tonjiru

Again, what to make for dinner? Since it's been so cold, I decided I wanted to make some kind of soup. Satoshi likes "tonjiru" (pork soup), so I decided to try to make it. I looked up the recipe and you need a lot of veggies.

With the price skyrocketing, I was a bit leery about the price I would need to pay...I got lucky...they had a ready-made bag of veggies for "tonjiru"!! Inside are thinly sliced carrots, takenoko (bamboo shoots), shiitake mushrooms, konnyaku (devil's tongue), daikon (radish) & gobo (burdock).

The best part is that it makes 2 to 3 servings. Just add 100g of thinly sliced pork, water and miso (soy bean paste). Since there probably aren't ready-made bags where you are, here's the recipe:

100 g thinly sliced pork : cut into bite size pieces
1/2 gobo (burdock) thinly sliced or shave with veggie peeler
1/2 carrot thinly sliced
1/2 konnyaku (devil's tongue) thinly sliced
1/4 daikon (radish) thinly sliced
2 or 3 shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
2 takenoko (small bamboo shoots) thinly sliced
3 cups water
2 Tablespoon miso (soy bean paste)
2 Tablespoons oil

Put the oil into a pot and brown the pork (I didn't use oil because the pork was kind of fatty)
After the pork changes color, add the 3 cups water
Add all the veggies and bring to a boil
Skim off any fat

When all the veggies are soft, add your miso...add some chopped green onions for garnish (I forgot to)...Enjoy!!

I wanted to also share a housewife story...I have been a housewife for 5 years now and I have come to realize that being a housewife means that you are also part handyman. (I'm not so sure if this is true for other housewives around the world).

Not only do you do stuff like wash clothes, dishes and clean the house. It also means you fix stuff around the place (if you can reach it). And if you don't know how...you try to read the manuals (in Japanese, because your husband doesn't like to) and fix stuff...well, I had to kind of fix this...the light in my range hood died.

I had to figure out how the heck to get the bulb out from under the glass cover. The screw was so tight (I don't think the tenants before us had to ever change the bulb), plus I think the grease and oil from the stove had hardened itself around the screw...so, I looked for a screwdriver that matched the screw (couldn't find one) and pryed the thing loose (all while standing on my step stool, 'cuz I'm not that tall!)

Finally, I got the darn thing open...only to find out that I didn't have a bulb to match it...since I had to go out for a lesson, I bought a bulb on my way back...now that the cover was off, the task was to put it back on...finally after 3 tries...voila!! Hopefully, that will be the last do-it-myself project for awhile. :)