Carrots Stewed in Lemon Juice
I have always loved carrots. When I was little I ate too many of them, to the point where I turned orange from the carotene. I often make dishes in which carrots are the main star, but one of my favorites is carrots stewed in lemon juice.
Boy do I love carrots. First, peel the dears.
Cut off the ends and slice them.
It's OK if the slices are big. If you are going to pack them in a lunchbox, however, you should probably cut the bigger slices in half.
The seasonings I use for this are mirin sweet cooking wine (never imitation! I don't like fakes), lemon juice if you don't have actual lemons, ginger (if it's too much trouble to use fresh ginger, it's OK to use a tube), enough water to stew, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg are optional. Speaking of optional ingredients, coconut butter makes a good surprise addition to the flavor. Feel free to add raisins or cranberries.
Stew on medium heat. It's done when the liquid has boiled off.
Broccoli and Cashew Stir-fry
Broccoli and cashew nuts are both popular ingredients in Chinese food, especially Cantonese cuisine. Both are often paired with chicken, which I hate. I get around this problem by putting the broccoli and cashew nuts together without their common enemy, chicken.
First add the cashew nuts, garlic, Okinawan mixed spice, five spice, drizzle of cooking sake and dollop of sesame oil to the skillet and begin to cook.
Add the broccoli and lightly stir-fry. If you are feeling particularly lazy you could use frozen broccoli, but there is a corresponding drop in flavor. There is a direct relationship between the amount of work you put into food vs flavor, but it's up to you to decide where the tradeoff point is.
If using fresh broccoli, cut off the stems and don't use them. Of course I don't throw them away. I steam them in the microwave and snack on them.
See, doesn't it look sort of Chinese? This dish doesn't drip sauce, so it won't leak and make a mess in your lunchbox. Obviously it goes well with rice, but it also works with noodles. If you pair it with spaghetti, you'll have an easy-peasy fusion dish!
ブロッコリーとカシューナッツの中華炒め
ブロッコリーもカシューナッツも、中華料理の定番材料。私が嫌いな鶏肉とセットで調理されることが多い、という共通点もある。そこで、鶏肉と組み合わせられることが多いブロッコリーとカシューナッツ同士で炒め物を作ることにしました！
まずはカシューナッツ、ニンニク、チャンプルーの素、五香粉、料理酒少々、ごま油をフライパンに入れて、炒めはじめる。
ブロッコリーを足して、軽く炒める。もっと手を抜こう、と思ったら冷凍ブロッコリーもいいけど、味は落ちる。料理の味は手間に比例するけれど、差が出ないレベルがどこなのか自分で妥協点を見つけよう。ちなみに新鮮なブロッコリーを使う場合、茎の部分は使わない。でもそれじゃもったいないから、レンジで蒸しておやつにする。
ほら中華っぽいでしょ！これは汁っぽくないので、お弁当箱に入れても漏れることがありません。もちろんご飯と合いますが、麺にも合います。スパゲッティに合わせると手軽に無国籍料理の出来上がり！
かぶとちりめん山椒のお浸し
かぶは野菜の優等生だ。白い根だけでなく、茎や葉まで食べられる。特に葉は菊菜に似た味で、柑橘類っぽい風味がちりめん山椒と絶妙に合う。茎や葉は単独で調理してもよし、今回のように白い根と一緒にお浸しにしてもよし。
葉がついたかぶを買おう。
葉を水に浸し、土を落とす。
普通にピーラーで皮をむく。この時茎を切った根本を持つと怪我しにくくなる。
皮がむけたら、茎の根元を切り落とす。
根を縦に四等分して、さらに横に半分に切る。
調味料は醤油、料理酒、ちりめん山椒のふりかけ、そして何でもおいしくしてくれるチャンプルーの素。
まず根と調味料、適当な量の水から煮始める。
根を煮ている間に茎や葉を洗っておき、切る。根が入っているフライパンに足す。
葉がしなるまで煮る。
Japanese Turnip stewed with Baby Fish and Mountain Pepper
Japanese turnips are great. Not only the white root, but even the stems and leaves are edible. The leaves taste a lot like kikuna greens with their citrus-y flavor profile, making them a good fit with baby fish and mountain pepper. The greens can be cooked as a separate dish or mixed in with the root as I do here.
Make sure to buy turnips with the leaves still on.
Soak the leaves to get any remaining soil off.
Use a peeler on the root. It's smart to hold the stump of the stem when you peel the root so that you don't cut yourself.
Once you have finished peeling the roots, cut off the stem stumps.
Quarter the roots lengthwise and then halve the result longitudinally.
The seasonings I use are soy sauce, cooking sake, baby-fish-and-mountain-pepper as a rice topping, and Okinawan mix spice, which makes everything better.
Add the seasonings and roots to the skillet with some water and start the boiling process.
While the roots are boiling wash and cut the stems and leaves. Add the stems and then the leaves to the skillet.
Boil everything together until the leaves start to wilt.
Turnips have great cost performance because you can literally eat the whole thing. Now that consumption taxes have gone up, turnips are even more attractive for your dinner table or lunchbox, not to mention healthy for your body and wallet.
Canard Couture
This stuffed duck has been in my life for as long as I can remember, making her around 30 years old. My dad is probably the one who brought her home. She was more than likely the Sanrio Duckadoo character (what do you mean, you don't remember? Have a look):
I loved this duck to death, so my dad made a new one, put the remains into the new one, and blessed the new one the way that is done for Buddhist statues. The duck had another full-body overhaul before I was four, but has stayed the same ever since. I had her wearing a fancy doll dress with a large plastic pearl in the middle of a ribbon rose a the waist. This is how she earned the name "Pearl."
Her original dress became quite tattered, so I made her a new one when I was in high school, starting from the design sketch and creating patterns from scratch. Obviously the dress was completely custom-made, since there is only one Pearl in the world. A sewing machine is more trouble than it's worth at this size, so everything is hand-sewn.
I must admit I'm not entirely objective when it comes to my girl, so here is another picure. There is a large pearl bead in the middle of the blue ribbon rose at her waist.
Let's pull down her bonnet to get a better view of her face.
I obviously had more free time back in high school than I realized at the time. When I left Pearl behind at the park when I was little, not only my parents, but even my mom's close friend, who often watched me when my mom was busy, made "wanted" posters and tried to order replacements of the same product. Eventually Pearl came home to me, and accompanied me on trips to America, Greece, Egypt, and Turkey. To the best of my knowledge Pearl is now enjoying a quiet life at my parents' house.
