So Much for Eating in...

I couldn't help myself. I was on Hwy 134 going west and passing Fish King anyway. So I stopped by my favorite fish monger (Glendale Ave exit off the 134, head north. It's on the right just after the gas station). Along with selling fresh fish, seafood, and some poultry, they have a "galley" where they sell hot and cold prepared foods. Usually I get a regular salad and fried oysters. I passed on the salad this time cuz I never finish it and had an appointment right afterward.

Y'know, if you can't go fishing yourself, this is the next best thing. I have made some pretty tasty salmon nigiri, poke, and spicy tuna rolls from their sashimi-grade stuff. And if you're lazy, like I was on Thursday, then the galley is awesome. 

They must have some really hot oil back there because the fried stuff is always tender and moist on the inside and then crispy and golden on the outside.

If you like deep fat fried things, they have plenty. They have many salads as well, but that's not as fun. Besides, I can make a salad anytime. I don't really have a deep fryer to make the golden panko crust just perfect.

If only I could have saved an order to bring home, but y'know how that goes...to soggy-ville. Instead, it's more miso soup and, uh, peanut butter toast for dinner. What can I say, my fridge and pantry have never been so bare. Either that or I'm regressing to my college days.

Sushi Ya?

The other day I was craving sushi. Yeah, what a surprise. So I went out to get some at Sushi Ya at the corner of Foothill Blvd and Altadena Dr in Pasadena. This place is usually my go-to place because they're fast when you're at the bar and it's pretty inexpensive. Jason is the owner and head chef. He's always very nice. The only server (every time I go...) is Suni, which is ironic because sometimes when she's overwhelmed, she's not so sunny. But she grows on you. This place is pretty small. There are four square tables and the bar seats about 10. You usually have to wait if you get there after 7:30p.

I was a little disappointed this time. I was served just as quickly and friendly as always but the fish wasn't so good. I ordered miso soup (pictured, left) that was a too sweet but did have plenty of seaweed, spicy tuna roll which I feel is their most consistent roll (and was yummy), and sashimi salad (pictured, below). Now, I'm not sure why I keep ordering it because the amount of dressing is so inconsistent. This one is swimming in it. Most of the time it's like that. Twice I asked for "light on the dressing," and once it was perfect and the other time I asked for more dressing on the side. I suppose I could be a little less high-maintenance and just order dressing on the side but I like salads tossed. It comes with plenty of sashimi too.

But this time, it was weird. I've never gotten a fishy piece of fish from this place before but I got two in that sashimi salad. I don't know what's going on there. Maybe the hike in food prices is hitting them harder than they are letting on. I still like the guys...or maybe it's because I'm chewing more so I'm really tasting things, uh, for a long time. (High priority macrobiotic principle is "chew well"--150x's per bite if you can! I get to about 30. I sure am tasting the food though.)

Sushi Ya (which literally means "sushi restaurant") also has an all-you-can-eat menu, too, with some killer rolls like the Grand Roll and the Bacardi Roll (which they light on fire!). If you're a big eater, it might be worth your while. It's just under $20 for lunch; dinner is 20-something, either $25 or $28. I never get it so I don't remember.

Anyway, if your budget is tight, you want to eat some sushi, and you're in the Pasadena area, you might want to check it out. They are usually very consistent.

Cooking Without a Stove

It's been an interesting few days, cooking for myself and not having a stove in the kitchen. Danno and I sold our stove before I flew east. I think he ate out with his friends a lot before he left town. Now I'm here with the dog and cats (who eat kibble) wondering why all my friends have to work during the week.

Anyway, I've been eating in a lot because I'm trying to finish off the food in the fridge before we leave and I feel the need to save money because canceling services is costing us an arm and a leg. Don't get me started about Earthlink. (Oh goodness, sorry folks, I can't help myself...) Danno has been a customer of theirs for more than 7 1/2 years but since there are 100 days left on this specific 1-yr contract, they are charging us a $149 cancellation fee, regardless of the fact that we cannot transfer the service to our new home because there is no DSL service available at all in the neighborhood (I know, boonie-ville). 

I spent an hour and was (ironically) late for my massage appointment (thanks, SEE-LA gang for that terrific bridal shower gift BTW) trying to reason with these money-grubbers. The response was always, "Sorry, ma'am, but you agreed to these terms." First of all, I can't take them with me because DSL is unavailable so you're punishing us for something totally out of our control. Second, 7 1/2 years! Loyalty apparently means nothing to Earthlink. It's too bad because D and I weren't planning on staying at the new place that long (who lives without DSL nowadays?). 

Instead of having good customer service and waiving the fee or reducing it so that it wouldn't cost more than $1/day, they've lost out on the thousands they would have made from us when we came back to DSL for years, even decades. Customer service is the reason I stay with DirecTV. I know cable sometimes costs less but whenever there's a problem, DTV addresses it right away and they give me discounts for any inconvenience I may have experienced.

In the end,  I suppose it's just money. The important thing is really the connections we make with other living beings--family, friends, pets, and other animals. That's why we're moving and why I enjoyed myself so much at the conference. (I don't remember ever laughing so hard or so often. Thanks, ladies. You know who you are.)

Anyway, this is what I've been cooking with...

It's like camping except I have running water, a flushing toilet and am not being bitten by mosquitoes. Oh, and speaking of relations, the other day, I was scrambling some eggs and I heard someone, uh, having fun in the morning. Sometimes I forget how close we are to our neighbors, y'know, with all the walls and things between us normally. And I guess, so do they ;-P

I'm so glad there's a burner on grill otherwise I don't know how I'd fry up my facon in the morning.

Easy As Tofu

I never realized how easy it was to make fresh tofu. All you need are some soybeans, water, and a sea water mineral. Oh, a food processor, pot, thermometer, heating device, cheesecloth, and spoon would help, too. One last recipe from the conference. 

We got this one from one of the most genuine people that I have ever met, Mie Naka. She's the one on the left, in the traditional Japanese garb. She and her husband, Hiroyuki Naka, operate a macrobiotic cooking school in Osaka, Japan. Hiroyuki started a macrobiotic restaurant with help from his chef (pictured in toque). This chef, who will remain nameless because I've totally forgotten his name, is the one who demonstrated the tofu making.

He has an interesting story as well. He has a son with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the joints. They discovered it when the boy was two-years-old. He always had a swollen face and didn't want to eat food. So his father quit his job and began to cook macrobiotically for his son. The son is now six, no longer swollen, and continues to eat macrobiotically. He's really cute and looks younger than he is. It's good to see a tight-knit family.

Anyway, back to tofu.

Tofu
3 c soybeans
nigari (magnesium chloride)

Soak soybeans in 2 qt water overnight. Grind the soaked soybeans in a blender or food processor for 3-5 minutes. Add  2/3 c of water to the soybeans in the blender. This is called "kure-jiru." Boil  2 3/4 c of water and then add the kure-jiru. Stir with wooden spatula at medium heat. When it boils, scoop off foam and simmer at low heat for 5-10 minutes. When it starts to smell and taste good, turn off heat and strain through cheesecloth.

Now you have soy milk and okara (textured soy protein). Heat soy milk at low heat to 160*F, then add nigari (mix with water before incorporating, also, more nigari and more time in the tofu mould means firmer tofu). Stir immediately until it curdles. Put the tofu in a bamboo tofu tray to form. For firm tofu, put cotton cheese cloth inside the tofu tray and pour in curdled soy milk. Press with a stone or weight to press and drain water. For soft "tofu flower" like the dessert at dim sum restaurants, it's ready to serve.

Granted, this is not the most specific recipe I've ever shared. I'll experiment with the amount of nigari after getting unpacked and settled in the new place and keep you posted. Fresh tofu is amazing. It has a lighter flavor. You can also be assured that it is of the highest quality and chemical free, if you use organic soybeans, filtered water and natural nigari (derived from sea water).

Mie made other tofu dishes. Tofu-gurt (pictured, far back) with sweet miso and blueberries; fried tofu with onions, peas, and turmeric to give it an eggier, yellow color; and tofu salad with strawberries, steamed broccoli and dressing of sweet miso, mustard, and lemon juice.

Mie believes that everyone should sing a song at least once a day, to lift spirits and bring joy. So at the end of the cooking class, she began to play the Carpenters version of the song "Sing" and asked everyone to sing along. I was the assistant for the class so I had to participate. I felt very silly at first buy y'know, she was totally right. By the end of it we all got so into it we started waving our hands in the air. 

It's really incredible. It's not often I run into such a genuinely good natured/hearted person. I'm so glad I went to the conference for so many reasons, one being because I met and got to work with Mie Naka.

Pho the Love of...

My first meal back in Los Angeles. Of course, I had to call Tory for Pho 97 in Chinatown. And it's on the way home. I love the part where I roll my bag the mile and a half from Union Station (thanks to FlyAway bus's $4 one-way to/from LAX) to Chinatown.

Anyway, we love that Pho 97. It used to be owned by Tommy's parents (then called Pho 79). They sold the business to him and his wife and to get a "fresh" start but not freak people out with the change, he switch the 7 and 9 around.

It's still the same great place. But now, I've changed a bit. The portions have always been rather big, whether I ordered pho, bun, or a rice plate. So after the smaller portions of macrobiotics, I opted for two spring rolls and a bowl of soup.

The service is always friendly and drinks are served so quickly that I barely finish squeaking out "cafe sua da" (iced espresso with condensed milk) before it's placed on the table. This place is a little more authentic than some of the other pho places that I've been to on the westside and in Pasadena which is why I like it and travel for it. Yum, maybe I'll go again before we're out of here...

More Sushi?

If I never make another sushi roll, it will be too soon. Everyday someone demonstrated one roll or another at the macrobiotic conference. Granted, they were all different but sheesh, I'm still terrible at it and I kept having to do it. It was torturous...except for today when I got to eat it without having to make it. 

It was fabulous, too. Check out the Flower Roll. This is a roll courtesy of Deco Nakajima of Brown's Field (there's not much English on this site but you'll get the jist). She's a very "crunchy" Japanese woman who started Brown's Field in the Japanese countryside. They grown there own food there. The rice is amazing. Totally organic, sustainable. She teaches about cooking with the seasons and natural building techniques.

This roll is apparently adapted from one that she learned from an older woman in a nearby village. If I heard correctly, it's only made during Obon or for celebrations. It requires a lot of work. Follow along and you'll see. In the original roll, the yellow outside was tamago (sweet omelette) but eggs are out in macrobiotics so she bakes a pumpkin cake and cuts that to size for her recipe. 

Pumpkin Cake

dry ingredients

1 c unbleached wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

wet ingredients

3/4 c mashed pumpkin (steamed, peeled, mashed)

2 TBL maple syrup (optional for add'l sweetness)

2/3 c apple juice

Bake thin pumpkin cake. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir wet ingredients together well in another bowl. Mix the dry and wet ingredients lightly. Add a little more apple juice if necessary. Spread mixture about 1 cm thick on baking sheet w/parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes at 350*F. Allow to cool and cut into 8 in x 8 in squares.

other ingredients

7/8 oz carrots, julienne

salt

1 3/4 oz leafy green vegetables (e.g., kale or other bright green color, soft texture and light taste)

11 3/4 oz brown sushi rice (recipe below)

6 1/3 oz half-polished sushi rice (recipe below)

2 sheets nori

brown sushi rice

2 1/2 c brown rice (washed)

3 1/3 c water

salt, to taste

2 TBL ume plum vinegar

2 TBL apple juice

half-polished sushi rice

2 1/2 c brown rice (washed)

2 TBL half-polished black rice (washed)

2 c water

salt, to taste

4 tsp ume plum vinegar

4 tsp apple juice

Cook brown rice (for 25 mins) and half-polished rice (10 mins) separately in pressure cooker. Place each in separate bowls and toss lightly with appropriate amounts of vinegar and apple juice.

Sprinkle carrots with pinch of salt and rub, then blanch. Blanch greens in same water. Cut nori into quarters, enough to make five strips (use 2 sheets)--reserve the other 3/4 sheet. Place 1/4 sheets nori on sushi mat, add 1/6 of half-polished sushi rice and roll. Make 5 thin rolls. Place 3 thin rolls on sushi mat, set carrot in middle, then two thin rolls over, and roll. Squeeze together lightly to set.

Place pumpkin cake on another sushi mat, spread brown sushi rice thinly over entire cake. Shape 3 ridges on the 1st on third and place 3/4 sheet nori sheet over the ridges (see photo). Put 1/6 of half-polished rice (or substitute gourd like Deco did here) in the 1st valley, then greens on both sides of the rice. Put flower on other side of far ridge. Press together and roll with mat. 

Slice into 8 pieces.

I don't know if I would make this thing. It's so involved but pretty cool.

The Yin and Yang of Food

So this macrobiotic conference is almost over and I have worked with some interesting chefs/cooks. Some are wacky. Some are gracious. Some, well, some are who they are. I suppose it's no different than any other conference or work environment. But this wouldn't have come together without the man himself.

Michio Kushi (pictured) is the one they talk about when macrobiotics is mentioned. He's the teacher of the teachers now. He, not surprisingly, showed up to talk with us at his institute's conference.

I'm not going to say much about macrobiotic principles now. It's like feng shui. I kinda get it when it's mentioned and my mom's kinda talked about it but if you asked me to feng shui your house, I couldn't do it.

I'm just about as deep and knowledgeable about the ying and yang of food. Health is the key to our future, though.  Without health, what have we got?

Over the last few days, I've met some people with health issues and you wouldn't even know it...and some who you would. It's interesting how passionate people get about their health or the health of others. (As a side note: my cousin is going in for surgery next week to remove some tumors. I believe that positive energy really helps too so if you wouldn't mind, please do your spiritual thing on his behalf. Thanks.)

So if you are afflicted with a health issue, you want to "eat healthier," or are curious, pick up a macrobiotic book at the library, bookstore, or internet bookseller. Kushi's books are, of course, good. I also hear Denny Wexman's, The Great Life Diet, is a great starter book. It couldn't hurt. Macrobiotic food is surprisingly tasty. 

Just take a look at this vegetable roll that only has vegetables in it. Remember, Ming's roll with the soba noodles at Blue Ginger? This one doesn't have rice in it either. It's basically a carrot roll wrapped in a kale/bok choy/scallion mix and seaweed. They don't last very long because water and nori don't play well together for long, and the veggies are wet. But it's tasty. It is seasoned with umeboshi plum vinegar (it's very strong so you don't need much) and lemon juice. All the veggies were blanched. These rolls are courtesy of Jane Stanchich.

Emerald Nori Rolls

1 bunch kale, chopped fine

1 bunch bok choy, chopped fine

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 tsp umeboshi vinegar

2 TBL brown rice vinegar

1 TBL lemon juice

1 carrot, long strips

3 sheets, pre-toasted nori

1/8 c sesame seeds, toasted

Wash kale and bok choy well. Blanch separately: carrots, kale, bok choy. Squeeze out excess water from greens. Mix blanched kale and bok choy with scallions, vinegars, lemon juice.

Assemble: Place sheet of nori (shiny side down) on sushi mat. Take a handful of greens mixture, squeeze out excess water and spread on nori leaving an inch clear at top and bottom. Put strip of carrots across middle of greens then lightly dampen top and bottom edge of nori with marinade. Using sushi mat, roll up the greens firmly in the nori. Encase the roll with the mat. upturn and squeeze out excess water gently while retaining shape. Remove sushi mat. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting with sharp, slightly moistened knife. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Bon Appetit.