Category: Cook

Walked home, avoiding puddles, with ingredients from an Asian supermarket. Most Americans would throw out some ingredients, but I’ll use them for three days of slow cooking a chicken bone broth, then carnitas, then a pork bone broth. We are not in a hurry.

Traveled to Japan via Hawaii with Spam musubi for lunch: sushi rice with rice vinegar, fried Spam with a shoyu/sherry glaze, nori, and sprinkles of furikake. The journey started in Austin, Minnesota, also known as “Spam Town USA,” home of Hormel

Tonight eggplant Parmigiana. I blast the sliced eggplant in the microwave for 6 minutes at 60% to get it on its way before breading with Japanese panko crumbs then shallow-frying.

The smell of baking taunted me all afternoon. Dwight went through 1½ pounds of butter, and I overheard him asking Google to add sugar to our shopping list. ‘Tis the season.

Kale and white sweet potatoes, one of our favorites.

Included Coastal Seafoods on my chilly walk, probably the best seafood store in the Twin Cities. Seniors get 20% off on Tuesdays, hence the line.

Purchased ice cream offsets at the farmers market.

The relative sweetness of the shinshu miso was nicely offset by the bitterness of the Asian broccoli.

Next on my list: learn how to make dashi broth and miso soup. For me, Covid-19 restrictions present opportunities to learn new things. If I can’t go to Japan, I can bring Japan to me.

Made kare raisu, Japanese curry, for lunch, one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It can be traced to early British influences over 100 years ago. Now, a Japanese curry chain is opening restaurants in India.