My kitchen

One of the reasons I chose this particular dormitory is because it claimed to have a private kitchen.  I had visions of baking and cooking masterpieces; cookies and toasted cheese, sushi concoctions and delicious meals every night.  Unfortunately, in my food dreams I forgot to take into account that this is Tokyo, and the most expensive thing here is space.  I am sorry to say that my visions of culinary grandeur are not to be, and my food dreams will be forced to die an early death (oh well; I forgot my cheese in Seattle, so I couldn't have made toasted cheese concoctions anyway).  But I still have to eat, so I thought I'd share a few of my cooking adventures so far.

The kitchen:

I want to note here that I am standing about as far back as I can in my very-mini-bathroom (across the hall / entrance way from the kitchen zone) to take this picture.  As you can see, my kitchen consists of a sink, one electric burner, a very-mini-fridge, some hooks, and a small shelving unit.  Thankfully, the dorm had a whole variety of stuff I could take and use for my kitchen so I was able to assemble the necessary equipment at minimal personal cost.  Needless to say, this lack of preparation space and various heat sources makes cooking a bit difficult, and leads to unfortunate situations like this:

This is my attempt to cook one thing (eggs) while re-heating / keeping another thing warm (potatoes) while toasting a third thing (bread) all at the same time, in the same pan.  It was at least moderately successful, though I'm afraid I'll have to get used to having at least one part of my meals be cold. 

Side note: I learned the other morning that no matter how thinly one slices a potato, it still takes forever to cook.  Second side note: I feel bad for giving the knives at home such a hard time for being dull; with the knife I've been using here I live in fear of rogue dull blades whenever I cut something more solid than broccoli.  I haven't slipped while cutting anything yet, but I'm still anxious that I'll lose a finger.  Actually, I would probably just maul myself if the knife slipped: it isn't sharp enough to cut the whole way through. 

After a variety of noddle / egg / vegetable / tofu concoctions, I finally worked up the courage to venture into the fish department of the grocery store.  That day there was a store-wide '98 yen sale' going on, which was accompanied by speakers playing an annoying and repetitive song to which the only lyrics were '98 yen'.  I was convinced that it would be stuck in my head for days, but I had thankfully forgotten it by the time I walked home.  However, the sale lured me into the fish department in hopes that I could afford something, and I bought two salmon mini-fillets for 98 yen each.  And then I cooked them.   (They actually look more like rack of lamb, but I'm not sure 'rack of salmon' is actually a cut.)

It was quite the concoction.  I made tempura and rice, and had basically poached / sauteed salmon (a style used to cook dumplings and stuff, where you cook a bit with lots of liquid, then pour it off and saute a bit).

In the end, I came up with this:

The salmon was too salty and the tempura wasn't really fried (I didn't have enough oil, or the right pan) and had become cold, but it wasn't the worst thing I've cooked. 

Other concoctions include curry, vegetable stir-fries, and a lot of tea.  If I get anything out of living here, I hope it will be the mastery of the 'one pot wonder'; I'm already tired of cold food.