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What's Cooking This Week for Halloween

10/30/2013

We will not be having chocolate for dinner. But dessert is pretty close on its heels.

No. This is Not My House.

Meatless Monday
Simplest Spaghetti Sauce.The husband made this in a wok this time and it was a successful cross between spaghetti and pan-fried noodles. Unconventional, but it worked.

Minimally Meaty Tuesday
Chicken and Bok Choy stir fry. Just a little oyster sauce. Thirty minutes, start to finish, including making the rice.

Wednesday
Ma Po Tofu. Another 30 minutes start to finish.

Happy Halloween Thursday
Braised Kabocha and My Mom's Miso Soup. Just because it's funny to have pumpkin on Halloween. And we shall have no dead flesh for Halloween either. And hopefully some leftover Snickers, Hi-Chew, Three Musketeers and Milky Ways.

Friday
Okonomiyaki, with char siu.

Extras from the Trader Joe's run
1) Simply almonds, cashews and chocolate trail mix with unsalted pistachios mixed in
2) Coconut cashews. Good with milk and granola or mixed in with work-oatmeal.
3) Maple pecan granola.

Happy Halloween to all!

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Halloween Candy--Polling Here

10/27/2013

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Li-hing candy does not pass go.

We hold a Very Serious Annual Discussion to determine what Halloween candy to give out to the neighborhood trick or treaters.

First of all, we are traditionalists and give out candy. We long ago gave up on the idea of finding a suitable yet satisfactory alternative. More on that a little later.

Secondly, the family stipulates that we have to give out Good Candy and not Weird Candy.

Thus, no matter how much I lobby, li-hing rock candy is out.

After some ruminating in the candy point-of-purchase at Safeway, these were also nixed for cause.

The No-Go List
1. Milk Duds. Who wants to eat something called "Dud"?
2. Twizzlers. Red Vine pretender.
3. Junior Mints. These aren't even good--who buys them in real life?
4. Mr. Goodbar. Peanut allergies. In all its seriousness.
5. Werther's Original Caramel. Old people food.
6. SweeTarts. Chalk.
7. Airheads. Bad Hi Chew molar extractors.
8. Nerds. Looks too much like crazy aquarium rocks.
9. Blow Pops. I nixed this one because it's a badly named product on so many levels.
10. Dum Dums. Who wants the free candy they give you after your flu shots?!

The "Hmm, Interesting" List
I heard a Trader Joe's radio ad promoting frozen turkey meatballs for Halloween trick-or-treaters ("because canned tomato sauce is so last year." This got me thinking about the unusual items my my children have received by well-meaning or perhaps ill-prepared households. Here are some of the all-time oddballs:

1. 1 walnut, in shell
2. a bag of prunes, and not the individual snack size either!
3. a full 12-oz can of pop
4. a toothbrush, with mini-floss and toothpaste, but to be fair, this was from a dentist
5. State quarters. Of all the non-candy, this was the best alternative, cost-effective yet satisfying.
6. loose change. This one, not so much, but the very young children were pretty excited with 17 cents in coin.

This is what we've settled on: The multipack of Twix, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way and Snickers, a separate bag of Kit Kat Mini thrown in, and Hi Chews. Yup it's the American Asian candy bowl.

Snickers, Milky Way, Twix. With a KitKat Add-in.

Hi Chew is very popular in the household.

What are you doing for Halloween? What are your candy preferences? Talk to me Junior Mint lovers!

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What Really Is Cooking This Week

10/22/2013

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This week, we aim for homey-food, even with one eating out day, and this is only because no one in the household can resist discount days at Curry House.

Here's what is cooking at home this week. No fancy-shmancy restaurants this week.

Meatless Monday
Almost Alfredo Pasta with arugula and sun-dried tomatoes. This was a bit leftovers roulette using leftover packets of Parmesan and Gruyere cheese from quiche last week.

Kaiware spaghetti from Curry House

Discount Tuesday
Taking advantage of 20% off coupon from Curry House, and one of us extended to meatless Tuesday. Our local Curry House is also next door to Kee Wah Bakery so I had to get some sponge cake and taro buns.

Wednesday
From Scratch Pork Loin made into sandwiches. With the rest of the arugula from Monday.

Thursday
Mediterranean Lamb Stir Fry, while string beans and red peppers are still in season.

Fish on Friday
Furikake Salmon, My Very Own Namasu and Rice. All-purpose Japanese dinner. Or breakfast.

I'm looking forward to some creativity cooking and extras this weekend too, including
Furikake Chex Mix so I can lay off the potato chips and bring some snacks into work.
Sticky Rice with Mangoes, just because
I also saw a 'recipe' for sweet potato chips that I may try with Okinawan sweet potatoes.

There's no place like home! Especially the kitchen.

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What Was Not Cooking Last Week

10/20/2013

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With a full-time job comes a rare week when eating out gets stacked up. While nice to sample various restaurants and there were lots of doggie bags this week, there's no place like home! I've included the Urban Spoon ratings if you decide to check these out. Just try not to go in the same week.

Meatless Monday
Quiche was the only home cooked meal this week. Good thing we made 2.

Safeway Tuesday
Fried Chicken, a loaf of bread and a bag of salad. Sometimes dinner just has to come in a bag. I tried hard to not to include the side order of mom-guilt.

Work Dinner Wednesday

If you like meat. Or chicken hearts.

If you a serious carnivore, Pampas could be the place for you. Beef 5 ways, pork, chicken, 2 kinds of lamb, 2 varieties of sausage, 2 types of chicken, turkey, and chicken hearts!) is a little overstimulating. Take your Lipitor if you go for it with the meat.

I really liked the lamb with garlic and mint and the grilled pineapple is FAB, but much prefer their 'sidebar,' which you can also order on its own. Calamari with peppers is a good appetizer that you can pair with the sidebar for a full and decidedly less meaty meal.

What Hawaii People Want to Eat on Thursday

Here is an example of how similarly Hawaii people can think about food. On the same night, my in-laws and my sister were taken to dinner at the Olive Garden, one in CA and one in Texas. Go figure.

This was the first time our family has eaten at the Olive Garden. To clarify, you cannot just drink water and eat free bread sticks and salad. To get the 'free' bread and salad, one must order an entree.

Group Dinner Friday

Heirloom panzanella

Another work group dinner. This time Lark Creek Blue in Santana Row. Many of my co-workers had either the beef or salmon and were quite satisfied.

I opted for meatless Friday with a very nice panzanella heirloom tomato salad and a side of macaroni and cheese.

After eating like that what have I been eating this weekend?

Chazuke, yogurt with nuts and raspberries (aka squirrel food), salad, Ramune popsicles (a discovery from Japan) tea and lots of water!

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Recycling Croissants

10/14/2013

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One piece eaten on Sunday morning

So my husband has a co-dependent relationship with Costco, and simply cannot resist buying humongous croissants in large quantities.

However, the last few inevitably get flat, chewy, squishy and not very croissant-ish. They get gross.

The husband is also loathe to waste food. So after one too many squishy croissants, he recycles them into a bread pudding.

The husband is a genius.

Gone by Sunday 4pm

Made on Sunday morning.

Gone by Sunday afternoon.

Fast-tracked to Feeding My Ohana.

Click here for the recipe he used. It was based on a Martha Stewart recipe, but sugar and croissants were the only carryovers.

Make it this weekend. Or start it in the morning and then make it for dessert during the week!

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Postcards from Israel

10/9/2013

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The best way to understand and appreciate Israel is to go there. However, this is no easy task. For starters, it takes 24 hours to get there from the West Coast of the US, approximately 19 of which are spent in an airplane. I was lucky enough to spend a day walking the Old City of Jerusalem. Old and historic are gross understatements, and no matter what you believe, you feel the spirituality of the place. It has mana.

The most sacred sites of three major religions are squashed together inside the walled portion of the old city of Jerusalem (see photo above). If you look carefully at the Western Wall, you can see that it is sectioned off to a men's side and a women's side, as dictated by Jewish custom.

Falafel with french fries

Everything I ate in Israel was ono. Even the bite of Jersusalem grill mix I tasted before I found out what it was.

And what's not to love about a place that offers to put french fries and hot sauce into your falafel?

Israeli pasta with artichoke hearts and olives

The open market. I counted 9 kinds of olives in a single stand. Beautiful fruit and vegetables too.

Narrow streets inside the Old City. They were meticulously clean. It is very expensive to live within the Old City, and I'm not quite sure what you do if you have a car.

The right side of doorways has a mezuzah, a case that contains a blessing, usually a verse from the Torah. Some mezuzah are very fancy, and some are very simple. It reminds me of the omamori that we keep above our doorways.

It is tradition to write a wish on a piece of paper, fold it up and push it into the Western Wall. You touch the wall, say a prayer and stuff your paper into a space.

To do this, you have to wait in line (on the women's side), get pushed up to the Wall, and then moosh your way back out.

Even with the mosh pit, it was still a very powerful experience. Women wept, touched their hands and foreheads to the wall in prayer, or just took in a quiet moment.

A once-in-a-lifetime for this Hawaii girl.

Peace out, really.

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What's Cooking This Week--Better Than It Looks

10/1/2013

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Not so pretty, but a good balanced taste

Like the pond scum drink from awhile back, green curry is one of those things tastes so much better than it looks. And this is how we start October.

Meatless Monday
Green Curry with Tofu. Let's just say green curry doesn't photograph very well, even with A Lot of Filtering (see left). And tofu does it no favors. However, this was a Very Tasty Dinner. Green curry paste, a squinch of fish paste and a can of coconut milk. Plus nuts and dried cranberries. Yum.

Tuesday
Tonkatsu, namasu, shredded cabbage and rice. Everything about this makes for a happy weekday dinner.

Ad-Hoc Wednesday
No recipe needed for dinner. A sturdy meal of pasta with turkey sausage and arugula. Seasoned with white wine, chicken stock, pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

Thursday
Sloppy Joes from Scratch, with ground chicken instead of hamburger.

Fish on Friday
Misoyaki Butterfish and Edamame Rice. A lovely way to end the week. This seems to be an Ohana favorite and photographs much, much better.

Happy October!

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What's Cooking This Week for Halloween

Halloween Candy--Polling Here

What Really Is Cooking This Week

What Was Not Cooking Last Week

Recycling Croissants

Postcards from Israel

What's Cooking This Week--Better Than It Looks

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