Too Cool for School

Literally, this is what happened to us today. For the second day in a row, Koji's school was cancelled, not because of snow, but because of extreme cold. Yesterday's "high" was somewhere around zero, and today was only two or three degrees better. That's the actual temperature I'm quoting, not the wind chill, which was 20 or 30 degrees under that.

So I didn't feel very energetic or motivated today, but because we ended up not going out at all, making dinner was the least I could do. We had:

*sukiyaki; it was a stove top version because I was too lazy to get out the tabletop grill and let everyone cook their own. It was thinly sliced beef, tofu, burdock root, carrots, mushrooms and bean sprouts simmered in bottled sukiyaki sauce. Next time I'll try making my own sauce, but this time, I was happy to get that bottle out of the fridge. I found this a great way to get the kids to eat vegetables. I wasn't suprised that Koji ate carrots, but both of them ate bean sprouts, which I haven't seen before.
*rice, mostly white with a bit of brown mixed in
*butternut squash & tuna salad, adapted from a recipe I cut out of a magazine from a Japanese grocery delivery service three and a half years ago and tried for the first time today; find it below
*cranberry juice

かぼちゃのツナサラダ　(For English, Scroll Down)
ツナマヨネーズ　(適当にツナとマヨネーズを混ぜて作る）
かぼちゃ　２００ｇ　(実際使ったのはその倍ぐらいのButternut Squash)
枝豆　　　８０ｇ
玉ねぎ　　４分の１　(２分の１を使った)
しお、こしょう

作り方
かぼちゃは２ｃｍ角に切り、電子レンジで４分加熱する。
枝豆はさやから実を取り出す。玉ねぎをせん切りにし、塩少々ふって、しんなりしたら水けを絞る。
ボウルにかぼちゃ、枝豆、玉ねぎを合わせ、ツナマヨネーズを加えて混ぜしお、こしょうで味を調える。

Pumpkin (or Butternut Squash) and Tuna Salad
tuna mayonnaise (mix about 1/2 of foil packed tuna with 1/3 cup mayonnaise)
1 lb. butternut squash
1/4 lb. edamame
1/2 onion
salt, pepper

Cut the squash into bite sized pieces and microwave for about 4 minutes (I microwaved the squash first and then cut it, but it didn't cook evenly, so next time I'll try it this way).
Squeeze the edamame out of their pods. Slice the onion thinly and sprinkle with salt. After it's become a bit transparent, rinse, then wring out excess water.
Combine the squash, edamame, and onion in a bowl. Add the tuna mayonnaise, mix, then adjust the seasoning with salt & pepper.

The recipe for the cookies I mentioned yesterday:
Rich & Chewy Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies