
kitchen
My Japanese kitchen is fairly typical. No big oven and fancy hob (though I do now have three cooking rings that all work), no dishwasher (for the first 7 years I lived in Japan I had no hot water in the kitchen), no draining board, and my current counter space of approximately 50 cm is the biggest I have ever had. And in this space I cook just about everything from scratch because most of the time I have to due to household economics and basically that is what most people do over here. I cook because I have to, but sometimes I really wish we had a chippy on the corner.
Cooking hasn’t always been something that I can say I have enjoyed, but in recent years preparing meals on a super tight budget and not breaking the bank while satisfying the senses and not forfeiting a sense of luxury or indulgence has been a priority and has become a way of life.
Whether it is three daily meals, a snack or a menu for celebration, a balance of colours and textures using easy to obtain ingredients often ends up with enough to feed a family of four twice over. Freezing or rehashing stretches the limits of the dishes, adds more variety and expands my repertoire.
Meals are prepared using seasonal produce, especially when the neighbours pass me their kitchen garden surplus. While there is an emphasis on keeping things within a budget, there is also self indulgence to uplift and satisfy whims and desires. Nothing is denied, nothing is wasted and fabulously frugal delights the tastebuds.