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.