茶殻 Chagara

I posted pictures from my parents' visit on my facebook, so I haven't posted here in a few days. We've also been eating leftovers, nothing very exciting to photograph.
I'm still on a kanten-kick. I'm going to be making a more conscious effort to get healthy. Seriously healthy. I am going to cut out white sugar and a good bit of fat--we'll see how this goes. I still like delicious food, so I don't think I can completely cut out fat, but we'll see.
Anyway, as part of my new quest for health, I decided to get creative and figure out how to use chagara--the leaves leftover after you make tea. I've heard of Japanese recipes for them, but I'd never eaten them or seen a recipe before. But I scoured the internet a bit today, and I got some great ideas. So I made lunch. I need to be more careful with breakfast and lunch; since my husband isn't usually home I tend to not prepare food and just eat whatever for those meals. Today, however, I made brown rice (not pictured), simmered ochagara (I used soy sauce, mirin, a blend of chili peppers, and sesame), and some salmon fragments left over from a larger fish I cut into pieces and froze. It was good, but I'm feeling just a tad tweaked from the ochagara. That might be a good thing. We'll see. If you're interested in using your own ochagara, I found this pretty fabulous site.


And a bonus for my parents: My dog loves the new rug they bought him. He's always had issues with linoleum (he's scared of it, and going across it), so my mother bought him a rug to make going from one room to another less terrifying. He's right at home on it now.