, Di and I did venture onto the bumpy slide but that was about enough excitement for us.

Even the ball pool slide starts with a vertical drop! When we arrived it was virtually empty, it got a bit busier later but not manically so. There is also a big area to eat lunch, the food was homemade and lovely and very reasonably priced.

Outside they have a load of things to do, there are go-carts, free tractor ride, in the summer they have a maize maze, animals to visit, play areas, football shoot-out, little tractors to ride...

It is a perfect place to go, whatever the weather. We also discovered that it is not far from where my cousin lives, if we had known beforehand we could have met up with them too!

They also have a giant bouncy pillow, crazy golf, water gun area (for the warmer months!), beach volleyball and fossil dig plus lots of activities going on throughout the year. We had loads of fun, it would have been better only if it had been a tad warmer, it is definitely somewhere we would like to go back to next time we are over.

Just one UK tour blog post left and that will wrap it all up! Today feels like the first day back at work proper, finally the jet lag has subsided, I am still waking up at at 4am but at least I can make it through the day now without crashing! Ebi-kun is back at school and it is time for me to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in with my work.

Introducing Toby...

Close to moms house is a little farm, it has a few animals to pet and a few small shops so on a day when we had nothing planned we popped by. The farm is onto a good thing, they sell you bags of food so you can feed their animals! 

I grew up next to a farm and feel totally at home surrounded by animals but Ebi-kun gets a bit nervous, it took this poor donkey several attempts to get the carrot.

We dropped lucky, we just happened to be there when they were bringing in Toby the pony, Ebi-kun knows that I have always been able to ride, I had a pony, similar size to this one when I was just 18 months old and I can't actually remember learning to ride, just as I can't remember learning to walk. Anyway, we had hoped to visit a friend who has ponies but it basically rained the whole time we were in the UK but as we were patting Toby the owner asked Ebi-kun if he wanted to ride him into the stable, of course he said yes. 

He had no saddle or bridle, just a head collar and Ebi-kun had no helmet, this didn't even cross my mind as being dangerous, it is how I grew up. The funny bit was when the pony got in the stable he decided to have a roll in his fresh straw, luckily the handler grabbed Ebi-kun before he got squashed! 

It all added to the excitement and Ebi-kun couldn't wait to tell daddy about it all. It was a shame the weather was so crappy, I would have loved to have given him a proper lesson or two.

Manchester, Museums and A Toilet Called Teri

A couple of days into the new year we arranged to meet one of my uni friends, Lesley and her kids in Manchester. There are several museums in Manchester, we opted for the MOSI or Museum Of Science and Industry.

My brother takes his kids here quite often and I am pretty impressed with it, the kids of course loved all the hands on stuff available.

The explanations were well written and simple enough for the kids (and moms!) to understand.

We explored the main building, the transport building, which also has a spot for eating your lunch if you decided to take your own and the train building. The kids have only met once before, I-chan was just a wee babe in arms and G-kun was about 2 so they don't really remember one another. When we first met up, the kids just stared at each other but it didn't take them long to warm up and start chasing each other around.

Ebi-kun asked the following day if we could meet up with them again because he loved playing with G.

By the end of the day, they were best buddies and Lesley and I had chance to catch up and have a good old natter, it was sad to say goodbye but I-chan was tired and we thought it best before meltdowns happened, best leave on a good note!

Ebi-kun had seen a sign for 'underground Manchester' which was another part of the museum, so we went and explored there before heading home. It was rather odd, all about the sewers, pretty revolting really, Teri the Talking Toilet did make us giggle though.

So, if you are in Manchester and looking for something to do, I give the MOSI a big thumbs up, it is free too and if you take your own lunch it amounts to a cheap day out. There is a cafe and a gift shop, the gift shop wasn't anything exciting, the usual museum stuff. There is plenty of space for the kids to run around and lots of hands on equipment. Of course, having great company helps to make a good day  into a great day!

We made it!

We made it back OK, it was a long journey, uneventful, which is how I like my plane trips, I am really not into exciting flights, doesn't bode well if you ask me.

Jet lag has reared it's ugly head and with an aim to beat it we have thrown ourselves back into a normal schedule from the time we touched down. This hasn't stopped me from crashing late afternoon with serious brain fuzz and nausea nor has it stopped both Ebi-kun and I waking up at 3am each morning, I suspect that he is going to have a tough day at school today. It is always worse travelling west to east, luckily we have a 3 day weekend coming up so by the start of next week we should be back on form...

I still have to finish unpacking, which means having a sort out of my wardrobe and it looks like we need a new book case to fit all the new books on, a job for over the weekend I think. Today's mission is to stay awake, make a pot of soup, bake some bread to go with the soup and catch up on all my emails. I am still waaaay behind on my blog posts, so I will try and squeeze a couple of those in too. I am not a big coffee drinker but I am already on my second cup, looks like I am in for a loooong day.

How to make a font from your own handwriting....

1. Hop over to FontPanda, click through to 'make a font'. Then you need to decide if you want a free font or to pay for one. If you make a free font then FontPanda reserve the right to offer your font for free on their website. If you want to keep the font for yourself (which I would recommend for your hand writing) then there is a small payment.

2. Download the font sheets and fill them in then you have to scan them and send them to FontPanda. 

3. A couple of days later you will get your font emailed to you, if you are not happy with it they will make alterations for you. All you have to do then is install your font*, which is just a matter of clicks and then off you go...

*To install a font on a Mac OSX...

Download the font

Double click on the file ( it should be a .tff file)

A new window will open, click 'Install Font'

Done! 

For other computers you can read how to do it here.

Give, Give, Give me More, More, More...

Bit out of sync, never mind! After London we went back to Di's in Nottingham and then the next day Di had some tickets for a little theatre in the grounds of Nottingham Uni. It was a performance for kids and just 50 minutes long, which was just long enough for the boys to sit through. It was based on the Rolf Harris song Two Little Boys, beautifully done.

Then we dropped the boys off at home and left them with Di's hubby, Rob and off we went to Birmingham, Di's hometown and old stomping ground. And stomping we did as she had snagged tickets for The Wonder Stuff and supporting were Jesus Jones and Pop Will Eat Itself. We booked into a hotel for the night, which out of luck was just round the corner from the venue.

We started off in the pub, (of course) and met up with some of Di's old school mates, it was like being back in 1992, except everyone was a bit wider around the waist and a bit balder - well the blokes anyway! After a couple of beers we grabbed some chips then headed off to the gig.

We didn't really watch much of Jesus Jones, Neds would have been a better choice I feel. The Poppies were disappointing, Clint wasn't on stage which I think made a huge difference and they weren't playing the old classics, which considering the audience, that is what they should have been doing. The Stuffies on the other hand were great, Miles, much to my amazement still had a full head of hair and the new fiddle player was fab too. 

It really was a trip down memory lane, the play list was excellent, the company perfect and due to the expensive bar, we didn't drink ourselves into a stupor - or maybe it's because we are a little older and a little wiser!

A big thank you to Di, definitely a highlight of my trip.

Now your turn, if you could see a band from your youth, who would it be? tell me in the comments!

Christmas Round Up

I am so behind with these posts! Christmas day we spent the morning opening presents with Nana and Papie. I managed to make a Jedi cape before we left Japan and the young Padawan is very happy with it, I'll try and write up how I did at a later date.

Daddy joined in too on the present opening on the Mac, not quite the same as having him with us but it was fun all the same, hurrah for technology!

At lunch time my step brother and his family arrived and we had a great Christmas dinner, my Nana and brother were there too, so it really was a full house.

Boxing day was a quite one, playing with new toys and watching films on the TV. Ebi-kun has got addicted to game shows, Deal or No Deal is his favourite! The 27th my little brother and his family came over, now the kids are a bit older they got on much better. The boys enjoyed building Lego together...

Little J was still a bit poorly, not that you have guessed, he is such a smiler, until you get the camera out, then he refuses to smile, it took some clever trickery to get this shot!

I also managed to get a nice picture of all of them together, usually there is some one missing or a blurred child or one sticking their finger up their nose, we finally have one that is suitable to hang on the wall!

Ebi-kun has really enjoyed catching up with his cousins, we do chat with them on the mac sometimes which I am convinced makes it easier for them to bond when they do get to meet in person. I had forgotten how loud M is, she has a voice like a foghorn! Post Christmas was a bit less hectic...how was yours?