Having only been to Japan once, sometimes, I feel like my life is a bento box; structured, organized, and consistent. But I've always been an artist at heart and my love for Japanese cuisine and food tourism continues to grow. Here is my attempt to document my epicuriousity through photos and text...
Beyond the Bento Box
Rice with Furikake, Kyoto Tofu, hibachi veggies and tempura bento box, shao mai, and green tea ice-cream. Did I mention I love authentic Japanese restaurants?
Spinach pesto pasta. So I just finished reading an Italian cookbook/memoir, which I will review in a separate entry. I was very inspired by the simple Italian recipes, so I came home one day and decided to give this a while. Sauteed spinach and pre-cooked linguine noodles in olive oil, with a pinch of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Add a bit of Parmesan and pine nuts at the table. So good! I roasted the pine nuts myself and the whole house smelled amazing. My husband kept saying that roasted pine nuts tasted like KFC….but healthier!
Country Apple Dumplings! No joke, these were easy and good. A slice of apple wrapped in a wedge of refrigerated pie dough, drenched in a syrupy sauce and baked for about 20 min. The apple becomes tender while the dough gets crusty. I read a variation of this recipe that uses biscuit dough instead of pie dough. I wonder how that would turn out…
Here’s the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/country-apple-dumplings/
And as always, a spoonful of ice-cream makes these dumplings disappear!
Apple Turnovers!
Ok, I confess, I watch the ABC drama “Once Upon a Time.” But I like the new take they give to traditional fairy tales. Anyways, this is my attempt at the Regina Mills/Evil Queen Apple Turnovers. Non-poisoned version, of course. I have to admit, Lana Parilla’s depiction of our favorite Evil Queen really takes the cake.
So in my last post, I baked apple bread but had way too many chopped apples. I threw them into a plan with some brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and cooked till tender. Then I thickened it with some flour before stuffing them into some pie dough. I used the store bought variety to save time, but someday, I would love to make my own pie dough! I loosely followed this recipe: http://re-marked.tumblr.com/post/22782803896
They turned out really well! Nice and crusty with a gooey apple filling. Perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Can’t wait to go apple picking in the fall!
Apple cake! And great with vanilla ice-cream. I loosely followed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/09/moms-apple-cake/
Mine doesn’t look quite as golden, but it was good. I substituted oil with apple sauce, cause it’s apple cake I say! It ended up having more of a bread consistency, which was still good. Now I ended up with way too many chopped apples, so I had to improvise by making Apple Turnovers. Stay tuned for my next post!
Vietnamese Roast Chicken! I followed Stephanie O’Dea’s slow cooker recipe and left out the black pepper (I don’t like spicy food). I tried the balled up pieces of foil, and like she said, it didn’t really give the chicken a crispy finish. Oh well. But the taste was amazing! The combination of fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar was super delicious. I stir fried some green beans and rice in the sauce served everything together. My husband loved it and so did I. My only concern is, will the “fishy” smell stink up my microwave….
Onigiri! So delicious. I picked up a few at Sakura Matsuri this past weekend, and love the salmon flavored ones. Just like the ones they sell in Tokyo! I’m still getting used to the plum ones, and I know they’re more traditional. I should make some of my own…
Sakura flavored kettle corn! In honor of Cherry Blossoms in DC, they were selling cherry flavored kettle corn at the annual Sakura Matsuri. I took the opportunity to buy a bunch of Japanese snacks and felt quite full afterwards. My friend was more interested in the cosplay folks.
We watched the parade on Constitution Avenue and got to see the Cherry Blossom princesses and queen pass through on their floats. The princesses looked like they were wearing wedding gowns…but the queen was in a kimono. They were selling kimonos at the street fair but it was a bit expensive…
And of course, my favorite, sushi pillows!!!
So last year, my husband and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and it was there that I fell in love with the infamous Rum Cake.
This makes sense because Rum is from the Caribbean. Anyways, because it’s been so dreadful and cold where I live (at the end of March), I dream of a tropical vacation, even just for my taste buds.
I grabbed a bottle of dark rum, invited a few neighbors, and went to baking!
The recipe we followed was Golden Rum cake: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Golden-Rum-Cake/Detail.aspx
Here we start with the sugar and vegetable oil.
Then the yellow cake mix, along with eggs and rum.
I sprayed a 10-inch bundt cake pan with cooking spray and put in chopped walnuts at the bottom. Then we poured in the batter and baked…
So beautiful! I almost didn’t want to have to poke holes on it, but I had to, because how else will the rum-sugar glaze saturate the cake?
So we poked the holes.
And here’s a round one that I glazed first, so shiny!
And here’s what the other side looks….so much walnuts!
So finally, the rum cake in the bundt pan….broke in half, so sad!
But we pieced it back together! Yay!
My husband loved this cake so much, and I gotta say, it really takes me back to the Carribeans!
Persimmon Bread Round 2! I had some leftover persimmon pulp from Christmas and invited some neighbors over to bake some bread!
Same recipe, http://allrecipes.com/recipe/persimmon-bread-ii/
but this time we added a vanilla glaze, http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vanilla-Glaze/Detail.aspx
I once again used cardamom to spice up the flavors. The results was so wickedly delicious!
Easter dinner! Brown sugar glazed spiral cut smoked ham, buttered green beans with walnuts, and brown rice. Getting hungry just looking at it!
Slow Cooked Mongolian Beef, with broccoli and green onions. I followed Stephanie O’Dea’s recipe http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/06/mongolian-beef-crockpot-recipe.html
but I omitted the chili flakes. I can’t eat spicy food. But otherwise, this was pretty amazing. Just the smell was enough to captivate my husband. We got flap steak instead of flank steak, but they were really similar. The meat got nice and tender after about 4 hours on low. One bite and my husband was hooked!
Waffle fry casserole. We do live near a Chick-Fil-A but it was Sunday. Yeah…
My husband decided to make this delightful casserole with Kielbasa sausage, broccoli florets, marinara sauce, and macaroni pasta. Topped with seasoned waffle fries. I’m getting hungry just typing this out! It was really really really good!
Korean style beef ribs. Soy sauce, brown sugar, a hint of cooking wine, chicken broth, and ground pepper. I used Stephanie O’Dea’s recipe, but substituted ground pepper for Jalapenos and chicken broth for water. I can’t eat spicy peppers, but these turned out really well and super delicious. My husband was so excited to try these!
