肉団子とかぼちゃの煮物 (Stewed meatballs & kabocha pumpkin)

Daddy's lunch, a photo by js_hale on Flickr.

Having the Kurodas here for several days inspired me to use up all the leftover items in our fridge to the best of my ability. There was a wedge of acorn squash left over, and since I didn't feel like going to the supermarket today, I defrosted some minced chicken and looked up a recipe to put them together.

I no longer trust recipes if they're in English - on the other hand, I have yet to go wrong with one that's written in Japanese, provided I can understand it. The braising sauce in the recipe was perfectly balanced, and my husband thought that it was (and that I am) amazing - the truth is that I can follow directions well when I put my mind to it. Either way, we're all eating well, and he's taking leftovers to work for lunch. I owe it all to my Tokyo friends - I am inspired to cook and eat more vegetables that I ever have in my life. Also on the menu tonight were brussels sprouts, boiled daikon, steamed rice and oven baked sweet potato fries. No oil or anything for the veggies - I used some dashi (fish broth) to flavor some of them, but that was it. Strawberries for dessert. It feels good to be healthy!

Kurodas were in town!

Jacob enjoying visit with Kuroda kids, a photo by js_hale on Flickr.

We were treated to a visit from the Kuroda family (Ren, Hiroko, Chikage and Riku) this week. After all the craziness that hit northern Japan earlier this month, Ren and Hiroko took the kids, got on a plane and took a vacation to California. If you watch - and believe - US media, you would think that Japan is simultaneously glowing with radioactivity and sinking into the ocean. From what I can gather, Tokyo was slowed down by the quakes and aftershocks, i.e., some train lines were down for a while and such. It reminded me of how Osaka was in 1995 after Kobe. Anyway, the kids' school was closed for inspection and not much was going on at work - in Japan (like the US, but maybe more so), you have to seize on opportunities to take vacation otherwise it may never happen.

We were treated to the BEST food - Hiroko is an amazing cook, and she apparently doesn't mind doing it while on vacation (SCORE!) so we were treated to amazing Japanese home cooking for the entire week. This goes WAY beyond my IKEA meatballs. A lot of what she cooked this time was very simple - boiled or steamed vegetables and such - but served alongside chicken wings sauteed in soy sauce, mirin and balsamic vinegar, or miso soup with poached egg and kabocha pumpkin.....sheer heaven. I promise that I will re-create these dishes to the best of my ability and post a picture very, very soon.