Klow's Kollection

Trying Japanese Home Cooking

Lisa found an article about the healthy advantages of Japanese cooking. Always willing to try new things as well as watch our eating, we went on the search for some recipes. I found an excellent website by Naoko Yoshioka on how to cook different Japanese dishes at home. We began with a simple fried rice with tofu dish.

I took a few liberties with the recipe. First, I sautéed the ginger in heated canola oil for a few minutes then crumbled the tofu (extra firm appears to work best). Sesame oil is a bit heavy in my opinion. After about ten minutes, we added cooked brown short grain rice and sautéed that for a bit.

 Rice, tofu, and ginger in pot.

Then the veggies went in. I blanched some sugar snap peas and used the peas themselves. The pods would have been a bit too stringy. Then some green onions, a handful of spouts, and a couple of finely cut basil leaves. I added just a bit of rice wine vinegar to the pot for some flavor. After just a few minutes, it's done!

 ;-)

I had the idea of mixing some vegetable broth and low sodium soy sauce as a dressing to be added at the table instead of the entire dish.

 I already took a bite then took the pic.

VERY GOOD!!! Though it wasn't very filling. I think it should go with some fish, or next time, do fried rice with beef, or maybe...well you get the idea. There is a small asian market nearby so when we decide to try a new dish, we'll get the ingredients. Next we'll try some soups and a few more basic dishes before tackling the more elaborate ones.

Thank you, Naoko! We are now converts.
 

Old meals made new

Let's face it. Everybody gets tired of the same old meals over time. For us, we seem to come up with meal suggestions that were the same old boring meals we did in Maryland. So, we looked at recipes from magazines and the web, even just brainstormed.

This week I think we came up with some good ones:

 Cheeseburger pizza with cheddar/monterey jack cheese (no mozzarella)

 Chicken with avocado and tomato pasta toss

 And the best of the three came from a Martha Stewart magazine:

 Italian sausage with butternut squash mash

Tomorrow, we are going to fry the leftover mash and make fritters along side some pork chops.

Hey. It's what we do. :) 

 

You'd Think We'd Know By Now...

Olive Oil smokes at high temperatures!

We decided to make another pizza. Again we used goat cheese and italian sausage from Whole Foods, but we used olive oil soaked basil leaves instead of a tomato sauce. There were small mozzarella balls on sale so we used those instead of shredded bagged cheese.

After the dough was placed on the hot stone, the oiled basil leaves were placed. We felt there was more than enough oil without adding more. Then the goat cheese was spread around, followed by the sausage, then the mozzarella that was cut into small disks using kitchen shears. Into the oven for fifteen minutes. About seven minutes into the cooking, we noticed the kitchen filled with some smoke.

SHIT! THE OLIVE OIL!

It dripped in the oven and began smoking. I quickly placed a piece of foil on the second rack underneath, something I should have done earlier. It caught most of the dripping oil but by that time, the kitchen was really smoky. Good thing the back door is in the kitchen along with a ceiling fan and two windows. Fortunately, the smoke alarm never went off and the kitchen was quickly aired out thanks to a standing fan blowing away the remaining smoke and the two of us taking turns waving a wet towel in the air.

But no fire broke out. All is well now in The Klow Apartment. However next time, use a canola oil/olive oil combo to reduce the smoke as olive oil has a very low smoke point. Also, place a piece of foil on the underside oven rack.

You'd think we'd know by now! But despite the scarey incident, the pizza was perfect!

 The result...

 obscene food porn!

 

Steak and Potatoes!

 Meats of Evil!

Nice steak with jalapeno mashed potatoes. And a ginger orange side salad. But the mango salsa wasn't the best idea for it. Still good all around. :-)

Hi Folks!

It's been a little over a month since The Move. It's going well though job hunting is still a bit slow. Having said that, we both have some things up in the air. By next week, I have a feeling things will be better. We just need to breathe and take things one moment at a time. I still believe we made the right choice coming here.

But on to my ramblings...

The quality of the food, especially the fresh produce, beats the Mid-Atlantic many times over. And we found a Dominics nearby. It's a very short drive but a bit far to walk. We went to a more distant store and when we went inside the Dominics, it's another Safeway! Well they do have the best dairy including half and half. Though we're making healthier choices, I still need good ol' half and half in my coffee. Sorry Char! :-)

Being able to walk to Whole Paycheck, oh I mean Whole Foods, as well as various shops and restaurants is great. It's comforting to not have to rely on the car on a constant basis, especially with gas prices around $4.00/gallon in the area! Our neighborhood is great for morning fitness walks and it's not too far to walk down by the lakeside. We first took the car a couple of weeks ago only to find the distance to be rather short. I foresee picnics in the near future.

 Brrr...next time, let's go when it's a bit warmer!

Now about our oven. As Lisa had blogged before, our oven runs a bit hot. So every recipe needs to have the temperature turned down by 25 degrees and baked in less time. Once we adjusted to the oven, the resutls were amazing.

 Perfect pizza (still homemade)...

 and beautiful biscuits.

 Yes biscuits!

 

 Tonight's dinner: Steak and mashed potatoes with a nice tossed asian salad. Pics to come!

Now back to my research for the history blogs. Oh yes before I forget. I found a decent public library and some used book stores to help me gather the materials I need.

Until later...

Cutting back on coffee

 
 I'm serious folks!
 
My sleep has been inconsistent of late. Maybe it's stress from job hunting, though I have another interview with an employment agency this afternoon. Or perhaps I'm still recovering from The Move from one month ago. Whatever the cause, Lisa believes the excessive coffee drinking at my age is affecting my ability to get a good night's rest. And she's right. She told me of an article stating that changing your mental landscape to reduce stress makes you sleep more.

So I made a decision: no more than two cups at home and maybe one more small cup if I am out and about. After that, hot tea.

 Tazo Apricot White tea

We have been drinking white tea as well as green in the morning and of course herbal tea in the evening. And it's a shame for a Southern guy like me to admit this, but I can't really drink iced tea. I will drink some once in a blue moon, but I prefer my tea hot even if it's 100F outside. 

So I'm cutting back on coffee, even while playing a long boardgame. We'll see how it goes.

 See? No coffee and I still won Axis and Allies. :-)

 

 

Hey Steve! What's for dinner?

 

Baked wild salmon with seared scallops and baby bok choy!

 
I walked to the nearby Whole Paycheck, excuse me, Whole Foods and bought some wild Pacific salmon. Very good considering it was previously frozen (can't be helped in the Mid-West). Not perfect like in Seattle but quite flavorful. Lisa and I like our seafood basic: with just olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice (freshly squeezed mind you, no "Lazy Lemon" as Chef Gordon Ramsey would say. No other sauces and junk to muck up the flavor.

 
The scallops came out perfect. With just olive oil and the Lemon Pepper seasoning from Pensey's spices as well as a little lemon juice, they just took two minutes per side on the skillet. After they were removed, the baby bok choy went into the same skillet.

 

All were enjoyed on our new dining room set.

 
Needless to say, it was an enjoyable dinner with my Sweetie.

 

Cheers!

Chicago! So Far...

...so good.

Wednesday we went to a Blackhawks hockey game thanks to Lisa's co-worker and friend who bought us standing room tickets. Blackhawks vs. Calgary Flames.

First stop was Billy Goat Tavern (yes like the one from classic SNL) for cheezborger, cheezborger, fries and a Coke (No Pepsi). Well, we actually had a double cheeze! Then we treated ourselves to their own draft. Quite good in fact.

Then a few blocks stroll to the United Center. Windy and cold but beautiful view of the city. We already love it here!

 My Sweetie and I share a beer. And some mega nachos with everything sans onions before the game. Actually not too bad for stadium nachos. :-)

 Kinda pricey for lackluster tap beer, but meh...

 Our view. The standing area was behind the third level seats, but there was a bar behind us. We got better beer for our second round (Heineken and Corona).

 The Hawks warming up. Sorry for the rather dark pictures but the camera wouldn't use the flash due to the heavily lighted rink.

 After each goal, bikini clad girls and others clear the powdery ice from the rink.

 Another bikini girl. Rather amusing. :-)

It was quite fun, especially when the Hawks won 6-4. Yet we felt they could have played better. Even knowing very little about hockey, it seemed the Hawks weren't taking the game seriously most of the time. But oh well. Then came the anxious bus and train home. We took the Metra as our "L" line didn't run to Evanston so late. A taxi was at the Evanston station and we took that home. Arrived at midnight. Tired (we were still exhausted from the move) but lots of fun.

We are still amazed that total strangers are so friendly. On the way to the game, we got turned around at the "L", then a complete stranger came up and asked if we needed help! D.C. and Maryland this ain't!

Oh yes, the day before the game, we went to a nearby salon for haircuts. A bit pricey but what a difference!

Yesterday we got IL driver's licenses. Lisa also bought some new clothes, and make-up from Clinique at the Old Orchard Mall, which is about a fifteen minute drive, followed by a car wash to cleanse the car of the dirt and salt from The Move. Did it need it!

 Big difference!

 Not too shabby either.

These pictures were taken Friday just before we went to Pete Miller's to use the gift cards that Carnegie gave Lisa as a going away gift.

As it was windy and raining, we took the "L" one stop to downtown Evanston. It's a cool area with lots of shops. We came down here a couple of days earlier to buy a new bed and wood frame and an actual dining set which will be delivered next week. The eventual love seat, chair and bookcases will wait for when we get jobs.

But back to the dinner...

Our reservation was for 8pm so we wandered in the rain (thank you Land's End for your Squall Parkas) but eventually we went in at 7:30pm and they went ahead and seated us.

Very nice and expensive place and we had more than enough to enjoy ourselves. For appetizers, Lisa had a "Maryland" crabcake (way too good to be from Maryland. Sorry Mike, :P ) and I had seared tuna. We both had drinks for starters. 

Then our huge steaks came. I don't think I have had a better medium-rare steak, aged ribeye! And garlic mashed potatoes on the side. And dessert, creme brulee' for Lisa and I had a four layer chocolate cake, with coffee of course. We took both of our left over steaks, mashed potatoes and the cake home...

 ...and made a cold steak salad along with fried potato croquettes.

 Lisa tossed some baby greens with our salt dressing and freshly grated parmesan. To reheat these amazing steaks would be sacrilege. They were nearly steak carpaccio.

Yes, we're settling in nicely.

Pics of the apartment next!

Until later :-)

Exhausted But Made It!

Home in Chicago at last!

And as proof, I present a Chicago Dog!

 From a place called Wiener and Still Champion.

 OK Sweetie, may I eat now? :-)

Oh yes. The fries are addictive! They pack them Five Guys Style: a small bag of fries followed by even more burying the dogs.

I have to say it was an adventurous week: snow storm in PA, weird people in Ohio, and winds in Indiana. Lisa's brother Ken gave us room and board. And his dog, Lady (almost 18 years old) and cat Ivan (more friendly than last visit) provided company. We spent all day Wednesday at Ken's and headed out the next morning. Then we entered the industrial, ass-end of Chicago. After going through three toll areas and surviving the impatient drivers, we arrived!

Very nice neighborhood. Good sidewalks and well lit. And friendly people overall. Just beware of impatient drivers. HA!

I took the property manager's advice and called City of Evanston to reserve a parking space for the truck. We learned very quickly that parking is hard to come by and the police are fanatical about parking tickets, their main source of revenue I guess. Good thing we pay extra to have our own parking. Fully covered garage in fact!

Then I got sick with a bad chest cold. We both had sinus infections before we left Maryland. The stress of loading the truck, driving for three days (Lisa had the car while I drove the truck), then finding our way around pushed us a bit far. I'm about 90% recovered.

And the building has no elevator. Our apartment is on the second floor so we have to walk up stairs. Not wanting to further exhaust ourselves, we called movers to unload the truck on short notice. It took them a bit over an hour.

 A view from the living room window. Yes it snowed.

 Nice view from the other side.

Good news: most everything is walking distance including Starbucks, Jewel grocery store, Whole Foods, and both L-Train and Metra stations. And some good restaurants of course. And that's just in the Evanston township!

I'll give more detailed reports when my mind is more clear.

Until later...

 

New Directions for 2011

And so it begins. The search for apartments in Chicago, that is. First steps to getting the hell out of the Hell of Maryland. And some new eating habits as well.

To commemorate this new beginning, I made a nice vegetarian meal:  Portabellas with Asparagus, on top of brown rice, garnished with goat cheese. The liquid from the mushrooms made a nice light sauce, with the addition of Italian Seasoning, ground pepper, a tiny bit of salt, and Worcestershire. If you don't believe me, see for yourself.

  

*raises Vodka glass* Cheers to you, 2011.