It's been quite a long time since my last post. I have been busy this month, and have eaten a lot of dinners out. Today, I stayed at home and cooked for the first time in a long time. Even though the meal was simple, it was very satisfying. First, I made an ear of corn. I served some sweet and sour ginger pickles with it, and some asparagus with a goma-ae (sesame seed sauce). The sesame sauce had vinegar in it, as well, which gave it a nice little bite. Then I had nagaimo pickles with mushrooms. They had a tiny bit of habanero in them, and I thought it worked well. I also had an unidentified leafy green vegetable with purple stems that tasted like spinach. I bought it because I didn't know what it was. I was worried it would be very bitter, but when in doubt--blanch and serve with either soy sauce or ponzu. This was served with soy sauce, and it was delicious. Finally, a simple cabbage salad with sesame dressing and an avocado, sliced with white soy sauce.

I really love tsukemono--mostly of the vinegared kind. My meals are gradually becoming just lots and lots of tsukemono with no real center. After so much eating out, though, I need to just eat vegetables and clean out for awhile.

Last night I attended a wonderful reception with excellent food. Out of all the amazing dishes, two things stood out for me: an almond-crusted fish and an avocado ceviche. I don't dare attempt the fish, as I wouldn't even know where to begin, but I did think I could do a ceviche. So I tried it tonight. I'm also trying to use up food before I leave on a short study trip, so I had some really weird pairings tonight. I'm trying so hard to finish the myoga and cauliflower, carrot and cucumber pickles; I have so much! Had two eggplants to use, so made my usual braised eggplant, then the pickles and the ceviche. Also accomplished today but not pictured: I got some Caspian Sea yogurt started! I may have some for a snack tonight, and definitely for breakfast tomorrow. So excited!

The ceviche. What I loved about the ceviche last night was the sweetness of a bit of mango in contrast to the bite of the citrus. I was missing a few key ingredients: no cilantro available in my local supermarket, and I wasn't going to pay 200 yen for a single lime. So I did a "Japanese" take on the ceviche: I used sudachi and mitsuba to give it a little kick, and then I added habernero to give it a bite. I've got to say, I think it worked quite well. The sweetness of the mango, the richness of the avocado, and the tingling habernero at the finish seem to work together well. I've got quite a bit of it, so we'll see how it tastes tomorrow. I'm worried about the avocado holding up.

I have been trying to eat mainly fresh vegetables, and I've been buying local seasonal vegetables. I go with what's cheap, so I've been having a lot of repetition: such as this eggplant dish, which I keep having because eggplant is so cheap right now! So, once again, my eggplant with myoga and shiso. Served this time with carrot, cauliflower, and cucumber pickles, hijiki salad, okara, braised shiitake (these are SO GOOD), pickled broccoli, a cabbage and tomato salad, and pickled myoga.




The okara. This time, I made it with gobo, carrots, shiitake, and a little bit of konnyaku.
The braised shiitake. I got more shiitake today, and I'll be having these again tomorrow.
The eggplant--again.
The myoga, pickled in vinegar with just a touch of sugar. Isn't the color lovely?
And the spicy cauliflower, cucumber, and carrot pickles.

Cleaning out the fridge 2

Tonight I had to finish the last of my leftovers--it was quite lucky, because I certainly didn't feel like cooking at all, although I did spend most of the afternoon making pickles.
I'm having a repeat of last night: hiyayako tofu, goma-dofu, a cabbage salad with tomatoes, and hijiki salad. To complement that, I have some nuka-zuke cucumbers made in my newly revived nuka (it was near death when a friend's mother gave me advice on how to heal it). I also made a broccoli pickle with kombu, and a braised shiitake mushroom--the mushrooms are locally grown, and with the braise they are just phenomenal. I'm still undecided about the broccoli, but I think there are probably better broccoli dishes I could have made. I don't really care for it.

Cleaning out the fridge!

Had a few things I needed to eat before they went bad: tofu, goma-dofu, and eggs. So tonight I had some hijiki salad, a chunk of hiyayako with white soy sauce, a cabbage and tomato salad, some goma-dofu, and omu-rice! A great way to use leftovers, if a slightly odd combination of dishes and flavors. At least I used my leftovers.

Tonight: a salmon in a butter-vinegar sauce (it fell apart while I was cooking it, so it looks a bit like soup), kabocha, sauteed eringi, a cabbage and tomato salad with sesame dressing, and some homemade hijiki salad. Yum!




Dessert: Haagen-Dazs Gateau au Chocolat... it's pretty amazing. Just look at the powdered sugar on top!!

End of summer

While I'm excited about the fall and the new vegetables that will bring with it, I'm sad to see summer ending. I love the colors and the flavors of all the fresh summer vegetables. So tonight I made a dinner that really celebrated all the lovely summer vegetables--that happened to be on sale at the supermarket.
First, the eggplant dish I had last night. I thought, with the other vegetables, the meatiness of the eggplant would be nice, so even though I just had it I decided to make it again. Then a cabbage and tomato salad with sesame dressing from Kobe. I also made a spicy pepper dish with a mayonnaise-based ae (dressing). I also made the cucumber, corn and tuna vinegar dish with fresh corn! Oh my goodness, it was lovely. Finally, some bok choy that I have to admit wasn't very nice at all. But the rest made for a delicious dinner.

Finally finished the green curry! It wasn't bad, but boy I was tired of it. I walked to the archives today because it was raining, and on the way home I stopped at the local fish shop. I bought fresh hijiki and a yellowtail jaw bit. They were super-cheap, and I couldn't resist, even though I had eggplant at home that needed to be used. So dinner tonight ended up being: eggplant braised in a soy sauce sauce, topped with myoga and shiso; eggplant vinegar pickles; a cabbage and tomato salad with sesame dressing; my yellowtail jaw bit; and a fresh hijiki salad!! Mmmm. I actually ate every bit.


The hijiki salad. It was much softer and held the liquid a little differently than dried hijiki, but it did turn out OK. Yum!
And the eggplant. I made it earlier, but it is delicious. And so easy!