Lascivious

I made this the other day, and it was really good! From Orange Page 12/02/10 issue.


Bulgogi style daikon and pork

Ingredients (2 people)
Daikon...one half (about 500 g)
Thin sliced pork belly...100 gr
Garlic chives...half a bunch
Mochi...3 blocks

Sauce:
gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)...1 1/2 Tbsp
miso, shoyu...1 tsp each
sake, sesame seeds, sugar, sesame oil...1 Tbsp each

Directions

1) Cut the daikon into 3 cm rounds, peel, then cut 1 cm vertically and 1 cm horizonally. Put on a plate, cover a wet paper towel and plastic wrap, then microwave for 3 minutes.
Cut off ends of garlic chives then cut into 3 cm pieces. Cut mochi into 3 cm pieces. Cut the meat into 2 cm pieces. Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

2) Heat 1 Tbsp of sesame oil in a pan, then cook the meat in it. Once it's changed color, add the daikon, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until the daikon has softened, then add the mochi and the sauce and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Once the mochi is soft, add the garlic chives and stir it all around. Put on a plate and sprinkle with some sesame seeds. Eat with white rice.

(618 calories, 2.3 g of salt per person)

In my search for what to make for dinner tonight, I came across this lovely food blog by charmingly handsome Irish food bloog/cook, Donel Skehan.

The photos are gorgeous and the recipes look delicious. I'm really excited to try some of these.

My favs so far:

Avocado, Parmesan, and Rocket Pasta

Crispy Hasselback Potatoes

Marshmellow Mermaid Pie

Chili, Lime and Garlic Prawns

Mini beef and mushroom pies

ETA: Apparently there's a reason Donel is charmingly handsome. He's also a member of the chart-topping Irish pop group, Industry.

I can't believe it's November already! Fall is a bit of a confusing thing here in the East Bay - it tends to be the warmest months of the year, which means you can find yourself in shorts and a t-shirt in late October! Today, for example, I sat out for lunch in only a sundress. But the actually realities of the local climate aside, November means Fall, especially to an girl born and raised in the East Coast, like me. No matter how many years I've been here (four as of yesterday!) I can't shake that image of Fall: a chill in the air, vibrant sunsets, that dry smell of leaves, crisp red apples, thick wool sweaters, and hot cider.

Thanks to Nigel Slater's column in the guardian, I've been indulging in a good old fashion autumnal mood. I just want to go home and bake his toasted hazelnut cookies.

Soy Milk Nabe

Ingredients
Thinly Sliced Pork (shabu shabu)...200 g
Hiki-age yuba*...4 pieces
Enoki mushrooms...one pack
lettuce...half a head
Dashi...3 cups

A Sake...2 Tbs
Light soy sauce...1 Tbs
salt...1 tsp

soy milk...2 cups
pepper...scant
shichimi tougarashi...scant

Preparation

1. Cut the yuba into 1 cm pieces
2. Cut off the stems of the enoki, and cut out the core of the lettuce and then cut the lettuce into 1 cm pieces.
3. Boil the dash in the pot, add A, add the meat and when it's changed color, add the yuba and simmer until soft.
4. Add the lettuce and simmer on low until soft.
5. Add the soy milk and bring to a boil again, then add the pepper and shichimi and eat.

TIPS

Cook the veggies and meat in the dashi. When soy milk gets to hot it can separate, so cooking the food through first makes this dish taste better.

Put in the soy milk after the ingredients are cooked. Dont' let the soy milk get too hot, it should be just warm enough not to get cold while you're eating.


* Yuba is made from soy milk skin.

recipe from Atsu!Atsu!Ninki no nabemono 101, published by shufu no tomo.

Oooh. This salad looks sooo good. Fresh figs, buffalo mozz, parma ham and ressing of balsamic vinegar, honey, lemon juice and black pepper. <3 WANT.

Also: Apple Tart with Lavender Cream

Oooh Fish Baked in Salt</>. I've made that before, but not Jamie's recipe. Infused salt sounds like a good idea.

Moving on from Jame to Serious Eats:

Korean Roasted Fish Looks so good!

There is a Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama. How did I not know that? I went to Shin-Yokohama all the time for dance class. I wanna go to it!!

Last night I spent most of the evening watching Kat-tun's new Queen of Pirates concert. It was quite an amusing way to spend an evening sick, as it was by turns hot, cool, ridiculous, cringe-worthy and hysterical. I have a newfound respect for Bakanishi. Who knew he could sing so well? (I mean really in Johnny's terms, he's incredible.)

I also read Brendon/Brian Kinney - something I never thought would work, but it worked so so well. Guh.

I talked to my mom on the phone and she told me about an article about spicy South Asian soups to help get rid of colds in yesterday's NY Times.

Hank e-mailed me the recipes. This one sounds so good I just want to make it right now!

How lucky am I that I have the Bowl, where I can get things like lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and probably fresh turmeric too? Maybe I will make this this weekend!!

( Soto Ayam (Indonesian Chicken Soup With Noodles and Aromatics) )