Change is a Piece of Cake

Today I am hungry for change. I grew up in the house I am sitting in now. As a child I always thought I would move someplace far away. Then college came and I didn't know what to do with myself, didn't know what degree I wanted. So I stayed close to home.Now, I think it's finally time for a change.

I have a love affair with Charleston, South Carolina. There is no hiding that. I'm fairly familiar with the town, and every year I spend more and more of my vacations there. But I'm sick of spending all my vacations in the same place. Instead, I'm going to move there. It will give me an excuse to vacation someplace new.

I am packing up my knives, and my cookbooks, and my technology and my clothing, and my beer, and I am getting outta dodge. Don't worry, I will still be cooking, and eating. My budget may be slim for a few months. This usually means pasta with butter and cheese.




I'm moving to Charleston because I'm hungry. Every time I go to this city I find out about new and exciting food adventures I could be partaking in. I will have lots of new food adventures ahead of me so my budget will have to be adjusted.

I am concerned about one major problem. From what I can tell, the quality and variety of ethnic foodstuffs available in this wonderful southern city is dismal.  After our last trip I decided I'd better try to stuff my face with asian food while I'm still up north.

The last few weeks I've been cooking my way through Everyday Harumi, making some fabulous Japanese inspired cuisine to help me slim back down and also fulfill my appetites.

Japanese cuisine really isn't all that complicated. It's just a matter of fresh, good quality food. And its so comforting to know you can make a million different dishes with like seven basic ingredients. If you have tofu, soy sauce, mirin, sake, miso, rice and sugar, you're set.

I also made the katsudon and some meatballs which were both incredible. I will say, you need a scale and an idea of how to cook before purchasing this book. It's not the best for the novice chef. I have found that when I get all my mise in place I don't usually like the ratio of aromatics (onions and garlic) to protein so I really cut them down a lot.

If you just want a spring board for asian cuisine, this is the place to go!

Miso Ramen for lunch

Miso Ramen for dinner, with berkshire pork belly. Why won't ANY of my soft boiled eggs peel nicely?

Salmon and shrimp cakes, glazed pumpkin with sesame seeds, bok choy and trumpet mushrooms

This is what Chris does to deserve delicious dishes

The photo below has been my laptop wallpaper for close to a year now. It seems to have been the perfect inspiration for me.

via Roost Blog