New Endeavor

 The guys have a new project.  I'll keep you posted.

Dd's Braised Tofu and Pork with Enoki Mushrooms

This is my kind of dish!  Looks so ono!

 

BRAISED TOFU & PORK WITH ENOKI MUSHROOMS

 

½ block firm tofu, cubes, drained
¼ # thinly sliced pork, sukiyaki style

Marinade:

Salt, freshly ground white pepper

1 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. Shaoxing wine

½ tsp. agave nectar

½ tsp. cornstarch

½ tsp. baking soda

 

2 tsp. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. ginger, grated
3/4 c. chicken broth
1 TB oyster sauce
1 TB shoyu
½ bunch enoki mushrooms, bottoms trimmed off

2 stalks green onion, 2-inch pieces

1 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 2 tsp. water
Garnish: chopped green onion

 

In a mixing bowl combine pork with marinade ingredients. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

In a skillet over medium heat brown pork in oil about 2 minutes.  Add the garlic and ginger; stir fry for 30 seconds.  Stir in tofu, broth, oyster sauce and soy sauce until well blended. Allow mixture to boil. Reduce heat; add mushrooms and green onion. Cook 1 minute. 

In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch.  Stir into skillet until thickened to desired consistency about 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with chopped green onion. Serves 2-3.

Chubbies Burgers

Chubbies is in Kaimuki where 12th Avenue Grill used to be a long time ago on that lane that connects Koko Head Avenue to 12th Avenue, next to Tam's Shoe Repair Shop, next to what used to be a taxi stand which was across the street from Duk Kee's which is nearby to what used to be Kaimuki Bowling Alley.  But I digress.

Here's what Landon picked up.  It cost him all the money that he had earned by selling stuff at the swap meet earlier that day.  😂.  Everything was ono.  Seriously.

 

Ten Gallon - grilled onion, bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, BBQ sauce ($12.50)

50's Burger - American cheese, lettuce, tomato, signature 50's sauce ($10.50)

El Rey - pepper-jack cheese, avocado, panko onion rings, lettuce, garlic ranch sauce ($12.50)

 

Teri Burger - American cheese, teriyaki-onion jam, mayo ($10.50)   

Chub Fries - cheddar cheese, grilled onions, special fry sauce ($7.50)  

Cucumber Plant

Seeing Kona's photo made me realize that I missed shooting with my old camera.  My Canon 5D II.  I used to call it My Precious.  I was never without it.  

I dug it outta the closet, charged up the battery and crossed my fingers that it still worked. 

My cucumber plant from Cleta was my subject.  I'm more of an arts-and-crafts kind of person rather than a gardener, but I'm trying.

It was fun.  I think I'll keep My Precious out of the closet for a little while longer.

Kona

Kona passed away 3 years ago this month.

I came across this photo of him that I took on 12/31/2016.  I had just given him a bath.  

The lighting was perfect. ❤️

$5 Friday Ribs at Safeway

 

The guys in my house get all excited for this once-in-awhile Friday Deal at Safeway.

Note: This picture is from an old ad and not for this week.

 

 

Dd's Beer-Braised Short Ribs

This looks really good.  At first I thought that it was too hard for me to make, but when I looked at the recipe I realized that it's kinda similar to the beef barley soup that I make all the time.  Maybe I'll try.  

BEER BRAISED SHORT RIBS

 

2 lbs short ribs, or flanken ribs, bone-in, individually English cut

kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper

1 TB olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, stew cut

1 medium carrot, stew cut

1 celery stalk, stew cut

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 heaping TB tomato paste

1 TB flour

½ c. red wine

1 bottle (12 oz.) pale ale beer

2 bay leaves

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 TB brown sugar

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 TB corn starch mixed in 2 TB water

Garnish: chopped Italian parsley

 

Pat ribs dry with paper towels. Liberally season with salt and pepper on all sides.

In a large saucepot over medium-high sear/brown ribs in oil about 1-2 mins on each side. Remove and set aside. 

Lower heat to medium; add vegetables. Cook until tender. Stir in flour and tomato paste; cook 1 minute. Deglaze saucepot with wine, scraping any browned bits from bottom of pot. Add beer, bay leaves, thyme and brown sugar. Return ribs to pot. Increase heat; bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat; simmer 2 hours.  Remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Stir in mustard and

cornstarch slurry to thicken. Garnish with parsley Serves 2-4.

Mangoes

I'd been waiting for the mangoes on the neighbor's tree to ripen ever since they gave me the green light to pick the ones that are on our side of the fence.

Yesterday was the day.  As soon as I stuck my pole up high into the tree two cardinals landed on a nearby branch and chirped, chirped, chirped at the picker.

 

One of the mangoes fell to the ground with a big thud.  I decided to cut it and share it with the birds.

Unfortunately, it only attracted flies.

 

Pickled Korean Peppers

Landon is into chili peppers, so I was intrigued by these Korean Peppers at Palama Market a few weeks back and bought a bag for him.

They turned out to be only very mildly spicy and not too thrilling for Lan. I went online to see what I could do with them and decided that pickling them might be interesting.

 

I found a recipe at My Korean Kitchen site and made this. 

 

Lan remained unthrilled.  The taste was good to me, but since I'm not really into peppers I probably wouldn't make it again. 

 

• 1 pound Korean green peppers
• ▢ 1 cup shoyu 
• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

• Rinse the pepper in cold running water. Chop into small 1-inch pieces.
• Combine the soy sauce, water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and boil until the sugar dissolves (about 5 mins) on medium high heat. Whisk occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and cool it down (about 10 mins).
• Tightly stack the peppers (without crushing them) in a glass jar suitable for pickling then pour the brine over them. Seal the lid and leave it at room temperature for 24 hrs. Transfer the jar to the fridge. For small sized peppers, you can start eating them 72 hrs after making them. For larger sized peppers, you can start eating them one week after making them.

Lesser Evil Popcorn

My favorite cashier at Ross recommended this.  I looooved it.  Slightly sweet and slightly salty.  I wish I bought more than the one bag because I haven't seen it at Ross again.  It was only $2.99.

  

Gachapon

Click on the photo below to see a short 1.5 minute video if you happen to be killing time like I was.

Wendell's Warabi Salad

Wendell had been wanting to make this ever since we ate some at a wedding reception awhile back.  I was finally able to find some warabi at the swap meet this past weekend.

He followed the recipe at the Keeping it Relle site.  It came out good . . . crunchy and very refreshing.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound pohole fiddlehead fern (warabi), cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 sweet round onion, sliced
• 2 small roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup ika dried cuttlefish
• 1/4 cup dried shrimp
• 2 tablespoons shoyu
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

INSTRUCTIONS

• Rinse warabi with clean running water and remove any small hair fibers on the shoots.
• In a medium bowl add ice and water to create an ice bath. Set aside.
• Place a large pot of water over high heat and heat until rolling boil. Add chopped pohole and blanch for 1-2 minutes. Remove pohole and place directly in the ice bath to stop the cooking process.
• To large bowl add pohole, onion, tomato, ika and shrimp and set aside.
• In a small bowl add shoyu, rice wine vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. Mix to combine.
• Pour sauce over pohole and gently toss to combine. 

Shay's Smash-Burgers

My scale was not kind to me this morning.  I wonder why.  Hmmmm . . . 

Classic with Bacon ($9.00)

   

It was ono, and guess what . . . it was so filling that I could only eat half and I still have the other half left in the 'fridge to enjoy!

 

Shay's is in Aiea sorta across the street from Forty Niners Restaurant in a former used car lot.  Our timing was perfect and we were the first ones there just as they opened.  A whole bunch of people came after us.

Dd's Shoyu Chicken

Didi said that this is actually an Okinawan Shoyu Pork Recipe.  Looks simple enough for even me!

SHOYU CHICKEN

 

2 ½ # boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved

½ can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

½ c. soy sauce

½ c. brown sugar (I used ¼ c. brown sugar, ¼ c. agave nectar)

1 TB rice wine vinegar

1 heaping tsp. dry mustard

Garnish: chopped green onion

 

Pour everything in one pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer 20-30 minutes, depending on size of chicken.

Garnish with green onion. 

Note: I threw in some shishito peppers and enoki mushrooms.

Costco's Lemon Blueberry Loaf

We've been enjoying this lately.  It's dense, moist and oh-so-lemony.  It's $8.99 and is so huge that I usually put half in the freezer for later.