shopeatcookshopeatcookshop

We had a pretty laid back weekend here at Casa de M. I cleaned out my pantry and totally reorganized it with these white plastic baskets I picked up at Big Lots for a steal. It's an OCD dream now. It just kills me that I don't have a camera to post pictures of things with my blog entries now. Grrr!

My pantry is probably one of the worst designed pantries of all time, with only an 11 inch wide opening but a 25 inch depth. I found so much crap in the back that I totally forgot I had! Seriously, we have a tea-buying-and-not-drinking problem in this household. Better get on that!

I was hanging out with my friend, and she commented about how she had read my blog and saw that I had lost a good chunk of weight the previous week. She said that maybe I've accidentally discovered this great diet based on eating Asian food and I can write a book about it and get rich. Well, too late:




Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat by Naomi Moriyama I picked it up at Barnes and Noble. VERY interesting read, and it has a lot of recipes in it too. Some ideas, like having soup and veggies for breakfast, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get my head wrapped around. Others, however, made perfect sense. For instance, I have tried some foods (hello Tofu!) that I really didn't like, and I didn't care to try again. She says that a lot of these foods have so many variations that you can't rule them out based on one or two experiences. She said it's a lot like wine or cheese... if you try one kind of cheese and you don't care for it, you don't immediately assume that you hate all cheese! So, I am going to try tofu a few more times. Wish me luck!

Speaking of shopping for new items, I think I have hit every Asian grocer on this end of town now. I went to a new one on Saturday and found some fun items, including sushi grass (so cute!) and these cool bamboo mini-skewers that have a knot tied in one end. I also found that they carry the EXACT SAME sauce bottles I got on ebay. Well, at least now I know where to get replacements should I need them!

I picked up some baby bok choy while I was there also. I've had it at restaurants, but never tried to make any at home. I cooked it up last night and it was so good! I used a recipe I got from the Japanese Women book and sort of adapted it to what I wanted. Here, I will share:

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp San-J Reduced-Sodium Tamari Natural Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp canola oil
1 cup carrot(s)
1 small onion(s)
10 oz baby bok choy
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp sake
1/4 cup dashi

Instructions:

Combine 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup dashi, 1 tbsp tamari, 2 tbsp sake, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper to make the seasoning mix. Cut onion in half, then into thin crescents. Saute onion in oil for 1 minute. Add sliced carrots and saute another 2 minutes. Add 1/2 of the seasoning mixture and cook for 2 minutes. Add baby bok choy and the remaining seasoning mixture to the pan. Cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Add the remaining tamari and stir fry for 2 minutes. Makes 2 servings.

*Only 2 points per BIG serving!

*You can substitute regular soy sauce for the tamari.

*I used baby bok choy - tastes better, looks prettier!

*To make the dashi, combine 1/4 tsp Hon-Dashi granules with 3/4 cup warm water. Use only the 1/4 cup you need for the recipe, toss the rest or use for something else.

I'll definitely be making this a lot in the future, that's for sure!




I also found a one-tier bento box (see above) at the Korean market, and I bought the CUTEST All-Clad measuring cups at Williams Sonoma. I needed a new set because somehow one of my old ones tried to make friends with the garbage disposal. Since they were the cheapy thin ones they sell for like a buck at the grocery store, it didn't end well. The new ones are super sturdy and look just like baby versions of my pots and pans. I've been wanting them for a while now, and I'm so happy they are in my kitchen stuff collection.

My goodness... it seems like all I do lately is shop and eat and cook and talk about shopping, eating, and cooking!