Reunion Food

'Tis the season of old friends coming in town to visit.  Never thought I'd say this, but it's almost as good as traveling, because no packing is involved.  For me, at least.  And I love to travel, but HATE to pack.  Perhaps that's because I don't care to plan ahead or make decisions, unless and until utterly forced to.  Hmm.  How's adulthood working out for me, then?...that's another post for another day. This here post is about today and the barbeque we went to that allowed us to visit with lovely friend Jenny and her seven (soon to be eight) person crew.  The usually painful moment of narrowing to one from countless options of "what dish to contibute" was made painless by this delicious and extremely appropriate for a hot day kind of recipe.  I know, all those words should have had dashes between them, but I just couldn't be bothered.  Try this recipe.  And try reuniting with old friends.  They are both delicious. 

Dangerous Cereal

Awhile back, I bought a ginormous box of cereal at Costco. An utterly unsurprising announcement, I know. It was a cinnamon crunch cereal and cocoa pop combination box, and that is why I bought it, because I am sucker for variety. Sidenote: this is one reason why I find it challenging to lose weight. Dr. Oz says that eating the same thing all the time is less tempting. But it's also more boring.

Not wanting to be boring, but also wanting to use up the huge bag of cocoa pop cereal in my pantry, I found the following recipe. Warning, this is SOO good and will utterly throw your diet off the rails! Only make it if you have others to share it with! One last sidenote, because my brain is full of them: yesterday when I was at wally world, I found this snack. I was appalled. Yes, it looks delicious, but if I'm going to eat chocolate coated cereal, I need to earn the right to do so by at least making it myself. What can I say, I have a lot of rules.

MALTED MILK CLUSTERS

1/4 c. instant malted milk powder
3 tbsp. milk
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 tbsp. margarine
5 c. Cocoa Puffs cereal
1-1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

Heat malted milk powder and milk in 3-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Stir in corn syrup and margarine. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Quickly stir in cereal, 2 1/2 cups at a time, until it is all covered. From here, my changes: Press the mixture onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or a nonstick baking liner. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, then cut or break for serving and eating. Original recipe called for 36 servings. I was able to get more by cutting small pieces for sharing and saving large chunks for myself.

I found this recipe here but felt free to copy it; apparently no one has added to (or looked at?!) this discussion thread since 2005.

Kimchi Tofu Soup

Last week when I was at the Asian market, I found myself tempted by the kimchi tofu soup. Soup, though...same predicament as when I order in a restaurant. Ordering/buying food I think I can make is against my personal code, most of the time. So I decided not only to make my own soup, but to ask the lady behind the counter how to do it.

She was adamant on the following: must take the amount of kimchi you need for the soup and leave it outside for three days. Then proceed with your cooking.

Um, OK.

The world of fermentation is new to me. So those directions FREAKED ME OUT and that is why I smiled at her, bought the large jar of kimchi she recommended and then looked at this recipe for inspiration and made my soup as follows:

Saute one large onion and one cup of kimchi in a bit of sesame oil. When the onion has softened, add five cups of dashi broth (or five cups of water and the corresponding amount of dashi powder) and bring to a boil. Throw in one cut up chicken breast (or, as in the second time I made it, one can of tuna) and lower the heat to a simmer. After five minutes or so, add a couple of tablespoons of miso paste and any amount of tofu. I LOVE this over a scoop of rice.

Happy July Fourth!!

M Henry in Edgewater

With Penny and no kids. Blackberry bliss cakes are just that!

Much to My Surprise

In the interim since the last time Hijiki made an appearance, Koji
jumped the fence and now eats it without a fuss?! Phew~ served with
braised/stirfried carrots and zucchini, rice and instant shrimp wonton
soup fancied up with green onions and tofu.

なんちゃってアップルパイ

昨日みわさんの家で以下のレシピの「なんちゃってアップルパイ」を作ったら好評でした。
パイきじを使わないけど、フルーツを少し甘くして焼くデザートなので「パイ」に比べてもいいでしょう。英語名は”Apple Crisp" と言います。ところでりんごだけじゃなくパイにできる果物ならなんでも可能、たとえばチェリー、桃、洋梨、ブルーべり、アプリコット、ルバーブ（Rhubarb)と苺などです。作ってみてください～

材料：
果物　５カップ　（皮をむいて一口の大きさに切る）
砂糖　大さじ２－４（好みで果物に混ぜる。りんごには入れなかった）

トッピング：
オートミール　０．５カップ
ブラウンシュガー　０．５カップ
小麦粉　０．２５カップ
シナモンかナツメッグかパウダーしょうが　小さじ０．２５

バッター　０．２５カップ
ナッツかココナッツ　０．２５カップ

果物を耐熱器にひろげる。
別なボールにトッピングの材料を混ぜる。柔らかめなバッタを切り入れるように混ぜる。好みでナッツかココナッツを入れて軽く混ぜて、果物の上に振り掛ける。
３７５度で３０－３５分焼く。

Cafe Romanza

has tasty, spicy mentaiko spaghetti but watch out! Even at lunch, you
will be charged the dinner price!

Chefstroverted

Is the term I coined today. It means that I am the sort of person who
gains energy by cooking.

The Kids Made Dinner

Sort of, I cut the cucumbers and got out the pizza toast ingredients,
but otherwise it was all them!

Obento for Four

今日私以外に家族全員はお弁当が必要〜お弁当作り４日目でこれはきつ
かった！一時間かかった。なのでメガネがけの素顔でバスストップへとの
朝でした。今後のお弁当作りは少しづつ早くなっていくことを望んでいま
す！

Koji's Obento on the First Day of First Grade

Rice, okaka furikake, turkey, water, broccoli, strawberries, cookie
from Ikea

Redemption

To celebrate the birthdays of Koji and eight of his school friends this afternoon at a party, I served Redemption Cupcakes.

No one there knew that they were eating anything other than yellow(whole wheat) cupcakes topped with Strawberry Cloud Cream. But when they (mamas in particular) took a bite, then another, smiled and said, "Oishii! (Delicious)" I felt curiously redeemed.

Just Friday last week, I proudly appeared at the school bake sale with pineapple cake, oreo truffles and lemon cookies with King Arthur Flour lemon powder. Alas, I did not appear with any of the above items individually wrapped in cutesy packages. ARGH. Conveniently, or devastatingly, I forgot the high value that many (most? nearly all?!) Japanese people place on packaging. There was no clamoring happening near the plates I plunked down. Perhaps it was the final straw after a long week that didn't go as expected on several fronts but I was devastated.

You may think I'm over dramatic, and I know I can be, but in this case, my turn of phrase is accurate: I really was so disappointed at the utter lack of interest in what I had made, and I (briefly, till I cried it out that night?!) crossed the line to devastation. Guess I allowed myself to identify a little too closely with my baked goods, which is why I was relieved and comforted today, back in the place where the ladies like my cake.

Several pertinent notes:
*I didn't take a picture of the so-called Redemption Cake; it was actually cupcakes and they consisted of the parts mentioned above.
*This morning Koji said that he wanted a cookie with his name on it in addition to a cupcake (he's not as randomly demanding as that sounds, in the past when we ordered a birthday cake from a bakery, there were several personalized cookies balanced on top). He wanted to recreate that experience, and the above is what I came up with.
*Finally, I want to note that though my emotions over baked goods are described above, what I long for is to be identified and founded on Jesus, not the popularity of my homemade treats. Obviously, I need some work in this area, and perhaps that's the reason for this incident?

Happy New Year

"What New Year are YOU talking about?" you may wonder. "The one that started TWENTY FIVE DAYS ago?!"

Yep. That's the one. And I do know full well that 2010 started 25 days ago. But I'd like to ride the Japanese tradition that dictates greeting people with "Happy New Year" the first time you meet them after the new year starts. I've explained this custom to various people and received some smart a@#$% responses, like, "what if you don't see someone until December 31st, are you still going to say it?!"

Ha. I don't know that there is a cut off for when you give up on saying happy new year because you are too far removed from January 1st. I'm thinking the end of January sounds reasonable.

Which means it is OK for me to kick off my blogging for 2010 here and now, better on January 25th than December 31st, right?!

And now that it's a new year, I probably need a new focus for this blog. I still want it to be about cooking, baking and food, but I'm not at all confident in my ability to report daily on what we had for dinner.

However, since I haven't decided what my new focus should be, I'll stick with my old (ancient?) plan, for today, and tell you that we had farfalle with tomato sauce, shrimp and broccoli tonight.

The least I can do with this space is show you what a cute kitchen helper I have...if anyone is still reading this (Laurs? Mom? Grandma?) and has ideas/feedback about my new but still nebulous focus, please make a comment. Thanks!

WW and quesadillas

Jan and co. were over this afternoon. I'm proud to report that though we were sorely tempted, we did NOT run to Little Caesar's and pick up pizza. Instead, we went fancy and had some Weight Watchers veg soup (was going to link to a recipe, but I made the old school version and I couldn't quickly find it online. maybe I should put it up myself sometime), quesadillas, broccoli.

Oh, and Frosted Flakes...I recently bought a variety pack of Kellogg's cereal, yes, at Costco, how did you know...the little boxes and "sugar type" cereals were apparently irresistable to Luke M (4.5 years old) and so he had to have Frosted Flakes while everyone else was eating ice cream! I found that really funny because I distinctly remember longing for "sugar type" cereal when I was a kid too. Never imagined that I would grow up to become a supplier...

Same as You

What we ate for dinner tonight had a 90% chance of being the same as what you had, according to a quiz that our lovely hosts gave us while we were waiting for Thanksgiving Dinner at their house.

Guess I've go ahead and spell it out:
turkey
gravy
mashed potatoes
ham
curried fruit (maybe you didn't all have that, but let me tell you, it was delicious)
sweet potato and pecan casserole
*green beans with ginger and garlic
spinach stuffing
broccoli casserole
corn casserole
beet salad
green salad with raspberries and olives
*pear chocolate pie
pecan pie
pumpkin cake
pumpkin pie

*These are the dishes I made.

Pear Chocolate Pie sounds so strange, and is so delicious. I got the recipe from Kristen, who got it from Jen who got it from Bibi, or something like that. Confession: I used D'Anjou pears but as noted in the recipe, I think Bosc would have been better. Also, next time I'd like to try layering the chocolate with the pears rather than just sprinkling it on top. In any case, this is a TASTY pie!

(serves 8)
Dough:
2/3 c butter
2/3 c sugar
1 3/4 c flour
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp water

4 pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (I use Bosc)
3/4 c chocolate chips

Melt butter and mix into the flour and sugar. Add the egg, vanilla, and water and knead quickly into the dough. Chill for one hour. Part the dough into two halves and roll these out into two circles to fit a 7-10" pie pan. Place one dough circle in a greased pie pan. Place pears on top and sprinkle with chocolate chips over pears. Cover with second dough circle, brush with water and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 40 mins at 400 degrees. Serve pie warm with vanilla ice cream, whipping cream or sour cream. (Can substitute apples for pears too!)

Reunion

Today, for the first time in five months!, we got together with our long-time, long-lost friends, Jason and Kristen and their kids. We invited them here for dinner, which I promised I would make. Alas, it was too good to see them and there was much chatting to be done, and I never did buckle down in the kitchen. I did contribute a beet salad, a large quantity of rice, and some banana chocolate chip muffins to the pumpkin bread Kristen brought and the dinner we ordered from Thai Sook Dee. I say this often, sorry to be repetitive, but I mean it: we really need more time more often with beloved friends from the past. Thanks for a great night, JKAB!

Not Afraid Anymore

As I've mentioned on this blog before, I'm afraid of yeast.

Or maybe I should go ahead and make that a past tense statement.

Because this is what I made for dinner:



A red alien smiley faced YEAST pizza.

I admit, it looks pretty nasty. Sorry about that. It looked a little better/more appetizing in person. And I feel obligated to document this achievement. That's what it is, an achievement. After all, it's been years, I might even say decades, that I've thought of myself as a pretty decent baker. But really, is it OK to make such lofty declarations when one is excluding entire gigantic categories within said claim? That is, is it possible to qualify as a "pretty decent baker" when one has never even made a loaf of yeast bread? Ever?

Anyway, I did it, with the help of KitchenAid mixer (first use of yeast for pizza and the first use of the dough hook, all on the same day...guess that makes sense, actually...), Izumi and Erika. As for toppings, the one you see here is half ham and half smoked salmon. The latter didn't go great with the random spaghetti sauce that I sloshed on in lieu of "proper" pizza sauce (is there such a thing anyway?) and the cheddary cheese that was all I had available. But the ham section of this one was pretty tasty.

Oh, and a word of explanation about the lack of aethestics here: I wanted to bake this directly on the stone in the oven, but I don't have a pizza peel and I'm out of parchment paper. So when Erika and I were trying to transfer the pizza from the tray we made it on to the stone, some damage occurred.

Which is fine. Scary-looking pizza this may be, but I'm still not afraid anymore.

Joint Venture

As you, all two or maybe on a good day three, of you who look at this blog know well, it's not the making of dinner that is agonizing for me. It's the thinking of what dinner should be that nearly splits my head open on most days. So when Miho and I collaborated on tonight's dinner, agreeing that it should be curry and that I should make it at her house with her ingredients. Now, please imagine the sound of a giant sigh of relief...PHEW....

Duk What?

Aogu really likes a Korean dish called dukboki; please forgive this butchered Romanized spelling, though I guess it's not a crime since I make no claim to know what I'm talking about. The only thing I know is, it's made of rice cakes that look like glue sticks for a hot glue gun (duk). He usually orders it when we eat at the H Mart food court. The last time we were there, I happened to discover the duk (rice cakes) for sale and thought I'd try to make it myself.



What you see here is actually my second attempt, ground turkey stir fried with onions, carrots, tobanjan and mixed with the duk. I think my first went better, but of course, I didn't write down what I did and couldn't remember it tonight. Likely most of you won't be clamoring for the recipe, so I'll refrain from explaining this time. Maybe next time. However many times I make it, I can tell you one thing for sure: I won't be eating it. For me, duk=yuk. It's a texture thing.

Instead, for my dinner, a random mishmash of things from the fridge I wanted to be rid of: black beans, butternut squash sauteed in garlic, rice. And for the kids, instant ramen, cottage cheese (Izumi) and hot carrots (Koji).

Anyong-hi jumuseyo (Korean for "Good night")!