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New Year's Prep--Kuromame today!

12/31/2014

Kuromame for good health

A quick post between cleaning/cooking.

We do not host New Year's, and have been doing a lot of cooking but not so much cleaning. So far, the pantry, my Tupperware shelf are done, but get this, my children have cleaned our their rooms! I expect the rest of the house will be clean by Chinese New Year.

Love the multicultural reprieve!

I've started a batch of kuromame in the crock pot this morning, and it's not too late for you. If you start your crock pot at the stroke of midnight, it will be ready for New Year's eating in the morning.

We are also in charge of bringing a salad to New Year's--my Mom's Japanese coleslaw. Note that I've updated the recipe because Nissin no longer makes the pre-flavored noodle packages. Switched out to the ramen snack packs.

We'll be eating cha-soba with the seasonal fancy kamaboko tonight, and probably mochi for breakfast. For long life and full bellies!

And one that note, making one last push for the Feeding My Ohana Virtual Food Drive. We will add matching funds and additionally, Second Harvest has a donor who will match funds today as well!

Stay safe all and happy new year of the sheep!

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What's Cooking This Week? #LeftoversRoulette!

12/21/2014

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Lots of shoes = happy house!

During this winter holiday season, we celebrate Christmas, mochi-tsuki and New Year's. Plus, an acknowledgement that we are in the middle of Hanukkah.

Our annual Christmas party is going strong for over twenty years, with lifelong friends who are truly part of our ohana. We have laughed and lived through all of us getting married, changing jobs, having kids, getting divorced, losing loved ones and watching our kids grow up...this party is one of the household's most treasured holiday traditions.

A full house is a happy house for me with our friends and now our kids' friends DRIVING over too. Obviously, we eat a lot. This year, we opted for pre-purchased ham and turkeys (yes, plural) from Dickey's BBQ. Even with close to 30 people, we still have LOTS of turkey and ham, plus ham bones, a turkey carcass, a Silicon Valley shutdown and lots of cooking time!

Here's what's cooking this week.

Mystery Manapua

Sunday
My Daddy's Fried Rice with leftover ham, topped with eggs of each household's preference. One sunny-side up, one over-easy, one scrambled, and one in my father's 'rubber egg' style.

Prep: I've been boiling a ham hock since this afternoon. The house smells like bacon!

#LeftoversRoulette Monday
A variation on My Mom's Portuguese Bean Soup, with hock-stock from Sunday. One of our friends (from the above-noted party) gave us a ham soup starter pack to try. Mahalo ACT :)

Bonus #1: Getting homemade mochi and an-mochi from a friend. Mahalo and Merry Christmas KU!
Bonus #2: Making Jelly granola shortbread cookies with the kids. Full house is a happy house.

Experiment: Chia Seeds with yogurt for breakfast. Apparently 1/2T goes a LONG way and you need to ramp up.

#LeftoversRoulette Tuesday
Pillsbury Manapua with leftover turkey, brie, apples and dried cranberries. I love the flexibility of this recipe!

Bonus
Ginger Sugar Cookies and requisite decorating.
I had the audacity to suggest buying Trader Joe's gingerbread non-gender specific people to decorate, and was soundly and appropriately smacked down. Even though the kids are well past the Santa Claus stage, the tradition of cookie making is still important and essential. Family rules :)

Prep: Boiling turkey bones today for another round of stock!

Christmas Eve Wednesday and #MeatlessOneDay
Spinach Salad is our annual responsibility for Christmas Eve potluck. I'm eating sides and so at Ieast one household member will be meatless.

Merry Christmas Thursday to All!

#LeftoversRoulette Friday
Japanese Turkey Curry, with leftover turkey and some of the stock from boiling the turkey bones.

Thank you all Ohana-ers for hanging with me. Wishing you and your ohaha Mele Kalikimaka and onward we go toward the year of the Sheep!

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What Has Feeding My Ohana Been Up to?!

12/15/2014

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Christmas Shirokiya Style

If you've been following FeedingMyOhana on Instagram, it looks like not a lot of cooking happened during my recent trip back home to Hawaii.

I went back this time, literally to feed my own ohana, as my parents, Aunty and sisters needed just a little more help than usual to make sure nobody got left behind or forgotten.

There may have been moments where we may have wanted to jettison certain parties, but that is for another discussion.

So what did I feed the ohana?

Get these at Trader Joe's!

First, there was the obligatory Trader Joe's goods. Dried apricots, trail mix, dark chocolate mint marshmallows (which I HIGHLY recommend), holiday Joe-Joe's and dark chocolate covered edamame. 35 pounds of suitcase unloaded on Day 1.

My parents say, "I eat anything." But in reality, this is not true. They tend toward more Hawaii/Asian food, with a lot of meat and rice. #MeatlessOneDay is more like Meatless-Someday-But-Not-Today-or-Possibly-Ever. That said, they do eat a lot of vegetables--eggplant, choy sum, bittermelon (which I bought, blech!), etc.

My parents have small dishes and use chawan a lot. I think this contributes to reasonable portion control. I made about half of what I normally make for a family of four and there was still enough to freeze for later. This is what I fed the 'rents:

Japanese Chicken Curry
Grandma Nancy's Braised Meat
Misoyaki Salmon, with salmon that one of their friends caught. While I didn't have to gut it, I had to scale it and strip out the lining of the stomach, and that was plenty.
Chinese takeout food for the extended ohana dinner--Beef sour cabbage, stuffed bittermelon (specifically requested), crispy gau gee, cold ginger chicken, and Chinese roast pork. Chinese Hawaii food at its finest.

Zippy's Chili Cheese Fries. Happy Food.

And then there were my favorites ('cause even the help gets a few hours off)

Chili Cheese Fries from Zippy's. Lunch after taking Aunty to Church. As much as I do love the Korean fried chicken there, this sub $5 item may be my new favorite

Shimazu's and Baldwin's shave ice. Nothing more needs to be said here.

Yummy Korean BBQ Meat Jun. I particularly like the chop chae (glass noodles). And they let you swap out rice for an additional side. The mini plate is easily the two-meal plate.

For the record, nobody cried, I did not gain weight despite the CocoPuffs, and took home 48 pounds of suitcase back!

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Vegetarian Dinner and Whipped Cream

12/1/2014

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Requested by the carnivores. Twice!

There has been a lot of cooking/experimenting going on. However, not a lot of blogging, so here's the first set of a backlog of recipes, starting with a new one and an update.

Still winding my way through Jerusalem cookbook and sabih has emerged as a #MeatlessOneDay winner.

The only challenging ingredient here is getting Zhoug (the spicy green stuff you see in the photo at left), but most Middle Eastern or Mediterranean grocery stores will carry it in the refrigerated section.

If you buy hummus and fresh pita from the Falafel Stop in Sunnyvale, you can get it there as well.

Winner Whipped Cream
Quite awhile ago, I had experimented with fruit-flavored whipped cream. Let's add eggnog whipped cream to that portfolio too. Yes, indeedy. Click here for the whole set.

Today is the first day of the Feeding My Ohana Virtual Food Drive to benefit Second Harvest.
Click here and Feeding My Ohana will match donations once again.

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New Year's Prep--Kuromame today!

What's Cooking This Week? #LeftoversRoulette!

What Has Feeding My Ohana Been Up to?!

Vegetarian Dinner and Whipped Cream

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