Busy week. Long week. The transition back to work was a little rough - it felt like I'd been gone forever, but luckily things at the office wasn't too crazy. I had a rotten cold that I've finally gotten the best of, thanks to Cold-Eeze zinc lozenges, copious quantities of green tea, and a gigantic batch of Mom's best Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup - which might have lasted a lot longer if Tim hadn't eaten 2/3 of it in one sitting. I think he liked it :)
On Wednesday, I headed down to Palo Alto to have dinner with Becca and BRIA, who was in town until this morning. We ate at Cafe Borrone, near Kepler's and conveniently close to the Menlo Park Caltrain station. Our dinner was unfortunately too short, but it was great to see Bria in all her Parisian glory and catch up for a short while. I also bought a new book to start on the Caltrain ride home (I'd forgotten Girl Who Played With Fire at home!) called Let The Great World Spin, and it's extremely good. Something to look forward to next!
Tonight I made one of my favorite new easy recipes, called Japanese Pizza (from 101 Cookbooks). The recipe Heidi gives isn't much of a meal, so Kati and I tweaked it to make it a little tastier, more filling, and less vegetarian. See recipe and photos below:
Japanese Pizza (a la Kati and Kelly)
Combine in a bowl:
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup leeks (rinsed well after chopping)
1/2 potato, shredded (I used sweet potato)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
Mix in 2-3 eggs until your mixture sticks together.
(I probably didn't chop my cabbage finely enough, but I was impatient)
Divide in half. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add a generous splash of olive oil. Scoop 1/2 of the the cabbage mixture into the pan, and using a metal spatula press it into a round pancake shape, flat as you can get it. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the bottom is golden. To flip the okonomiyaki, slide it out of the skillet onto a plate. Place another plate on top and flip both (together) over. Continue cooking on the other side until golden - about another 3 minutes.
Top with sauteed mushrooms, crispy bacon (yum!), and salt and pepper.
In my opinion, it needs some sort of sauce to make it all come together. Kati and I like it with hoisin sauce well enough, but I think it would be really great with a spicy aioli, or another mayo-based sauce (maybe lemon mayo?). Let me know what you think!!
Finally, as promised, a few New Years lists for you all to disagree with:
Favorite Books of 2009:
1. The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky
2. War and Peace, Tolstoy
3. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Honorable Mentions:
- How To Breathe Underwater, Julie Orringer
- Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
- The Road, Cormac McCarthy
- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
Favorite Movies of 2009:
- Away We Go
- Avatar
- The Hangover
- Up In The Air
Recipes I look forward to tackling in 2010:
- Butternut Squash Ravioli, made from homemade pasta (Becca and I will be taking this on in the next couple weeks... at her house)
- Garlic Soup, from 101 Cookbooks
- A Japanese Hot Pot recipe - not sure which one yet
- Anything from my new cookbooks
- Homemade sushi
- A dessert Tim and I can agree on (wishful thinking...)
Reading: Girl Who Played With Fire, Let The Great World Spin
Listening: Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
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