New Year's Priorities!

We are now just  2 weeks from the end of another year and time to start contemplating what one would like to accomplish in the coming year. I got a late start on my "resolution" for this year, but have managed to lose a significant amount of weight; thanks mainly to my wife's cooking and co-operation. But, let's put this year to rest and ramble on about next year.

I feel that I need to Twitter less and blog more. I mean, after all, wasn't the original idea behind "web logs", to express yourself, share ideas, recipes, .etc with those who find they share your interests. I can't promise you that every post will have pictures of Japanese food. In fact that is the purpose of my Tumblr photo blog which has a link on this very page. I intend to revert to the original web log concept. When something worth sharing occurs I will share it here. I intend to completely eschew politics and world affairs. I have had my fill.

My goal for the coming year is to learn to sew. My wife is quite a talented seamstress and she has already deigned to teach me. I hope to be making my own shirts by this time next year. I'm already on a learning project to take 4 inches out of the waist and seat of an old pair of jeans. I told you I lost a significant amount of weight. This brings to the front my primary goal of maintaining the lifestyle I have adopted over the last three months.

Resolutions made on new year's eve often fade quickly from memory. So, maybe we should just call it "prioritizing".

I will post another blog about  closing my main Twitter account soon.

Mayo and Miso dressing for Grilled Avocado and Pita Sandwiches.

My wife finally wrote down the recipe for the dressing/dipping sauce for the grilled avocados.
  
1/2 cup of mayo (Japanese -Kewpi- is the best.)
1.5 tablespoon of Miso. Avoid using heavy dark type.
1 teaspoon of grated garlic.
2 tablespoons of olive oil or grape seed oil.
pinch of freshly ground pepper.

Mix all together with a whisk or spoon. Apply liberally to avocados after grilling. I also like it very much in fried egg and eggplant pita bread sandwiches. Just fry up what ever fresh veggies you have and put them in pita with a fried egg.

Grilled Avocado Skewers! Is that possible?

On a dreary rainy season Sunday morning my wife tells me she is going to grill avocados on the BBQ. Now where I grew up vegetables never saw the BBQ grill. That fire was for meat and lots of it.  So when I came to Japan and saw that most grills were covered with vegetables of all description I was very disappointed. Time has changed that opinion and it wouldn't surprise me to see almost anything perched on a grill. Yet, I was very skeptical about avocados. "Won't they fall off the skewers?", a Twitter friend asked me. My thoughts exactly, but not to discourage culinary inventiveness, plus the fact that nothing I could say would stop her, I remained silently skeptical; no mean feat for me I assure you.
So she breaks out the aging "shichirin" charcoal brazier- the workhorse for outdoor cooking in Japan. After the coals have reached their "white stage" she plops 3 metal skewers, see the picture, of avocados on the fire. Use metal skewers or bamboo ones that have been soaked in water. You can't walk off and let these cook like other veggie as they need constant attention and must be turned if the fire flames up too much. They only take about 3 minutes or so before they are done. My wife uses a miso and mayonnaise basting sauce whichalso slows down the surface burning.
So there you have a simple appetizer that really compliments grilled beef. I suggest you play around with different basting sauces.

Home process anchovies!

My wife got the bright idea to process and keep anchovies as they were fresh and in plentiful supply at the supermarket. She sold me on the idea when she said that the liquid by-product of the process was fish sauce, or called Nouc Mam in Vietnamese. We usually buy the real stuff if we see it in specialty stores, but those are all in Tokyo or Chiba city, 2 hours from here. So she did the cutting and packing and I snapped pictures. We waited 30 days and I am very happy with the anchovies. The fish sauce is much milder than I like, but maybe it will get a little stronger.

So between making salted anchovies and growing our own jalapeño peppers we have some pizza toppings to go with our fresh basil.

Guess we'll have to do a mozzarella cheese project next!

My students and I say good-bye!

Here's a great group of folks saying "See you around!" as I end up my stay at Griffin And Sabine English school. It's been a fast and fun 8 1/2 years, but time to move on and try something else!

Thanks kids!

This blog is in serious danger of becoming another Japanese food blog and that was not the original intention. It's supposed to be curmudgeonly! You can see there are links to my other photographic excesses elsewhere on this page. I want to step away form my "ode to gluttony" and discuss something very dear to my heart.

I came to Japan in 1987 to "pick up Japanese and study Aikido", naively thinking that 2 yrs would suffice. In those days if I didn't like a place I moved on. In other words I was single. The economic bubble was about to burst and all were happy in a fool's paradise. Even then there were grumblings about shinjinrui or "new human beings" referring to the younger generation-that group of people who made up the second post war generation. I dismissed a lot of that in those days as simply generational grumblings that have existed since the beginning of the industrial age and perhaps before that.The "bubble" is now a distant memory and the current generation of "crumb grabbers" are spoiled grandchildren of the aforementioned shinjinrui.

I have no problem with the fact that currently Japanese are not having enough children to replenish the current population level. I think it's a good thing and would encourage the rest of the world to follow this example. Less people require less workers in agriculture and food production. As Martha Stewart used to say, "It's a good thing." Besides, what pampered little darling trundling off to first grade next month with a $300 leather backpack will want to harvest rice or stand on the deck of a whaler and go toe to toe with future eco-nuts?

The problem with the current crop of kiddies -here it comes the old gray beard dumping on the younger generation- is that their parents and grandparents have never experienced privation and fear of sudden death at all. They have no one to tell them stories of how tough life can be. Of course every year in August there are TV specials about the war, but my guess is that these kiddies won't be seeing them as they will be too enthralled with other media.

This is a society that values cuteness and gluttony. If you can stand it, try watching Japanese TV for a day. How many shows do you see where the key words are "cute" and "delicious"! I have no problem with that, but how is the younger generation going to get any idea of the real problems of the world.

So next month, when you see the fresh crop of first graders in their little yellow hats and ridiculously expensive rucksacks, be sure to exclaim in a loud voice, "kawaii" or "cute"!

A Trip To Shiki in the Dead of Winter

January and February are bad months in the restaurant business; bad for the owners; good for customers who battle cold weather and depleted bank accounts after New Year's madness. Shops have very few customers and rely on a few New Years parties to staunch the flow of red ink. My wife and I stopped by "Shiki" one day after she got off work to see the chef, take a few pictures with my new camera and enjoy some sashimi. The photos you see on the right are of the interior and a wonder platter of lightly grilled scallops paired with raw spotted prawns known as "Ama Ebi" or sweet shrimp in Japanese.

We were lucky enough to be able to chat at length with the chef who has the very colorful hobby of raising Japanese ornamental carp. It seems that no two fish are exactly alike as he showed us a magazine with many pictures of these expensive beauties,

Soon spring will be upon us and I'm sure his business will pick up.

So if you plan to travel to the tip of the Chiba peninsula and would like

try the fare at Shiki, let me know and we can make all the arrangements!

I'm posting this for the first time via Picasa and will apologize in advance for any strangeness that results.

Bon Apetit!