Friday, August 8, 2008
Miso Breakfast
This morning we took a walk along the beach early, then came home to our leftover miso soup for breakfast. It was good (maybe even better) on Day 2! We had the soup with a mug of green tea and honey. Nice way to start the Friday! Streak came into the kitchen with her nose tilted upwards sniffing very carefully. I guess that's what happens when you make a dashi stock out of fish flakes and seaweed. Neko wa dai ski desu ne (Dylan thinks that this means "the cat really likes it").
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Dinner : Miso Soup and Roasted Acorn Squash
Tonight Dana made a really amazing vegetarian dinner, Miso Soup and Roasted Acorn Squash.
The first step was our visit to our local asian market, Ranch 99, where we picked up the Miso ingredients along with some Pocky - here are a few of the ingredients before:
And after:
When we opened the bonito (fish flakes), we realized that Streak would just love them, so she got a little treat:
The miso turned out great - stronger tasting than what you get in a restaurant but in a good way. The squash was baked with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, salt and a little maple syrup in the center:
We have some soup leftover so we're going to have it for breakfast tomorrow - Tanoshi desu ne!
The first step was our visit to our local asian market, Ranch 99, where we picked up the Miso ingredients along with some Pocky - here are a few of the ingredients before:
And after:
When we opened the bonito (fish flakes), we realized that Streak would just love them, so she got a little treat:
The miso turned out great - stronger tasting than what you get in a restaurant but in a good way. The squash was baked with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, salt and a little maple syrup in the center:
We have some soup leftover so we're going to have it for breakfast tomorrow - Tanoshi desu ne!
New Hobby : Out with the cube, in with the needles
I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog, but just before we went to New Zealand I bought a Rubik's Cube for passing time on the long plane ride. After New Zealand, I kept playing around with it on my daily bus commute, reading up on the internet about ways to solve it. After a while I got to the point that using the "beginner's method" I could solve it pretty consistently in about three minutes. With a some more practice (and a greased cube), I got a little faster:
Recently I have started to get bored of it and to look for other things to pass the time on my commute. Reading is a great option, but you need a back-up if you're not in a reading mood (or if you've finished all the books you have at the moment - which happens quite a bit when you have an hour and a half to read every day!).
Anyways, I decided I would try knitting. Dana has a book about it, so we went to the arts and crafts store and I picked up some yard and 10 inch needles (Thanks MH for the recommendations) and Dana picked up some supplies for water-colors (hopefully there will be another post about that shortly).
Today on the bus I got to try it out - here is the result:
As you can see, I am getting the hang of the 'knit', but trying to 'purl' a few times really confused me. I think there are some YouTube videos that might help with that. I'll keep you all posted.
Recently I have started to get bored of it and to look for other things to pass the time on my commute. Reading is a great option, but you need a back-up if you're not in a reading mood (or if you've finished all the books you have at the moment - which happens quite a bit when you have an hour and a half to read every day!).
Anyways, I decided I would try knitting. Dana has a book about it, so we went to the arts and crafts store and I picked up some yard and 10 inch needles (Thanks MH for the recommendations) and Dana picked up some supplies for water-colors (hopefully there will be another post about that shortly).
Today on the bus I got to try it out - here is the result:
As you can see, I am getting the hang of the 'knit', but trying to 'purl' a few times really confused me. I think there are some YouTube videos that might help with that. I'll keep you all posted.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
We have Fruit!
Something very exciting happened last night on our back deck. Readers of our blog may recall when we first brought home our passionfruit vine and more recently, the first flower that appeared. Since then, thanks to Dylan's amazing self-watering container, the vine has almost doubled in size, is happily climbing her trellis, and has exploded with tons of beautiful flowers:
Last night while Dylan was watering the gardens and plants on the deck, he called for me to come outside and see something very exciting. Our little vine has started producing her first fruit! The fruits are growing out of where the flowers used to be. If the progress continues, we should have lots of fruit coming our way in the next few months!
Last night while Dylan was watering the gardens and plants on the deck, he called for me to come outside and see something very exciting. Our little vine has started producing her first fruit! The fruits are growing out of where the flowers used to be. If the progress continues, we should have lots of fruit coming our way in the next few months!
Some Dinners
On Sunday afternoon, we made a trip out to Whole Foods to do our shopping for the week. Because our flight got in at 12:30pm, we had just missed the farmer's market which had us both feeling a bit glum. Upon close inspection of the Whole Foods produce department, I realized that there were quite a few veggies (and fruits) that I had been really missing over the past few months because they are out of season at the LJ farmer's market - squash, sweet potato, red cabbage, broccolini, cauliflower, mango - to name a few. It is actually really nice to be eating these things this week.
Sunday night we were a bit lazy from the lack of sleep during our trip, so opted for a black bean soup from the refrigerated section (made by Whole Foods, not by us), supplemented with red cabbage and toast brushed with garlic and olive oil, topped with a nice quality melted parmesan cheese. You can't see from this picture, but I added a dollop of sour cream to my soup, something that strangely, I had been craving! Dylan isn't a big fan of sour cream, but seemed happy to see me eagerly swirling it into my soup with a spoon.
The next night (last night), we picked up some salmon from The Fishery, our local fish shop now that we live in PB. Sometimes we'll still make the trip up north to El Pescador, especially if we want chowder, or perfectly ripe avocados. We marinated the salmon in a soy/mustard/ginger mixture and served it with broccolini and a sweet potato.
Tonight I'm going to try to make miso soup. I have the yellow miso paste and tofu, but still need to pick up scallions and the ingredients for a dashi stock, the key to a perfect miso soup.
Sunday night we were a bit lazy from the lack of sleep during our trip, so opted for a black bean soup from the refrigerated section (made by Whole Foods, not by us), supplemented with red cabbage and toast brushed with garlic and olive oil, topped with a nice quality melted parmesan cheese. You can't see from this picture, but I added a dollop of sour cream to my soup, something that strangely, I had been craving! Dylan isn't a big fan of sour cream, but seemed happy to see me eagerly swirling it into my soup with a spoon.
The next night (last night), we picked up some salmon from The Fishery, our local fish shop now that we live in PB. Sometimes we'll still make the trip up north to El Pescador, especially if we want chowder, or perfectly ripe avocados. We marinated the salmon in a soy/mustard/ginger mixture and served it with broccolini and a sweet potato.
Tonight I'm going to try to make miso soup. I have the yellow miso paste and tofu, but still need to pick up scallions and the ingredients for a dashi stock, the key to a perfect miso soup.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Nathaniel-Lou's Wedding
We just got back from Nate and Anne's wedding in Monterey. Nate is one of my old college roommates (actually one of a group of nine). This weekend was the first time since graduation that we had all gotten back together, so everyone was ready for a crazy-fun time. We got into Monterey on Friday but didn't see everyone until the ceremony, which was at the Naval Postgraduate School.
The ceremony was nice - short with some funny parts. Here is Nate and his mother making their entrance:
And Anne and her father:
So romantic:
After the ceremony everyone got to catch up. Here's Travis and Karen:
Dan and Jamima:
Grantland and Shirley surprised us by being there:
Here's a shot of all of us holding Anne up on the dance floor:
From left to right, we have Dylan (me), Travis, Scott, Nate, Kevin, Hugh, Andy, Andres, and Dan.
Good times.
Streak was a little irritated with us when we got home, but she mellowed out quickly:
The ceremony was nice - short with some funny parts. Here is Nate and his mother making their entrance:
And Anne and her father:
So romantic:
After the ceremony everyone got to catch up. Here's Travis and Karen:
Dan and Jamima:
Grantland and Shirley surprised us by being there:
Here's a shot of all of us holding Anne up on the dance floor:
From left to right, we have Dylan (me), Travis, Scott, Nate, Kevin, Hugh, Andy, Andres, and Dan.
Good times.
Streak was a little irritated with us when we got home, but she mellowed out quickly:
Comic-Con and Dylan's Tofu
Last weekend we went to our third comic-con (a big San Diego comics convention that happens each July) with our friend Dave. We normally attend on the Saturday, and were a bit disappointed by the lack of costumed and rowdy folks that were present on Sunday. Highlights included me adding some Superman, Superboy and Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane comics to my growing 1950's and 1960's era collection, a panel we attended on "how to make your own flip-book" and getting my picture taken with a Storm Trooper.
After the convention, Dylan made a very delicious tofu dish for dinner. Usually we stir fry our tofu over the stove, but this recipe called for marinating the tofu and then broiling it. Dylan served it on a bed of swiss chard with sliced avocado on the side. Let's hear it for a vegan dinner!
After the convention, Dylan made a very delicious tofu dish for dinner. Usually we stir fry our tofu over the stove, but this recipe called for marinating the tofu and then broiling it. Dylan served it on a bed of swiss chard with sliced avocado on the side. Let's hear it for a vegan dinner!
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