now go up and look around

How can I describe it? Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it.

You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true - anyone can cook... but only the fearless can be great.

this is how i do it

this is one of my favorite japanese comfort foods (exit beef, enter tooofu!) and i wanted it SO bad so i made it. it was makeshift, because i didn't have all the ingredients.. but... whatever. it's all good. i actually paid attention to measurement too, cuz i wanna start writing down all my recipes. they can't all be "some salt" "a lil of this, a lil of that" "handful.." yada yada. for some reason people don't know exactly what "a splash of" such and such is, so FINE i'll play by your rules. for now.

vegetarian sukiyaki (i got nothin on Suehiro's sukiyaki. gawd i could do the backstroke in that broth)

broth:
1/2 cup sake
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup (low sodium) soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar ("melted" in a 1/2 cup of hot water)

innards:
1 whole block of tofu, cubed
1/2 head of cabbage (it'll cook down A LOT)
1 whole onion, sliced about.. 1/4" to 1/2" thick
and then... whatever other vegetables you want
i like to use bamboo shoots and carrots and lots of green onion

last night i used zuchini and broccoli too, but it wasn't my favorite. it flavored the broth too much with its... vegetableness. ha. sometimes i like to put noodles in it too, the glassy jelly-ish kind. shoot, what are they called? Shirataki, that's the kind i like. or you could use somen. but don't put the somen in til later, they only take a few minutes to cook.

assuming you don't have a traditional sukiyaki pan/pot thing, you're gonna need a largeish fry pan with a lid. and something with walls. like this:

get the broth brewing; just throw everything (the liquids, not EVERYTHING) in the pot and get it hot. then when you got that goin, put all of your veggies and other fixins in the pot, grouped. it's not a soup, don't just throw everything and stir it up. keep like items grouped; that way when you serve yourself you can get however much of something you want.

anywhat, get everything in there and then lid it, let it cook until everything is soft and yummy. check it after like... i dunno... 20 minutes or so. it shouldn't take TOO long to cook. just, you know, adjust according to your liking, and such. hahaha.

you could serve it in the pan at the table, and you and your friends can self-serve and be social and stuff. or if you're just cooking for yourself, just serve it in a bowl and have a bowl of rice on the side to drip the broth into. mmm.

and then do backstrokes in the broth.

dee-nar

my dinner last night was freakin bomb. screw modesty, i knocked that meal OUT OF THE PARK. i had rice, tofu, veggies, and creamed cauliflower. let's expand.

rice: measure, wash, cook. DING!

tofu: i squished as much water out as possible and sliced it in thinnish slices and fried it in a pan with nothing more than cooking spray.

vegetables: i had a squash and zuchini and i kinda cut em at an angle so i'd have big thick slices. i cooked those up in a lil olive oil and this bomb mediterranean salt that my mom and dad got me. it has like basil and something else ground in with the salt. yum.

creamed cauliflower: omg. i think i ate more than half of a head of cauliflower last night it was THAT good. i steamed the cauliflower with a garlic clove (sliced) for awhile until i could break it apart. then i dumped the water out and added milk (thanks michelle!) and another clove of garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. i let it cook for awhile until it was nice and soft and thick. then i blended it all together and added some parmesean and shredded mozzarella and mixed it allllll up. it.was.heavenly. i'm not even kidding.

onions: these bad boys were damn good. what i did was took a small red onion and cut it into 4 thick slices. i peeled the outer layer off (cuz it's gross) and set them on a plate of balsamic vinegar. then i drizzled soy sauce over the top. so bottom balsamic, top soy. i let em sit and soak for about 15-20 minutes or so and then just threw em in a pan with cooking spray. they get nice and charred looking on the outside but sweet and soft on the inside. so. good.

sauce: i made a pseduo reduction for my meal as well (for errthing but the cauli). it was balsamic, soy sauce, water, rice wine vinegar, lil bit brown sugar, chopped garlic, dollop of butter, and... and i think that's it. i didn't add salt because the soy is salty enough on it's own. so yeah i just let that cook down while everything else was cookin. and not at like a rolling boil either, let it cook on low/simmer.

a-mazing.

i love to break fast

for some reason the first thing i like to do on a saturday morning is clean the kitchen. maybe it's because i was too lazy to do anything about it the night before... or because i just like a clean slate to start off my day. anyway, so after i cleaned the kitchen i made myself some breakfast. i love saturday morning breakfasts because i can actually sit down with a good morning meal and enjoy it. not like at work where inhale some cheerios underneath some retina-burning neon lights.

i made scrambled eggs with onion and fresh cilantro from my garden (!!!!), crisped up a corn tortilla, and sliced up an avocado. oh, and a pot of tasty coffee. mmm.

i love corn tortillas with my breakfast because i GOTTA have a vessel for my eggs. i can't just eat scrambled eggs by themselves. they need to be on toast, a bagel, tortilla... some kind of bready starchy goodness. and one tortilla is perfect, nice and crispy. plus, it saves me the calories from 2 slices of buttered toast. (i know, i could just have ONE piece of toast, unbuttered. but where's the fun - flavor - in that?)

i wish i had some of that right now. but accompanied by my ass in pajamas on the couch. 'til then, you got my back cheerios.

C'mon 2010. Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love (or food).

ten things i want to attempt to cook in 2010.

1. i would really like to make my own pasta dough. this also would require the acquisition of a rolling pin... which i do not have... i'll have to get one of those. i would love to have a pasta thingy but a rolling pin is cheaper.

2. pot pie. i want pot pie! chicken pot chicken pot chicken pot piiiieee! okay, but not chicken. just veggies. maybe some fake chicken. mmmm.

3. turducken. ha, jk. toootally kidding. i want to try and make my own veggie patties out of tofu and veggies. i think it'll be fairly easy. we'll see though haha.

4. tortillas. i've never made a tortilla!! i want to do it.

5. tamales too! i'm mexican, it's in my blood. hopefully dna will make tamale creation easier for me. keep your fingers crossed!!!!

6. pesto sauce. i've made it before but it just hasn't been as good as i know it can be, so i want to try and perfect it.

7. keeping on the page of sauces: mole. i know there's like a thousand ingredients, but i really want to try and make a mole sauce. it's SO good!

8. gnochi. also something i've made before, but it was only once. i can do better.

9. potato croquettes. i love the ones i get from mitsuwa; i would really like to recreate those lil cakes of goodness.

10. hmm hmm hmm... what to put in the coveted no. 10 slot... well. there's this giada recipe i've wanted to try for awhile. it's called Lemon and Basil eggs over Foccacia. It's like a hollowed out piece of foccacia bread with eggs poured in it and baked. mmm.


***as an added thing, i would really like to expand my garden. it's pretty small right now, with just some herbs and such. but when spring comes i hope to plant some vegetables: tomatoes, green beans... maybe squash!? broccoli!? endless possibilities.

Broccoli, you fiendish devil.

Broccoli. I've never really been a fan. It's just always been one of those vegetables that I could leave on my plate and not feel bad about it. Same with cauliflower. Well, no, I've always thought cauliflower was gross. BUT! I'm turning over a new leaf, and I'm giving these guys another chance. I figure I'm an adult of sorts now, I should try liking these things. And well, I'm a vegetarian so... I SHOULD like these things.

I helped my dad make a broccoli soup for dinner last week. It turned out fairly well. He just used broccoli, onions, and a little bit of potato and cooked it all in vegg broth. When it was all soft and squishy he hit it with the immersion blender to make it creamy and smooth. It was missing something though, and surprisingly he asked me to spruce it up. I say surprisingly because my dad and I are the same when it comes to cooking: don't mess with our food, it is our creation and we don't want you meddling with our art. thanks but no thanks. SO he had to go fix the garage door (apparently it poopooed and needed a new motor/gears or something) and asked me to fix the soup cuz it tasted flat. I went in there and added more salt and pepper, a pinch of basil, a pinch of dill (brings out those potatoes! i love dill), and a healthy dose of sage. He came back in and tasted it and said it was perfect. He also thought I added nutmeg. I think he asked me 3 times if I added nutmeg. No dad, I did not add nutmeg. But maybe I will next time!

My dad also made this roasted broccoli and cauliflower that was SUPER good. he roasted it in the oven with whole garlic cloves and (I assume) some olive oil. It was delish; crispy and non-squishy and full of flavor. AND he made this bomb horse radish cheese sauce to go with it. Cheese sauce makes EVERYTHING taste better. It's a fact. Don't try and fight me on this.

So broccoli, you've got me interested. Keep up the good work.

oops.

i suck. i know. i'm terrible at things.

i'm creating a feast of sorts on saturday.

i think it's going to be really good.

i've been planning the menu in my head for a long time and i think i even got down a prep-schedule (in my head of course).

the menu (as of right now) is as follows:

bacon-herb wrapped pork tenderloin

garlic mashed potatoes

sweet potato stew

butternut squash raviolis

roasted vegetables

i'm sure someone will be bring bread, and hopefully i can convince someone to make cookies or something for dessert. mmm. cookies and ice cream would be perfect i think. well, maybe i can make my own cookies. wait, no, i don't want to. i think i have enough on my plate. har har har.

seriously, someone bring dessert.