My Grandma’s Cooking Book
By Chiaki Fujita
I have an old cooking book from my late grandmother. She gave it to me before I got married.
My grandmother was a great cook. She was born in 1914 and I guess she grew up much blessed with the Western culture. She was good at making all those ‘Western’ dishes as much as Japanese dishes, like White sauce gratin, pork and beef cutlet, spaghetti, beef steak, curry and rice, sandwiches, hamburgs, etc. She even made jelly, popsicle and sometimes sweet dumplings for dessert.
Sashimi (Raw Fish – Yong yellowtail)
My memory goes back to the time when I was a child and stayed at my grandparents’ during the summer vacations. I remember that pork cutlet and sashimi (raw fish) were common menu for our dinner. It’s interesting that she didn’t like sashimi, although she was raised and lived in a place close to the ocean, which was famous for great sea food.
What I loved most about her summer recipes was fried eggplant with fillings. It is a kind of an elaborate dish which actually I haven’t tried myself yet.
Instant Yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles)
As she didn’t cook much ‘instant/convenience food’, my brother and I were surprised when she said she would make us some ‘instant’ Ramen (Chinese noodle) for lunch one day.
The dish she made was very weird, something I had never had before. I wondered why the soup was that thick and starchy, and it tasted too sweet for Ramen. My brother and I asked her what brand of instant ramen noodles she had used and she showed us was the plastic bag of ‘Yakisoba’ (Japanese fried noodles). It was just like spaghetti and there’s no soup.
She soon realized that she had mistaken in using ‘fried noodles’ to cook ramen and laughed out loud saying, “That’s my special ‘muddled Soba (noodles)’!”
Decades have passed, but I have not forgotten the taste of her ‘muddled Soba’.
Whenever I look at the page of the fried stuffed eggplant where she put the bookmark on, it always makes me smile and remember of all those delicious food she cooked for us, along with lots of other precious memories of her.
She passed away at the age of 94 three years ago.
Tonkatsu (Pork Cutlet)
Chiaki Fujita
If you want to try it yourself, take a look at Yakisoba’ recipe web page.
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Read her other posts: HERE and HERE.
Great looking food! My wife makes Thai dishes to suit my taste and just the aroma of her cooking brings back great memories. Your grandmother was ahead of her time.
Hi Chiaki,
Awesome post. I love my grandmother so much and could directly relate to this post. When I was a child; I used to spend whole of my day with her since my parents were working. It formed a bond between us and stays here till date. Though I do not spend much time with her but I do got to see her once in a while and I love that moment.
For me, this post is not about dishes or delicious food or how our grandmothers are great cook; it is more of how people leave our lives and how we lose the dear ones. At the end of the day, it is the memories that stay with us. We cherish these memories through their possessions, their love and their support all while they were with us. My grandmother is still with me but I know she has to leave one day and it really fills my heart with tremendous grief. Can’t stop that! But the thing I can do is make all the time I spend with her more memorable and cherishing.
Thanks again for reminding me how these people are so important to us.
Regards,
Adi
Adi,
Many thanks for visiting Chiaki and me here and leaving such encouraging comments. I so agree with you about how we should cherish our memories of our loved ones.
I was actually raised by my grandma, and I still dream about her, even thous she has passed away more than ten years ago.
May we always remember them, our grandmas and loved ones!