Sunday night DINNER

It was nice to be back home and be able to make culinary creations in my narrow but cozy kitchen again. Last night's dinner included: organic Chinese veggies from the farm we visited in Izu (L bottom), simmered carrots/chikua fishcake/chicken/burdock root/fried tofu puff (middle bottom), mentaiko - spicy cod roe rice with parmesan cheese and green onions (R top), premium Tsukuba mountain sake and nameko miso soup (middle top)! Oh, I made some kinpira gobo which is stir-fried julienned burdock root and carrots...but it didn't photograph so well!

For the first time ever, I used FRESH nameko mushrooms (see picture). FRESH ones are rather rare because they spoil so easily. Usually they are vinegared and sold in a clear vacuum pack. I was jumping for joy to find them 'FRESH' at the veggie market. I fear I scared some regulars (with my shrieks of delight) at the store - they gave me some pretty bizarre looks. The taste is nothing to get excited about - it's the slimy texture and the quality of the 'chew' that make nameko mushrooms so special.

3 years ago I never would have thought I'd be cooking with such strange ingredients! I just LOVE randomly picking up some strange veggies or ingredients and throwing them into my dishes. The results are always a surprise. Sometimes I get a BOO review in the form of, "oh this is rare taste, isn't it?"...or a YAHOO review in the form of, "oh, it's not bad at all." Sometimes I even surprise myself and cannot resist saying, "ohh, it's surprisingly good!!!" It's a little disconcerting for dining guests to hear the host a bit shocked at the tastiness of her own dishes. I will try to restrain myself in the future.

Maybe I should switch careers to research science, perhaps at a pharmaceutical lab or something???