Anna N

Not sure if this is lunch or merely an introduction to lunch. Time will tell. On the way. Ready to eat. Fried potatoes with miso and sesame.

Love the “strawberries”.

Wow! Talk about ingenuity. They look delicious.

And doesn’t Zuni chicken do something similar? Or am I misremembering?

And people sneer at my idea that gravy is good on salad.

Someone?😂😂😂😂

I am hoping to get my hands on some koji but for different reasons (Japanese condiment). Should I succeed I will definitely have to give the steak a try for myself. The condiment itself is used on meat so it would be interesting to do a comparison of just koji and the koji mixed with salt or soy.

I think she will make it OK. Surely those mai tais must offer some sort of fortified immune response to any other poison? 😀

Another attempt at a rolled omelet this time made with duck eggs. I am told by member @Hiroyuki (in the Tamago thread) that this is correctly called “ahiru no tamago”. I know it is a poor workman who blames his tools but I do think that the rectangular omelet pan is not an appropriate vessel on an induction range. I cannot seem to get it evenly heated and my next attempt at a rolled omelet will be done in a nonstick traditional skillet. I seem to have the rolling technique pretty much down pat although I do need to work more quickly. This omelet was quite disappointing being over cooked and somewhat dry.

Serious Eats recipe Uses some of the techniques one might associate with croissants but includes sugar. Intriguing. I also ran across a recipe by the Hairy Bikers which suggested serving them with jam?

I have never noticed suggesting that it can’t be particularly noisy. Not that I use convection bake very often. Perhaps later today I will test it just out of curiosity.

If I ever find myself in a confessional again I shall be ‘fessing up to envy but will feel justified in laying most of the blame on you. 😘 To take an ingredient and treat it in so many different ways is something that I love to do when the opportunity arises. But to get very specific on the cherries which are one of my favourite fruits to eat raw, I grabbed an already bagged portion on a rushed trip through the supermarket and when I got home found most only fit for the compost heap. Your preparations look delicious but I am especially intrigued by the roasted cherries with wine and pepper. I am a huge fan of strawberries roasted with balsamic so I’m sure I would love these cherries. Thanks for sharing.

Oh these were fresh! Dried are pretty easy to come by, even the flower variety, but are a bit pricey. It was my first time sampling the fresh ones.

Preserving the Japanese Way by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. Only now did I get the double entendre of the title. It is certainly a book about Japanese food preservation ways but it is also a book about preserving Japanese traditions in areas beyond just food. I have a love-hate relationship with the author whom I first met when I read Japanese Farm Food. She seems to veer between offering acceptable substitutions easily found in North America and suggesting that only the almost-impossible-to-get-even-in-Japan ingredient is the only worthy one. She is an American married to a very traditional Japanese farmer and again she seems to wobble between idolatrous adoration of his knowledge and commitment to his traditions and a desire to thwart him in order to do things her own way. But perhaps these two things only make her human and I’m looking for something else? The book is an amazing encyclopedia of the ways and means the Japanese create everything from miso to tofu to vinegared cucumber. There are plenty of recipes but only very few that I think I’m prepared to attempt. Patience is not exactly my forte so waiting 2 to 3 years for a result is way down on my list of things I’d like to do. For others I am sure the challenge of making some of the more complex things will have quite an appeal. But whether or not I’m willing to attempt the recipes does not detract from my interest in the process. It is a book that would’ve benefitted so much from many, many more photographs than are available both to instruct and to highlight the many Japanese arts and crafts objects that are less familiar to North Americans and other non-Japanese. If you are interested in Japanese food or Japanese culture this is well worth a read.

Rice topped with the last of the chicken and leeks, sugar snap peas and carrots scallions.

But for those of us who remember washing, hanging to dry and then ironing handkerchiefs ....😂

Not sure what meal it will actually be. Let’s just call it nutrition break number one. Oh wait, let’s not. It really was the one that broke my fast.😂 Green beans with sesame soy dressing, chicken with leeks from dinner last evening, marinated mushrooms and some beni shoga (pickled ginger).

Just finished up some flower shiitake mushrooms found in an Asian store by a friend. Much meatier than the ones we normally get in the supermarket.

Sounds delicious but my eye is drawn to the bowl. Very lovely.

Chicken and leek in a miso and honey sauce. In the small glass bowl is the last of my Asian pear pickle.

Only in Canada you say? An amusing and rather heart-warming story of how a butcher and a vegan restaurant coexist side-by-side in the heart of cattle country. This caught my eye because we once had a restaurant called the Butcher and the Vegan (documented in the Ladies who Lunch thread) where the menu offered some innovative ways in which vegans and carnivores could enjoy lunch together. Didn’t last very long.

Strikes a rather dissonant note?

Rice with kimchi furikake, green beans with sesame, marinated mushrooms, pickled ginger and leftover ginger pork. Because I’m a singleton and can please myself.

Everything old is new again. Things used to be flogged from the back of a buggy or a dray.

The vision: a duck egg omelet filled with asparagus and mushrooms. The reality: a duck egg frittatelet. Even the largest duck egg that I had was not going to accommodate the amount of filling I had prepped! So I added some goat cheese and the chopped parsley that was meant as garnish and it became a mongrel.