carrot ginger miso soup

The past couple of days were kinda gloomy.

One day, it rained all.day.long.

Yesterday it was just cloudy, so I got out and about and went to pick up a few groceries.

As I was walking to the store, I was thinking of soup, but wanted some color too.

I made this soup up...carrot ginger miso soup.

Make some dashi (I used one of those "tea bag" types)

Add some carrots (cook until soft)

Add some ginger (grated)

Then turn off the heat add some miso and whizz with food processor.

This really hit the spot with the color and flavor.

I'm making this again.

We have a 3-day weekend but the weather is supposed to be kinda iffy, hope we get a chance to see some fall foliage.

Hope you have a nice weekend.

"black" eggplant curry and carrot achaar

The typhoon is taking its sweet time passing over us.

Yesterday, the winds were high but overall just cloudy with some off and on showers. The building face-lift people came to take down their net-like "curtain" around their scaffolding, I think this is to prevent the winds from blowing everything down.

Today, it looks like we're gonna have rain all day. If you look at a map of Japan, the eye is around Okayama, and the circumference of the typhoon stretches to the left-side of Honshu all the way to the middle of Kyushu and stretches to the right-side of Honshu touching East Japan....HUGE!

The weather guy said that typhoons spin in a counter-clockwise pattern, so anything to the right-side of the typhoon usually gets the heavy rain and winds...interesting, yeah?!

Tomorrow is forecast for more rain as the typhoon is still making its way to "wherever"...Hopefully we'll be able to ride this out without any excitement.

I recently tried two recipes from Jinsuke Mizuno's "Hajimete no Spice Curry #2".

The "black" eggplant curry didn't turn out like the photo in the book because I made a couple of mistakes along the way.

The carrot achaar on the other hand was super easy to put together.

"Black" Eggplant Curry, adapted from "Hajimete no Spice Curry #2", makes 4 servings
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 large onion. sliced thin
1 clove garlic, grated
1 nub ginger, grated
1 can (200 grams) diced tomato (original says 100 grams)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (original says to add 1 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt (omitted)
1 teaspoon ground black sesame seed
15 milliliter shoyu (1 tablespoon)
400 milliliter chicken bouillon
200 grams minced beef
10 small eggplant

Cut the eggplant into 2 centimeter wide rounds and fry in oil until they get a little color, put on the side
In a pan, put some oil and on medium heat, saute the onions until they become a dark brown, but not burnt
Add the garlic and ginger and cook until the moisture evaporates
Add the tomato and cook until the moisture evaporates
Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin and salt and cook until the spices are fragrant
Next add the ground sesame seed, shoyu and chicken bouillon
Bring everything to a boil
Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the ground beef, cook for about 10 minutes
Add the eggplant and cook for another 5 minutes

NOTES: I didn't read carefully and didn't fry the eggplant so when it came time to add the eggplant they weren't even cooked, so I needed to cook everything longer than the 5 minutes. As I was getting things together for this recipe, I ran out of cayenne pepper, so I only put the amount I had. I also didn't have ground black sesame seed, so I added ground white sesame seed instead.

The market I had bought the eggplants from, sold me duds, most were black-ish when I cut them open. I think they were partially frozen...boo! Anyway, not wanting to run out to the store, I salvaged what I could and made the curry with what was left.

Carrot Achaar adapted from "Hajimete no Spice Curry #2": makes 4 servings
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 carrot, 1 centimeter cubes
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
some salt
1 teaspoon ground black sesame seed
squeeze lemon juice (original recipe says 2 tablespoons)

Boil the carrot, cook until soft
In a pan, heat the oil and cumin seed
Add the carrots and stir-fry
Add the turmeric, cayenne, salt and sesame seed
At the end squeeze the lemon juice over everythng

NOTES: not wanting to boil the carrots, I just added the raw carrots to the heated oil and cumin seed. I used ground white sesame seed because I didn't have black. I only had a little nub of lemon in my fridge, so I just used what I had.

I love the heat from this and the lemon gives it a little brightness.

Even though I had some problems with the curry, I enjoyed the flavors of both dishes. I'm making both again.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

brr

Soup weather! the past couple of days our temps have been single digits.

Yesterday it rained all day and it made the temperature go really low...this morning it was 3C (37F)

I've been making soups lately...like this one...

Pumpkin, carrot & ginger...all I do is cook the veggies until soft, add a bouillon cube and then whizz it with the hand blender.

Add a little sage, marjoram, maybe some pepper.

Super, fast and easy! My kind of cooking.

Hope the weather is warmer where you are! Have a nice weekend.

carrot salad with pistachios

I recently tried a new recipe by Smitten Kitchen.

I didn't roast the garbanzos, in fact I left these out.

I just made the dressing (though I left out the chili flakes) and instead added some cumin to it.

Then I shredded my carrots, mixed it with the dressing and just before serving, threw in a handful of pistachios.

It was delicious. I would definitely make this salad again.

It is Friday here, I hope you enjoy the weekend!

colorful

I've posted about ninjin shirishiri before, but recently tried making it using colorful carrots (1 purple, 1 yellow and 1 orange)...

The result looked kinda funky but I liked it.

I sauteed the shredded carrots in this ra-yu (chili oil) from Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, that's it.

Super easy and fast, so good!

Happy Girl's Day!

dorie's carrot salad

Reader Akiko suggested I try Dorie Greenspan's carrot salad, so I did.

Carrot Salad with Walnuts and Raisins from Dorie Greenspan
Serves 6 – 8 as part of a buffet

Dressing
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt, more to taste
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper, more to taste

Salad
1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into very thin strips
2/3 cup toasted, chopped walnuts
2/3 cup golden raisins
finely chopped parsley or chives (optional garnish)

Add the dressing ingredients to a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Set aside.

Add carrots, walnuts and raisins to a medium serving bowl. Toss with dressing. Garnish with parsley or chives, if using.

NOTES:I didn't have raisins, so I used dried cherries.

Still, I loved it. Thanks Akiko!

carrot and seed salad

I was first introduced to carrot salad by Bea and Orangette and then, I found other carrot salads to try like this one.

I really like carrot salad, it is easy to make and really delicious too.

Recently I bought a cookbook written by the owner of the Rose Bakery called "Breakfast Lunch Tea".

Inside there was a recipe for "Carrot and Seed Salad"

The recipe calls for chives but I didn't want to buy the large amount that the market was selling, so I didn't add it to the salad.

Still, I think it was quite tasty.

Here is what I did: makes about 6-1/4 cup servings

2 large carrots, shredded
2 handfuls of sunflower seeds, heated in 150C (300F) oven then cooled

Dressing:
zest of the lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice (about one small lemon)
several grinds of fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oil

After shredding the carrots in a food processor, mix the dressing and toss to coat.
Add the cooled seeds and toss again.

NOTES: the original recipe suggests using either sunflower or pumpkin seeds, since I had sunflower seeds in my freezer that is what I used.

There are other recipes (like scones) that I can't wait to try.

eating the rainbow

It's June, it's the start of summer in my mind, even if mother nature can't make up her mind...and what better way to start summer than with foods from Okinawa.

I made carrot shirishiri with a touch of Ishigaki-jima ra-yu, a famous chili oil from the island of Ishigaki in Okinawa.

I received the oil from Hiromi the other day. (Thank you!)

This time around, instead of using an egg, I tried Dennis' idea and put some tofu in. (40 grams of tofu, 1/2 teaspoon chili oil, 1 grated carrot) I think I like his version better.

Ninjin shirishiri...Kinoko & Konnyaku (mushrooms & devil's tongue jelly)...Rice (1/2 brown 1/2 white)...Broccoli with red & orange bell pepper...Mozuku (brown seaweed with a kurozu (black vinegar) sauce)...goya champuru (tofu, bittermelon, vienna sausage)

It's Friday here, hope you have a great weekend!

new recipes

There is a dish that Satoshi and I like at Capricciosa, their tuna and ika (squid) salad.

The ika (squid) is boiled and the tuna straight from the can, placed on top of some purple cabbage and lettuce.

I found the recipe for their dressing online at Cookpad.com, it's really close to the real deal.

Capricciosa-style dressing from Cookpad.com
250 cc red wine vinegar
10 grams garlic
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
250 cc olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

NOTES: I cut this recipe to 1/4 because the weather is getting colder and we'll probably be having less cold salads.

I threw everything into the food processor and whizzed it.

For the salad, I was too lazy to go out and buy some ika (squid), so I just divided a can of tuna and topped the salad with some red bell pepper.

Our tuna is only 80 grams, maybe half a can (or less) in the States?!

I used the type that is packed in water. For the dressing I spooned a tablespoon over each salad...it was delicious!

I'll probably use the rest in pasta salad or something...

For our main dish, I tried another new recipe from "Orange Page's Yasai ga ippai toreru mainichi no okazu".

You know I've had this mook (book/magazine) from 1996 and have slowly been working my way through the recipes.

This recipe was so easy, my kind of cooking.

For 2 people
1 carrot, cut to 3-inch in size then julienned
10 slices thinly sliced pork round
1/2 tablespoon oil
juice of 1/2 lemon

Wrap the julienned carrots with a slice of pork
Repeat until all slices and carrot are used up
Heat a pan with oil and cook pork
Finish the dish with the juice of lemon

NOTES: cooking doesn't get easier than this. The original recipe says to nuke the carrots, but since I try not to use the microwave as much as possible, I just cooked the carrots when I cooked the pork. There was still a little crunch to them, which was nice.

We got these yuzu from one of Satoshi's German language classmates, these were smaller than the ones I bought earlier, maybe half the size, but you can't beat homegrown! (Danke!)

I used 1 yuzu for this recipe.

Well, it is Friday, boy, did the week fly by. Hope you have a great weekend!

shin-jaga

Even though the weather is kinda wishy-washy, I know Spring is coming because there are shin-jagaimo or shin-jaga (new potatoes) in the markets. This particular variety is called May Queen.

The new potatoes here are tiny, only one or two inches, I think they maybe different from the new potatoes you see in the U.S.

When I first came to Japan, I had a hard time figuring out what types of potatoes there were. In Hawaii, the only types I've seen are red, yukon & russet, none of which are in Japan (to my knowledge anyway).

Anyway, here in Japan, certain types are good for curry and some good for croquettes (I think it depends on the texture of the potato, though I usually rely on the sign at the market to tell me which is good for what).

I bought this from a little yaoya (vegetable/fruit stand). A little less than a pound for only 100 yen (about US$1).

I thought I had posted this recipe before but looked through my archives and didn't see it.

The recipe is easy and delicious.

Shin-jaga to gyuniku no amakarani (Beef and new potatoes simmered in a sweet-salty sauce) adapted from Orange Page's "Haru ni Oishii Kondate": Serves 4

405grams (a little less than a pound) new potatoes, scrubbed, eyes removed
100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) beef, thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut into bite size pieces
2/3 cup dashi (stock)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)

Cut potatoes in half, lengthwise
Fry cut-side down on medium in olive oil, tossing around for about 7-8 minutes
Add meat, cook until meat changes color
Add stock, carrot, sugar and shoyu
Cook uncovered until all liquid evaporates, stir once in awhile
Enjoy with rice

NOTES: I loved the sweet and salty combination and it came together quite quickly. Probably the thing that would take the longest is to make your dashi (stock), though I normally cheat and use dashi packets, which look like tea bags and are filled with konbu (kelp), katsuo bushi (bonito) & niboshi (dried small sardines).

If you can find dashi in these packets, I would highly recommend it, this method is fast and you don't have to go out to look for the individual ingredients.

It's Friday, hope you have a nice weekend!

kinpira

Usually when Satoshi eats dinner out, I buy something because I don't want to cook for one.

Actually the recipe I used, only uses carrot peelings, but I added gobo (since I had some that needed using), the whole carrot (unpeeled) & konnyaku (jellied devil's tongue).

This dish is easy to make because I use OXO's julienne gadget. Of course when I get close to the end of the piece I am shredding, I cut it myself, which results in some uneven pieces.

Looking through my archives I noticed that I have used different recipes to make kinpira.

For dinner, I bought some chicken and heated up some leftover rice. I topped my rice with some chirimen sansho (dried anchovies with Japanese pepper) and had some rakkyo (pickled scallions). A simple yet delicious dinner.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try making kinpira. (You can also look through my archives to see other recipes for kinpira.)

Kinpira adapted from "Soshoku no susume-Autumn" by Makuuchi Hideo.
Serves 2 (depending on your serving size)

1 gobo (burdock) about 8 inches long, scrubbed
1 carrot about 8 inches long, rinsed, unpeeled
1 package of konnyaku (100 grams)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
some sliced red chili
sesame seeds

Cut gobo and carrot to about the same length (about 3 inches long)
Julienne
Soak gobo in some water for a couple of minutes to take out bitterness, drain well
Rinse konnyaku, drain well
Heat a pan and add oil
Toss gobo, carrot, konnyaku in oil and coat
Add sugar, shoyu, sake, and chili
Cook until all liquid evaporates
Top with sesame seeds

Enjoy!

tandoori chicken and couscous

The weather has been getting cooler. Some days are beautiful and sunny while others are kind of gloomy and rainy.

I think Autumn is almost here. At the market, they have started bringing in the chestnuts and pears.

Not sure why I was craving tandoori chicken, but I was.

The last time I made this, there was a slight "problem" in the kitchen.

This time around everything went okay, except that my lack of counter space made for balancing things here and there.

I bought chicken breasts with the skins on this time and marinated them lunch. (since they should marinate for about 4 hours)

The market had an awesome sale on chicken, 48 yen for 100 grams, so I only paid 172 yen (about US$1.72) for 358 grams.

Then at about 15:00 (snack time), I flipped them over in the marinade.

Previously, the pieces I had were smaller with no skin, so I cooked them for only 10 minutes then under the broiler for 17.

Since the pieces I had this time had the skin on them and were thicker, I put them into a 350F (180C) oven (skin side up) for 30 minutes then under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

The skin came out so crisp (of course I had to eat the one I had for dinner!), the meat was very moist.

I also made some carrot salad and couscous with dried fig, cranberries, apricots and nuts (pine nuts, pecan & cashew). I also roasted some red bell pepper and onion. Since I had some cucumber to use up, I cut it up and added it to the plate.

Not the most aesthetic plate, overall it was kind of labor intensive, it was a tasty dinner, which made it all worth it, plus we have leftovers so I don't have to cook tomorrow.

from the french bistro (a.k.a. my kitchen)

Tuesday was French class. Monday night, I got my mind in gear by making some French foods for dinner...

Niçoise Salad, maguro (tuna), roasted red peppers, red leaf lettuce, steamed green beans, kalamata olives, a hard boiled egg and leftover roasted new potatoes.

I found the recipe for the dressing on the Food Network by Julia Child.

1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1/2 tablespoon dijon
1/2 tablespoon shallot, minced
1/2 cup olive oil

NOTES: I used spring onion instead of shallot and I cut the oil to 2.5 tablespoons, I didn't have anchovy filets so I added some anchovy paste (1/2 teaspoon) to the dressing. The dressing was light and delicious. I used a tablespoon of the dressing per salad. For the tuna, I coated it with a spice mix I had for making blackened fish and cooked each side for about 10 seconds.

Carottes râpées au miel (grated carrots with honey).

I found this recipe in Joanne Harris' "The French Market". It is different from the carrot salad that I have made in the past. This one uses sesame oil, honey and paprika.

Serves 6

1.5 pounds carrots
3 tablespoons clover honey
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon asian dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
sea salt to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, a mixture of white and black seeds

Peel the carrots and grate them into a bowl.
Mix together the honey, vinegar, sesame oil, paprika, salt and pepper.
Add to the carrots and mix well.
Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour to infuse the flavors.
Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds and serve.

NOTES: this was delicious. I used sweet paprika instead of smoked and I used only black sesame seed because that was all I had. I also used the honey that I had which was from Okinawa. I zapped 2 large carrots in the food processor, poured everything into a ziploc container and shook it. Before serving, I tossed it with metal tongs.

C'est bon! (Delicious!)

eat your veggies (and some fish)

Dinner for the past couple of days was an assortment of different fish and veggies.

On my bowl of rice was kugini (which literally means simmered nails), ikanago (Japanese sand lance) is simmered in shoyu (soy sauce), ginger, sugar, mirin (sweet rice wine), sake (rice wine) & mizuame (starch syrup, like corn syrup) until it is caramelized.

This is a famous dish in Kobe, many families have their own variation of the dish. This is usually seen in the stores during Spring. Apparently there was a large oil spill in the waters off of Kobe recently, so the ikanago is quite sparse this year and the price of kugini is said to be expensive.

With some gobo (burdock) I had sitting in the refrig, I made kinpira. The hardest and most time consuming part of this recipe was whittling the gobo.

Kinpira from Hideo Makuuchi's "Soshoku no susume": Spring recipes : Serves 2 or more depending on your serving size

1 gobo (burdock), about 40 cm long (about 15 in) whittled
1 carrot, julienned
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
sliced chili pepper
sesame seeds

Heat a pan, add oil
Add the gobo and carrots, coat well in oil
Add sake, mirin, shoyu and chili and cook until liquid evaporates.
Top with sesame seeds.

The second dish I found on Obachan's blog. She has lots of delicious adventures in Kochi, Shikoku. If you have a chance you should check her site out.

This recipe uses Spring cabbage which is in season now. Spring cabbage is different from the normal cabbage you see in the store because the leaves are tender. Her recipe uses the microwave but since I don't normally use the microwave, I made this on the stove.

Spring Cabbage Tuna Salad : Serves 2 or more depending on your serving size.
1/4 spring cabbage
1 can tuna, drained
2 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
ra-yu (chili oil), to taste
sesame seed

Cut cabbage into bite sized pieces and wash.
Add to a heated non-stick pan and cook for about 3 minutes.
During the 3 minutes, cover to steam, stir and check until cabbage starts to wilt.
Add the tuna, honey, shoyu and mix well.
Add ra-yu, I added about 7 drops.
Top with sesame seeds.

In the small dish was rakkyo. Lately we've been hooked on these bambucha (huge) rakkyo (pickled scallions) from Miyazaki prefecture.

I liked these dishes, it was a great way to get in my veggies and some fish.

It is Spring, though the temperature here feels more like Winter...what have you been eating for dinner?

using more kinoko

Recently on La Fuji Mama, she posted about a creamy pasta that is a favorite in their household.

This reminded me that I hadn't made this recipe in awhile. I also had bought some Italian parsley that I wanted to use up.

Since kinoko (mushrooms) are in season here, I decided to adjust the recipe to accommodate some kinoko.

I lessened the amount of pancetta and added a package of shimeji (tricoloma) & a package of maitake (hen of woods).

We had the pasta with some carrot salad topped with marinated onions.

It was a great Sunday dinner.

simple is delicious

Daiei had a great sale the other day. Almost all their veggies were 99 yen each! Sweet potatoes, eringi mushrooms, nasubi (eggplant), green beans...99 yen a package (about US$.99). Oh and gobo (burdock root) too. (There was more things on sale, but these were the veggies I bought.)

One of the benefits of having a hot, non-typhoon summer is that the veggies/fruit are plentiful...I'm so thankful that they are passing the lower prices down to the consumer, and not trying to be greedy to make a buck.

Friday was raining all day, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. The guys from the window shop came to fix the window in the afternoon. Within 30 minutes (or less) they had changed the glass...zip...zap with their power tools...speedy! (Thank you!)

As it got closer to dinner time, I didn't feel much like cooking, but wanted something comforting, so I did something simple.

Did you know I only have one big pot? Everytime I cook something, I have to think of what order things need to be done. For example, if I make pasta, I need to boil the pasta before making the sauce, or I won't have a pot to boil the pasta in if I made the sauce first. Maybe a little troublesome, but I don't really have all that much space for a lot of pots or pans.

Anyway, I steamed the green beans first. Then I whittled some gobo, sliced a nasubi, cut up eringi and chopped some sweet potato. Threw everything except the green beans into the pot with some water, brought it to a boil and when everything was soft, I added several teaspoons of miso (soy bean paste).

The miso that I use has dashi (stock) blended in with it. Saves a step of having to make your own dashi before making miso soup.

Since I still had some green onion on the veranda, I cut some up to garnish.

This soup really hit the spot!

I also made a salad with the green beans and some leftover shredded carrots, heated up some leftover rice and topped it with a big umeboshi (pickled plum).

Simple is delicious.

UPDATE: I've sent this soup to join Deb's Souper Sundays. Check out her blog on Sunday for the full round-up.

kinoko and kaki

It is mushroom season here. The supermarkets are filled with all sorts of different kinoko (mushrooms).

Satoshi had to work on Saturday, so I made dinner. I used to meet him in Umeda for dinner, but his job doesn't always end on time, and sometimes I would have to wait until 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm, so instead of waiting around for him to finish, I started making dinner so that I can eat when I was hungry.

Saturday's dinner was beer clams...except that I used white wine and added some maitake (hen of woods) mushrooms. I served them on toasted french bread. (The best part was dipping the toasted bread into the sauce...)

I also made some carrot cucumber salad and marinated some red onion and red bell pepper in the mustard seed vinaigrette.

Monday's dinner was adapted from the French Market.

Pork with eringi and porcini mushrooms (Serves 2)
213 grams (7.5 ounces) thinly sliced pork
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 eringi mushrooms, thinly sliced
handful of dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted, saving some of the mushroom "juice" (strained)
pinch of dried garlic slices
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
flat leaf parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the thinly slice pork.
In another pan, heat the other tablespoon of oil and add the mushrooms.
Cook the mushrooms for about 4 minutes then add the vinegar and garlic.
Add the mushroom mixture to the pork after the pork is no longer pink.
Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with flat leaf.

Serve on toasted french bread (again dipping the bread in the sauce was the best!).

Simple and delicious.

It is also kaki (persimmon) season here. Recently my MIL gave us 3 bambucha (huge) kaki...each was about 300 grams (about 10 ounces).

Actually, I've never purchased kaki in the supermarkets because I didn't really like them. I think I've had persimmon in the past that was not ripe and really hard.

But after eating them over the past couple of days, they sort of reminded me of ripened papaya. I'll try picking some up the next time I'm in the supermarket.

We've started the weekend early here, be back to tell you about it soon.

from parsley comes...

The weather has been gradually getting cooler. Not humid as much and bearable. The plants apparently appreciate the cooler weather too because my Italian parsley got really bushy.

After the downpour on Friday morning, I decided to seek out lunch and go grocery shopping.

Since I had potatoes, I thought I would use part of the parsley for potato salad.

Cooked 3 small potatoes until tender then peeled them and cut them kind of chunky. Cut a bit of onion and grated it.
Sliced some cucumber thin and added salt and let them sit for 5 minutes then rinsed and squeezed them.
Added 2 slices of crispy bacon, broken up into bits.
Added 1 tablespoon of sweet pickle juice, 2 teaspoons mayo and several tablespoons of Penzey's Green Goddess dressing*
Chopped up a little handful of parsley.
Mixed well and chilled until dinner.

*I got part of the Penzey's Green Goddess dressing mix from my mom when I was home earlier this year. The mix is easy to put together, just some vinegar, water and yogurt or mayo. I used yogurt. We've been enjoying this dressing with cucumber and carrot sticks.

From my rice connection, I also received some eggplants (thank you!), so I decided to use them and some carrots in this recipe. My food processor is really teeny so it took me several batches to blend the soup, and there were some chunks that missed out on the food processing, but it was great, especially with some toasted sesame bread.

For dessert, I melted some dark chocolate to drizzle pour over some haupia...whew! that was a lot of food, but it was all good.

Satoshi is at work today, so it is just another day at home for me, hope you are enjoying your weekend.

sigh....

Luckily, these carrot cupcakes were disastrous the day before Satoshi's staff came for lunch.

Not sure what I did wrong because they came out okay two weeks ago. I felt crappy about throwing them out because ingredients are expensive and there are people in areas of the world who aren't eating real meals.

All in all, the party was great, I added spicy garlic soybeans to the menu and resorted to apple-blueberry crisp for dessert.

Hope you have a great week.

carrot cupcakes

Last year we had some of Satoshi's staff over. Since he has a large department, we broke the group down to about 10 per gathering.

Sunday, we had some of Satoshi's staff over for lunch. I made Spicy Poke, Taco Dip, Szechuan salt & pepper shrimp and Kim chee gyoza, but we ran out of food!

For dessert, I also made carrot cupcakes using a Food Network recipe, I'll have to tweak the baking time though, the cupcakes came out quite dry.

I guess for the next party in two weeks, I need to add another dish or two.