Anna N

Noodles with gyoza, egg, broccoli and toasted nori.

Inspired by @chefmd and @kayb ((here), I made the Food52 version of okonoyimaki. It’s an easy, adaptable and tasty dish but, in my mind, much closer to the Korean kimchijeon (kimchi pancake) than to either of the two more traditional Japanese versions of the dish (here). I added grated carrots and shiitake mushrooms to the Food52 version. Thanks for the inspiration to attempt the Osaka and the Hiroshima versions of this dish. Stay tuned.😊

I tried Instacart once. Cost was prohibitive and the constant emails drove me to distraction. The service I do use is not cheap but the interaction is limited to a single phone call a few minutes before they expect to arrive at my house and then a very brief and very polite monetary transaction.

And now for something completely different. I was surfing the web for something or other but it certainly wasn’t cookies. I came across a recipe from Dan Lepard. I am familiar with Parkin but have never run across it in cookie form. So when Dan Lepard’s Chocolate Parkin Biscuits popped up , I knew I would have to make them. I like Dan’s recipes because he almost always uses weights rather than volumes. But I have to nitpick this one thing about this recipe. He suggests that the dough for each cookie be the size of a shelled walnut. Why could he not have given a weight? I am pretty sure I mis-judged the size since I got at least twice as many cookies as suggested. These are very good but given the amount of ginger in the recipe I am surprised how little ginger I detect in the finished product. I baked them for 14 minutes rather than the 20 minutes recommended.

I find one of the biggest frustrations with online grocery shopping is the amount of stuff that is out of stock. I get it that fresh meat and vegetables are sold out. I don’t understand canned goods being out of stock. Sometimes I place an order because I want one particular item and when my order arrives that is the one thing that is not in the box. Grrrrrrr.

Black pudding sounds so much more appetizing. I loved it as a child but haven’t seen it in years. I don’t know how I would react now. If I close my eyes and concentrate I can recall the mouth feel more so than the taste.

Stuffed mini peppers, cucumbers, and three inari sushi with soy marinated shiitake mushrooms.

Egg and mushroom onigirazu.

But I got the off cuts! I did try one but I’m not a fan of brownies in general so I stuck them in the freezer for my grandchild. She would likely commit a felony in order to get her hands on any kind of brownie.

Gyudon — Beef and onions over rice.

Teriyaki chicken balls and salad in the upper portion & inari sushi and sweet and spicy shiitake mushrooms in the lower.

A small bowl of rice topped with some leftover pieces of tamagoyaki and some freshly made sweet, spicy and sticky shiitake mushrooms (from dried).

Ditto!

Yep. And I have been known to remove them from the wrapper, poke a few holes in them, drizzle a little something something....

Yakiudon - Stir-fried meat and vegetables with udon noodles.

Tamagoyaki with nori and cheese, cocktail tomato, and miso soup with wakame seaweed.

@Kerry Beal is attempting to get me hooked on yet another snack: I think she is well on her way to being highly successful. My saving grace is that only rarely do I get to visit an Asian store where these might be available.

I must be one of the luckiest people on earth. For those of you who have been following along with @Kerry Beal‘s adventures in Paris, Seattle and Los Angeles believe it or not she is still ticking along just like the Energizer bunny. Although she only arrived home in the early hours of yesterday morning, she nevertheless accompanied me to an appointment today, took me out to lunch and then took me shopping in the Asian grocery store. I am replete. Lunch today was at one of my favourite places, Kenzo Ramen. Tamagoyaki. I wish I could post the mini movie of this showing the waving flags of dried tuna making the dish look alive. I believe these larger flakes are called kezurikatsuo. King of Kings Ramen for Kerry Tonkotsu ramen for me. You can just see the accompanying white pepper and togarashi off to the left.

Even that can be done. Click And if you are willing to give up the very reason to use induction in the first place, efficiency, then there are metal interface plates that you can use between the induction surface and the pot. Hardly worth the effort but it can be done. Click (scroll down for discussion of induction ready donabes).

Love dogs. As soon as they breed one that can take itself for a walk and do it’s own poop and scoop I’ll be right on it. In the meantime I’m just grateful that most days I can take care of those things for myself at least.😂😂

Sautéed peppers and onions, broccoli with a dashi and wasabi sauce, and nanban chicken over mushroom rice.

We are obviously desperately in need of either an intervention or a support group. Or perhaps both.

Never a truer word was spoken! It is very hard to have the will power to finish off the leftovers when you desperately want to try new recipe. Edited to add My solution usually is to throw the leftovers into the freezer where they can hang about until I finally throw them out. There seems to be less guilt involved when there’s a period of time between the decision and the action.

Onigirazu - Bacon, pate and gherkins. and because @rotuts wanted to know:

I like fruitcake but for that amount of money it would need to keep me fully nourished for two weeks.😂