 Spring in San Francisco The fact that it's Tuesday means that I had a GREAT weekend in San Francisco. How appropriate that on Saint Patrick's Day, I learned where Irish coffee was first served in the US. With apologies for the delay, here's what is cooking in this house this week. Clean-out-the-Fridge MondayKalua pig for fried rice, a variation on a theme. Leftover Kalua pig was the meat-flavoring agent for fried rice. In this case, it's important to take a light touch on shoyu and oyster sauce because kalua pig is salty. With a side of kim chee! Meatless TuesdayButternut Squash Soup, Round 2. The first time the immersion mixer was lots of fun, but the soup required lots of doctoring and still wasn't quite right. Trying again, this time with coconut milk, ginger and lime juice.
 When chickens are productive, make quiche. WednesdayQuiche. A friend of mine at work has chickens at home, doing what they do best. Farm-fresh eggs this week! One classic bacon with onions with Swiss and Gruyere and one vegggie with red peppers, zukes, onions, artichoke hearts and Colby/Jack cheese Meatless ThursdayFarfalle with sun-dried tomatoes and broccoli. Typically my husband makes this with chicken, but we'll try meatless this time. FridayPasta with clams, corn, chorizo and tomatoes from Diners, Drive Inns and Dives. From a diner in Rhode Island. I might swap soy-rizo here too. Experiment in SaladSometime this week, I'm trying a butter lettuce, grapefruit, walnut and feta salad. The original recipe is in this month's issue of Cooking Light. The directions say to peel a grapefruit--how do you even do that?! We'll find out and report back!
 Google "vote" to find your polling place Even if it means crock-pot, freezer or takeout, make sure you get out and vote on Tuesday. I have already exercised my privilege as an American and voted and you should too. Whatever your politics, we live in an amazing and diverse country. Thank you also to those who have already donated $980 to the Feeding My Ohana Virtual Food Drive on behalf of Second Harvest Food Bank. The hardworking people at Second Harvest tell me they update results manually, so matching funds and weekend donations post slightly more slowly. Thank you to all who have donated thus far! With that, here's what's cooking this week.
 Mmm, BBQ sliders. MondayGround chicken with Chinese long beans stir-fried with black bean sauce and sriracha sauce. Bok choy with oyster sauce and rice. College kids: you don't need a recipe for this, just wing it.
Tuesday--Get out and Vote!Crock pot BBQ sliders. Sandwiches to watch the election results. And Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, Phish Phood, and Imagine Whirled Peace, which is on sale this week. A low-maintenance dinner so we can de-construct election results whilst eating ice cream from the carton. WednesdaySomen salad. As you enjoy 80 degrees in November in California, please keep our 'back East' ohana in your thoughts. ThursdayThai Chicken Curry and rice. Cauliflower is coming into season! FridayWeekday Lasagne. A nice way to end the week. ExtrasYoplait coconut yogurt, which I have for lunch with Home-assembled trail mix: sesame sticks, cashews and dried raspberriesPerfectly hard-boiled eggsRoasted tomatoes, with some late-season heirloom German Stripes I got at the Farmers' Market yesterday .Eat Well. Be Well.
 Be safe. The ocean always wins. What a crazy natural disaster few days. The tsunami alert for my Feeding My Ohana-ohana in Hawaii has passed. To our Feeding My Ohana-ohana on the Northeast, stay safe and dry.
Sandy looks like a bad one, so please take care!
Make sure you have lots of water, canned goods like tomato sauce, black beans and tuna, bread, peanut butter, batteries, band aids and gas for your cars and grill. Out west, here's what's cooking.
 MondayKorean Egg Meat, using fish. I LOVE egg meat, but since my son doesn't eat cow, I'm using Dover sole. Fish jun is standard for Korean restaurants in Hawaii, so I think it should work, and cooking will be much faster than beef. A proper Monday meal with musubi, kim chee, kale chips and a new kochojang dipping sauce. Liking the sound of this already! Meatless TuesdaySweet potato curry. This seems like a very fall kind of dish. Wednesday--Happy Halloween!
Kamaboko Sandwiches. A childhood favorite of mine that I'm foisting upon my children. They can decide if it's a trick or treat. Not nearly as strange as the kimchee/peanut butter or sardine/onion sandwiches I've also liked and eaten as a kid.
 ThursdayChristine's Clam Chowder. Feeding My Ohana's Virtual Food Drive kick-off day. We will be matching donations again this year.FridaySeared Furikake Ahi Salad. Something new and light to go with Halloween candy. Extras from the bakeryButterscotch pumpkin breadBanana-Nutella bread, from last month's issue of Cooking Light Eat Well. Be Well. Stay Safe!!
 Monday Night Tacos! Today was the first rain of the season. Time to transition to soup/oven weather. Three of this week's meals are good 'stock-up' meals. Eat 1. Freeze 1. Here's what's cooking for the shorter days. MondayTacos with no seasoning packets. Here is what is in one of those spice packets: yellow corn flour, salt, maltodextrin, paprika, spices, modified cornstarch, sugar, garlic powder, citric acid, autolyzed yeast extract, natural flavor, Caramel Color (sulfites). JUST SAY NO to those sodium-saturated (430mg) spice packets. Go with fresh onion, cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, cayenne peper and fresh garlic.
 おいしい！好きな 食べ物 TuesdayNumber 1 Udon. Char siu was on sale at Marukai, and bok choy is coming into season now that it's cooler. WednesdayJapanese Chicken Curry. A double-batch for dinner and freezer. ThursdayDouble down on Chili and a fresh Quinoa Salad, the go-to option for the choir potluck. FridayCorn Chowder. This was major comfort food when the weather got 'cold' In Hawaii, meaning the low 70s. Trying a new version based on Tyler Florence and the Barefoot Contessa, two of my favorite cooking references. Trying to say no to canned cream corn. SaturdayQuiche. Make two save one for later! ReminderFeeding My Ohana's Virtual Food Drive to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank will start November 1st, and we will again be matching donations.
Eat Well. Be Well.
 Brown University, Providence, RI This post is dedicated to all college kids (and a few in particular) who are now living the dream of off-campus apartment living.
Ah, yes. The freedom of selecting exactly what you want to eat. No more mass-produced, pre-selected dorm food to be eaten at specified times.
The reality of which quickly becomes, "Oh (appropriate college-level profanity here)!? I have to cook! And wash dishes!? And buy food?! Hello, Mom!?"
A friend of mine has a child is in just such a predicament, with two vegetarian roomies thrown in, just for some added fun.
Do not despair, or worse yet, whine. Armed with a salad spinner, rice cooker, a non stick pan, a non-stick spatula and a baking sheet, you will neither starve nor burn through your parents' money eating out.
Feeding Your Ohana 101: Staples you should always try to have in-house | Spices & Seasoners
Garlic. This makes everything better
Coarse sea salt. Say no to refined salt
Black pepper. The kind you can grind on your own
Olive oil. For general-purpose cooking
Canola oil. For when you decide to fry something, and you will
Shoyu (soy sauce). Low-sodium, green label Kikkoman is my favorite
Roasted sesame seed oil. Dynasty or Kadoya brand
Oyster sauce
Sriracha sauce. Look for the rooster on the label. He is your friend.
White vinegar. Buy a gallon and you can also use it to clean your floors. When you clean them.
Balsamic vinegar. Impress your friends
Brown sugar. For homemade teriyaki sauce
White sugar. If you bake. A mom can dream!
Optional
Cooking sherry and ginger | Generally non-perishable items
Onions. Technically perishable, but they last a long time and you will use them a lot
Rice. White or brown short grain, Koda Farms if you can
Quinoa.That you can cook in your rice cooker
"Noodley" type pasta like linguine
"Shaped" pasta like penne, farfalle, or elbows
Nuts. Pine nuts, walnuts and cashews
Dried cranberries. Good to toss into salads
Bread. Add cheese and it's a sandwich
Perishable Items--stored in the fridge
Eggs
Real butter
Cheese. Parmesan and your favorite for sandwiches
Yogurt
Firm tofu. If you and your roomies can make peace with it
A bottle each of lime and lemon juice. Fresh are always preferable, but these are good to have on standby
| What you can make with the above supplies plus a trip to the grocery store for fresh produce.  So whether you are Lions, Tigers or any-type-except-Golden-Bears,
Cardinal, Crimson or Big Red--enjoy college.
Remember that if you have aluminum foil and an iron, you can make grilled cheese, and that snow banks are excellent temporary coolers.
Eat Well. Be Well.
Study Hard. Play hard, but not too hard. After all, I'm still a mom!
Hmm. When last I posted, I deliriously anticipated a speedy return to cooking after a couple of days. My kids cycled through this cold after a few days, why not me too? Then the reality of a middle-aged body with bad sinuses made itself very apparent.
One week later and still sniffling.
I've never been a fan of starving a cold or anything else, so we did not starve last week, thanks to takeout and my truly awesome husband. I've chose spicing out a cold and so here's what we ate last week.
 Starve a cold? Nope. MondayIndian Pizza from Pizza Pub. Yes, we used a ValPak flyer, but it turned out pretty well. Indian pizza is more like putting the spicy Indian chicken dish of your choice (tandoori, tikka masala, paneer or butter) on a flat naan bread-like crust with onions, hot peppers and a little cheese. Not so much pizza as flatbread, with a nice differentiated crunch from both crust and veggies. Plus, it was temperature and spicy hot, just what stuffy noses needed. We will definitely try this again, and not just when we are sick. TuesdayOyako donburi. Almost chicken soup and pure comfort.
 The pork loin magic sauce WednesdayFrom-scratch Grilled Pork Loin. This is becoming a good go-to meal for especially hectic days. Start-to-finish in about 45 minutes, including marinating time. ThursdayKalua pig and Kim chee fried rice. We had leftover kalua pig, snow peas, shredded carrots and rice. Add an onion and kim chee for another meal of spicy comfort food. FridaySandwiches from Ike's Lair, Cupertino. IF hockey season ever gets started, this will likely replace our beloved Togo's. Gasp, there I said it. Why? A great value, a lot of vegetarian and vegan sandwiches, and seriously amazing Dutch crunch bread. Our favorites, # 19 Home for Thanksgiving: turkey with Havarti, cranberry sauce and sriacha; Steve Jobs: eggplant with pesto and provolone and #6 Hot Momma Huda: Halal chicken, Frank's Red Hot Sauce, ranch and provolone. Four sandwiches will run about $40, but you will have enough for at least two meals. I would also like to thank the cyber-ohana for all of your kind words and cold remedy suggestions! Hearing from you all was good medicine indeed. I am on the mend! Eat Well. Be Well.
The kids are back in school, and soccer, piano and carpool are starting up again. So dinner has a decidedly academic theme. Here's what's cooking at our house this week.
Monday
Home Ec Review Assignment #1. A hodge-podge I've made before called "Philly stir-fry." For the entire family, I used only one Cajun and one Sheboygan sausage from the newly re-opened Dittmer's in Mountain View, CA. I sliced the sausages very thinly and then stir-fried them with onions, mushrooms and green and yellow peppers. This way, the sausages are really a flavoring agent, rather then the centerpiece of the meal. The children eat a lot of veggies this way. We ate it over rice and a bit of sriracha sauce. Leftovers will be eaten Philly cheesesteak-style in a traditional sandwich roll for lunches. Started at 5:45 pm and eating at 6:30 pm
Tuesday
Science Experiment #1. Egg and chunky tomato sauce and chard topped with bread crumbs and parmesan. I'm working on this as a kind of Italian loco-moco. This is an amalgamation of two recipes, one from Gale Gand's Brunch!, and one from Cooking Light. This could turn out spectacularly or not, but that's the fun of it.
 WednesdayEconomics 101. Costco Chicken. I * LOVE* when Feeding My Ohana-ites send me suggestions. Keep 'em coming! This week, I received guidance on how to use Costco chicken bones to make jook (Chinese rice porridge), and this sounds too good to pass up. I may even buy two so that I'll have extra for chicken salad sandwiches and for Friday's Tortilla Soup. 3-4 meals on 2 chickens!ThursdayEditing Assignment #1. Ginger cilantro fish, possibly with chicken. I'm cleaning out the Greenhouse and will probably transition this page to my Pinterest board. It's time for this one to put up or be purged.
 FridayEconomics 202. Chicken Tortilla Soup, with the rest of the Costco chicken. Extra Credit for the Afternoon Teenager FeedingSpinach dip, pre-packaged snow peas and baby carrots. I used Knorr's as the starter pack. Fresh jalapeno/jack cheese tamales from Whole Foods Crackers and cheddar cheese Yogurt, nuts and fresh berries White Cheddar Cheezits, but only because they are on sale Watermelon Li-hing pineapple if I can find a good one. My girlfriend made this over the weekend and I need to eat it again. Eat Well. Be Well.
This week's dinners started out smoothly. I was very excited to have a local source for eggs, so it was ham and egg cups with fresh farm eggs on Monday and a new salad on Tuesday.  Ham and egg cups |  New fruit and vegetable salad |
In particular, fruit and vegetable salad salad was a hit. The combination of nashi/oranges and a lime dressing make for a very clean and zippy salad. Click here for the recipe.  After that, not so much.
Wednesday's Chicken curry should have been a no-brainer. Chicken, vegetables and either an S&B or Vermont brand curry block. However, sometime before 6:00 pm, definitely before the chicken and vegetables are already cooking in the pot, one should make sure that there is a block of curry in one's house. I missed that step.At 6:15 pm, ad-hoc chicken soup developed after adding a container each of vegetable and chicken broth, some spices and orzo. By 6:45 pm, it became orzo-risotto. By the end of the night, it would go into a pyrex dish, destined to become a chicken/orzo bake. Lessons Learned:
1) A block of Japanese curry really is essential for making Japanese curry. 2) Make sure you have it before you start cooking. 3) If you need something to absorb A LOT of liquid, orzo is a very good option. Guy Fieri made Thursday's turkey/brie puff pastry tarts sound so deceptively simple. I added a few more items and the flavors are definitely all there--turkey, apples, cranberries, a dollop of mustard and brie--in a puff pastry. However, a few construction and quantity issues need to be worked out. They weren't bad and there were no leftovers but that's because teeny-tiny tarts are a a tad insubstantial for two teenagers and two hungry adults. Lessons Learned:
1) TV is not real life, especially Food Network TV and Hawaii 5-0. 2) Some brie does not melt, even after 30 minutes at 400 degrees. At all. Best to find a soft version. 3) "Tart" no matter how much the yield, shouldn't be the main course of dinner. Friday's dinner was postponed so we can eat the orzo before it threatens further expansion. Eat Well. Be Well.
We are not roaming the streets in search of the uber-trendy food trucks. I like to have dinner Ozzie and Harriet-style, but this week the kids' schedules do not work out that way. So meals are carry-and-go. They can still have a good dinner and get where they need to go.  MondayTeriyaki chicken sandwiches. Instead of rice, I'm using toasted green onion bread, shredded lettuce and mayo. Trying a new citrus salad. Shredded lettuce, and sliced nashi, oranges, green peppers and cukes with a lime/cumin dressing. TuesdayBreakfast for dinner. Fluffy wheat bread toast, ham and egg cups, adapted from Gale Gand's Brunch! And the rest of the citrus salad. WednesdayJapanese Chicken Curry. We have a good shot at a sit-down dinner, so this meal is definitely not mobile.
 ThursdayPuff pastry tarts with turkey, brie and TBD add-ins. I saw a turkey/brie turnover on an episode of "Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives" Thinking of adding apple slices and cranberries to the mixture. Or I may try pear, brie and pecans or pork sausage. Fish on FridayFurikake crusted fish with yaki musubi. Lots of ideas brewing from the cookbook research and Pinterest. Should be fun. Eat Well. Be Well.
The weeklong cow-fest was a rare indulgence that will not be repeated. When Friday rolled along, even the steak-loving husband no desire for another beefy meal. On top of that, my son informed me that during his weeklong school camping trip, he ate "heaps" of bacon, hashed browns and pancakes for breakfast. Every day.
Thus, this week, we're taking a break from 4 legs. I admit that I'm attempting to make a maple/pork sausage from scratch sometime this week, but will save eating it for a later date. Well, I may have to taste a little bit.
Here's what cooking this week.  Family-sized quiche MondayQuiche with onions, mushrooms, chard, red pepper and jalapeno jack cheese. Normally I would use zucchini, but winter zukes are expensive and just plain sad. Also scored some fresh eggs from a work friend. Maximizing oven use by toasting sage leaves for pork sausage and roasting tomatoes for panini on Wednesday. TuesdayCurry yakisoba with chicken, green beans and carrots. There is really no recipe for this. Maruchan's fresh yakisoba and add vegetables. WednesdayPanini with turkey, the last of a gift of homemade sundried tomato pesto, basil leaves, roasted tomatoes from Monday and mozzarella cheese. I shall have to snag the recipe for that pesto. Will start another loaf of fluffy wheat bread before work in the am. ThursdaySweet Potato Curry. When it's warmer in Toronto, Ottawa and Providence than it is in California, it's time for a spicy, hearty and completely vegetarian curry. Fish on FridayMahi Mahi with Tomato Cilantro Butter sauce. This is a great dish that has been sitting in the Greenhouse for far too long. And the cilantro in the garden is calling out for it. Last week's menu definitely reinforced the idea of eating everything in moderation. Lesson learned. Eat Well. Be Well.
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