I've not been eating meat for a few days now. It's been working out fairly well--I've been making extra vegetables, and cooking up a small portion of meat for my husband. Yesterday, I made miso soup, simmered daikon (plain for me, topped with ground chicken cooked with miso for my husband), fried garlic, broccoli, and hiyayako (tofu topped with ginger, soy sauce, and scallions). I also made chicken stir-fry with ume (plum) and shiso for my husband. He said it was good.


Tonight my camera was a bit weird so I only have a few pictures. I made spinach topped with sesame dressing and hakusai-ume pickles. It's been awhile since I made the pickles. We also had the last of my multi-bean salad I made a few days ago. I had a really big bowl of it since I didn't eat meat.
I was particularly proud of a tofu jelly I made. I made it with kanten and tofu, of course, and I topped it with a citrus-y soy sauce--a bit sweeter and more mild than ponzu. It was very subtle and delicately flavored, yet I thought it very nice. I liked it a lot. But as my husband pointed out, the dish didn't really suit the food--I need to use a different plate next time I serve it, because these were too small and it was kind of hard to eat it.
Since I gave my husband the smaller portion of spinach, as well as a small dish of beans, I made him stir-fried tongue as a main dish tonight. He said it was quite yummy. He ate it all, anyway. I haven't even been taking tastes to check the flavor when I cook meat, so I'm a little bit nervous when I cook it now for him. And it's only been a week for me with no meat!

Healthy Cooking

I made bean soup before we went to Japan, and froze it. My husband and I both came back with colds (and frightful jet lag!) so the first few days after we got back we had leftovers.


I made cabbage in a sesame-seed dressing, but it wasn't very good. Maybe the cabbage was too old?
We stopped at the grocery store on our way home from the airport. One of the things we bought was fresh bamboo shoots! They are so delicious, but I wasn't quite sure how to peel them.
I made chikuzen-ni, a simmered vegetable dish that usually includes chicken. As part of my healthy cooking, though, I left chicken out of my portion (I put it in my husband's) and I added a bunch of beans. The resulting dish was a bit strange looking, but quite delicious. I used ryokuto, or mung beans, small grean beans that are super-delicious.
The chikuzen-ni, served with asparagus, seaweed salad, bean salad, pickled daikon, miso soup, brown rice with chickpeas, and mushroom-bok choy stir fry.
A bean salad I made. The flavor is quite delicate, and it's very delicious. It's got seven different kinds of beans or so in it. I've been eating plenty of beans and tofu so far, but I need to work on getting more vegetables. I have had my head of broccoli every day though.
And the seaweed salad. I bought a mix in Japan and fixed it up after we got home. It was in a shiso sauce. So colorful and so yummy!
And a close-up of the chikuzen-ni. It's got mung beans and daizu (soy beans). See what I mean about it looking a bit strange? But it was yummy! Look at that fresh bamboo!!

Wedding Food

The wedding was beautiful, quite small and I thought quite nice. The lunch after was stunning. The first dish was turtle soup--which really excited me, as I've never eaten turtle before. It was served with shrimp, however, and as I'm allergic to shellfish I couldn't eat it. My husband pulled the head waiter aside and informed him of my allergy, so some substitutions were made on other dishes. For example, the first course after the soup was potato salad topped with a shrimp sauce and scallops; I was served potato salad topped with a tomato salsa and pastry. It was delicious, and beautiful.

The second course was a foie gras croquette topped with a fried potato, served on a drizzle of brown gravy. Stunning.


The third course was fish with fresh vegetables. Again, my plate was served with tomato sauce, but everyone else had a creamed seafood sauce. It was very good.
After the fish, we were served a small dish of sherbet to cleanse our palates. Refreshing, a little sweet with just a hint of lemon.
The last course before dessert was Kobe beef. I can't even begin to describe how good this was. It was stunning.
Dessert: a heavy cream lemon ice cream, with a bowl of fruit. Mmmm.
Followed by coffee and truffle. I exploded my truffle all over the table when I tried to cut it with my spoon. Cocoa powder went everywhere. I was so , so embarrassed. I didn't get a picture of the wedding cake--but it was strawberry shortcake and super delicious. The wedding was such a nice blend of the bride and bridegroom's personalities, I was really touched and enjoyed it very much.

Birthday in Japan

We spent last weekend in Japan for my brother-in-law's wedding. I didn't take many pictures of my mother-in-law's cooking (although it's sensational), but I did take a picture of one of my favorite foods--pickled eggplant from Kyoto.

Over New Year's, when my husband visited Japan, he picked out some wine to surprise me with for my birthday and left it at his parents. His mother also bought peach wine from Hokkaido for us all to share. It was so delicious--just a little bit sweet.

My husband picked out a bottle of peach and a bottle of plum wine--both made in Kobe. They were also delicious. The fruitiness of the wine was just perfect. My husband, his parents, and myself enjoyed the wine the night before my brother-in-law's wedding.

Oh!

And... I made chocolate cupcakes. So much for being healthy... But yay for being delicious. I made them in my silicon cupcake/gelatin/everything molds... Silicon in the kitchen is pure genius.

This is out $50 bottle of vinegar that my husband and I both have a thimbleful of in water each day to be healthy. It's quite yummy. It's my latest morning ritual, together with the ochagara and whatnot.


Dinner tonight! Oh, boy, two different kinds of fried rice. My husband had steak and garlic fried rice (the big bowl), and I had takana (pickled mustard greens) and sesame seed fried rice. I also threw in some flax seed. I used my brown rice mix, and I threw in some TVP just for good measure. Why not? I served my rice with a bit of tororo. That stuff is so good!! I also made edamame soup, pan-fried taro chips, some ginger-eggplant, and a bok-choy and shiitake stir-fry. Yum.

The takana fried rice and tororo. Delicious!!
My ginger eggplant. It's not the season for eggplant, so it could only be so good. It was pretty nice, though. It will be better cold in the summer.
...And the bok-choy-shiitake stir-fry. Again with sesame seed and flax, just because. I put some water in the pan and cooked them that way first before adding the titchiest bit of sesame seed oil.

More nabe!

Last night we had yudofu (boiled tofu) in a nabe pot. We are trying to use everything up before we go to Japan next week. We had nappa cabbage, carrots, white shimeji mushrooms, konbu, dried shiitake, and leeks in it. And of course tofu! We ate it with ponzu sauce. Delicious and so good for you!!
Another view of the nabe. After we get back from Japan, my friends and I are doing a "lifestyle change," and I will be eating a lot of veggies like this. O-nabe almost every night for six weeks is my plan now!
Tonight we had leftover onabe. But while Ko was taking a nap, I also cooked up a head of broccoli and topped it off with pomengranate vingear and a few pom seeds. I love both poms and broccoli but the combo didn't quite work. I am trying to eat a head of broccoli a day, at least for six weeks. After that I'll vary things a bit more, but for six weeks a head of broccoli a day. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it.

Cauliflower etc.

Last night we had an event at school, so I had dinner there and got a bit tipsy. Oh, dear.
Today I was quite busy, but I did get home in time to make dinner tonight. I made a shio-yaki (salt-grilled) saba, some sesame-gobo pickles, and a cauliflower mousse.


I also served some salad I brought home from the dinner last night.
I think the cauliflower mousse was the most adventuresome dish tonight. My husband called it "strange," but ate it all. It was pretty easy to make, and I thought it was good. I only added a little cream, and it was surprisingly rich, considering it was cauliflower. Very filling.

Leftovers!

Tonight was leftover night. We had curry and tonkatsu. I also made a pizza. On Saturday, I went out to lunch with two of my friends (technically, one of them is my dissertation adviser, but that seems weird, no?). We had sushi and pizza (a very strange combination, but it worked, somehow).
The pizza was exceptional--a thin, cracker-like crust. I wanted to try and replicate it myself. I knew it would be tricky to get that level of crispness and thin-ness, yet have the crust able to support the toppings. Below is my first effort.

I did it simply; a bit of sauce, some fresh mozarella and some fresh basil. I didn't want to get too heavy with the toppings. I modified my usual pizza crust recipe, adding a bit more oil and some shortening to try and get the crispness. I managed to roll the crust out quite thin, but it still rose enough it wasn't crispy. Perhaps the secret is no yeast? Hmm. I'll have to think on this before my second attempt.

I used a pizza stone today too, rather than my aluminum pan. I LOVED IT. I am never going back. The stone was brilliant. So happy!

More nabe and other kinds of goodness

A few days ago I tried to make tofu again. The soy milk was even better than before--thicker and really nice. I also ended up with more okara. The tofu, however, didn't coagulate properly yet again--and I ended up with slightly chunky tofu-bittern soup. Yes, it was as unpleasant as it sounds.




A few days ago I cooked a flatfish (karei). I used a simple simmering recipe, but unfortunately the flatfish had eggs in it so it turned out I couldn't eat it because of my shellfish allergies. But it was pretty and my husband said it was good.

I also made a shiitake-snow pea stir-fry. I appreciate mushrooms of all kinds very, very much, but shiitake especially.
And the flatfish! With some spinach. Which I could and did eat. Last night I made tsukune imo to kyo kabu no mizore nabe (つくね芋と京蕪の霙鍋）, which translated means something like, "Sleet hotpot with nagaimo and turnips." Right. The sleet part refers to the appearance of the broth. The nagaimo and 1 turnip are both grated and added to the broth, giving the broth a hazy, sleet-filled appearance. Like snow, maybe. It's pretty, at any rate, and tasty, which is even better. Plus it's nutritious!
I used a regular turnip for the part I added to the broth, but we used special Kyoto turnips (smaller and whiter without purple streaks on the skin) to eat. I also cut up some carrots, some leeks and scallions, and some mizuna for the hotpot. Oh, and some chicken in it, too! I served it with simmered daikon (radishes) and rice. My husband and I both loved this dish. It was delicious, filling, and so good for you! Nabe are perfect on cold winter nights.

The Kyoto turnip. I used my new mandoline, a Christmas gift from my husband, to cut the turnips so they were paper-thin, and so beautiful. I just wanted to look at them--but my husband and I both fought over who got to eat the last of them, they were so good.
The vegetables in the individual serving bowl with the broth. You can see where the "sleet" part comes from.
Tonight, we departed from the healthy and had ton-katsu, fried pork cutlets. I had tonkatsu with cabbage and tomato, but I made katsu-curry for my husband.
The katsu-curry, served with rakkyo pickles. Also simmered daikon, and fried peppers. Oh, and some ume-hakusai pickles. I'd run out of tororo konbu, so I used regular konbu instead, and the taste is just a bit off for me.
...And the pork cutlets. They were too thick, so a bit pink inside. I don't fry things very often, so I'm not very good at it. Frankly, it's a skill I don't use that often and I'm cool with not developing. It's better for me if I'm a terrible cook when it comes to fried foods.