Today: chicken pot pie and apple-cabbage salad. Chicken pot pie is easy but a little time-consuming. Also, my crust skills need work. It tasted good, but it really looks ugly.

Tonight! Breaded, pan-fried garlic pork steaks with broccoli, corn on the cob, and another tomato salad. I also served a little bit of chagara furikake, or a tea leaf I cooked to serve over rice. I do this a lot with our leftover leaves after we drink tea.
The pan-fried pork was actually quite good. I marinated it with A LOT of garlic, salt, pepper, soy sauce, sake, and mirin. It was great, the garlic really made it pop.

The whole meal.


I used a regular tomato and an heirloom tomato for the salad this time. The heirloom tomato was really good; they're wonderful and in season now.

For dessert: slightly sloppy matcha-chocolate cookies. So ugly! But it doesn't matter what they look like: they tasted delicious. The recipe said they would make 22, but there were at least twice that. So many!

Tonight: salmon steak, garlic quinoa, okra, and kale chips. I've been super-addicted to kale chips lately. They are so simple and delicious.
I made mustard-oil-vinegar dressing for the tomatoes.
The kale chips!! Simply kale tossed with olive oil and salted, then cooked at a really low temperature until they're crispy. Delicious and addictive. Also, I think they're pretty healthy.

Tonight I forgot to take out a protein before I went to the library. So... some renkon, some pumpkin, and a daikon salad for the main dish. I added avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn as usual to the salad, but because I wanted a protein I also added red beans. It was good.


I am pretty good at making muffins. I love muffins. I am trying to stop making muffins because they're bad for me, but every once in awhile I really want to eat a certain kind of muffin. Today, it was pineapple. I get cravings for pineapple muffins fairly often, and at this point I have my recipe perfected. Oftentimes I drizzle the top with some Okinawan brown sugar mix, but today I just wanted pineapple. So... pineapple muffins. Made a bit smaller than usual to get a few more out of the recipe and keep the serving size small.

I've been sticking with quick, simple and tasty, with the additional caveat of the food I prepare for dinner being easy to pack in my obento for the next day. Tonight, then, I made artichoke-chicken breast, the broccoli and red grape salad, and a simmered kabocha. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, and nothing very pretty--but easy and filling.

Quick and simple tonight: a tomato and broccoli salad, mashed kabocha, and a broiled fish. Easy, delicious, and fresh. The tomatoes are so good right now!

Gumbo.

I've noticed that when I'm in a bit of a funk, I don't get excited about cooking, and I don't post pictures. I've been a bit down lately, but today I'm feeling more upbeat. So... I made a quick and simple gumbo for dinner. We learned the recipe in our cooking class in New Orleans, and it turned out OK. It was slightly insane to be cooking gumbo in the heat, but we had some leftover sausage from a BBQ that I wanted to use.
I made a cabbage-carrot-peanut salad with a ginger vinaigrette, and a corn and black bean salad. I'm trying to make side dishes that I can conveniently pack into my lunch box, because I'm spending more time at the library. Beans are a good way to give me energy to keep me going in the afternoon without dragging me down.

My husband and I just returned from a research trip to Louisiana. I say research, but of course we wanted to spend a little time in the city of New Orleans. We both loved it. New Orleans is an incredible city and an unforgettable experience.
One of the things we did after I finished my work was take a Creole cooking class together. This was such an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, learn about the region, and learn a new dish for my repertoire that will last us a lifetime. I can't recommend vacation cooking classes enough.
At our class, we learned how to make gumbo, chicken Creole, and pralines. They were all delicious, and I wanted to try and remake them before I forgot what I'd learned. So, tonight, I made chicken Creole. My first time making a proper Creole roux, and using lard instead of butter to cook! (Who would have thought lard was better for you? I'm going to use it more often now.) It turned out quite well. I love this dish, and so does my husband. We'll definitely be making it again, especially when it turns colder. I imagine this will be a hearty winter dish.
I served it with the avocado-onion-chickpea salad I keep making. I can't get enough of that salad this summer, although it was a strange combination with this dish. I enjoyed it though. A great meal!!

Continuing the quest to finish the avocados. I took the mango-avocado salad from yesterday and added chickpeas, which worked surprisingly well. After hearing about avocados and tofu from a friend, I also smooshed some avocado and served it on top of tofu, garnished with katsuobushi and soy sauce. I'm starting to get a bit concerned about eating avocado every day, but it's so delicious, and so good for you... and I have to use them before they go bad! I don't think avocado would freeze well, so there will be more avocado here tomorrow, I'm sure.

My parents have been here visiting, so I haven't been fussing with taking pictures of the food I made (we've eaten a lot).
This afternoon, they returned home, and we wanted something light and simple for dinner.
They'd brought some fruit and avocados with them, and we hadn't managed to eat it all while they were here. Some of the avocados and mangoes they brought needed to be used as soon as possible. So I made an avocado-mango salad, similar to my grapefruit-avocado salad: some chopped up mango, onions, and avocado drizzled in olive oil, salt and pepper, with a kick of habanaro. The spice was just what this dish needed--a great kick. I had been worried the texture of the avocados and mangoes together would be too much mush, but the onions helped. I may add tomatoes and make this salad again.
I also made a simple pasta salad. I just threw in some pesto, asparagus, carrots, and pine nuts, then topped it with a bit of cheese. Quick, easy, and fairly light apart from the avocado.

Did I mention I'd picked some mulberries? We have quite a few here now. For breakfast this morning, instead of my usual banana smoothie, I had a mulberry smoothie. Sweet and delicious.

Then I made healthy mulberry muffins. I used flax flour and whole wheat flour, which when mixed with the mulberry juice gave them a slightly odd color, but they are delicious. And so filling!It's been two weeks since we've been to the grocery store because my husband and I have both had deadlines and we've been busy. We're running low on supplies, so tonight was leftover daikon salad and bok choy stir fry from last night, with a main dish of pizza. I tried a new super-thin crust and while the shape was a bit weird, it worked out. I topped it with tuna, corn and cheddar cheese, because that was basically all we had. Tuna and corn on pizza is quite popular in Japan, and I actually like it a lot. So this was nice.

Fish for dinner tonight. In Japan, I would get prepackaged salted or dried fish, and it would be delicious. In America, the fish from Japan they import are almost too strong for me. One fish is enough for both my husband and I.
In addition to the fish, I made bok-choy with chili and bamboo shoots, a cabbage salad, and a daikon and wakame salad dressed with ponzu.
For dessert, I made two tiny pies with mulberries I picked from the trees in a park near our house. The mulberries that grow there are so sweet, and a few of us go out and pick. They are sweet and delicious, and in this case, it was less than an hour between picking and pie-making. The crust left a little to be desired--but the filling! The mulberries were delicious. Luckily we have enough left for a smoothie tomorrow morning, too.

Leftovers today, with the exception of the main dish: a black-bean quiche. The crust was too thick and the inside too runny, which made sense because I didn't have a recipe. Next time, instead of adding milk, I'll add a bit of mayonnaise and do an eggless crust. That will be delicious.
I think made with black bean, tomatoes, onions, corn, 4 eggs, 1/8 cup mayonnaise and a little bit of taco spice it would be really delicious. I'll try it again and see what happens, because I need more ways to serve black beans.
Lately I've been walking to a pond near my house in the mornings. There's a family of ducks there, and yesterday I realized one of the ducklings had eaten a balloon. The green ribbon is stuck in his mouth and throat and he can't get them out. My husband and I have been walking up to the pond in the evenings now, feeding them bread to see if they'll eventually trust us enough to let us pull the ribbon out. I have a feeling the duckling will die first, though. It makes me so sad to see the consequences of human carelessness like this. And this is just a duck and a balloon. It's not much compared to the things we've done in places like Fukushima. It's things like this that make me feel so powerless.

Keeping it simple, as I'm busy trying to get a chapter done. I thought I knew what I wanted to say, but it's a bit trickier than I thought. At any rate, tonight was quick and easy: pickled okra, the last of the kabocha salad, and then a sato-imo (taro root) salad as the sides. Peeling sato-imo is really tricky for me, I'd appreciate any hints people have! Today I cooked them in the microwave first, and then peeled them, which helped with the slime, but which also resulted in me burning my fingers. So hints are very welcome. I served them with soy sauce and sesame seed, mixed with a tiny bit of mayonnaise. I wanted ao-nori for the top, but we didn't have any.
The main dish tonight was gizzards (砂嚢？). I really don't care for organ meat. Liver, I can do. Heart, I can enjoy. Organs are trickier for me. Like the sato-imo. Actually tonight's meal was full of challenges.
Anyway, I fried the organs. I rolled them in starch first and then fried them quickly at a fairly high temp, and served them over grated daikon, topped with green onions and ponzu. I am cutting back on fried foods and meat, so I only had three on my salad, but my husband had several servings. I suppose this was an OK way to cook organs, although I really wish I could come up with a delicious way to eat them that didn't involve frying.

Mostly leftovers this evening: the pumpkin salad and rice made a reappearance. I served them with natto and a sauteed pork served over cabbage. It's a good recipe, I recommend it. The tartness of the takana and the cabbage really served to cut the fat in the pork belly. I enjoyed it.

Tonight's meal checked all the boxes: easy, fairly healthy, quick, and my husband loved it. Some simply moyashi in sesame oil, mashed kabocha with edamame added, and a quick sweet and sour pork. My husband loved it, so I'll definitely make it again.
I've been trying to eat less meat and more beans, myself, so I made takikomi gohan to get a little extra protein with my rice. For this, I used hijiki, carrots, and soy beans, with soy sauce to flavor the rice a bit. It was also quick, easy, and delicious. I think I did an OK job tonight, and I'll definitely be making all of these dishes again.

Chicken livers are so good for you, and when I eat them they give me so much energy. Unfortunately, there's only two ways I like them: a teriyaki-style stirfry, or pâté. I love pâté the most, and so yesterday when I was feeling like I needed some extra energy I made a chicken liver pâté. It's actually quick to prepare and very delicious.
A friend and I spent the afternoon working at the Kopi Cafe in Andersonville, and of course before we came home we had to stop at the amazing Swedish Bakery. There, I bought a loaf of Stockholm Limpa, thinking it would be excellent with the pâté. It was. Tonight for dinner: pâté on limpa toast and chicken-tomato soup. Heaven.

I had a pound of chicken livers I used, so we'll be eating pâté for quite awhile. I'm thinking I should have bought a second loaf of bread.

A new recipe tonight: a soy-bean, carrot and onion mixture that was supposed to be simmered in cream sauce. The recipe called for ham, but I didn't have any, so I used chicken. I also ended up with too much sauce. The end result was too salty, and without depth of flavor the ham might have given. I may try this recipe again, but I'll definitely do it with ham.

It's been a somewhat cool June here in Chicago, although we've had bursts of heat. So today, my husband and I decided we wanted something quick, easy, and comforting. I made niku-jaga, the Japanese equivalent of meat and potatoes. It's a go-to comfort dish, simple and fast to put together. And delicious!
I sauteed some snap peas in olive oil and garlic, served some renkon and moyashi, and finally made simmered gobo (burdock root) topped with katsuo (bonitio) flakes. It was a strange mix of winter and spring foods, but it was good. The gobo, especially, I'm sure I'll make again. All of it was easy to make and delicious.

Nothing new or very exciting tonight. It's been a long day, so this was just really quick.

I've been ridiculously stressed out lately, for really no good reason. Yes, I'm behind in my writing, but that's more of a constant than a new situation worth being upset about.
Anyway, I've had a stomach ache from the stress for the past few days. It got so much worse yesterday when my husband cooked dinner and made us two giant steaks. Today I couldn't deal with any meat at all, I just wanted something fairly light and healthy.
So, black bean burgers (new recipe #3, my husband likes this one the best), a hakusai salad, and a chilled tomato and okra summer soup.

The tomato and okra soup. The cookbook had the tomato peeled and presented like this because it's visually appealing, but very hard to eat. In the future I think I'll cut the tomato up and served it that way. My husband liked this soup a lot, though, so I'll definitely make it again.

Now, back to work, and we'll see if I can't decrease my stress levels here a bit soon.

We're getting down to shopping day again, which means we're running out of veggies. One of the most conspicuous things we had left was a giant head of hakusai cabbage in the refrigerator. I thought today would be a great day to try a dish I'd been saving for later in the summer. So despite the slightly chilly temperatures, today I made hakusai salad, topped with boiled pork belly, julienned daikon radish, carrots, and onions, and a homemade peanut dressing.


I served it with teriyaki lotus root and a simmered Chinese-style bok choy. A great, and very filling meal, one I'll definitely make again as the weather gets hotter. I did have to scold my husband and make him finish the hakusai in his bowl though before he went back for seconds on the pork and peanut dressing.


The dressing finished off our jar of peanut butter! While I finished cooking, my husband spoiled our dog by helping him clean out the rest of the jar.

Tonight, I made omu-rice. In Japan, egg yolks are bright orange, and eggs are rich, delicious, and beautiful. In contrast, American eggs lack that rich flavor, and the egg yolks are a sickly yellow color.
In Japan, I made omu-rice often; it was a quick, easy go-to dish, and I had it down to the point I could make the whole dish in maybe 15 minutes. My pan was easy to use, and the omu rice came out perfectly each time.
Here in America, the eggs are weird, my pan is weird, and it's rare the eggs don't fall apart as I flip the omu rice into the dish. This is a rare instance where it held up.
I was lazy today. I served it with a quinoa salad. I used apples, celery, black beans, and quinoa, cooked up with spices and a little apple cider vinegar. My husband hated it. I thought it was OK, but then, I will eat anything that has vinegar in it. I won't be making it again, but I'll be eating what I made today for the next few days.

The other day, I noticed cactus pears were on sale at our local market.
"Interesting," I thought, "I've never had a cactus pear." It turns out, there's a reason for that. I bought two and brought them home. When I tried them, they tasted like sweet edamame, and not in a good way. I understood why people made them into jam and nothing else. I thought for a little bit about what I could do, as two wasn't enough for a jam. Finally, I decided to make a jelly using the pears and agar-agar. The color is beautiful, but even with added honey, the pears still taste like sweet edamame. Well, it was a fun experiment.
Finally: I made matcha bread without sugar. I used honey instead, and while it didn't rise quite the way it should have, I think it's delicious. I added black beans for a little extra flavor. I love everything matcha, so I don't think this bread will last that long.

The benefits of serving fish, nothing goes to waste:

We have a very happy dog tonight!

Still more pickles tonight, but some delicious banbanji and sweet corn to go with it. All in all, a very satisfying meal, although the sauce on the banbanji was a bit thin. Must grind the sesame seeds up more for the next batch.

It's still hot here in Chicago. That means I'm still trying to keep cooking to a minimum. Today I made a simple pasta salad, served with all our crazy leftover pickles I've been making. It was too much, I couldn't finish it all, but Ko helped out.
I made black radish pickles (I used vinegar as if they were daikon). They taste similar to daikon but slightly more woody and with less tang, but they are good. Then there's the last of the beet pickles! Next to that is a rolled, pickled hakusai wrap. There's kikurage, carrots, and celery wrapped in the hakusai and pickled. They were not very good, and I won't be repeating that recipe.
In the small dish is umeboshi and hakusai pickles (always a favorite), and then a chickpea-avocado salad I make often now. Finally, gobo-miso pickles and some moyashi. Ugh, it was much too much for me but my husband ate all of his and most of mine. Ugh.
The main dish tonight was a chicken pasta salad. I had some pesto a friend had given me, so I tossed the noodles in that, added shredded chicken, a tomato, pine nuts, and cheese. Simple, pretty healthy, and delicious.

The past two days have been hot here in Chicago, and per the terms of our lease my husband and I couldn't install our air conditioner until this evening. It's in now, but I was making dinner while he was putting it in. In a 90+ degree kitchen, the last thing I wanted was a lot of heat, so the theme of tonight's dinner was pickles.
I served some of the leftover beet pickles (my husband hates these), and I made some carrot-lemon-vinegar pickles (he loved these). The recipe for the carrot lemon pickles was originally for turnips, but I thought it would work for carrots, and it did. I also made some okra pickled in soy, sake, and mirin. Finally, I actually cooked some peppers we had--just grilled them on our stove top grill and topped them with a soy-hot pepper-mayonnaise sauce. Our main dish was yellow tail, and it was very delicious. Overall, a colorful and mostly successful dinner.


The okra. This was a good way to do it, but if I make this again I'll blanch them first to get just a little bit of the bitterness out. But definitely a quick, easy, and delicious pickle.

Now... back to writing. With the air on, it's a bit easier to focus.

Tonight, we had leftovers from our anniversary dinner. We put out the leftovers, I made a quick black bean and avocado filling, and my husband had some meat and rice. We put together the ingredients however we liked in wraps with salsa, hot sauce, or fresh lime. Simple, and on such a hot day in Chicago, very refreshing!
The avocado and black bean filling. I thought we'd have quite a bit left over, but we ate almost all of it. I dressed it with lime juice, salt and pepper.
A salad wrap with cheese and salsa.

I don't usually photograph the lunches I make for Ko and I because they're usually very simple: some kind of sandwich or noodle. But lately I've been getting a bit more creative with my sandwiches, so I thought maybe I'd take a picture of lunch once in awhile.
I have mentioned my love of avocados here before. They may be my favorite food. I will eat them in any way, shape, or form, and in any amount. They are delicious. And they're so simple to eat, so I often make noodles, salad, or sandwiches with avocado.
This is an open-faced avocado sandwich, toast with a sliced avocado topped with melted cheddar and fresh ground pepper. Simple, yet stunningly delicious. I served it with a cucumber and tomato salad that could be eaten on the bread or the side. I also took out some grapes we shared.

Dinner tonight was also fairly simple. I made the edamame rice again because it's so delicious. I served bok choy with chicken and shiitake in a Chinese-flavored soup, mashed kabocha, and some beet pickles. Beets are a close second to avocados on my favorite food list, another item I could eat every day. I usually just blanch them and eat them plain, but lately I've been wanting to try something different with them. So today I tried pickled beets and onions. They were pretty good, but my husband didn't care for them. I liked them, though, and maybe they'll develop more flavor as they pickle longer. At any rate, I may make them again.