Category: Food (Page 5 of 5)

Katsu Don

Today is Respect for the Aged day and a national holiday. It wasn’t a school holiday for my seminary students so we had seminary this morning.  When I got home Rick had planned an outing.  We took an excursion to an interesting town called Nogata.  First, we had lunch at a little restaurant there, Rick had his and Leigh’s favorite, katsu don (breaded pork cutlet on rice with a fried egg on top) with soba noodles on the side and I had Ebi Tendon with soba (shrimp tempura on rice).  We went to an English performance of Rakugo which is Japanese Comedy theatre.  We only stayed until intermission because the first half lasted 1 1/2 hours and the second half had more performers.  Rakugo is one performer at a time kneeling on a cushion on a red platform in the center of the stage.  They are in traditional Japanese dress and they may only use two props a large handkerchief and a fan.  They tell a long (15-20 minutes) story that is supposed be funny.  Although they were speaking English, I only got one of the the jokes. 

It was about a man going to the eye doctor because he couldn’t see and the doctor told him his eyes were dirty and he popped them out with a fork (the fan) and sent his assistant to boil them.  When he tried to put them back into the patient they were too big after being boiled.  The doctor had his assistant put them in the sun to dry so they would go back to their original size, but the eyeballs disappeared.  So, they took the eyes out of a dog and put them in the patient and he could see really well.  When he came back for a check-up he reported not only improved vision, but sense of smell and also hearing.  His only complaint was that he had the urge to lift his leg whenever he saw a pole.   Heheheheheh! Yeah right!

I know that something was lost in the translation in the other 4 stories that we saw.  I listened to the last one about money and a lottery ticket carefully because the Japanese women performing spoke beautiful English.  I was really disappointed at the end because I didn’t get it.  It was a great day.

…this is the best candy in the world.  Now, I really love my chocolate, but sometimes I just want something sweet that isn’t chocolate.  In the USA there are Starburst, but in Japan we have Hi Chew.  Hi Chew are much better than Starburst.  They are very soft and not nearly as sweet as Starburst.  The writing on the lower right side of the package says Ha-Chi-Yoo.  The writing in the upper left corner says Ra-ee-chi, that’s the flavor, Lychee.  If you are not familiar with the lychee fruit it is a small asian fruit with a red skin. 

When I was a child growing up in Salt Lake City my family frequented a restaurant on Broadway called the Ding Ho.  Chinese dining at it’s finest!  Well maybe not, but my parents liked it and knew the Chinese cook Von.  Our waiter would come to take our order and my dad would say, “Tell Von that Van and Carol are here.”  I always felt important when my dad said this.  I’m pretty sure that he did too and that’s why he did it.  Von would then decide what we were having for dinner.  I am pretty sure we got the same dishes that were on the menu.  They just tasted better knowing that Von had selected them just for us.  He always included tiny white cups filled with green jello that was just like rubber for dessert.  We loved it!

Anyway, back to lychees.  I was introduced to the lychee by Von and I can’t remember if I ate them at the Ding Ho or if he gave us a can for a gift.  I just remember thinking that they were the most disgusting fruit I had ever tasted.  For some reason I grew up thinking that they tasted like mothballs.

Every member of my immediate family and just about anyone who has ever tasted Hi Chew love them.  Rick and I carry nearly $100 worth back to the US every time we come.  Everyone requests them.  The cost about $1.00 a package and everyone has their favorite flavors.  The problem with having a favorite flavor is that they change the flavors all the time and in the winter months they are hard to find because their place on the shelf is taken up by cough drops.  (Which reminds me I better stock up before they disappear).   My niece loved the grapefruit ones I found last year.  Allyson really likes banana and apple.  Maddie’s favorite is strawberry and Ruth and Jame’s kids like any flavor because Ruth opens each package and dumps all the flavors into a big ziploc so they can’t request certain flavors.  There are many flavors that I have seen only once.  All flavors are wrapped in silver except the special ones and they are wrapped in gold.  The gold flavor used to be kiwi, but this week a new gold flavor appeared, LYCHEE.  So after getting past my childhood memories of mothball flavored lychee, I decided to buy a pack and they are really good, but then I actually have only found one flavor that I really don’t like and that is plum.  Fortunately, I’ve only seen them once.

Actually, my favorite blog is any one that belongs to my children or friends and has new pictures or a new post.  So, my favorite blog changes often. Tomorrow we are having some friends over after church for lunch and in planning the menu I was trying to decide what to drink besides water.  It’s getting hot here and lemonade sounds really good.  All my life I have just bought the Minute Maid frozen kind.  However, that is not available in Japan.  I “googled” lemonade and found the Simply Recipes blog by Elise Bauer at http://www.elise.com/recipes/ This website has recipes that sound so good.  I printed several and plan to try them soon.  Maybe Andrew and Leigh can be my guinea pigs since they arrive on Wednesday.

When found this recipe on a friend’s blog I knew that they would be incredible by just reading it. I love nuts, but not everyone in my seminary class likes them. I left the nuts out on purpose. I knew that once these were in my kitchen I wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to eat more than one. I decided to eat one, let Rick eat one or two and then take the rest to seminary this morning. These are incredibly rich, moist, and oiishi (Japanese for delicious) brownies. I got up this morning and put a cute napkin on a plate and then piled on the brownies. Then I left them home!

Yikes!!! I have a full 9″X13″ pan of brownies minus 2 3 sitting on a plate in the kitchen. They are actually taunting me. “We are soooo yummy come in here and eat some more of us!!!!” I am leaving now so I don’t have to listen to them until I figure out how to get rid of them humanely. Maybe I can give them away to friends in pairs, anymore than that could possibly kill someone since they are so rich.

I am keeping the recipe, but it will be filed with the Nigella peanut butter and chocolate squares under recipes to make only when you have a crowd to share with. They really are delicious.

Brownies

3/4 pound butter, melted
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided use (I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips)
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
5 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts (pecans or walnuts), chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch pan.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add 1 3/4 cups chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add melted mixture to cocoa in a bowl and combine. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whip eggs with brown sugar.

Mix flour with baking powder and salt. Add this dry mixture to egg/ brown sugar mixture. Mix in the butter-chocolate mixture. Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips and nuts. (Some nuts and chocolate chips may be saved to sprinkle on top of the brownies before baking.) Spread batter into a prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree F oven. Cool before slicing.