Green Tomatoes

As you may recall, here is the garden at the beginning of May:

And here it is at the end of May:

Everything but the broccoli is bearing fruit. This is the second zucchini, and a 3rd is about the size of my index finger.

Even one of the mystery plants next to the tomatoes has a nice green orb growing from it. Mystery somewhat solved--it looks like a melon, but I can't tell you what kind.

And green tomatoes! The tomato cages from Home Depot were a great investment. The plants are nice and straight and I think it will be much easier to pick the tomatoes when the time comes.

This lovely vine is the cucumbers. They are also producing fruit, but the leaves and flowers are much prettier...

...than the lumpy little torpedoes underneath.

Last, but not least are the watermelons. Still not much bigger than a pea, but there are more of them, as well as some cute, pale yellow flowers.

I am looking forward to what June will bring!!

Great Minds

Keizo's dinner from about a week ago. Pay attention to the food occupying the 12 o'clock position on the plate.

Here's what I made after work today. Look familiar?

Not really coincidence, but thanks to technology and zucchini being in season both here and in Japan, Keizo and I can eat the same thing within days of each other. Kinda cool, no?

I think Keizo got his zucchini at the Wai Wai Farm, the local co-op grocery store in Fukutsu (I know I mentioned it a few times in the early posts) but I did him one better and got mine from the backyard. That's my home grown "teeny" zucchini on the top and the week old, store bought one on the bottom.

I couldn't taste much of a difference between the two. But then again, zucchini isn't really known for its strong flavor. The dark green and light spots made for a lovely salad.

The recipe we both used is one I have written on a tiny scrap of paper tucked in the binder where I keep recipes. I don't remember where it's from, but most likely the vast world wide web. It's called Zucchini Slaw and is really simple.

• 1 cup zucchini, diced (I used at least 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 c chopped onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp white sugar
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp red bell pepper, diced
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a bowl (I started by dissolving the sugar in the lemon juice,) toss to coat and refrigerate until ready to serve (today that was about 20 minutes!)

I also looked to Japan for inspiration for the rest of dinner--okonomiyaki!! I made it vegetarian, with cabbage, onion, carrot shreds and some provolone cheese.

The real flavor comes from the toppings; a bit of mayo and okonomi sauce from the import grocery store all the way across town, and a sprinkle of nori.

This dinner was way more filling than the picture would suggest.

ごちそうさまでした。Gochisoama deshita. (That was delicious)

Coconut Heaven Cake

When the world didn't end over the weekend, I decided to make this aptly named recipe to celebrate! Since I haven't given up my worldly possessions to caravan across the country spreading the word, the next five months could get pretty bleak. Might as well eat cake!

Actually, I wanted to make this recipe so I could use up the 1/2 can of coconut milk left over from the lentil soup before it got moldy. The truth is so much less exciting; but the results are still divine.

The original recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance, the awesome cookbook that also provided the recipe for Raspberry Blondie Bars. I cheated again this time, using what was already on hand (real butter and skim milk) so my version can only claim to be egg-less.

The batter doesn't really look that good. Blame the canola oil.

Mixed together and ready to bake. The original recipe is for cupcakes, but I was feeling lazy recalling that it was a pain in the butt to frost all the cupcakes last time. So this time I used a single square 9" x 9" pan.

While the cake was baking, I made the frosting. Here is where I cheated with the real butter, and it made the frosting stick together much better than when I used margarine. Regardless of which creamy base is used, the recipe makes a lot of frosting! I had some leftover, and have been using it on my oatmeal in the mornings with fresh berries. I hate to waste food you know. ;-)

Remembering how good the cupcakes were when I made them the first time, I could hardly wait to cut into this cake when it came out of the oven. Without letting it properly set, my first serving was more of a blob, with another blob of melt-y frosting on the top and for a little flavor contrast, a blob of berry jam on top.

The cake truly lived up to its name yesterday when I packed a small piece in my lunch. Eating it in the rather shabby break room at work, I felt transported to another dimension, worlds away from the corporate posters and spilled soda on the table. Heavenly indeed.

Training Camp

When we first met, it took me a few dates to realize that Keizo actually played rugby for a living. At first, I thought rugby was his hobby; this was due in part to the language barrier as well as the fact that I had no idea Japan even had a professional rugby league. Even after dating him for 3+ years, I still have some difficulty wrapping my head around everything being a professional athlete entails. Twice a day practices, treatments, visits to oxygen chambers and 6, sometimes 7 day work weeks during rugby season all make his current profession quite different from a regular 9-5.

In addition to regular practices, his whole team gets on a bus/plane/train and heads to training camp for a week, twice a year in a different location. This spring's camp was in Miyazaki, about 4 hours south of Fukuoka by car. The purpose of these camps is to build camaraderie and get their bodies used to performing in different environments. My interest is less in the workouts and more in what they ate (surprise, surprise) and whether there were any fun, camp-like activities There aren't usually, but this recent camp ended in a fishing tournament where Keizo caught a blowfish, but it didn't count towards his team's tally because it was deemed inedible. Shucks.

The food is usually pretty standard Japanese cafeteria fare, easy to make and serve in large quantities. And who can blame the hotel that has to put on 3 meals a day for 40 some rugby players for wanting to keep it simple. I would love to know how much rice they go through!!

This hotel intrigued me though because they had real table cloths! Keizo said that they were the fanciest part of the room they ate in, but I am still impressed.

For dinner on the last day of camp, Keizo's team was treated to quite the spread, including the sashimi tray below. While I prefer any animal product I consume to not resemble the living creature as much as possible, I still love the attention to detail in Japanese food presentation.

On the bus ride home, the team stopped at a michi no eki (road station) for snacks. Keizo chose the gigantic メロンパン (melon bread) below and got a rude shock at the register when they charged him 600 yen for it. Most melon bread (named for its shape, not the flavor) is usually 200 yen or less. Regardless of the cost, the picture below is priceless in my opinion ;-)

Garden Report

It's been 11 days since the last garden post, and it's amazing to me how much it has changed!

There are several lovely zucchini flowers peeking up over the wall. And I am not the only one enjoying them.

In the shade beneath the flowers and leaves, there are a couple baby zucchinis coming in.

Moving left from the zucchini, the tomato plants are starting to fill in their cages and sprout tiny flowers.

The cucumber has really taken off! Leaves, tendrils and flowers abound, but the first fruit from the last post has shriveled up. :-/

And perhaps the most exciting discovery of the morning was this tiny watermelon. It's about the size of a pea. I wonder what it will look like 11 days from now?

Feelin' Fancy

I had a great weekend...two whole days entirely to myself. I actually made some progress on my monster of a to-do list, but also went shopping, painted my toenails and spent an afternoon watching the first Sex and the City movie on TV. Recharged, I decided to tackle a new recipe for dinner Sunday night.

Thank you Redbook magazine for featuring "Indian Spiced Lentil Soup" in the last issue I picked up pre-read at the library for $0.50!

The recipe calls for garam masala, but after searching high and low in the spice section of the grocery store and only finding one bottle that sold for about $7, and then reading the side and realizing it was comprised of things that were probably lurking in the cupboard at home, I decided to spend my $7 on a mediocre bottle of wine instead.

When it was time to cook, I didn't feel like getting out the computer just to look up which spices make up garam masala, so I did my best from memory. I ended up adding about 1/4 tsp each of the following:

Three out of seven from this mix on Allrecipes ain't too bad! And in my defense, I am pretty sure the one at the grocery store only listed five.

One other odd ingredient in the recipe was a can of fire roasted tomatoes. I've only ever heard of roasted peppers, but they make tomatoes too (at least Hunt's does. I couldn't find them in the store brand.)

The spices and canned ingredients get added to a pot with onions, lentils and long grain rice and simmered for a total of 40 minutes. Towards the end, add the Swiss chard ( I substituted spinach because there was a Costco pack of pre-washed, ready to eat in the fridge) and stir until wilted.

I served myself up some soup with a roll and salad (more spinach!) on the side. The soup got a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt swirled in and I dressed the salad with Blueberry-Pomegranate Vinegarette dressing that I found on sale for $0.99 at the store. I also had a glass of the mediocre wine on the side, mixed with a splash of cranberry juice.

Bon appetite! A nice way to end a very nice weekend.

Cool as a Cucumber

Oh, how the garden grows!

I am very excited about it. In the weeks since I last posted, I transplanted some of the indoor ones outside with very little success, but thankfully the plants I sowed outside are all doing really well.

From the kitchen you can see green things poking up above the side walls. And the fancy tomato cages from Home Depot. Last year, the garden was a total hodge-podge of sticks, broken broom handles and cracked PVC pipe from the garage. This year, knowing that things would actually grow, I did a little more preparation to ensure they would grow in a more orderly fashion.

There are 3 watermelon vines...

2.5 zucchini plants (.5 because I tried moving one yesterday, and it's too early to tell if it will make it)...

3 clusters of tomatoes. When I went out today to water, the tallest one had some buds on it! I feel like a proud parent, watching my offspring grow and develop from seed to fruiting plant.

And as the title of the post implies, 3 cucumber vines, all looking fine.

I love the tendrils. A true wonder of nature; so delicate looking, yet strong enough to hold the whole plant up.

And finally, the first flower and fruit (!) of this year's crop. One tiny cucumber. It was all alone on Saturday when I snapped these photos, but was joined by a second one as of Monday afternoon.

Some of the mystery plants are also flowering, but the blooms aren't giving me any clues as to what they are. I guess I will just have to wait and see!

The Baking Boyfriend

[Sorry Keizo, this is too good not to post. The title of the blog is Two Betsu Bara afterall.]

Imagine you are a professional rugby player given a few days off. You went to Korea with some friends, but now you are back in your apartment looking for things to do with all this new found free time. You stumble on some awesome, made-to-order cooking videos on YouTube and decide to make an apple pie. From scratch. Complete with lattice top.

AMAZING!

Of course, you are very humble about it, saying that it doesn't really taste as good as you thought it would, but your girlfriend is really impressed and says that no one can tell that from the photo so she is going to post it anyway ;-)

New Food II: Tempeh

Intrigued by the recipe for Tempeh and Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce I saw in Cooking Light, I made my way to Whole Foods after work last Monday and searched high and low in the meatless-meat section for tempeh. The fact that I didn't really know what I was looking for coupled with its less than central location on a slim shelf underneath the tofu caused my search to last several minutes. Eventually, I located the vacuum sealed packages and added them to my basket with a few more Whole Foods-esque items (hazelnut milk, soy ice cream sandwiches and organic berry jam) and headed to the check out.

At home, I turned to my good friend Wikipedia to find out more about what I would be eating. I learned that tempeh is originally from Indonesia and is made from slightly fermented soy beans pressed into patty form. It is higher in protein, fiber and vitamins than tofu, and is much, much firmer. It actually holds together when sliced and adds some bulk to the meal that tofu does not.

The recipe turned out pretty good, the peanut sauce being essential to giving the whole thing any flavor. When I make it again, I plan on doubling the soy sauce marinade and coating all of the tempeh with it before adding to the skillet.

For dinner, I ate the stir fry over rice, which almost wasn't needed. The next day for lunch I added the leftovers to some rice noodles, which was was delicious.

Tempeh can also be eaten uncooked, so this week I tried adding it to a salad like chicken. I cubed the tempeh and tossed it with a bit of BBQ sauce and layered it on top of a bed of spinach with peas, corn, blue cheese and some avocado. The toppings were quite tasty, but I the dressing I used was a bit too strong and sort of overpowered their flavors.

The tempeh as salad topping experiment was a success overall, and it has me thinking about other ways to use it (especially since I still have about 1/2 a pack left!) Maybe in a sandwich or wrap?