Vegetarian Thanksgiving (except for turkey)

I thought last year’s Thanksgiving dinner was pretty healthy, but I wanted to one-up it by eliminating all butter, sugar and milk (including cream) from the menu this year.  I wanted to make the meal extra healthy for my friends and family, as we all hate being in food coma and spend the entire night regretting all the greasy food we consumed, which we, admittingly, do all too often. All the sweetness from this night’s dinner came from Agave nectar, a much healthier and tastier alternative to refined sugar.

Expect for ①the turkey, ②cheeses for the appetizer and ③the gelatin used for dessert, everything on the table was vegetarian. I know it sounds weird (it’s like so-called vegetarians claiming that they don’t eat meat except for bacon), but all side dishes this year had absolutely no animal products in them. Although everything was organic, natural and cooked with very little sodium (thus very light in salt), no flavors were compromised.  Instead, I though everything actually tasted more robust and very, very fresh.

What was so interesting about this year’s approach was that I didn’t have any set recipes when I got in the kitchen in the morning to begin the cooking process. I just went with whatever I felt like at that moment (any other day and all dishes would have come out completely different). Even when I went grocery shopping earlier this week to Whole Foods, I didn’t really know what I was going to make. I just walked around the store and picked out all the ingredients that looked good to me. When I picked up bunches of kale, I had no idea what I was going to do with them. The same goes for the parsnips — I had never cooked with this root vegetable until this night. I just relied on my body to tell me what I was truly craving.

I bought the organic, free-range, 10-pound turkey from Whole Foods (which we named “Mary” because it came from a company called, Mary’s Turkey).  I rubbed the rosemary / sage / thyme / garlic (lots of garlic) / salt / pepper / olive oil mixture between the skin and the flesh, as well as all over the outside of the bird.  I stuffed it with lemons and cooked it in 375 degree oven for about 4 hours.  The skin came out cripsy and the lemons in the cavity made the meat very tender, moist and flavorful.

Here are the side dishes for the night:

The appetizer plate, with olives, goat cheese drizzled with agave nectar, and manchego cheese (yes, these cheeses were not vegetarian, as you figured!). These are great to munch on when you’re waiting for all guests to arrive.  And I can never get enough of these lovely olives!

Parsnip puree with sautéed garlic and soy milk. I liked this better than traditional mashed potatoes because it was very light. Parsnips have this very distinct scent but the flavor is surprisingly mild. And soy milk made everything pluffy as well as, or better than, heavy cream. I recommend this alternative if you’re watching carb intake but still want something hearty and creamy.

Quinoa and vegetable salad. I cooked the quinoa in vegetable broth, added the diced, sauteed zucchinis and bell peppers, and dressed it up with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and lots of Italian parsley. It’s very similar to cous cous but I like the texture of quinoa better.

Very simple beets salad. I just boiled them and sprinkled sea salt on top.  Simple is best when dealing with beets.

Grilled vegetables. I first marinated onions, zucchinis and bell peppers in olive oil, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and dill, and grilled them on a pan on a high heat. I served the dish cold.

Lentil salad with dill. I cooked the lentils in boiling water, drained, and dressed them with simple Italian dressing.

Sauteed yam with sage (left) and kale in miso sauce (right). I wanted to oven-roast the yam wedges but decided to sautee them in olive oil and let it cook in a little bit of water instead.  I didn’t add any sweetner for this but they came out sweet.  Kale with miso sauce was inspired by the salad I had at M Cafe de Chaya, but instead of dressing it with heavy peanut butter sauce, I decided to use miso.  I made the miso sauce by mixing the red miso paste with a tablespoon of agave nectar, and pour it in the pan while I stir fried the kale.

Green tea panna cotta with azuki topping. We loved this dessert that I created on the fly.  I really didn’t want to bake this year so the gelatin dessert was the ideal alternative — easy to prepare and contains no butter or any sort of fat.  It only has soy milk, green tea powder, gelatin, and a little agave nectar for sweetness.  I was afraid at first that it wouldn’t set properly because I didn’t have heavy cream or milk in it, but it came out to a perfect consistency after letting it sit in a refregirator for about six hours!

In additionl to the food, I made these place mats specially for this night using Amy Butler’s fabrics  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with your loved ones!

How do Japanese Women stay so thin?

It’s not a myth but a fact that the majority of Japanese women (living in Japan, that is) are thin. Living in Japan and experiencing the way they live for two weeks, I figured out how they manage to maintain their svelte physique. I even lost three pounds doing it, although I probably gained it all back in the last two days … shucks. They eat three, small, nutritiously balanced meals regularly every day and walk everywhere. I think they strive to eat at least 30 different types of food daily. That’s all. These are few of the wisdoms I picked up in Japan.

Small Portion Forgives a Little Gluttony

This is a meal my mother, my aunt and I enjoyed at Muji’s downstairs cafeteria (equivalent of, say, the Ikea cafeteria) in Kyoto’s shopping district. When you order a four-item plate, you get a choice of two hot and two cold items. I ordered a mashed pumpkin salad and fish marinated in vinegar (cold) and pork and cabbage layers and salmon, daikon radish and mushroom in cream sauce (hot), with a side of 10 grain rice and corn soup. They are not low calorie foods, but small portions forgive a little gluttony and over indulgence.

Quality Wins Everytime

My cousin Chiaki and her husband Toshio took me to this beautiful, tea house / restaurant / café in Kyoto and I devoured this roasted pork lunch set. It was served with a simple salad, a bowl of rice cooked in special kama (pot), and a bowl of miso soup on the side. The pork was one of the tenderest pieces of meat I’ve ever tasted. Even in small portion, your taste bud screams with satisfaction.

Simple Flavor

Later that day, we stopped at this unique sweet shop on the way back from Kiyomizudera and had Kuzukiri, a special dessert in Kyoto. Kuzukiri is a gelatin dessert that you dip in molasses syrup like soba or udon noodles. It’s strange when you just read about it but it is absolutely divine. I look forward to this every time I’m in Kyoto.

Small but Satisfying Portion

This is a lunch from a neighborhood coffee house called Teramachi. It’s in the middle of the shopping district in Kyoto, owned by a father-and-son duo. It specializes in selling special coffee beans and also serves lunch and dinner. Even though the entire meal is very satisfying, the portion is still considerably smaller than the ones served in the states.

A Little Reward Doesn’t Hurt

However, they do indulge in a little decadent dessert once in a while. The key here is that these sweets are enjoyed occasionally, usually to celebrate something special.

These things so simple and straightforward but why is it so difficult to incorporate this lifestyle back in the states?

Kinkakuji and Izakaya in Kyoto

My mother and I were off to Kyoto for a much-needed relaxation. The last few days in Chiba required us to take care of some business and fulfill family obligation so we were definitely looking forward to spending the stress-free week in the cultural and culinary capitol of Japan. We stayed at my other aunt and uncle’s house (my mother’s sister), located in the middle of all the historical action of the city. It was very strange to walk on the streets of Kyoto and find Seven Eleven sitting right next to a 1,000-year-old castle!

Our fist stop was to visit Kinkakuji, a gold covered, pimped out temple built in 1397 known as “Golden Pavilion Temple.” I was still very young when I was here last so it gave me the different perspective and a greater appreciation for this breathtaking piece of history.

My mother, my aunt and I stopped at a tea shop and enjoyed a real matcha tea at Kinkakuji. Unlike the green tea Frappacino many of us are accustomed to, the traditional kind is very rich and bitter which is why it is usually enjoyed with a small piece of Japanese sweet. It was a perfect place to enjoy the scenery (people-watching in Japan is so much fun!) and rest our tired feet from walking around the temple.

After we got home and rested a little more, the family took us to a neighborhood izakaya called Sou for dinner. It was a traditional izakaya, the Japanese style tapas that offer small individual dishes, but all the waiters were all young, modern and very good looking. But what took center stage this night was not the hot waiters but the wonderful conversation with sweet Aunt Shigeko and Uncle Toru, my lovely cousin Chiaki and her charming husband Toshio and my partner-in-crime mother. Food, however, was a close second. Just take a look!

Appetizer

The sashimi platter

Crisp assorted tempura

Eggplant dengaku (miso sauce)

This is a dish called, “dobinmushi.”  Inside are incredibly aromatic matsutake mushrooms and other seasonal ingredients swimming in simple broth. You drink the broth and eat everything else.

Egg filled with cooked anago (saltwater eel)

Chicken karaage

Rolled cabbage (ground beef wrapped in cabbage leaves, simmered in special ketchup-based sauce)

All dinner ends with some kind of rice dish. This is how the rice came in!

Rice with shirasu and umeboshi

This is how it looks when served

Rice with salmon

Rice with salmon, with salmon roe on top

Green tea ice cream with fried gyuhi (textured like mochi)

Minfi Shines Brighly in Japane’s Culinary World

One thing I was most looking forward to on this trip to Japan was to finally visit the Chinese restaurant my uncle owns in Tokyo called, “Minfi （明輝）.” The name of the restaurant loosely translates to “shines brightly” which, I found out, is also the name of the uncle’s younger brother.

My uncle, Meisei Sou （曽明星） (well, he’s actually my father’s cousin so he’s not really my “uncle” but I just refer to him as such because I can’t figure out what our official relationship is) is quite known in Japan’s culinary scene, most famous for beating Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba in 1995 in the original Iron Chef series with his now famous avocado shark fin soup.

But what’s more delicious than the artistic and exquisite Chinese dishes he serve (if it were possible) is the chef himself, who, despite his fame, is one of the most humble and charming individuals one would ever come across. There is no question as to why and how he earned the success he enjoys today.

Please enjoy the pictures of the beautiful French-inspired but authentically Chinese dishes I had the privilege of devouring. I’m not even going to bother explaining the flavor because no words will do the justice! (And please forgive for my lack of knowlege in Chinese cuisine … I don’t really know the real name of many of the dishes!)

Tofu appetizer

Perhaps the most famous dish here, the avocado shark fin soup

Crab au gratin

Scallop with tarako sauce, with tomato and potato at the bottom

Soft shell crab

Shrimp with chili sauce

Beef filet stif fry

Hot pot rice with vegetable

Fluffy eggs with ankake

Dessert

明星（Minfi／ミンフィ）
東京都港区芝浦4-12-39 (田町駅東口より徒歩7分)
★★★★★

(By the way, do you think it’s okay to develop a total crush on your uncle without having to move to Alabama?!?)

Just Fry Up Everything, I’m in Japan!

I spent the last two weeks in Japan with my mother (the best travel partner ever, by the way), eating great food and having a blast. It was intended as a “satogaeri” trip (which translates to “returning home”) but it felt more like a full-blown vacation for me, with opportunities to visit all the touristy places one would see in travel guides.

I was afraid at first that I have become a foreigner in my own country and stick out like a sore thumb (although Japanese by birth, I moved to the states when I was nine, so I appear more as “American” to the Japanese eyes) but was surprised to find that I camouflaged into the backdrop of the cities seamlessly. I’m convinced that it was the camera I was carrying everywhere. They knew that I was one of them.

The first stop in our Japan tour was Ichikawa in Chiba, a suburb of Tokyo, where I lived for several years before moving to Southern California. We stayed at my aunt and uncle’s house for two days, walking down the memory lanes and being amazed at how much this little town has changed since my last visit 10 years ago.

They were very kind and fed us very well during our stay, taking us to great places, like this stylish tempura restaurant in Matusdo. (By the way, what you see in the above picture is not a sushi bar but a tempura counter where a chef deep-fries all great things imaginable in front of the hungry patrons!)

The warm aroma of fresh oil welcomed us when we walked into the restaurant (it wasn’t at all greasy). They ordered the “omakase” course for us (leaving the menu up to the chef), and tempura kept pouring in all night! Unlike the mushy tempura often served in the not-so-good Japanese restaurants in the states, the tempura here were all fried incredibly crisp and light.

We enjoyed tempura shrimps, crabs, assorted seasonal vegetables, fugu (puffy fish!) accompanied by dashi-based dipping sauce or just lemon and salt (my boyfriend only eats tempura this way), finishing up the meal with tempura anago bowl (saltwater eel) with a side of delicious miso soup.

The ladies split a bottle of red wine from the Nagano region (my uncle was a designated driver .. a good man), which was light and refreshing — a perfect accompaniment to the satisfying tempura. Oh, and I even tasted the delicious tempura green tea ice cream!

And speaking of being well fed, they even took us to a noodle shop for lunch and I ate soba that was cooked to perfection. I ordered the cold buckwheat noodle bowl with tororo imo (grated mountain potato), raw egg and crab meat.

And this was only our second day in Japan!