Day 05 – What you ate today, in great detail

What a great day to get this question!  I try to make every day a great food day, and who WOULDN’T?  But today was an extra special great food day, and I have photographs!  But before the big reveal, let me discuss the somewhat reserved start to my epicurean adventure.

This morning, I was awoken rather early from my slumber by my mother who wanted me to drive her to Oxford to pick up some plants from her friend.  I dragged myself out of bed and into the kitchen where I drank one half pint glass of Lactaid whole milk.  On the road we go.  Plants retrieved.  While in the center of Oxford, at a traffic light, my Mom starts complaining about the Police officers and little children collecting money.  “Mom,” I said, “it’s for the special Olympics!” and she quickly changed her tune to the sum of a crisp Abe Lincoln.  In exchange for her generosity, the police man offered her a lovely blueberry muffin, exclaiming “we have to stay here until they are all gone!”.  I believe it was of the Costco variety, but was a quite delicious addition to my morning. Cut ahead 3 hours, as I painstakingly craft a home-made greeting card for Alexis’ birthday, I snack one a delicious piece of Meliti’s Italian bread, toasted with butter. This is a local Italian bread company that I grew up on.  There is no better tasting bread in the world.  When you get to the grocer first thing in the morning you can actually get a loaf while it is still hot, and it doesn’t need anything on it, you can just eat that shit up by tearing it apart and scarfing it down.  Oh man, that bread is a poem.

Okay, now comes the best part!  Another adventure in home-made shabu shabu! I collected supplies and headed out to Alexis’ house to prepare our favorite hot pot dinner.

To our steaming hot pot of miso broth, we added an assortment of fresh and delicious veggies and meat:

baby spinach, dikon radish, garden fresh tomato, Chinese cabbage, pea pods, shitake mushroom, sliced extra firm tofu, and prime rib eye steak. We accompanied the selections with white jasmine rice, and brown rice with wild long grains.

We included a variety of dipping sauces:

Goyoza sauce, sweet chili sauce, satay sauce, red chili sauce, fresh garlic and spring onions.

We had a wonderful time sharing this delicious meal, and then followed it up with a red bean moochi (cold bean cake) and some home-made pineapple soft serve which we watched Penelope on Netflix.

I think that is some ways I improved my shabu shabu score from my last attempt.  The only thing lacking is the sauce.  I definitely improved the flavor and potency of the miso brother this time around, and the portions of food were fairly good for two people, not much wasted.  The sauce was too sweet for my taste, and the satay element is severely lacking.  I know I will never be able to match the wonderfully delicious sauce of Kaze, but the sheer joy of trying to recreate one of our favorite out-to-dinner spots at home was a great way to celebrate a birthday or just any day!

What a spectacular food day!

Shabu, Shabu…na na na na na na na na na

So you’d have to be living under a rock to not know how obsessed I am with Shabu Shabu style cooking.  I think about it, dream about its deliciousness, bring lots of friends and loved ones to my favorite restaurant, Kaze, to experience the wonder that is Japanese Hot Pot.  Unfortunately, it isn’t the most affordable place to dine.  I decided to try to cut costs and try to recreate the hot pot experience in my own home.  With the help of my Mom, I located an individual burner, and with the help of C Mart Supermarket in China Town I found most of all the delicious ingredients that I needed-  There are tons of options for shabu shabu, I could not have gotten all of the wide array of choices so I picked a few favorites: baby spinach, cilantro, napa cabbage, shitake mushrooms, beech mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, thinly sliced beef and chicken and wood ear dumplings.  I couldn’t find a dykon radish and the tarro roots were enormous, and I also skipped the tomato because they had none.  I bought a huge tub of delicious miso paste and a few of my favorite Asian honey and lemon drinks to go with the meal.  The most difficult part was trying to figure out how to make the delicious sauce that is crucial for dipping the veggies in.  I assembled the ingredients- fresh garlic, scallions, red chili sauce and satay sauce- but I couldn’t get it to taste quite right.  I’d say I’d rate my version a 4/10.  Got to try some other satay sauces.  Kaze makes their own satay sauce so it will be impossible to recreate it exactly, but I am going to try.  Here is a picture montage of my first try!

Pre-meal

closeup of the veggie plate (way too much for one person!)

shitakes cooking in broth

beef goes into the pot (it was a little fatty, I’ll pick a better cut next time)

Yum. Glistening cooked mushroom ready for sauce.

A nice, messy table is the mark of a good meal.

Overall I did a fairly good job.  I look forward to trying again with some new sauce options and new veggie choices.  I will keep you updated on my quest to recreate perfection at home.

One more day, one more dawn…

I’m headed back to work in the morning.  No more vacation, and though it was blissful and I favored the company I kept considerably, I do look forward to getting back to work, working hard and being progressive, especially with my health.  Today I cooked a weeks worth of lunches: chicken breast oven baked in honey and soy sauce, oven roasted Brussels sprouts, and couscous, each happily packaged with carrots, an apple, or a yogurt.  Of course I will also have a few cups of lovely coffee from my good friend Krueg, and I’ll have plenty of water to drink thanks to Suffolk’s intimate relationship with Poland Springs.

I spent the better part of the day cleaning and organizing my bedroom and trying to keep on top of the laundry situation.  I still have two loads left but at least the putrid and dirty things do not leak out onto the floor anymore and mix with the perfectly lovely and happy clean clothes.  I have my gym bag together and my work clothes laid out.  This is the way I like to go to bed.  Ready for the next day.  It helps to curb my absolutely horrendous anxiety.  I’ve been so over indulgent with my sleep this vacation so I know getting up in the morning is going to be painful, at least I’ve tried to make that work for me as much as possible.

If anyone out there has any useful words of wisdom to guide me along this cruel and cold month, I’ll be grateful to hear them.  Only 23 more days until I can let out a comfortable breath again- that is unless I hit it big at Mohegan Sun when Jacob and I head out there next week to see Rascal Flatts (his Christmas/CHannakkuahh gift) in which case I will be happy to take you all out to dinner at Kaze Shabu Shabu to celebrate.

yum.

Haiku- Soup Memory

mild, salty liquid
a world of memories flood-
golden on my tongue.

Ever Virgin.

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.~ Albert Camus

This is a pictorial representation of my 4th of July weekend. I had an absolutely phenomenal time, and even though I have hurt my back again, I look at this weekend as one of the best I’ve had in awhile.

On Friday, Jacob and I had a picnic in the back yard for a few people. Nothing big, but I made my famous

chicken wings

and Jacob made his famous

Jello flag cake.

We all sat around and had drinks, played the Wii, talked and had a very nice, very quiet, very stress-free time. When the evening fell, a few of us decided to head into Boston to see the

fire works.

It was very crowded but the display was beautiful, ever more beautiful than it is when you watch it on the television.

On Saturday Jacob and I had planned to go to the beach, but it was mild and overcast, not a good beach day at all, in fact, so we decided to alter our plans. We stayed in bed late and looked at a

DNA magazine together, before getting up and showering and tending to the dog. Then we got in the car and headed out for lunch at

the Texas Roadhouse. I had a little sirloin steak and my favorite ranch dressing on a salad. It was delicious. After lunch, we decided it would be a good idea to head over to our local neighborhood

Costco, to get a membership and do some shopping. We picked up a lot of good things for the house, and the both of us wanted to get a

memory foam pillow to replace our gross ones. We also headed over to petco to get Lavan a treat and then went out to Sports Authority to get a tennis racket for Jacob. We finished up our night at the coolest restaurant I have been to since I moved to Boston. I mean, anyone who knows me knows that I am a great fan of soup, but this is a totally fun and cool way to eat called Shabu Shabu. You dip things into broth to make a delicious soup as you eat and in the end you have this delicious, flavorful soup to eat with noodles. I loved it!! I want to go back again soon to eat more

shabu shabu!

Today, Jacob and I took Lavan to the park at Stonybrook, where he and Korland played a few rounds of

tennis. Lavan and I watched and also played fetch with a rogue tennis ball in a little fenced in part of the park. She loves to run off leash, and we finished up with a run through the sprinkler system they have set up for people to cool off on hot days. After a delicious late lunch of

hamburgers

stuffed mushrooms and

madeleines, I headed off to Wakefield for a first act stumble through of our summer musical,

bare.

All in all I had a wonderful, colorful, weekend and I would not change a thing, except perhaps throwing out my back again while lifting up the huge tub of kitty litter!!!

Ever Virgin.