AL's RECIPES

Main Dishes

Chicken/Poultry
Fajita Chicken
Spicy Peanut Chicken
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken Mole Sandwich
Parmesan Chicken
Midevial Chicken Salad
Soysauce & Balsamic Chicken
Penguin Chicken
Turkey Baking Basics

Japanese
Oden
Okonomiyaki
Tofu & Moyashi Itame
Age-dofu
Renkon Nimono
Simple Udon/Soba recipe
Mochi

Beef
Shepherd's Cheeseburger Pie

Lamb
Lebanese Lamb Stew

Pastas
Takenoko Pasta
Cold Tomato & Basil Pasta
Quick Tuna Pasta

Rice
Basil Rice

Beans/Lentils
Jamaican Rice & Peas

Eggs
Italian tomato & egg torta

Pies, Tarts, Cakes & desserts

Pie Crusts
Basic Pie Crust
Cookie crumb crust

Non Bake Pies
Avocado Pie
Irish Cream Pie
Grasshopper Pie
Mom's Cheesecake
coconut cream pie
pumpkin chiffon pie
Peanut butter Torte

Baked Pies
Fresh Pumpkin Pie
Honey Crunch Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Pear & peach Galette
Buttermilk Cheesecake
*Caramel Pumpkin pie

Tarts
French Pear Almond Tart

Cakes
Bill's Big Carrot Cake
Cinnamon Chocolate Cake
German Chocolate cake
Vanilla Poppy Seed cake
Caramel Peanut topped brownie cake

Other
Coconut & Cardomon Rice Cereal
Sweet Potatoe Cassarole
Berry Cobbler
Coconut Bread Pudding

Cookies
Cardamom Sugar Cookies
Four Spice Cookies
Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Pistachio Cookies

Frozen Desserts
Olive Oil Ice Cream
Frozen Yogurts
Watermelon Sorbet
Frozen Bananas (rocket science)

Salads & Vegetables
Chilled eggplant salad
Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
Corgettes & carrots "a scapece"
Tomato & Mozzarella salad
Coleslaw
Apple Shiso Salad
Breaded Cauliflour
Hashbrowns
Sticky Saucepan Carrots


Breads, biscuits & scones
Maine Pumpkin bread
savory scones
Pancakes
Al's messed up stuffing
Honey Nut Scones
Apple Muffins
Soup Dumplings
Pumpkin Muffins
Corn Fritters

Yeast breads
Focaccia
Sticky Cinnamon Rolls

Drinks
Avocado Milkshake
Rum & Coconut Water
Coco C0pacabana
Thai Me Down
Ves-Frenchie's Chill Pill
Macha Ole
Lemon Mint Green Tea

Soups
Basic Poultry soup stock
celery soup
Iced tomato & bell pepper soup with salsa verde
Roasted Pumkin Garlic Soup
Carrot & Miso Soup
Carrot & Ginger Soup

Side dishes/Sauces
Avocado Salsa
Miso Mayo Dip
Pesto
Pumpkin Seeds
Applesauce
Pesto Mayo
Labne (Yogurt cheese)
Caramel Sauce

Quick Fix #1 -- Tofu Moyashi Itame

Simple food is really the greatest. There’s nothing that irritates me more than a cookbook full of recipes with a list of ingrients and instructions as long as an obi. So I figure I ought to share some of my favorite quick recipes.

I dare not wax poetic or grab a soap-box but you don’t need a lot to make something wonderful. I think that’s why I find Japanese home cooking & Italian home cooking to be so wonderful. ---Simplicity!!

I just had to post this ultra-simple-cheap-healthy recipe, and really, for all of us in Japan, this couldn’t be a friendlier meal. This has become a staple lunch at my house.

They call moyashi, “poor man’s veggie”. But you couldn’t possibly get a more nutrition packed food. (I shall not rant!) Suffice it to say, if I had only 200Y to feed my family on a day, Moyashi would be the daily veggie offering. So here it goes. Credit goes to “Harumi’s Home Cooking” cook book. This recipe is easy enough to make on the fly after a few tries. Here’s how it goes:

3 tbsp of goma oil & 2 of cooking oil
5 packs of momen-dofu (cotton type, you know, the kind that no one seems to like)
2 packs of moyashi
2 heads of chingensai (optional but, worth it!!)
4 blocks of bullion crushed or 2 tbsp of consume (gosh, I hope ambie doesn’t read this)
Salt, pepper & shoyu (to taste)
3 Tbsp shiro goma
Now for the disclaimer about the moyashi. Generally Japanese “top & tail” the moyashi. I’ll admit that it’s mostly cosmetic, but then again the actual sprout of bean has very little nutritional value in it. (most of it is in the stem) So, that being said, if I have the time (sometimes when I’m doing school w/ the kids in the morning). I’ll admit it’s neurotic but I love it.

To prepare the chingensai. Separate the white, thick stem from the leafy green. And cut the stem into 3-4 strips.

Open the tofu & drain it in a sieve. (if you wrap it in kitchen paper it helps keep it together) this is an IMPORTANT STEP: Drain for at LEAST 30 min. to get rid of excess liquid.

Put the goma oil in the pan & put the heat on HIGH. Didja hear that? HIGH!! Then break up the tofu with your hands (aren’t we so rustic) & fry it till it’s sizzling & golden. This will take about 15 min or so. You only have to stir it every once in awhile to get it to “unstuck” to the pan. (if you are using Teflon)
Move the tofu to a bowl, & put 2 tbsp of oil in the pan (lower heat to medium) & put in the chingensai stems & moyashi. Fry for about 1 min. Now drain out any liquid in the tofu & throw the tofu back in. Here's my "handy-dandy-bullion-crushing-instrument-of-science".

Add bullion powder/salt/pepper/shoyu (be liberal, my friends) add leaves of chingensai & fry a minute or two more &, Voila! Top w/ crushed white goma….or not!

Friends, you can’t get much healthier than this. Approximately 1/2 of my children are crazy about this.

Minor important note: Be careful not to try this with silky tofu (kinugoshi-tofu) or you’ll end up w/ a big mess when you fry it. Unless you dig that “soupy-over-cooked-mushy-tofu” look. Ewww!!

Oh lookie.....A link!

I finally found someone I wanted to have my blog linked to. This blog is meant to be a mass of mangled culinary thoughts mashed together like some fantastic Finnish summer veggie soup. And creative genius doesn't come without a price, and that is that it's about 2 steps shy of raging lunatic. Eh-hum. It's a lonely road

So all that to say, I now have a link. I'm not sure where this guy came from. All I know is, my children think that he once fell into a toilet & I'm pretty sure that he could whip cream/knead dough/mash potatoes & carry a 50 L pot of boiling water & pasta with one arm better than any of you. Respect, YO!!

My fellow foodies, I salute the "Muscle n' Meals" man.....JUNIOR. Check it out. Great photography credit goes to Christian. None of this, "one armed mom snapping blurry pics wildly while giving a spelling test" business.

Jr. seems like he's a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen. There is nothing I admire more than someone who dedicates time & energy to an art that at the end of the day ends up in someones intestines. And....he tackles Thai. So 3 cheers for you. I will frequent.

Chicken Mole Sandwich

If someone handed you a 2 kg bag of enourmous chuncks of chocolate what would you do with it? I take it back, I don't want to know.

Truth be told, I’m not terribly fond of making “chocolate” related foods. When it comes to cocao I like it dark & bitter & plain. I don’t actually love chocolate cake, I rarely "crave" chococlate infused sweets that much, I’m not even terribly fond of working with the stuff. Of course I went through the chocolate leaves, chocolate curls phase, but that was more like a science experiment. To be honest, I like something that won’t melt at body temperature. (Baker’s hands not Pastry hands)

My son asked me why we don't eat the cacao bean straight, so I launched into a diatribe about where chocolate came from & how the Incas first used it and how the Westerners first defiled it etc…. It is then that I am hit with a lightning bolt of creativity from the Food God. (Bless his name) I crack open my 100Y Better Homes & Garden’s Grilling Book (Basically a manual for manly men who like to stand outside in a haze of smoke from a burn pit with tongs in one hand & a beer in the other) and find this:

“Would you believe chocolate & Mexican Chili peppers could taste this good?”

So I checked my heart:

4 Chicken Breasts (check)
Giant bag of chocolate (check)
Empty agenda except baby, dinner & oldest 3 kids for school (check-check and double check)

So it basically went like this, this is not word for word “by the books” but this is how it worked for me:

For the Mole
- 1 onion diced
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 (not Mexican but Korean) dried, deseeded & minced peppers
- 2 tbsp oil
- 85 grams of chocolate
- 1 c water

So you fry the onion & garlic in a skillet till tender & then add the pepper & water. When that comes to a simmer add the chocolate. Oh….there it goes….can’t turn back now. Simmer uncovered for about 3-5 min till it’s thick & throw in the blender & BLEND, baby!

Now stand there with a gleeful smile on your face as your whole household comes down one by one to try to “bum” chocolate off of you & instead discover that you mixed it with garlic. Nya ha ha!!

So the rest is easy as pie:

Set about 2 tbsp of the “mole mix” aside for each Chicken breast. Now cut a slit in your chicken breast horizontal like. This I enjoyed immensely. If you use a sharp knife you can slit the chicken starting at the fatest side & bring the knife around in a half circle but still only leaving a 2 inch incision where the knife when in. Next (forceps, nurse), spoon the chocolate mole into the chicken. Lather the reserved mole mixture on the bottom of the chicken breast (the side without the skin) & then grill on medium low or BBQ. Don’t ask me about timing cuz’ I always just wing it but it should take about 10 min for each side. Add more sauce when you turn it. And I don't know about YOU, but I like my grilled food with a little bit of a burn, makes me feel like I BBQ'd it for real.
Good Lord, that looks great!

Lastly, after you take it off the flame, let it rest for about 30 min. (Ain’t it exhausting being a chicken?)

Now for the avocado spread:

2 avocados
½ c mayo
½ lemon
s&p

Do I really need to tell you what to do with that? Keep it chuncky & adjust accordingly. I would’ve added a bit of EV olive oil even.

Now, slice & serve as a sandwich with some bread or Buns, (this is the recipe “all purpose” buns for burgers, works out pretty good) tomatoes & lettuce & avocado spread, I even reserved some of the extra chocolate mole sauce & put that in my sandwich too. And by gosh-golly, I was darn-tootin’ happy with myself. Between serving seconds & feeding mashed grossness to the Muncher, I thought it was a great sandwich.

Spring has Sprung!

If you don't have dirt......get some! If you can't get some....well....remember the "Sandbox" story?

The real point is BASIL. If you haven't yet go get a tiny basil plant, find a sunny place & put it in some dirt & think happy thoughts towards it as you wait till it's big enough to devour. NYA HA HA!!!

If you never ever plant a thing in your life, do this one thing for yourself, your kitchen & your well-being....... plant a little basil. OKEY?

As for me & my house, we're going to try for cherry tomatoes for the kids, though I don't have enough growing space we'll try to break out the planters & stakes & hope for some cute little baby tomatoes to cool us down this summer.

Don't that just make you feel happy?

Bill's Big Carrot Cake!

It's big, it's Bill's, and it's a carrot cake! No more of this oil laiden Concoction to dispose of the excess carrots. This cake is the REAL deal. Imagine people actually “requesting” carrot cake for their birthday? Well, maybe I suffer from “bad-carrot-cake-memory” syndrome. But this cake is really the King of all. Not for the fainthearted. Credit goes to Dorie Greenspan from her book "From My Kitchen to Yours" (Memo: Beware this book will blind you for life! Don't ever read it. Some of my kids would look at the pictures for Parent time till I realized they were getting hyper from just LOOKING at all that sugar.). Of course we must not forget to give credit to Bill. Acording to her book he was (now deceased) a family friend who would bring this over everytime he came visit. (Man, I need a visitor like that!)

Originally "Bill’s Big Carrot cake", we have digressed to calling it “Big Bill’s”. Somehow this chunky funky cake seems so much more appealing if you think of a good old round-Colonial Sanders-portly type of Bill in the kitchen, listening to blues & throwing in handfuls of shredded coconut & (heck) why not some more walnuts, & lathering the whole decadent masterpiece in cream frosting till it was oozing out of the 3 or 4 layered cake.

Here’s one link to the recipe. Mind you be sure to cut the sugar down by half or less, the dried fruit does the work for you. (these Americans, tsk tsk). And it's also so much better the next day. Not that it will survive till then. I would say it can survive fine without walnuts. (stone me, you nut-nuts) But the coconuts are the real clincher! As for the frosting. I used honey (to taste) mixed into the cheese and folded the cream cheese & butter into whipped cream (about 1 c.) to stretch it. You'll need it, for the snitching!

So thanks Bill, You're invited to my part of the heavenly hood anytime you like.

Gotta Love the Sweet Taste of.......

While I meant the best when I decided that I would make a blog & dedicate it to cooking, my visions of grandeur have faded into pitiful little plops of attempts to eek out a blogger’s existence. Have I passed on the Holy wooden spatula to one of my offspring? I wish! On the contrary I’m usually cooking B/L/D. I’ve not been without vision or purpose in the kitchen but everything just seems so ordinary I haven’t had the energy to expound.

But then once in a blue moon you have the opportunity to do something so bizarre & wonderful that you couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity to brag, (I mean, recount) the experience. And no, I did not partake in a nude mothers-only streaking happening in our blessed Chiba City. (Not that it couldn’t use a good run through the streets in the buff)

Imagine, if you will, someone handing you a whole box full of VERY authentic food from some random & exotic country. Let’s say that there was nothing about this country’s food that particularly appealed to you, merely because you don’t know a thing about the country. And ashamedly couldn’t tell off hand what countries border it. (Ask Lani).

Well, for me this country happened to be…..Mongolia. Hee hee, just kidding, but that would’ve been cool don’t you think? (All that Yak butter) It was indeed LEBANON. Now, what food do you think of when YOU think of Lebanon? Well, I thought of olives & hummus. Though to be honest I couldn’t quite remember what hummus was made of. I was a complete & total newbie to the Lebanese cooking scene. This was a chance I was not going to pass up.

Now, as much as I would like to tell my great tale of wonder. I haven’t the time or the energy. Believe me, I reeeeeaaallly don’t. (when you ask your 2 year old to “keep an eye on the baby” so you can go pee, you know you’re too busy!) So, to make the nice romantic Lebanese cooking experience short & sweet, I did what all dummies do…..Looked online & asked their resident person whose lived in Lebanon. Like, DUHHH!!

This dinner was not “Lebanon-Nippon-style” with shoyu, daikon & white rice. This was authen, gritty & dirty, from the Home-land itself, with (I kid you not) one or two pebbles in the lentils. And the best part was I only had to buy two items, yogurt & parsley!

So here’s what I made, and gosh golly with the Arabic music, candles & ambiance, it was a totally exotic experience (to me) I couldn’t quite understand the blend of tastes, but that’s what made it so fun. But let’s just say, I learned that Lebanese like to use a few main ingredients & if you have these you’re safe:

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Lemon
- Parsley, Parsley & enough parsley to make a mini forest in your kitchen
- Sesame seeds

NOTE: Green olives of course are in high order, but, oh, well, we are in Japan, not exactly Olive grove capital of the world.

Now to introduce you to my new Lebanese friends I shall show & tell:

This is Labane, it’s strained yogurt-cheese w/ olive oil, garlic & mint (shucks, didn’t have any fresh) Kids loved this the best Here is the side of a container I put it in.… oooh look, it’s a Cedar of Lebanon.
Self explanatory. Kabob, of course I was aussured that the real ones are about 3 times as long. Very basic Mutton/parsely/onion/garlic/s&p mix on a skewer. "Go on Sanjay, hit me with that skewer".Ah, now this boggles the mind. It’s called Tabbouleh. It’s basically a mix of cracked wheat/tomatoes, LOADS of parsley, lemon & olive oil. Think, Lebanese salsa. You eat it wrapped in a leaf of lettuce. I believe this is THE (or one of the) national dishes. Thank God I had Vesna to check stuff by, for authenticity. Apparently it should be about 2 parts cracked wheat & one part Parsley. Oooh, here’s the Lebanese rice. It’s great, I loved it. You just pretend that it’s actually something other than rice. Yes, it is actually “fluffy & crumbly”. You know, where they say in recipes “fluff up the rice before you serve it” and you’re laughing your head off, but REALLY, it does “FLUFF” and you can actually feel the texture of each grain as you eat it. I enjoyed that. So for that we do the fry the rice with butter & bullion before cooking it. In a rice cooker, mind you! (Come on, I had a full school day too) Flat bread! If you can believe, there was actually yeast involved. What’s up w/ that? Don’t ask me why. But it was the recipe! Thank God my two oldest girls helped me roll & fry or I never would’ve made it on time.

This is a lentil soup. Canned tomatoes, potato, lental, onion garlic, bullion & cumin. There was supposed to be spinach but I just didn’t have the heart to simmer spinach for a hr. (could you?) Actually, this was the one that I was the most impressed with. Not kidding, there was lemon in this too. I think that’s what’s made it great. Hummus. And that of course is a dip made of: ground chick peas, ground sesame, LEMON, olive oil & salt. Now, this stuff came from a can & it was pretty good, so just think how good it would be made from scratch. That is if one could find some chick peas. My Ultimate favorite I have no picture of, but it had to be the Zattar. This is a crazy herb mixture of of (get this) oregano, marjoram, sesame seeds &…..oooooh……we can’t forget…………SUMAC, apparently the sumac is what gives it the dark brown/black coloring!! And I got a whole tupperware of this stuff. You can mix it into pretty much anything, meat, soups, toppings for flat bread or a focaccia bread. You mix it with EV Olive oil for a dip, a shiny, thick black goopy lovely mess. The taste was, savory & slightly sour, like pretty much everything I’d tasted of Lebanon, exotic & confusing to the innocent taste buds. But what fun! I lathered myself in it & dove in.

So…..here’s the full plate!! I was surprised at the kids adventuresomeness (is that a word?) most of them tried it all, but as always the favorites were the breads! All in all the consumption part was like listening to a new album, everything sounds good, fresh & crisp but you can’t recognize anything because you’re just busy taking it all in. I need to listen to it a few more times before I know what I think! But who knows maybe God will drop a few boxes of Lebanese food from the sky!

Cheerio & happy hunting.

Photos from the Shoot!

Aww.....Now aren't they cute. As you can see, holding a smile for eternity is not something that kids do just for fun. Well, they look snazzy & it was fun for them, esp the "lady".

The Donuts of My Life & The Little Hole that Needed Two Staples!

Ashley says things just “keep happening” here these days. Thank God, most of them have been donuts & even the hole was a fairly small one.

Let’s start with the donuts of the week, shall we?:

Josh & I got to go take a peek at Uncle STEM’s new MV production down at the dock with some Fast & Furious cars. Here’s Hunter REALLY drolling over one! It was jolly fun to see friendly faces & shiny cars doing fun things. This donut was one of those really fat puffy donuts with artificial colored “happy” sprinkles.

The next donut was one for Travis, Ryan & Ashley. They got to model kimono’s & tux’s/gowns for “Shichi-go-san” day. There were some great pictures taken that I shall get ahold of soon. Till then Aich & Ambie can snicker at Dear Husband’s pics. Awww…but don’t they look cute! This donut I believe was one of those sort of twisty ones with a honey glaze.

There was a fancy dancy donut also where mommy spent all day preparing the donut & gathering ingredients for the donut whilst giving the kids school & mopping up Hunter-bunter’s drool trail. She put much love & effort into making a list of gourmet donuts for her dad to choose from so that he might have a nice Birthday dinner, and he did indeed choose the most difficult to make donut. The one that was stuffed with butter & chives, rolled, battered & deep fried. (I must clarify to you that I am talking about a metaphorical donut, in reality the meal I prepared for my dad was “Chicken Kiev”). In the end the only people who enjoyed the metaphorical donut was my Dad & the rest of the adults. The children do what they normally do to donuts, woof them down & ask for seconds, except they couldn’t ask for seconds because of my devious plan to heap their plates to overflowing & then give them extra soup & focaccia on top of it. Nya ha!!! (was that one sentence?)

But I’m forgetting the point. And that is that there was a hole. A rather small hole I admit but it did get us to be concerned & focus on the donut of our life. This hole took place when by the account of Travis, (who is both a bold & brave 4 year old) he decided to walk the cement wall in the middle of “Mark’s Discovery” Park with his eyes shut. He fell & it his temple & the back of his head, & though we got the bleeding to stop & initially it looked like with some pressure & keeping it wrapped up it might be OK, after about 1 hour (I imagine as the skin began to stretch & dry, we did indeed discover that he did have a small hole in his big head. After some prayer & thought (AKA. Squimish-to-holes-in-the-head husband taking a look) decided that we didn’t want to “keep our eye upon that hole” & promptly took him to the Doctor to get two staples in the head! Travster thankfully was happy about the whole affair. And even had to be repeatedly reminded of why he was going to the doctor because he just seemed a little too thrilled. From the lovely nurses washing his hair (don’t ask me why), to the nice English speaking doctors question of “Is it OK if it hurts?” he enjoyed his first major doctor’s visit. Daddy was with him & they prayed & as simple as that it was done.

Well, all’s well now. And we are milking it for all it’s worth. Our older ones have had a much needed sober moment. Our adventurous little man has something that we can remind him of if he’s feeling to adventuresome. And we parents through trying to forget all about that hole, have remembered all the many donuts the Lord has given us in our lives. And we are convicted that if we are faithful to praying over & for our 6 little donuts that we will not need to have any more holes.

These Days!

Howdy Ho, how ya’ll doing? In case you’re wondering I did not stop cooking or eating, or teaching hoolagins, or washing overflowing treasure chests of laundry, or reminding little fingers to stop "digging for gold", or for that manner singing twinkle twinkle whilst nursing & vacuuming at the same time.

So what’s new?

On the kitchen front, I’ve been on a creative streak & have been trying out recipes from two new cookbooks I scored from Chiba library. (A very dandy & purty place, I might add) One called "Italian Basics", the other one “Harumi’s Home Cooking”. Both great reading but very opposite.

The Italian cookbook is a heavy duty book that you’d only want to dive into if you’re willing to invest time & money on wild recipes like “Wild boar sweet & sour steak” “Wild Fennel & beetroot Risotto” etc… Who has time to go & catch their own inoshishi, obviously some Italians? Lemmie know if you see one. But I did manage to glean a good couple of recipes to make me feel more & more Italian. And my good little bambino guinea pigs are yet living.

Harumi’s cookbook on the otherhand was perfect, non-intimidating, weekday eats but still inventive & experimental. She uses a lot of Italian undertones (which suits me just fine) Adding things like Olive oil, basil or Balsamic Vinegar to Japanese sauces or soups & salads. Additionally I’ve found some dandy good chingensai/moyashi recipes which are my present favorite veggies.

But as you know we can't make everyone happy. The children squirmed & tried to be nice about the roast pumpkin soup but the grown ups & oddly Husband-of-love licked the bowl clean. (He's not usually a fan of Kabocha) Lani went nuts over the carrot miso soup but Travis acted like it was the "Last Supper", Ashley & Erika loved the moyashi-tofu itame, and Anthony said that the Teriyaki Hamburger was the best "Chicken" he ever tasted. (We're still working on the whole differentiation thing) but Erika had to be fed it manually, sigh. Well, we do try our best!

I may post a recipe, if I find the time & camera. But till then here are some pics of the nut-nuts. Cherio & happy camping.


What do you need after hours & hours of snow play? Hot Chocolate! Ooooh, I just had to! "Warms my heart!" BTW, Trav wins the prize for most wet clothes under a waterproof suit.
Erika the Berika. As you can see, we are trying to make her right handed. Anyone have any thoughts on trying to get a lefty to be a righty? Is this morally wrong? Dear Husband & I have differing opinions. She is an independant little lady & it's not easy. Thoughts?
This was not a good day for the laundry machine. But a rather good day for the boys!
On an excursion to a nice Tabehodai place. (known for it's good pasta, they make small batches every 20 min. or so & have about 10 varieties. Forgot the name, I do recommend it though, in Harbor City, Soga)
TRAVSTER!! Yes, this hairdo does suit him great.


That's all for now!

The Shepherd's Cheeseburger Pie

This is a classic “Bubble & Squeak” incident. Personally I must be honest & say that casseroles that involve mashed potatoes hold no real affection for me. Though nothing can surpass the deep loathing that both U.Masa & Nephew Travis hold dear, when it comes to potatoes. But since being short on time is something that I’m professional at, I had to throw something together for dinner. So here it is.

For the casserole:

8 large potatoes, mashed (& all that that entails)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
½ kg of ground beef (1 lb)
Salt & Pepper to taste
@ ¼ c. left over pizza sauce I made (If I didn’t have that I would have used a few tbsp of ketchup & 1 or 2 of bulldog sauce, for the gaijin that would be, Worcestershire sauce)
1 cup of cheese

And for the crust:

1 ½ c flour
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp basil
1 tbsp b.powder
½ salt
2 eggs
1 c milk

So, for the crust, I mixed the drys & cut the butter into it (I prefer using my hands, not knives or pastry cutter) & set aside
Chop the onion & mince the garlic, Brown the beef w/ the onion & garlic, add the pizza sauce (really, I only used it cuz it was convenient, I would’ve used some other kind of tomato based sauce just the same, or ketchup for that matter.)

Next, slap the rest together! Well, more specifically, preheat your oven to 200C (400F), grease a 13/9” casserole dish. & mashed the mashed potatoes into the bottom, add the meat next (sprinkle w/ S&P).
Hmmm...that doesn't look so great. Now let's throw on some cheese.

Lastly, let’s finish the crust. Mix 2 eggs with 1 c milk & mix into the dry ingr. till just mixed. (it will be lumpy, if it’s not…..you’ve overmixed & are destined to have a tough cardboardy top!) Mix with a spoon, if you please, Spoon the topping over the casserole. And throw that sucker in your oven for about 15 min. or till you’ve got a golden top. Serve with ketchup...for all those condiment-dependant individuals. And lookie at that cute plate! Aww!
PS. Shepherd’s Pie is usually a “potatoes/ground beef/veggies/cheese” combo, Whereas Cheeseburger Pie is a “pie crust/ground beef/tomatoes/cheese/crust” combo. Thus the mangled name!

Nagasaki Cowboy Okonomiyaki

Just when you thought that I’d given up cooking for good & taken up a career in laundering socks & underwear, I have decided that dinner shall remain a staple in our daily diets. Truth be told, I’ve got plenty of pictures of food but not quite enough time to turn them into a simple blog bit. For example, I could take these here pictures & say, “ Okonomiyaki is a cabbage pancake that I'm crazy about, try it, you’ll like it!” But…..Oh, no, I’ve got to go & turn it complicated by adding 25 different toppings & turning it into some gourmet-dinner-of-science. I feel very neutral about this dish. Personally, it’s a favorite but I’ve had to deal with so many strong opinions on the matter that I’ve opted to make it very rarely if ever. And to make matters worse ever since my mom introduced me to “Nagasaki style” I just can’t make it right unless I’ve got the whole kit & caboodle. So join me now & let us make ourselves some Okonomiyaki.

Let’s just be honest here & say that when it comes down to it, Okonomiyaki IS indeed a cabbage pancake. If you want to get terribly crude about it, you could just make a generic pancake batter & throw some cabbage in there & that would be it. But thank God we've progressed since Combo cooking & now know that you can even add a carrot to the batter & it will taste a world better.

And if you are a gaijin who is put off by that then just stop reading here because I won’t subject myself to paragraphs of defense against this great Japanese dish. Nuff Said! And even if you are of the understanding nature depending on where you are from or your heritage you may have a totally different idea of what a good okonomiyaki consists of. There are so many different types but this is the type that I made for dinner. And if you’re wondering where the cowboy part comes in; I used bacon slices instead of beef or pork strips, Okey-dokey? So…..on we go. MY list of ingredients is as follows:

For the batter:
Water
Suiton Flour (conveniently donated for suiton dumplings & wonderful for our okonomiyaki pleasure)
¾’s Cabbage
2 carrots

Filling:
250g. bacon, sliced & pre-cooked (we got several bagfuls donated, this has made for some Veeerrrry pleasant pasta experiences going on recently!)
5 packs of yakisoba (fried up & kept warm)
a pack of eggs (10-12)

Now for the fun! The batter was made with about 1 c flour & ½ c water ratio. I used about 6 cups of flour. Shred & dice cabbage & carrots (I personally like the cabbage very FINE, to avoid big hard uncooked chunks)
So mix that up & try not to think of the work “pancake” while doing so.

Next is assembly time. Turn the heat on low on an oiled frying pan (or better yet a yakiniku hot plate) spread a ladleful of batter out & flatten it out. Be careful if it’s too thick it will be raw & gummy inside before you’re done & that is a NO-NO!!
Now put some yakisoba on top of the batter & a few slices of bacon.

Here comes the fun part, if you don’t like timing your cooking perfectly, then this is going to be BIG FUN for you. Hee hee!! Crack an egg next to the okonomiyaki and poke the yoke. Check out mine, all it’s missing is an eyeball & it looks like a regular embryo. Let the egg cook for long enough so that it’s not yet, like a really wet sunny side up egg with the yoke broken. (NOT how I like my eggs)
Ready for the fun part? Put your spatula under the okonomiyaki & flip it (yakisoba/bacon & all) on top of the egg. It may take some practice to get it right, but it should hold together pretty well, with only a stray bacon bit here or there. Let it cook a minute or two longer & then flip it over again (back to the “batter-side down” position) to let the batter cook a bit longer.
Caution: don’t let the flame be too high or you’ll end up with a raw inside & believe me, (as I’ve already said) that’s not the way we like it in Japan.

This is the end result. Ain’t that purrrty?And, here’s the fun bit….TOPPINGS. Here are the traditional toppings you can choose from generally the sauce & mayo go first & the rest follow in whatever order you like:

- Mayo
- Bulldog sauce (Okonomiyaki sauce, for that matter, yakisoba sauce & tonkastu sauce will work fine too, they’re nearly all the same thing, anyway)
- Fish flakes
- Ao nori
- Normal nori (cut into tiny strips)
- Tempura bits
- Negi, diced
- Beni-shoga

And that’s the end of the story folks. Pull up a chair, turn on your Masturi music & be sure to wash it down with a glass or two of Nama-beru!! Enjoy your Okonomiyaki.

Highlights of a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Well, I thought I'd put up a few pics of the Christmas/New years Highlights. Sorry, folks but I'm neither very good at taking photos nor very faithful to take them. (Particularly when there are multitudes of children running around & lots of hungry parents to feed)

In case you don't have 3.5 children, you don't know about the house of chaos which all happy children in this neighborhood seem to enjoy so much. I'm still wondering why some of my friendly friends would join forces to chase roughly 15 children around while singing rounds of "Oh-Praise-the-Lord". I'm NOT complaining, my kids voices are now gone & Vesna & I are not altogether sorry.

Gosh, golly, gee-whiz, there was a lot of memorable moments from our New Years. Many friendly faces & screaming children. I guess I ought to dredge up a couple from the fuzzy recesses of my brain. (I'm suffering from a cold along with the other 8 sneezy children in this house):

- Cozy New Years with familiar faces & lots of excitingly named cocktails (involving Tabasco & shot glasses) and vats of gyoza & karage (which, I'll admit, I did eat one or two of).
- Children let loose in "dress up" euphoria, each in thier own make believe world & the parents hiding their faces in shame as their ladybug/fairy/chef/samurai daughters played mommy & daddy.
- Having all my kids asleep by 10:15 (the parting of the Red Sea & now this) so that I could make plate-loads of hours de vours that I had to force my friendlies to eat. (I'm afraid they though it was some kind of art exhibit instead of a late night snack)
- Somehow ending up with 35 men, women & children eating dinner in our little house. Arms, legs & forks were everywhere, phones ringing & babies crying. It was memorable!
- Getting to actually "hang out" with one of my girl-friends! (gosh, 10 years ago I'd be ashamed to say that!!)
- Having a house full of happy/tired/confused parents always on the look out for some way to help me in my hour (ok, several hours) of distress.


Well, there's lots more where that came from but I haven't the time or brain cell. So....lets close with a few photos. And may you have a jolly 2008. I for one am going to crank up the coffee pot & get started on this school term.
Christmas Brunch
Cherry Pie. (if you look closely you might be able to find a bubble mid-pop!)
French Pear Tart!! OMG!!! That's me diving in there!!
Winter Salad! Did I already say I like pears?
The Brined Turkey who layeth down his life for the home!

Wow, the funky chicken ladies. No words!
Oli's genius dress up scheme. (I'm not sure what evil character Travis is trying to be, but you can be sure he's playing his part with all his heart, no doubt it's something from the "Revenge of Chinese Chef")
Awwwww!!! They had too much fun.
The boys waiting to get on the ice!
The popular game called: "How many peaunt butter sandwich eating kids can you fit on one tiny picnic mat"

PS: If you happen to have attended any of these blasty-blast events & have taken photos that are noteworthy -- Please think of me! I love you!