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.