i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
This is a super simple dish, and to be honest, my selfish reason for blogging it down is because the recipe is from my mom (and grandmother) so it is a taste of home and my childhood for those days that I’m missing it, rather …
Today I cracked open two packs (grape and apple) of jello mix from the Kanten Papa corporation, which sells dessert (among other) mixes. It was a fun and simple little activity to do with the kids, and we very much enjoy the flavor (which tastes …
If you don’t like natto (like my husband), this isn’t the post for you and you should probably pretend it doesn’t exist. If you are absolutely obsessed with natto (like myself and our cute little daughters whose palates clearly take after me), this is a delicious treat. Natto mochi with soft, chewy rice cakes is a match made in heaven—after all, natto and rice is a tale as old as time. You can either make the mochi by pounding mochi rice, using mochiko, or purchasing premade rice cakes in all shapes and sizes. Mochi made from either the flour or freshly pounded tend to be softer and stretchier, but I’m lazy so this recipe is made with ready-made rice cakes you can purchase at any Asian grocery store. I grill them (air fryer or pan grilling works) after boiling, so there’s a smokey crisp edge to every bite.
I once saw a video where they added some sugar to natto mochi and never forgot how good it looked (or how amazing it tasted when I tried it myself) so I now have the habit of mixing in sugar to my natto for a slightly sweet and oh so savory experience. Some minced chives from the garden (you can use scallions but my abundant onion chives that are still growing late fall is identical in flavor) and of course a gently poached egg with runny sunshine yellow yolk make me anticipate the chilly weather with no fear.
One of the places I always wanted to visit with the kids, but didn’t get to until last week, is the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery and Aquarium. It used to supply the state with trout for stocking in public ponds, but became a not-for-profit …
One of the things I’m committed to is supporting both my local economy and mindfully reducing waste—this includes the meat that I eat which means if it’s edible on the animal, I will find a way to enjoy it. I don’t shy away from organ …
Salmon Ochazuke (rice steeped in tea and dashi) is my oldest daughter’s favorite style of ochazuke—it has several of the things she loves: Salmon, ikura (salted salmon roe), seaweed, and rice. It’s one of my favorites too as it’s a breeze to put together and so comforting on crisp fall nights.
Some make ochazuke only with tea, but I find mixing in dashi stock makes it even more scrumptious. Toasting the nori (seaweed) over the stove for a few minutes helps bring out the flavor. I shredded some of my abundant shiso from the garden.
You can either salt and cook the salmon yourself, or you can use smoked salmon. For smoked salmon, you can either cook it on the stove or allow it to get cooked by the hot rice and water. Since smoked salmon is readily available and keeps so that I can use it for other things, I tend to use that in place of fresh.
The holidays are around the corner and while this year it looks like we’re not going anywhere or hosting anything, I still enjoy creating spreads as if I were. This deviled egg recipe is very simple, using a normal deviled egg base but elevated to …
Fall is here and with it comes sweet and crisp vegetables and a huge bumper crop of my shiso! What better way to showcase seasonal cool crop veggies and herald the arrival of the Autumn salmon than kakiage ikura don? Kaki-age is a type of …
I love O-chazuke/Cha Pao Fan, which is rice steeped in hot tea. When I was young, if we stayed over at my grandparent’s house, my grandma would give us each a bowl right before we went to sleep. It was the only time we could sit in her bed and eat. Accompanying it would be assorted pickles, salted duck eggs, pork floss, furikake, or fermented bean curd depending on what was available at the time. These days I’ve developed the habit of making myself a bowl whenever I lose my appetite and have no idea what I want to eat (Yes, this actually happens to me sometimes!)
It’s easy, light, and nourishing, the fragrant flavor of the tea medling wonderfully with the rice. It clears my palate and allows me to refresh. There are so many combinations of flavors that could be created too (which I’ll post in the future.)
Today I decided to make yaki-onigiri, which is grilled rice balls that have been brushed with a soy sauce tare. I had a few leftover so I made a simple Ochazuke with a green tea dashi broth. The yaki onigiri is like Guo Ba, which is the cripsed rice on the bottom of a I use a jasmine green tea, although Oolong, Hojicha (roasted green tea), or another green leaf tea, all work as well. I put a dollop of butter just because I’m a little nuts and enjoy butter with my rice.
Akebia is such an interesting plant, and for those who like bitter gourd (which I really hated as a child but has since begun to miss in my old age), the thick rind is like a perennial version of it. It’s tender and juicy, despite …