Weekend Dinner 1
Posted by: kirin on 
Mar 18th, 2012 | 
Filed under: Japanese foodsMy husband and I’ve been married for 10 years. He used to cook for me before our marriage, but he has been too lazy to do that for a long time after our marriage. Honestly, I’ve been quite unhappy with that. However, I didn’t mind cooking all the time, as my work was easier and flexible. It was natural for me to do most of the house work while he was too busy leaving home 7:30am and returning home after 9pm from Monday to Friday, and resting during the weekends.
My husband changed his work style, and now both of us are working from home.
We chose more freedom in exchange for security, stability, social status, and enough income at the first few years. We need to work online so we can have an option to live outside Japan, if we wish to. (I may not work from home in the near future, if he stays at home, though.)
Anyhow, thus there’s one happy change! My husband started to cook for me! He actually loves cooking, which I didn’t even know!! (*0*) I’m OK for cleaning the room, keep things neat and tidy, washing dishes and doing laundries, but when it comes to cooking, I just do it as a job. Somehow I can’t put my soul into it. I can do it with no problem, but somehow I can’t enjoy it from the bottom of my heart. That’s why I’ve never been free from this feeling, “It’s always I that I have to do cooking in this house. He never can be helpful, but I can’t help it, he’s too busy. Damn!”
So I thought it’s killing two birds with one stone if I blog about the weekend dinner made by my husband. I mean, I can keep records for our reference, and at the same time I can give you an idea what kind of meal Japanese people eat at home, for example. 
It’s the very first Weekend Dinner post. Here we go.
This is the dinner we just had tonight. (The whole thing looks a bit green and dark, which is because of the pendant light over the table. The lamp shades are green. That’s why the picture looks a bit dark compared with those taken in a day time with no light over it.)
What did we have? Let’s take a look one by one.
1: Takikomi Gohan…It’s rice cooked with several ingredients such as carrot, deep-fried bean curd, hijiki, canned scallop, and etc.
2: Chicken + shimeji mushroom saute…I made this, because chicken thigh and shimeji mushrooms were left in the fridge. I just wanted to use them up.
3: Simmered pumpkin…I admit he cooks better than I do! It was sooo good!! 
4: Boiled Chinese cabbage and canned tuna…He simmered it with soy sauce, sake, sugar, and some seasonings. This was delicious too!
I cannot believe but I have to admit he is good at cooking. I totally didn’t believe he can cook so well after years of no cooking experience. As a house wife, I could be embarrassed, but I’d rather wave a white flag to him and admitted that he does much better than I’d do. Sometimes I’m too short tempered to wait for better outcome. I tend to finish cooking asap because I have more other stuff that I want to do. But look at him, he totally enjoys cooking now!! I’m totally happy to be served and to give him feedback. So far, I’ve thought I didn’t like Japanese food so much, but I had a feeling that his cooking could change that. I really enjoyed the Kabocha (pumpkin) and Hakusai (Chinese cabbage).
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March 18th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Hi Kirin,
Your Hubby is so sweet!!
It was such an interesting combination of Boiled chinese cabbage with Tuna.
Hope he can cook more for you and you also can post more about Japanese food !!
March 18th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
That all looks delicious, Kirin! It's nice that he cooks so well.
How is it with you both working together at home? (Pi-chan must be thrilled to have all that company!)
March 18th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
That looks delicious, and I'm impressed by Takikomi Gohan!
Good appetite, dear Kirin! ^_^
As for cooking, I do it but not with a keen interest.
I hope I become more interested in cooking as an art more.
March 18th, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Hehe, congrats on your 10 year anniversary, I hope you are both very happy and many more anniversaries to come!
That is nice that he wants to make the meals! ^_^ I don't have much patience for cooking myself either. lol
March 18th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Awww! That's a nice hubby! My husband's cooking isn't as good as mine, though I have very little cooking experience. I noticed that a lot of chefs are men, so if a man can do it why can't I!? lol I'd recommend Paint.net which you can download for free if it's available in Japan. I use it to correct the lighting and green/red/blue colors in my photos. It's extremely easy to use
March 19th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Hi Winnie,
Thank you for your comment. He finally cooked for me for the first time in many years. He is a perfectionist and so he said he didn't feel like cooking when he is not 100% ready for that. To me, just some help like cutting something or watching while simmering would have helped, but he didn't help me anything just until recently. >_<
But actually this was the 3rd time and he is now ready for cooking on weekends. I cook during weekdays but I feel better now because he also cooks.
March 19th, 2012 at 11:36 am
My husband has been working from home since last year but just until recently he has not been ready to cook. He seems to be a person who needs more time to new circumstances or lifestyle.
So Pi-chan has been very happy because she rarely stays at home alone. Even if I go out, my husband stays at home. She has always me or my husband or both of us around her. But at the same time, it's we that can have instant relaxation between work, thanks to her.　^_^
March 19th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Hi Salma,
Thank you for your comment.
I didn't expect he was going to put so many ingredients into the Takikomi Gohan, so it was really deluxe and nice. ^_^
March 19th, 2012 at 11:42 am
Oh thank you, Angel. ^_^
We actually had the 10th anniversary day in October last year. We wanted to travel in Australia then but we couldn't make it. Hope we can have vacation this year.
March 19th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I think you can cook well because you are good at modifying clothes. I don't know if these two things have any relevance though, haha! ^ ^;;
Sorry for my laziness, I have photoshop but I'm too lazy to make the photo look better. XD
March 19th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
hahah I'm happy that you enjoy your meal, and that your husband cook for you
. In my house, is my boyfriend who always cook because I don't like to do it too and I don't cook very well, there're only a few things I cook better than he, but for example the dessert is always my thing, I like to cook deserts like pudding or creppes or cake ^^ but as I haven't not much time and we're trying to do a diet, it have been pass few weeks since I do something 
For the rest of the homework we split them and sometimes his mother came and help us to do it, there're a lot of things to do for both of us
March 20th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Thank you Maneki Neko for your sweet comment.
We've been together for 10 years (14 years if the period before marriage is included) and that was so fast!! *0*
March 20th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Wow! Lore, I think you are very lucky!
It's wonderful that his mom comes to your place to help you two! Very nice person!!
March 20th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Nice dishes ! Maybe you can get him started on some of the dishes from my blog ? Cooking should remain a joy to do , but everyday can become a chore
Congratulations. Hope to see more dishes soon;
March 22nd, 2012 at 11:31 am
Thank you Walter.
I hope he tries many different kind of dishes in the future, but he likes cooking Japanese or Chinese. Yet, I feel it's very nice. Yeah, I think cooking has become nothing but a chore. I cook 3 meals everyday. I feel like eating bread, rice and noodle everyday. So I make breakfast with some bread, lunch with noodle, and dinner with rice.
The main dish and side dish should be different whether we eat bread or rice. For noodle, I cook pasta, ramen, soba, or udon. I never get bored of what I'm eating, but I'm tired of cooking, shopping and washing dishes all the time.
He will cook something again this weekend.
I'm expecting that. hehe. ^ ^
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:53 am
Those look very good. I like eating Japanese dishes but I don't like cooking them. You have to wash so many pots and dishes afterwards! I am surprised that dishwashers are rare in Japan. Maybe they are only hard to find in apartments though. Since if I could afford a dishwasher, maybe I should be able to buy a house.
I hope we see more of the weekend dinners!
March 24th, 2012 at 12:03 am
Thank Aquila,
I have a dishwasher installed in my apartment. But I think it's because we bought this apartment. Most of the apartments for rent are less equipped compared with the apartments for purchase in Japan. Thus, it's normal most of the rented apartments don't have a dishwasher installed.
Yet, like you said, Japanese cuisine requires several side dishes and and a lot of time and effort for preparation. Pots are too big and too many for a dishwasher and they are to be hand-washed after all.
I told my husband that TKE readers also expect his next cooking. ^__^ Thanks!
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