About

Welcome to “A Little Bit of Soy”. This is my cooking and recipe blog including both Traditional Japanese Recipes and my own creations inspired by Japanese Food. I use ingredients which we can easily access locally, thus, I do not use anything which might need to be imported from Japan or might be very expensive in Australia. A lot of my recipes are laid back, home style and easy to cook.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Naoko. I am Japanese and I live and work in Perth, Australia. I started this recipe blog when I turned 37 years old. My star sign is Leo and blood type is A (I do not know what this information indicates though…). Starting my own recipe blog has been my project since I moved to Australia in 2005. Yes…, it took soooo long! The reason is simple: I have been lazy… (OK I have several excuses to defend myself, but they are Just excuses hey…), but I am proud of myself now that I finally launched my blog on my 37th birthday.

So why would I like to start his blog? I have two reasons. One is my mother – Yoko. She is a chef in Japan and the best cook (for my family). She has been (and still is) cooking for us for her life. We learned what delicious food should taste like from her. She has a superb knife technique. Her proper job on preparation might be unnoticeable, but it is what that brings dishes to another level. She taught me how to do this (and I still ask her from time to time….). However, one thing she never taught me was measurements. Every time I asked her how to cook, she was just like, “Come, Watch. Put this. Put that. Add a little bit if soy sauce. How much soy sauce? This much”. So I started cooking as per her instructions until I could create the same flavor as hers, and I started to think that maybe I could write her recipes for her. This way I could pass her food onto our next generation.

Another reason is my Japanese Food situation in Australia. There are a lot of nice Japanese restaurants in Perth, however, since I am Japanese raised by a Japanese Chef, I tend to judge them harshly (sorry.., but you might understand it if you have multicultural background.). In addition, my Australian husband has his own opinions on the food about why Australian style food is good, which he was raised with. I would like to make him happy, so I apply his opinion to my daily cooking too. For these reasons, I started working on creating my own Japanese Recipes by using ingredients which are accessible and seasonal here in Australia, so that we can enjoy lovely and healthy Japanese Food at home without spending a lot if money.

So here we are… Hope you enjoy.