For breakfast this morning, more ochagara! I need to try a new recipe, but this one is so nice and so easy I've been sticking with it. Maybe tomorrow I'll try something new.
There's a wonderful French bakery near my house. I love everything they make. Lately, I've developed an intense interest in macarons, despite the fact I'd never eaten one. I'm talking about the real, French macarons. I saw a picture of them, and they're so beautiful. I think I have the same fascination with them that I have with jelly: the color and beauty of the food as well as its deliciousness. Anyway, I started reading up on macarons, and learned where to get the best macarons in the world: either Paris or Tokyo. So I've already made plans to visit the shop next time I'm in Japan.
But when I met my friend for coffee this afternoon, and I saw our local French bakery had macarons, I had to try them. They were quite tiny, maybe a bit bigger than a quarter, but they were delicious. I had vanilla, coffee, chocolate, and raspberry flavors. I liked the chocolate and the raspberry best. These were taken with my phone, but you get the idea.

We stayed so long I ended up getting two more: another raspberry and a lemon. Not bad. I can't wait to try them in Japan.
Dinner tonight--we had salmon. The preparation was such fun, and I'd not done it before, so I took a picture of our fish as I made it. The recipes for tonight came out of Elizabeth Andoh's book Washoku, which a friend gave me. I'm so glad he did, because I probably wouldn't have bought it myself, but I love it. It's gorgeous as well as full of great recipes.
Tonight I made miso-yaki (grilled) salmon. A lot of Japanese recipes call for wrapping fish or other things in cloth for a variety of different reasons--to clean the fish, or dip them, or, in this case, to marinate them. I felt like I was wasting paper towels, and paper towels didn't work when I needed to wrap the fish and dip them, so I made a few plain white cloth bags. They're stunningly handy. I explode ginnan or kuri in my microwave in them, I marinate or wash my fish in them, I dip my kaki or tomatoes to peel them. I use them often. Tonight, I put the salmon in the bag and painted them with my miso marinade.

And the finished product! Tonight we had the miso-yaki with kenchin-jiru topped with green onions (shiitake, lotus root, tofu and daikon soup). Also from Elizabeth Andoh's book. The flavor was a bit weak, but it was still delicious. And full of great veggies! I also served hijiki salad, ume-hakusai pickles, spicy gobo pickles, and rice.
I think this fish is so beautiful. Just a bit charred on the edges, and perfectly done inside. I felt like it might have been better with a slightly thicker cut of fish, but it was still delicious. And fun and easy!
My husband's piece of fish, just because I just love the way they look.
And the soup.
The gobo-hijiki-carrot salad. If I go too long without eating hijiki, I start craving not only it, but also red meat. Hijiki is high in both iron and calcium, and so it makes sense that without it I get cravings for red meat, which isn't healthy. I made a pretty large pot tonight, so we should be good with the hijiki for awhile!
The hakusai-ume pickles, just for good measure.
And one more.