Umami Squared

Posted on August 21, 2011 by admin

My weekly basket included a bag of baby shiitakes and some okra. Looking in the pantry I saw a can of butter beans and the freezer gave up a fat rib eye. The okra was my biggest challenge, having only fried it in the past and I was determined to find a different method that would produce a non-slimy side dish. I found a couple recipes that recommended cutting them in half and cooking them in a hot, cast iron skillet with a variety of different spices. That sounded simple and good so I started to ponder the rest of … Continue reading →

A Very Japanese Fourth of July

Posted on July 4, 2011 by admin

I don’t even remember what we did on the 4th this year, but looking at the photo for that meal, I’m assuming I cooked a lot and then maybe went to bed in a salty-induced coma. I do recall that I had been embarking on making my own, home-made tofu. For the first step I had soaked the soy beans, ground them and strained them to make the soy milk. I then heated it slowly until a skin formed on the top and carefully lifted it off and onto a plate. It is like a very delicate noodle and that … Continue reading →

RIBEYE!

Posted on April 14, 2011 by admin

I can’t believe it took us this long to cook up some ribeye after Meatless March. I suppose the bulgolgi should count, but it just isn’t the same as some grilled chunks of BEEF. Our remaining pickins were slim so we took out the bokchoy and some pork and shrimp dumplings and sesame pancakes I had gotten at H Mart. Odd, but good and the only real tragedy was dropping, and shattering the bowl of two small remaining pieces of meat on the way to the fridge. I swear it must have looked like I was just aiming for, and … Continue reading →

Thanks, H Mart

Posted on April 10, 2011 by admin

We took a trip to H Mart yesterday, a large and impressive Korean grocery store in Aurora. The entrance is flanked by all manner of specialized electronic gizmos from humidifiers shaped like frogs, to $400 rice cookers to a whole row of kimchi refrigerators. I am always tempted by such machines, but force myself to keep walking toward the homemade tofu stand, the heart-stopping, loud and dangerous-looking machine which periodically explodes out rice cracker things and endless rows of produce. I had no real agenda, so I just pushed the shopping cart (the best kid car cart there is, where … Continue reading →