Waiter! There's a horsetail on my rice!

 

[Written while in Japan. Likely in March 2010, our final year there.]

Today I arrived at work and DH's assistant, A-san, had a small glass of water on her desk in which was a single stem of something I could not identify. She was so very pleased with it, though, and told me it was quite"natsukashii" (nostalgic) and brought back happy childhood memories. The plant is called "tsukushi". I kept thinking she was calling it beautiful (which is a letter/sound or two away: "utsukushii"). She would say, "Tsukushi." and I would nod, "Yes, it's nice.", thinking "beautiful" was a little over the top on this one. "Delicate" maybe, but "beautiful"? It's always a lovely adventure in mis-communication, shall be to the end, it seems.
Soon O-san, the lady at the next desk, came around the cubicle and began making over the little stem in similar ways. "Ooooo. Ahhh. Natsukashii, na?" [Ooooo. Ahhh. Nostalgic, isn't it?] So, apparently it's a big hit here. Also, edible, once properly prepared.

The thing was so small, no more than five inches long, I can hardly imagine prepping for cooking without destroying it altogether. I was told the plant appears in the Spring of the year and is generally cooked, being seasoned with soy sauce and sugar, then served over rice. My web search brought me to find that it is called "horsetail" in English. So, we DO have it. Who knew? Well, I direct you to another's blog for more of the lowdown and a more natural setting for the photo shoot, than A-san's desk. .... but....

Before you head out...look a little closer and see if you agree, my mistaken hearing was not SUCH a mistake after all...
The tip of the plant in this macro shot (same plant as above) looks like something outside the Rockefeller Center in a different season, don't you think?

Do I plan to go horsetail gathering later today? Ummmh. I think I'll pass on that. But you let me know if you visit down by the freight yard and run across any. ;o)

TGIF .... Thank Goodness Its FRYday....

STIR fry, that is.   Originally written while in Japan ... May 2010

In  a stir fry production, meat becomes a supporting cast member without insisting on being center stage. Meat in stir fry is a flavoring agent, like onion or garlic. In the example below I did not use tofu, but tofu would have been a nice addition. You can suit your taste, and choose your favorites in vegetables, meats, sauces.

Once I read that stir fry was a the poor man's cooking method. It requires so little in the way of meat, or oil for that matter...even fuel, since it is quickly cooked. So, for penny OR "yen"ny pinching, it's an excellent choice.

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Day 1 Stir Fry

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Burdock, carrots, red onion, green pepper in a small amount of oil over medium high flame,

then push to the side and add beef (or meat of choice) and cook till done; 

Rule of thumb is to start cooking the root vegetables, or ones that tend to need a little more time first, then add thin sliced meat, Cooking at med high heat, with a sprinkling of salt substitute and pepper.

Stack in bean sprouts and cook till they start to become translucent;

add in the rest (mushrooms, peapods, red cabbage, and minced garlic)...or your choice of quick cooking veggies

 and that's almost it!

Sauce on the side, a plate full of  rice,

Tomorrow's leftovers will also be nice!

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Day 2 Stir Re-fry!

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This part is easy, and quick as a wink.

Fry two cups rice in small amount of oil till it begins browning, 
beat two eggs and cook that till done,

Now stir in the stir-fry leftovers,

heating through. Serve with sauce of choice.

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 We do these stir fries with minimal seasoning. If you want to make your stir fry taste more like Japanese cooking, you could add a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, a teaspoon or so of sugar, and maybe some rice wine vinegar to the meat, letting it soak while you cook the root vegetables. If you cannot find burdock, you might use lotus root, or bamboo shoots. Larger food stores will have an Asia Foods section with canned bamboo, if you cannot find it fresh.

What are your favorite stir fry combos? Any "must have"s?  If we don't have an onion, stir fry falls right off the options list.

Chicken Enchiladas

It might be difficult to imagine a less appetizing appearing food than Chicken Enchiladas unadorned. Well... enough said about that. 

These were prepared using a web-found recipe. In an attempt to dress them up a bit I used one of those small snacking sweet peppers that are showing up in the produce section of late, along with the usual spring onion snippings. 

There's really nothing more to say about this beyond the fact that I always put off making this meal because I think it will be too involved. And I always think, once it's in the oven, it was not really difficult at all. It's a great company coming meal, but is also nice for just the two of us... providing leftovers and freezables.

Millennial Meatballs

Okay. By now does that sound futuristic or passe? The title comes from the fact that the recipe herein came from my daughter's Home Ec class back in the Y2K scare era. It is very basic, and fine as a stand alone meatball. I'm sure it could be used with various sauces to suit a wide array of purposes. So, here you go, straight from my "Let's Cooking With Mom" cookbook: 

Notice the smaller, boxed ingredient list is for two pounds of meat, while the lower listing is for only one pound. One pound's worth is plenty for leftovers around here, these days, but it is nice to have the math already done... speaking for myself.

Oh! I used up some soon-to-expire yogurt making these the other night. Just did an equal amount substitution for the milk listed.

Recycling the photo below, but those are the meatballs from the same night I made the squash salad, so... there you go.

In A Move, You Never Know What Might Turn Up!* and **

I attribute my taste for turnips and turnip greens to having been served them early in life. Maybe there's more to it than that, though. It is like the smell of a geranium, you either like it or you don't. I find both the taste of the turnip and the smell of the geranium earthy... in  a satisfying, basic way.

Hankering for turnips and wanting to not be the only one at the table who would eat them, I was glad to find an interesting take on them.

Adjusting downward for my small stash stealthily slipped into our shopping cart at the import store not to be noticed by un-enthused husband until check-out, and settling on the already-on-hand fresh herb sweet basil for the recipe's herb, jubilantly recalling I had a packet of apple cider mix that I had run across in the pantry (probably vintage 2004-ish), using some pre-cooked bacon from the freezer,  half a Fuji apple purchased at that little fruit and veggie shop on the west side of the station, thisBasil Bacon Fuji Turnip Dish came together without a hitch. The man's big complement at meal's end was:

"If a person for some reason must eat a turnip, this is probably one of the less offensive ways to prepare it."

"If a person for some reason must eat a turnip, this is probably one of the less offensive ways to prepare it."

Success! (For him, regarding turnips, this is high praise, indeed.)

Oh! What surfaced in the move besides the old recipe? Well, for one, that ancient cider packet, and then also the  brand new notion that if I prepare turnips as the first "at home" meal, and we don't have to spend money eating out, there was just the chance that the meal would be consumed rather than "passed" on, altogether. Part of the ploy was to have no alternatives. i.e. this side dish was the main attraction. Yes, relocation weariness made for kitchen intrepidity. Woot!

The HOW TO is basically: Peel and quarter the turnips, cooking them in apple cider with a bit of butter and still less sugar. I used 1 Tablespoon butter, and a teaspoon sugar for three turnips...simmering in half the pack of prepared apple cider. I peeled and sliced a Fuji apple. Next was two slices bacon, cooked and  chopped. When the turnips are still firm, but can be pierced with a toothpick or fork, you add the apples, and continue to cook till the cider reduces to a syrupy glaze. Mine never quite reached THAT level, but I like the "soup" it made. Salt fresh ground pepper pair for the perfect basic seasonings; last thing is adding the bacon and chopped herb (just a couple of leaves of basil did it for us). 

Next move:  parsnips!  (Perhaps?)

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*The reicpe had been given to me by a fellow gaijin ("outside person"; foreigner; non-Japanese) whose husband managed a computer store down town. She often saw me come into the store with my husband and so began giving me outdated  magazines whenever we came in. I think she was Filipino. The store is no longer there, though I've seen her again at its new locale.

** This blog first appeared in June of 2010 as my blog post on Allrecipes.com (AR) under my AR name, Hezzy-tant-Cook...aka "Hezzy". When AR changed ownership the contributing members' blogs were eventually removed. 

In the Shadow of a Promise Derailed*

Seven months ahead of the stock market crash of 1929, my grandparents and many Americans associated a phrase in one of Herbert Hoover's 1928 campaign of prosperity ads, "a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard to boot." as a sign of a progressively upward trend for the economy. 

Granddaddy was a bricklayer and by '29 he had moved his little family with wife and two young boys from the country to the big city, following the building boom that soon fizzled with the crash. Granny became bread winner, taking in laundry, and sewing detailed baby smocks and pillowcases with tatted lace edges for those who could still afford frills.

It was while living in the shadow of the promise derailed, they began enjoying "chicken sandwiches". The "chicken sandwiches" of which I speak were just biscuits, split, buttered and sprinkled with black pepper. I used to think my parents had lost their minds when they remembered and revived the "chicken sandwich" at our dinner table years later.

By the way, web research says Herbert Hoover never uttered those words, but that they were put out there by the party in campaign mode. So maybe the promise was never made by an individual, so much as by a group. Further, one site suggested another political "H" as the source of the "chicken in every pot" portion of the quote: Henry IV, 17th century beloved king of France is quoted as having wished his peasants might enjoy "a chicken in his pot every Sunday".

Does anyone else remember a Great Depression era food tradition? (Also, was our family the only one that did the "chicken sandwich"?) Meanwhile, pass the pepper, please. I got a "chicken sandwich" waiting on me here.

* This article first appeared in 2010 as part of my Allrecipes blog Chopsticks in the Kitchen.  Ultimately, when the  Allrecipes (AR) site was sold, the new owners removed all the contributing cooks' blogs.

 AR  remains a good place to search for recipes, but those of us who had "gathered" there to chat on the member exchange page and read and write blogs still miss the previous owners' format. Friendships were made...real ones. People actually met in homes, traveling across states to gather. International connections were made as well.  We prayed for one another during crisis, and rejoiced with one another in even the smallest successes. Some have continued to connect via FB. 

Out of Africa

It is so pretty, the taste is just a bonus!

     This recipe was shared with us by a friend who said it is original to Malawi, where it is often served, but only with chicken on special occasions. The pastor and his wife were coming for dinner, and that seemed special enough to me; so, chicken was added to the stewing tomatoes, celery and onions before seasoning all with curry and pepper. The final addition to the pot was cream, after which it was heated just to the edge of boiling.

     We serve this over rice. Of course, what makes the meal fun is choosing from a myriad of toppings. This time we had the following on hand:

• Pineapple tidbits
• Mandarin oranges
• Bananas, chopped and dipped in Fruit Fresh
• Apples, chopped and dipped in salt water bath
• Carrots, shredded
• Green peas
• Baby red bell pepper slices
• Peanuts
• Flaked coconut
• Spring onion, snipped
• Yogurt (plain)
• Thai sweet/hot sauce

Not pictured: peanuts, coconut, Thai hot sauce.