More Fun in the Kitchen

We have been enjoying some wonderful meals lately…rediscovering some old favorites and trying some new things. We all enjoy tabletop cooking. We've have been using an ancient butane burner that was getting crankier and bordered on being dangerous. Takashi found a great new burner online for only $20.00. We ended up buying three of them – one for our wonderful neighbor/tenant and two for us so we can more easily accommodate more dinner guests. Time to try some new dishes!

Nabe is "one pot" cooking prepared at the table in a clay pot with water or broth using a variety of ingredients . We've been fans of shabu shabu (swish swish) for years – we usually use beef, cabbage, tofu, mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables which are cooked in the pot and then dipped in ponzu sauce with some grated horseradish. We picked up some halibut down at the fish market and it was wonderful!

Last night we made chestnut rice, a traditional fall dish to go with our Korean tabletop barbecue (we used shrimp, peppers, oyster mushrooms, and shitake for the barbecue). I love chestnuts but roasting and shelling them is not easy!! It was worth it though – here's the rice with chestnuts and shitakes in the rice cooker with a little sake added to the cooking water. Yum!

Takashi also made mochi last night for the first time – pounded it by hand – he is looking online at this very moment for a mocha maker! It was delicious coated with kinako – roasted soybean flour. It disappeared before I could get a photo.