Fresh Start Cooking

Yogurt results - Sous Vide style

2012-02-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

How do you like your yogurt?

I'm a thick, slightly tangy yogurt lover. Like the kind I met in Greece, and is (for me) best replicated by the Fage brand. They are one of the few companies that actually strains their yogurt of enough of the excess whey to give it the right consistency.

Plenty of other people like theirs softer, more liquid or tangier. These are also completely in your reach even without adding gelatin, seaweed extracts, starch, or other odd bits added to the grocery store that keeps it dependable and more shelf stable as it travels about.

Tangy?

The tanginess has to do with the length of fermentation. The longer the little milk digesting bacteria are left to do their work the more acid they produce.

Lactose, the main sugar in milk is digested and turned into lactic acid. This is why "lactose intolerant" individuals can eat yogurt. The lactose is eaten up, gone! Turned into lactic acid.

This is also why coconut milk yogurt works - there are sugars and proteins in there. The bacteria eat the sugar, and produce acid. These acids will then coagulate (turn solid) the dissolved proteins. But there are far fewer proteins in coconut milk, so you get a much thinner yogurt.

Soy milk can be made into yogurt only if there is some sugar added to it. The bacteria need something to eat and and turn to acid if the soy proteins are going to coagulate. (Most soy milk you buy at the store has some sort of sugar, so it is all set to go.)

Thick or Thin?
So what mediates the thickness? How hot you get your milk. The warmer the milk gets, the more the protein strands unravel, so they can recombine tighter, and in larger groups resulting in a thicker yogurt when hit with the lactic acid. If you heat up your milk to a lower temperature, the resulting yogurt will be looser.

Creamy?
This is all down to fat content. If you have non-fat milk, there will be no fat. The yogurt will be good, but it won't have the creamy richness of the fat. It's not a problem, just understand there is no way to simulate the particular mouth feel of fat.
Straining the yogurt to concentrate the solids will give it a richer texture, but it is still not the same as the creaminess you'd get with whole milk.

So what milks work?
For dairy milk - all of them. The stuff in the cartons, raw milk, box milk, powdered milk. I've seen claims that ultra-pasturized or UHT milks won't work. Not so. Milk turns to yogurt works because you introduce particular bacteria into a liquid full of nutrients and relatively empty of bacteria.
The bacteria are individual cells on the hunt for sugar, and when they find it, they eat it. Well fed, warm bacteria multiply, sending out more copies of themselves to find and digest the rest of the sugar.

Regular milk, the stuff we think of when we think of milk has a pretty low concentration of bacteria. Since we keep it cold what bacteria that is still in there has little chance to grow and ferment the milk. But as we all know, given long enough this milk will go bad.

Raw milk has more bacteria, but it is largely person friendly since its source is an animal that lives closely with humans. What's good for the cow gut is good for ours as well.

Powdered milk in its powdered form is free from any active bacteria since there is no water for the bacteria to live in. Once you rehydrate it (add water), it is just as open a canvas for the bacteria to move in. So populate it with your yogurt culture, and you'll get what you want. The down side? It'll still taste like powdered milk.

Ultra-pasturized and UHT (Ultra High Temperature) dairy products are super squeaky clean, (neither is sterile - that's a whole different ball game), but are so barren of bacteria they will keep extra long before going sour. And if that's what you have to work with they will do just fine, providing the materials you yogurt culture needs to live and grow.

'Nuff Biology. How Do I Make Yogurt?

Get your milk. 2-4 C is a nice amount to start with.
Not too much yogurt results, but enough to make it worth all the fiddling about.

Choose your fermentation container of choice, it needs to come with a lid.
Heavy glass jars are nice since they are reusable and easy to get super squeaky clean. I like 1 C canning jars (but only fill them about 3/4 full or a little more) so I end up with individual servings. And the canning lid rests on top nicely. No need for the screw on part.
There are special yogurt jars, but - ehh?
Glazed pottery works fine too, but you need to find a lid. In China they rubber-banded wax paper over the top - so it need not be high tech.

Get some (plain) yogurt with live active cultures.
These days most yogurts have the live cultures, but read the label just to be sure. Plain yogurt just simplifies things. (Dairy free people - get coconut or soy - still works!)

Get a cooking thermometer
I LOVE my Thermapen, a digital instant read

but a candy thermometer will serve as well.

A small bowl, a fork/whisk and a ladle
These are for mixing warm milk with the yogurt and moving hot milk about with the least injury to people.

Heat the milk to: Stir over medium to medium-high heat. Watch the temp with the thermometer.

120F - 160F super loose. In fact if you want "yogurt" like you are used to you'll need to add some powdered milk, gelatin or tapioca starch.

165F - 175F for loose yogurt. This can be drinkable after it is stirred.

175F - 180F for firmer yogurt

180F - 185F the thickest yogurt, but not yet grainy (for me 185 is my sweet spot)

190F - boiling (212F) - starts to get a grainy texture. You are entering fresh cheese territory here. It will make a quick and dirty firm yogurt, but the texture won't be smooth. (How do I know? I tried. Not my fave, but I will be straining it to make yogurt cheese. No reason to waste those tasty coagulated proteins).

Let it cool: Either set it over an ice bath, or do other stuff in the kitchen and check on it until it hits

110F - 100F If it gets below 90F, you'll need to go through the heating part all over again. I got super paranoid my first time, worried it wasn't exactly 112F. Yeah, not such a big deal. Just keep it over 90F.

Ladle some of the warm milk into the small bowl. Use the form/whisk to stir the still warm milk with 1Tbs plain yogurt for each cup you are making (more or less). Pour this back into the big batch of milk.
Ladle this into your fermenting jars.

Ferment!
Sous vide style - Pop your jars into a warm water bath somewhere between 100 - 115 (108 is the nice middle where I like to hang out). Cover the jars so condensation doesn't drip in. Let it go for 4-8 hours. (Depending on temperature, culture and how tangy you like it, 3-12 hours is a realistic range.)

Higher temps mean faster fermentation - thus faster coagulation and more whey, and sometimes a grainier texture.
Lower temps mean slower fermentation - so the curd forms more slowly, and typically incorporates more whey, and a generally creamier texture.

Cooler & a bowl of boiling water -
Line a cooler with a towel/towels. Place a large (8-12 C) bowl in one side, and the yogurt jars in the other. Use the towel to wrap and prop everybody up sturdily. Fill the bowl about 2/3 with boiling water, close the lid and let it sit about 6 hours.

Blanket and a heating pad -
This was the first way I made yogurt, and I didn't love the result. But it was definitely yogurt. It was a high temperature ferment of a mix that had powdered milk and honey added.

This works best if you have all your milk in a cylindrical container. Wrap a heating pad around the container, then insulate it in blankets. Set your heating pad to medium to start, and keep an eye on the temp. Adjust to low or high to keep the temperature at the range you want for 4-8 hours.
(For me - if I'm going with a hack, I want a low maintenance one. This one wasn't.)

In all cases - take out your jars. Does the yogurt look solid-ish? If so, pop them in the fridge, let them cool down the rest of the way.

Ta-Da! you have yogurt.

Then add honey, fruit whatever. And use it in place of sour cream. It has the same tang and it won't break apart when heated. I tried adding honey before I fermented. Not worth it. Just top your yogurt with what you want when you want to eat it. Again, it makes the whole thing simpler.

So many options!!!!!
The thing that struck me are the ridiculous range of options out there when making yogurt - how high or low to heat your milk, fermentation temperature, additions (powdered milk, honey, gelatin, starch...). But what it comes down to, yogurt is the kind of thing that happens even when you aren't trying. SO the recipe is very forgiving, and all that really matters is what you prefer.

And if you made yogurt, but want it thicker, wrap it in a tea-towel or plop it in a coffee filter. Put in in a colander over a bowl for a few hours. Ta-da thicker yogurt. Or yogurt cheese. depending on how long you left it.

Like I said... so many options.

If you are not a fan of the thermometer, and have a crock pot, check out this recipe:
Crockpot Yogurt
and then the add-on
Coconut Milk Crockpot Yogurt (will most likely work for all sorts of other non-dairy milks)

28,000 Words

2012-02-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

Draft 1 is off to the editor!

The cookbook is leaving the coop. I can quit pounding the keys and obsessing over words, and let someone else do it for me for a bit. Until I get it back.

In the meantime - the yogurt results are just around the corner.

One thing I've run across is everyone has their favorite kind of yogurt, and give the recipe for that. But different yogurts are good for different things.

So clearly the internet needs a table of temperatures and times.

OK really, yogurt is something people have been making with out thermometers and sterile containers for ages. (And my first off the cuff attempt is disappearing rapidly.) But hey, we are who we are. And I have a SousVide, an instant read digital thermometer, and a biology degree. So - WEEKEND PROJECT!

Step 1. Get some good Honey
Step 2. Don't eat all of last weeks yogurt
Step 3. Don't forget to use BOTH the regular milk and the ultra-pasturized (and powdered milk only... that sounds like a challenge!!!!!) There is the contention that U-P won't work. But biology says it should work just fine, U-P should mean that it has fewer fermenters than usual, so if inoculating the milk, it really seems like it means a freer field for the new inhabitants. But we will see!

Wait... what happened to the all the other pages?

2012-01-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

The cookbook is entering the hands of others. The recipes are out of the sphere of public prodding and scrutiny for awhile (I'll leave that to Beyoncé and Kim for a bit).

In the meantime, I'll share something else.

Greta

Starting the New Year off Right!

2012-01-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I got a new Sous Vide.

This machine smacks of "geek-with-a-good idea."
Built mainly by engineers rather than designers,
the plug is even a standard computer power-source cable.

On one hand it is a glorified slow-cooker/crock-pot, and yet another kitchen gadget to take up EVEN more counter/cabinet space. But the the fact that this slow cooker takes advantage of the high heat capacity of water, and has "within-a-degree" temperature control makes it so much more.

The Instruction Manual

So what to do first?

Well, getting this book was a great start.

But still, what was the perfect thing to wake up to on New Year's Day?

Dulce de Lèche of course!

I may have had to taste for quality first thing.

How to do this? Hunt and Gather through the internet and get THIS recipe

"Sous Vide Dulce de Lèche" from SVKitchen.

The basics - Sweetened condensed milk, 180˚F, 13-15 hours. I threw in reusable jars while I was at it.

Pro-Tip: Start the caramel at 7pm.

Then you don't need to wake up at 2am and 4am

to check on the progress and

remove the jars from the water bath.

I'm going to make you go look at the recipe they worked out. They spend their research time in a whole different world of food than I do. And have been doing so for years - LOTS of good ideas, and well thought out and written.

Everything you could want in a caramel, plus some other things you didn't know were available - like warm-butter like spreadability, a "not-to-sweet" flavor that is like no other caramel you've ever tasted, and by getting up at 4am to take it out and let everything cool, it is ready for buttermilk pancakes!!!!

Yes, I still get name pancakes....

We had Apple Cider Vinegar Syrup as well, so Caramel & Apples with a tang... Well, I'm ready for anything now!
Maybe even some sous vide steak, and later a crack at sous vide Crème Fraîche.

Chocolate Ginger Snap sandwiches with Nutella filling

2011-12-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

This recipe is MINE. All mine. Combining things I love into a decadent holiday cookie that can't be beat. It is by far the most elaborate cookie I make, but worth it.

If there is one secret to this cookie, it is letting it sit for at least a day in an airtight container with the Nutella inside to let the cookies get soft again.
Unbeatable!

Recipe - Chocolate Ginger Snap sandwiches with Nutella filling

Equipment:
stand mixer/hand mixer & bowl
3-4 C bowl
rubber spatula
regular spoon
baking sheet (+silpat)
cooling racks
butter knife
airtight container(s)

Ingredients:
3/4 C (1.5 sticks/ 6oz.) butter
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 egg yolk (if you use the whole egg it'll work, just need to cook longer)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C molasses

1 3/4 C flour
1/2 C cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

1/2 C chopped candied ginger (Trader Joe's or an Asian grocery - crystalized ginger will work in a pinch)

Nutella

Prep:
In a 3-4 C bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and all the dry spices (pepper, ginger, allspice, salt). Set aside.
In the stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the sugar until the mixture has a fluffy texture. Add in the egg yolk, vanilla and molasses. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is combined.
At low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture. When everything is combined, put in the chopped candied ginger, and stir until just mixed in.

Scrape the dough into the bowl you used to mix the flour. Pop it in the fridge for at least 30 min. (Overnight is fine!)

Cook:
Preheat the oven to 375˚F.
Use the spoon to scoop out dough and roll it into 1 inch balls. Place them 2 inches apart on your baking sheet (silpat). When the pan is full, lightly press down on the dough to slightly flatten each one.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.

Let the cookies cool until they start to get solid. Move them to a cooling rack.
Match up cookies by size. Spread one cookie with a layer of Nutella, and make the sandwich. Place in an airtight container for at least a day. The cookie with soften, and make a decadent treat.

You can of course taste a few while still crispy for comparison.

Russian Tea Cakes

2011-12-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

or Mexican Wedding Cookies

These are the same cookie with two different names. Makes me suspect the recipe has been around for donkeys' years, traveling with pastry chefs all over Europe, the only change being altering the nuts by region. Where powered sugar comes into it all, I don't know.

But these make quick, tasty, surprisingly sophisticated cookies. Unlike the walnuts in chocolate chip cookies or brownies, these nuts are not optional. The bitterness of the finely chopped nuts creates an balance of sweet and bitter for an interesting and satisfying cookie. The key - the nuts must be chopped finely - no big chunks please! I confess, I used to make these nutless - not understanding the role of the bitterness, and the resulting cookies had a whole different texture and a sweet but boring flavor. Add the nuts, you'll be glad you did!

The powdered sugar always gets everywhere. Sooooo worth it!

Recipe - Russian Tea Cakes / Mexican Wedding Cookies

Equipment:
stand mixer / hand mixer & bowl
rubber spatula
large snap-top lidded container
baking sheet (+silpat)
regular spoon

Ingredients:
1 C (2 sticks/8oz.) butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C powdered sugar
2 C flour (+ pinch of salt if using unsalted butter)
1 C chopped walnuts (or pine nuts/hazelnuts/almonds...)

1 C powdered sugar - for the outside

Prep:
(If your nuts need to be chopped, break out a cutting board and big knife, and chop away until you have small pieces - nothing bigger than a mini-chocolate chip. Alternately, place them in a sturdy plastic bag, crush with a pan or rolling pin.)
Beat the butter smooth in the stand mixer. Add the vanilla and sugar at low speed. Scrape down the sides of the mixer, and make sure everything is well combined.
On low speed add the flour, and then the chopped nuts.

Cook!
Preheat the oven to 325˚F
Use the spoon to scoop up dough, and roll into about 1 inch balls. (You can make them smaller or larger - just adjust the cooking time.)
Place them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet/silpat. (No need to grease - plenty of butter in these cookies!)
Bake for 20 minutes (check for very light browning on the bottom.)

When the cookies come out of the oven, let them cool until you can just pick them up. Pop them into the powdered sugar in the snap-top container. Shake them around to cover the cookies.
Open the lid, then roll the cookies gently in the sugar and pick them up. Shaking the cookies in the powdered sugar while they are still warm gives them a frosting layer. The final roll gives then the fluffy powdery layer.

Nibble a few. You deserve it.

A simple recipe like this begs for variations - pine nuts work with citrus extracts and citrus zest in the dough. If you use almonds, replace some of the vanilla with almond extract. If you use hazelnuts, mix the powdered sugar for the outside with cocoa powder (1:1). Try peppermint extract, and then crush candy canes with the powdered sugar for the outside. Have FUN!

Lemon Pepper Parmesan Shortbreads

2011-12-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Twisting shortbread to make it savory is one of the nifty tricks I've been playing with. And these luscious nibbles are one of my favorite holiday tastes with a citrus and pepper bite. These work equally well with mid-day tea or as party food with a glass of wine.
(These have a smaller amount of sugar than regular shortbread - to let the savory flavors speak up.)

They're teeny tiny, so nibble a few!

Recipe - Lemon Pepper Parmesan Shortbreads

Equipment:
stand mixer
rubber spatula
3C (or larger) plastic snap top container
melon baller/small spoon (I'll explain)
baking sheet (+ silpat)
small grater
pepper mill

Ingredients:
1 C (2 sticks/8 oz.) butter
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C powdered sugar
1 Tbs lemon zest (1 lemon - see below)
1 tsp pepper (grind right then, or use a little more)
1/2 C grated parmesan
2 C flour (stir in 1 tsp salt if using unsalted butter)

Prep:
Use the small grater to gather 1 Tbs lemon zest (the shiny fragrant part of the peel. Avoid the bitter white pith.) Grate the 1/2 C of parmesan cheese. Grind a tsp of pepper - or use a little more if you have it pre-ground.
Put the butter in the mixer, and beat it until smooth. At slow speed add in the sugars, pepper, lemon zest and grated cheese. Use the spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl and make sure all the ingredients are combined.
With the mixer back on slow, add in the flour. Mix until just combined.

Scrape the dough into the plastic snap top container, and pop in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. (Or you can make these way ahead and freeze the dough. Thaw overnight before moving on to the next step)

Cook!
Preheat the oven to 300˚F.
Use the melon baller to scoop out little balls of dough and place them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. These have so much butter in them you don't need to grease the cookie sheet, but a silicone baking mat makes everything easier.
When you have a pan full, pop them in the oven for 8-12 minutes (depending the size of your melon baller). Look for light browning on the bottom as the sign that the cookies are done.

Brew up a pot of tea and taste test a few!

Cheese Crispies

2011-12-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

Some things should be enjoyed only once a year, because if you ate them year round they might kill you. OK, maybe not quite. But these Cheese Crispies (aka Cheese Puffs or Cheese Biscuits) are one of those secrets out of Southern food lore that should and do only come around during the holidays.
The good news is they are made from things just about everyone has in their kitchen (I always have to make a special trip for the Rice Crispies, but that's just me), but the proportions are a little worrying. I wouldn't normally recommend mixing quite this much butter and cheese. OK, just once a year. And make sure you share.
They pack a bunch of flavor, so are great with with celebratory beverages. They are from the same family of salty snacks the Spiced Pecans come from, so they play well together.
(And for those of your wondering about pedigree, one of the recipes I work from is a crumbling back-of-the-envelope affair in my mom's handwriting that mentions "oleo")

Once again, the tastiest food isn't smooth & shiny

Enjoy!

Recipe - Cheese Crispies

Equipment:
baking sheets
large mixing bowl
small bowl
cheese grater (food processor is great here)
sharp knife
cutting board
(pastry cutter/two butter knives)

Ingredients:
8 oz cheddar cheese (sharp - some or all)
6 oz butter (1.5 sticks or 12 Tbs) - cold
1.5 C flour
pinch of cayenne or 1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 C rice crispies

Prep:
Grate the cheese and chop the butter into small pieces. Combine these in the large bowl with 1/2 C flour. Set aside to let the cheese and butter warm up to room temperature.
In a smaller bowl, stir together the other 1 C flour with the spices (cayenne, garlic powder and salt).

When the butter has softened, pour the flour mixture into the butter/cheese. Use clean hands and squish together the mixture until you have a dough (and no large islands of one ingredient). You can use a pastry cutter or a pair of butter knives to do the cutting in.
Taste for spiciness - add more now if it's needed.

Gently fold in the rice crispies (gently to avoid making too many crispie crumbs).
Cover the dough and place it in the fridge while you're not working with it.

Cook!
Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
Working with 1/4 of the dough at a time, pinch off marble sized pieces, and form them into flattened balls. Place them 1-2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 10-15 min (depending on the size of your marbles).

Serve them piping hot right out of the oven, or heat them up in the toaster for something to perk you up when it is dark at 5pm.

Mom's Spiced Pecans

2011-12-19T09:59:00.000-08:00

These are the pecans of my childhood. I knew the holidays were on the way when the house started to smell like toasty nuts and Worcestershire Sauce.

In reality its a simple recipe. (I think something like it use to come on Worcestershire Sauce bottles.)

This year the pecans were particularly moist, so I had to bake them extra long to get them toasty. In an attempt to get more organized this year, I tracked down my several versions of the recipe. Turns out I have versions of the recipe tucked everywhere, and every single one has different times, with another time written in parentheses beside it. Clearly different moisture content of pecans is a perennial issue. Because it is so variable, keep an eye (well a nose really) on the pecans so they don't turn into little chunks of charcoal. If you smell toasty nuts get them out right away!

The Recipe - Mom's Spiced Pecans

Equipment:

baking sheet or large shallow pan

small bowl for meeting butter

Ingredients:

1 lb pecans

2 Tbs butter
2 tsp seasoning salt
4 dashes chipotle Tabasco (+ 1 or 2 of regular Tabasco)

3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Prep:

Melt the butter, stir in the seasoning salt and Tabasco(s).
Pour over the pecans on the baking sheet, and toss with clean hands until all the nuts are well coated.
Spread the nuts out into a single layer.

Cook!
Preheat the oven to 300˚F.
Bake the nuts for 16 minutes.
Take them out and sprinkle on the Worcestershire sauce, stir the nuts so they all get a little sauce.
Return the nuts to the oven for 10 minutes. Check and see if a cooled test nut is crispy and toasty. Some years you may need to bake them for up to 20 minutes.

Christmas Baking!

2011-12-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

A long time ago when music players wouldn't fit in your pocket, my mom would make a food Christmas gift for Everyone. Lots of silly stories came out of that (e.g. "Dog's Favorite Cheese Ball"), and then there were the leftovers we got to enjoy through New Years. But mainly, it was the fun of delivering the food, and watching people smile. I've never gotten over that.

So once again, it is kitchen madness as I force normal activity to the margins (the making and eating of dinner becomes DIY foraging when this is on).

You cook durning the Holidays? We are shocked, just shocked! Look lady you have a cooking blog, of course you do. Why a blog post about it?

Ah yes, the important question - this year I realized I can share the recipes! (I'm quick like that.)

Since my staff of helper elves is actually a cat that just wants to be let in and out all day, and mocks me when I ask him not to play with the ribbon, you will find your bag may or may not contain all the treats listed here.

For those of you in the delivery radius - if you are wondering "what is This?" or want to make some for yourself later... well, this year you can find out.

For those of you somewhere out there, in the blogosphere, whip up a little something for yourself or your loved ones.

(A quick warning - what ever you do make will come out a little different. Every year I veer off recipe somehow. But if you follow the recipe exactly, you will get something tasty. And if you make it a second time, I bet it'll taste a little different.... yet again!)

2011's Goodies for an Instant Cocktail Party:

Mom's Spiced Pecans

Cheese Crispies

Lemon-Pepper-Parmesan Shortbreads

Russian Teacakes/Mexican Wedding Cookies (funny story)

Chocolate Ginger Snap - Nutella Sandwiches

Day 18 – One Last…

2011-12-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

Today was the day. Tavin and I were finally going home, but our flight didn’t leave until the afternoon. So we went to Don Quixote.

It is Target meets Spencer Gifts meets TJ Maxx meets Wal*Mart. It is open 24 hours a day, and has a giant fish by the front door.

This is where one goes to find concentrated and complete whimsical goofiness with a strain of 13 year old humor.

dog hats

spare paws

scary cheap beauty products

in case your new phone makes you miss that
"when phones had cords" feeling

It's a wrist rest. Really!

Well, after that we had time for one more bite of luxurious Japanese ice cream (adzuki bean, sesame and green tea). And to end things right we were able to order our very last food by using the actual Japanese words, instead of just pointing at the pictures.

As we left Tokyo, we got one more look at the model of the Eiffel tower, and Tokyo Disney. And Tokyo as it will never be again. We arrived home February 6, 2011. The 9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, just four weeks later. Fortunately Keiko-san and her friends and family in Kamakura were around the corner from the tsunami, and were spared the worst.

As we look back on this amazing trip we are so glad we went. It reminded me to never stop having adventures, and to find Joy in the people and places I find myself around, for I never know what tomorrow will bring.

Day 17 – Lost at Tsukiji Fish Market

2011-12-05T21:34:00.000-08:00

Tavin and I got up unbelievably early to go see the Tsukiji Fish market in action (Next time, get a real tour). Once we stumbled our way there, walking along streets deserted, except for the odd electric carts making deliveries.

Inside it is strangely dim, with spots of bright light.

The giant frozen tuna we got to see in National Geographic are there, but heavily guarded, and No Pictures,

but I managed to get a blurry shot as a cart of them dashed by.

Blurry pictures of fish whizzing by… sums up the market. Along with the tiny booths going on and on, making up an enormous space.

The big bonus of our wanderings; we found the neighborhood temple. Beautiful, all lit up for the night.

And then we went home and took a nap.

Afterwards all three of us ventured out for food and a visit to the Tokyo Advertising Museum.

There we got to show Tavin things he could hardly believe – like record players, black and white TV’s , big, thick, white iPods, and other relics of life before Tavin.

Day 16 - Shinjuku, and Tokyo's Catering to the Agorophobe

2011-12-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

This was our last normal day in Tokyo, and there were a few places in Tokyo still wanted to see, but hadn’t yet. First was the Imperial Palace that sits right in the middle of Tokyo.

The garden across the moat the public is allowed to visit was closed on Fridays (whoops)

but we still walked around, and saw all those wide open spaces in the midst of this phenomenally crowded town. Much like Buckingham Palace plopped down in the middle of London, but instead of high walls and barbed wire, the Japanese Imperial family begins their defenses with a moat.

A very serious, wide moat.

And then walls, and then all sorts of security measures invisible to me.

As we walked around the island we could see the the castle and parks. The walkway on our side is lined with cherry trees.

It was interesting walking around the bare trees with their barely swelling buds, knowing that in just a few weeks, the trees would be in bloom, and the Cherry-blossom viewing parties would be in full swing.

Agoraphobes Unite!

As we moved on to our next destination, lunch, we began to notice a trend, Tokyo is impressively tunneled with pedestrian walkways. We had learned that knowing which exit you want out of the subways is essential, as the wrong exit can land you far from where you want to be.

Today we learned that someone truly bothered by wide open spaces could construct a very successful life where they never had to have sky over their head. There were apartment buildings with direct entrances into the tunnels that lead to the subway. Same with office buildings. And then there are entire shopping meccas in the buildings over to train stations. Grocery stores, department stores (yes, there subway exits that lead straight into are depchikas), restaurants, electronics, clothing and doo-dad shops If you don’t want to, you never have to go outside, and still have a life. It was amazing in a rather surreal way.

Tokyo streets are almost devoid of signs, and the ones I could find were nearly all in Japanese (well obviously). But the tunnels are festooned with maps, directional arrows and information in romanji (Japanese words in the roman alphabet). On the streets we are lost, and have to look out for cars. In the tunnels we have maps, and only have to look out for hurrying salarymen.

Using the tunnels we found our way to a sky-high restaurant,

and ate lunch at the top of Tokyo. Once again the waitresses had fun looking at Tavin’s chopstick boingies, and were amazed that he really enjoyed those noodles.

And then we went outside and found the Sword museum.

An amazing collection of honest to goodness samurai swords, some of incredible antiquity. This was also a museum for the ancient methods of forging and building the swords. The short amount of time we spent there (no photos allowed) introduced us to aspects of the sword we didn’t even know existed – the grain of the metal, the finishes, and then there’s a whole art around the handle, the creation of the cords used in the handle, and then there’s the scabbard. It was beautiful and baffling.

It was a long walk to find this little tucked away museum, but fun to see a regular residential neighborhood of the main streets. And it was a long walk back, so Tavin and I were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel.

But we perked right up when we found a new crazy Japanese game show. The contestants were seated at a round table and served strange foods. After tasting and examining the food they had to choose its price from 5 choices. When they guessed wrong, their chairs were spun around the table rapidly. And after that spin, they got another odd food, and had to guess again. Our best crazy Japanese TV sighting of the whole trip.

Day 15 – Kidzania!

2011-12-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

Two weeks in to this trip, and lets face it, Tavin has had limited chances to run around, and almost no chance at all to be away from me and play with other kids.

Today was his day. All right, I admit it, it was my day too.

We had been in each other’s pockets for a solid two weeks, through time changes, language barriers, odd food, strange beds and occasional transportation snafus.

Fortunately our friends the Leeks had pointed us in this direction (Stephen… I don’t know what we would have done… we could’a done it, but it would have been messier!). Kidzania is like nothing I’ve seen in the US, and was nowhere in the guide books. If I had gotten a “Tokyo with Kids” book or some such, it would probably have shown up.

How to explain Kidzania? If you could have gone to the Sesame Street you held in your head when you were a kid,

Fire Truck, Hospital entrance & Garbage services

The street w/ pedestrians
& a rescue vehicle

The bus you pay to take a tour of the city
cinema & cafe to the left

Replica of the tallest tower in Tokyo
Kids get to pretend to help build it

and gotten to try the jobs you wanted to try,

Engineer/Construction Worker

Photographer

Window Washer

Airplane Pilot
(E sticker - his first Job)

These were some things he spent money on:

Bus ride

Car Rental

that’s about the best I can explain Kidzania.

Kidzania is a town set up for kids to try out being a citizen. They get play at different jobs and then get paid for doing the jobs.

They have a bank account and an ATM card.

With that money they can also buy things, like driving lessons,

and rent a car,

or go for a bus ride.

Or get fancy pens and custom stationery.

Yeah, it’s utopian. But the kids are given responsibilities and a part in a group without a parent anywhere in sight. That’s right, the parents are pretty much banished, err, gently encouraged to go hang out in the “parent’s lounge.” So that is what I did. I worked on my writing about our trip, read some, people watched, drank tea, relaxed and only worried about entertaining myself.

Here are some pictures taken by Other People of some of the things Tavin did without me:

Would you trust him in the pilots seat?

Tavin doesn't stand out as much as you think he would,
except he favors red over the more standard navy.

We were in much better shape after some hours apart.

Kidzania works in two shifts – one during school – for field trips and I guess privately tutored or home school kids. We were lucky because this shift is much less crowded, and there was never much of a wait. The second shift, the after school shift, appeared to be much more crowded. We saw the kids starting to line up as the early shift ended. The announcements and the staff gently kicked us out (through the gift shop, of course). Since Tavin and I had barely seen each other all day, he had lots to tell me when we stopped for ice cream. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. Chocolate green tea is my new favorite flavor of ice cream. I’ll be keeping my eye out.

Day 14 - Part III – Back to Tokyo – Back in the World

2011-12-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

Part III – Back to Tokyo – Back in the World

Egypt’s burning… That is what we saw everywhere as we returned to the larger world. There had been rumblings going on when we left for Asia. The filtered view we had gotten through censored TV while in China had made the picture muddy. Our first few days in Japan we hadn’t hooked into the world much, and then out in Kamakura and Enoshima we had completely disconnected. (Keiko-san had sent an email to Alec telling him we were all set and OK. I had no other easy way to get in touch with him.)

Coming from the relatively rustic Kamkura & Enoshima adventure and being completely un-digital, then splashing back into the information hot-tub that is Tokyo and seeing Cairo in even greater turmoil was a shock.

But as that black cloud was rising in the background, Tavin and I got a chance to enjoy the good order that is so important to the daily life of Japan. As we were leaving the train station on our return to Tokyo, Tavin and I were going out gates side by side. I went through, and Tavin was trapped inside, he didn’t have enough money on his SUICA card to leave. I wasn’t sure how to get to the closest recharge station without leaving Tavin stranded there…. of what to do.

As I was standing there baffled, one of the snappily uniformed subway guards came over and looked at the red numbers and message on the display screen and my clear bafflement. I reached in my wallet and handed over Tavin’s SUICA card and a 1000Y bill. It was the most obvious thing to do. In less time than it took figure out if I should be upset or worried over the whole thing, Tavin’s card was recharged and we were sent on our way with a polite bow from the subway guard... Arigato!

After our travels to the peaceful corner of Kamakura and Enoshima, we arrived back at the hotel, and had a washing day – laundry in the bath tub. The glamour never ends.

Fortunately, a gourmet dinner was a short walk away at a depachika. A quick stop at the convenience store for beverages that only cost an arm (and not the leg too), and we were able to relax, nibble and share our adventures with Alec.

Day 14 - Part II – Back to the Mainland & Enoshima Aquarium!

2011-12-05T12:51:00.000-08:00

A very amusing part of wondering around outside of the regular stream of expats and foreigners was people continually asking if Tavin’s dad was Japanese. I can see why…

though there is a certain amount of people seeing what they wanted to see, making up a story to explain why in the world these two odd balls were wandering around this part of Japan. But it was comforting and fun that the explanation they seemed to want was that somehow we belonged.

And with no segue at all... We said farewell to the beautiful island of Enoshima.

Our Ryokan is tucked in along that coast line.

There's the whole island!

We stopped by the train station we would later use to head back to Tokyo. Happily there are still coin-lockers in Japan, so we were able to stash our big bag for the trip to the Enoshima Aquarium.

Sadly, it was too cloudy that day to see
Mt. Fuji. But we had gotten the
view that mattered the night before.

Cute little aquarium map.

I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, but this was an amazing aquarium packed into a pocket-sized package.

Tickets and shows for the day

A huge walk around tank full of schooling fish

Tavin trying on a tank for size

Amazing rays in the tank

They had more jellyfish than I had ever seen on display. You'd think they'd all run together, but the way they were displayed made each one striking and memorable.

Sea Nettle

Spotted Jellyfish

Blue Jellyfish

And the combination of lit tanks and dark halls made for some striking displays of the tastier sea life.

Long Spined Purple Sea Urchin

Giant Japanese Spider Crabs

And they had a dolphin show. Say what you want about them, they are engaging… and Tavin thinks seriously about keeping the world safe for dolphins in the wild.

Day 14 - Part I – Breakfast of the Fanciest Kind

2011-12-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

Somehow sleeping off all that dinner and hot spring spelunking must have been hard work. We were hungry for breakfast. They had offered to make us toast, so we could have a familiar Western breakfast.

No Way! We didn’t travel this far, track down Chinese yogurt, look at dried sea horse on a stick, slurp noodles, and enjoy a dish of crunchy fish sprouts to suddenly face white toast for breakfast.

We got the good breakfast.

A whole, hot smoked fish flat fish (Tavin demolished his to the tittering of the waitresses.)

A dish of shredded nori.

Rice (of course), and soy sauce for seasoning.

A salad of hijiki seaweed, strips of crunchy lotus root, smoked fish chunks and a creamy sesame dressing. This was delicious.

A shredded pickled vegetable mix.

A different pickle on a mix of larger vegetable chunks.

Slimy something. I have no idea what it was, and didn’t really like the flavor, but other diners were slurping it with ghusto.

A bowl of steamy clam broth, again (yummy as always).

And chowan-mushi (egg custard with ginko nuts and other goodies hidden inside).

And tea.

We were well fueled for our return to the mainland.

P.S. The only way we didn't explode; all this food from that morning and the night before mostly came in portions that fit into saké cups.

Day 13 - Part III – This Dinner Deserves it’s Own Entry

2011-12-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry – We were so hungry, Tavin couldn’t hold the camera still in the low light.

Let me attempt to list what we were served for dinner:

One the 1/2 moon plate:

a square of grilled black cod (I suspect marinated in sake lees)

an omelet square with veggies, chilled tiny dried shrimp with citrus juice (yuzu)

candied kumquat

A footed bowl contained a watermelon radish over 3 kinds sashimi - including shrimp.

The Covered tea-cup/soup bowl contained HUGE bivalves of some sort with mixed rice.

We each got 4 pieces of fragile, shattering tempura - shrimp, pepper, kabocha squash or pumpkin & potato – paired with a particular sauce.

In the celadon-green teacup - a creamy salad with potatoes, greens, mushrooms and topped with a dried goji berry.

A soup tureen we shared contained a light clam broth with seaweed.

The white bowl with the blue mark – held a steamed whelk , with a convenient toothpick for easy snail removal. (I told Tavin he could skip that, as long as he took a bight of everything else.)

A gold rimmed deep plate held a sort of Japanese ceviche – citrus marinated fish - served in a bowl made out of the bottom quarter of an orange.

There were various small bowls of pickles - radish, cucumber, Japanese cabbage & eggplant

In a saké-cup sized bowl – what I can only call fish sprouts – crunchy, salted tiny little fish, most likely very immature based on the eye/body size ratio.

Soup was made before our eyes – as a little charcoal cube was lit inside out own little burners. The bowl placed over it had bacon, 3 or 4 kinds of fish pieces, green veg, sliced negi, and enoki mushrooms. These were all stewed together for broth to make a fresh, but rich broth.

And there was rice.

And there was tea.

I indulged in a little hot saké. I realize… not the good stuff, but it seemed so right with everything else.

And then, after all that, as we were sitting there stunned, a spoonful of mango sorbet & a nibble of grilled peach was delivered to us.

And at last we were presented with a digestive green tea.

So… there was dinner. We slept beautifully; full, elated, and relaxed by our adventure out of Tokyo.

Day 13 - Part II – Onsen

2011-12-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

We have no photographs of the onsen.

The Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) was built where it was, and has existed in one form or another for 850 years because of the hot spring in a cave under the Ryokan.

And that hot spring is the onsen.

There were two ways to sit in the hot water.

One half was styled as a roman bath, and had clearly been there for many years, made obvious by the handmade nature of the tiles, the design aesthetic of the room, and the impressive mineral accretions on parts of the structure. A definite time capsule or a more romantic age.

The other half was the cave. There had clearly been carving out – to make a bigger area, to make a more regular shaped pool, and some seats had been created and tiled. But all we had to do was paddle back a bit, and there was uncarved rock, and niches where lamps/lanterns had been placed in the days before electrical lighting had made it down into the cave.

The air was lovely and steamy, the water milky and soft. It was a wonderful place to soak, warm up, and float peacefully, and truly appreciate the absolutely unique experience it was.

And while we were recovering from the hot spring adventure, they brought in dinner.

And that requires a whole entry of its own.

Day 13 - Part I – Hosted in Kamakura

2011-12-03T23:23:00.000-08:00

Venturing outside Tokyo, south and a little east, to take in a slower, mellower, more traditional slice of Japan, we were met with the open arms of Keiko-san, the grandmother of two of Tavin’s school and karate friends. She lives in Kamakura, and had gotten us a room at a rather traditional and ancient Ryokan – an inn with tatami mat floors, hot springs for bathing, and food like nowhere else on earth.

Tavin made his first real splash when we stopped for lunch, and he pointed at the kamaboko-udon (noodle soup with fish cake) and asked for it specifically for lunch. No hunting for McDonalds, he wanted the local fare. Good kiddo.

We got a tour of the seaside towns, some of the local sights and temples – seeing the largest cast bronze Buddha in Japan

and his sandals

The Amida-Bhudda Daibatsu is rather amazing – and much loved. His history and statistics say what the pictures cannot.

He’s hollow, so we even got to go inside, and see things from the Bhudda’s point of view. He used to have a temple, but that was washed away in a storm, so he sits there, calmly, in all weathers.

Even though it was still winter, it was lovely and sunny.

We got so warm we had to take our coats off, and got to watch people getting dive-bombed by the kites. (Nope the signs were not just there for decoration.)

After strolling through the beautiful temples of Kamakura, soaking up the sun, the calm, and the comfort of being shown about by a lovely and attentive host, we hopped on a bus (Yay SUICA cards!) and rode up and down hills, through convoluted, impressively precarious neighborhoods, around a curve of land where we could see Enoshima, and its island.

We made it onto the island. A bustling shopping street opened off the end of the causeway that links the island to the mainland.

The shopping street climbed the rocky hill that is the center of the island. Along that shopping street was one of those discreet walkways that looks like there is something good back there, but unless you know your are supposed to go there, there is no reason to walk up it.

I still can't believe this was our destination!

This was the Ryokan we were staying at. Getting to walk up one of these exclusive roadways was just about the *least* exciting thing about it. We took our giant European selves inside. Keiko-san got us checked in, and we were finally able to attempt to thank her for our warm welcome, wonderful tour, and the amazing arrangements she had made for us. Soon, those arrangements were to prove even more unbelievable!

We were shown around the hotel – where the dining room was (for breakfast – dinner would be in our room), where the onsen was, and what the hours were. Then we got to see our room, and it was everything all my grade school adventure books had lead me to expect. Sliding doors, almost too short for me,

(Tavin had his own version - he could reach the lintel)

tatami mat floors, folded beds from the closet and special slippers for the toilet.

We tried on our kimono – these were just the relaxing, bathrobe types. Tavin fit into a small women’s robe,

and I needed a men’s kimono.

Ah well, we had fun fitting our giant European selves into this world sized for a different average size.

There was also a glassed in viewing deck. And that is where I found the part

I couldn’t have managed if I’d spent months on the task…

As we were relaxing in our robes – we got to see a sunset over Mt. Fuji.

Well, after that, we needed to go relax in an underground hot spring.

Green and Orange

2011-11-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

Those are the colors of the Autumn CSA bag. A bit of purple - late plums and some beets, a little red - in the apples. But green and orange prevail. It is hearty leaves, squashes and onions. If the frost ain't here yet - it is peeking at me from around the corner.

(Truffle salt... pipe down. You could be here, but not everyone has you. I know, you are ever so clever with fall stuff. Another day, you will get more of your due.)

This week's challenge:

delicata squash or sweet potato squash* (see below for trivia)
leeks
arugula

The other things I needed to make this AMAZING!**

vinaigrette dressing - (vinegar, mustard, garlic, s&p, and oil)

metal spoon
flipping spatula

salad bowl
good knife & cutting board

1/2 sheet pan/baking sheet
smoked paprika, oil, & salt &

sauté pan, lid, salt & chicken broth

How it went down:

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds & peel it. Toss on the baking sheet with oil, salt & smoked paprika. Put that in the oven for 15 minutes, check for doneness (fork tender?) Flip to brown the other side, 10 more minutes - remove when the pieces are a bit brown on the edges, and temptingly tender.

Cut the tough green parts off the leeks. Cut them in half, longways, and rinse to remove any sneaky sand between the leaves. Place them cut side down in the sauté pan with a little oil over medium heat. When they start to sizzle and get a little cooked looking, turn them over, cover the bottom of the pan with chicken broth, lower the heat to simmer, clap on the lid for no less than 10 minutes. (Longer is better, just check and maintain moisture in the pan). Cook until the leeks are at least tender, and at best have melted.

Wash the arugula. Tear or chop if they are big leaves.

When the leeks are done, roughly chop them into large bite size pieces, toss them with the arugula and dressing.
Make lovely piles of bitter-sweet salad that are a mix of crunchy & soft, cold and warm.
Top with the warm, crispy-edged, creamy-inside, gently smoky-spicy slices of squash.

Someday, I need to take some pictures before we all dig in.
Someday....

Why This Works:

Arugula is bitter, so the savory and sweet flavors of the leeks and spiced squash mellow it out.
The creaminess of the the squash and melted leeks contrasts with the crispness of the raw arugula.
The melted leek and squash are essentially sweet, so the sour, salty and garlic flavors of the dressing contrast with them.

This is a salad of contrasts, but ones that balance and support each other, rather than clashing.

*Delicata trivia

Delicata is an heirloom (up until recently not commercially produced) squash. It is a small, long squash (as opposed to a ball). It is usually about the size of 2 large onions side by side. It's skin is ridged, and always has yellow on its striped skin. Stripes can be green, orange or cream - and are often a combination of the three colors.

The "sweet potato" designation comes from the particularly dense, sweet, orange flesh - that is pretty close to that of a sweet potato. In fact I could see using them interchangeably. The important point being delicata will grow in colder climates where sweet potatoes won't grow.

This squash is delectable, won't last as long as some hard/winter squashes, but does pretty well. Any recipe with it will work with other sweet, dense fleshed squashes. Its flavor is subtle and fine, so lends itself to applications where you want to taste the squash - soups, baked squash, salads.

**Variations!

The sweetness of this squash makes a great ingredient to play with. Pomegranate seeds would be a natural as would balsamic vinegar or oranges (orange marmalade? That could be interesting....)

Truffle salt is a natural here, so that means sautéed mushrooms would go great - but would need the boost of plenty of garlic, or some glazed onions.

Nuts that combine a sweet and bitter element - pecans, pine nuts or hazelnuts would make great additions as well.

Sweeter indian curries (whether spicy or tame) are a natural with this squash. Anything tomato-y would overwhelm the squash, but ones that depend heavily on herbs and spices would be excellent.

Baked with lots of thyme or rosemary or sage or oregano... anyway, this squash plays very nice with herbs.

Day 12 - Part III - This Town is Really Crowded

2011-11-22T22:59:00.000-08:00

As Tavin and I wandered around the endlessness that is Tokyo, it would suddenly strike me just how crowded this town is. In some ways it is deceptively small. Almost nothing is over 10 or so stories. Certainly, there are a few newer buildings that are 30 or so stories,

We ate lunch at one of the restaurants on the top floor.
Heck of a view - authentic business lunch fast food,
and the waitress wanted to know about Tavin's chopstick boingees

but most buildings top out at around 10. Much of this is due to stringent building codes for earthquake purposes.

But due to lack of space almost nothing is shorter than 3 or 4 stories.

There are just lots of people!

Can you tell it's cold/flu season?

As an elementary school student I’d watch movies of the salary men and school kids being squished onto the trains by the subway guards, and I would worry that they might get squashed on the tracks by all the other people.

A 3rd grade part of me was relieved that there is evidence of the measures they have taken to keep people safe in the crush of rush-hour commuting.

American high schools sprawl all over the place with play grounds, athletic fields, parking lots and woods to go smoke in. But here in Tokyo high schools are shore-horned in along shopping streets, and cantilevered out over the sidewalks.

And when the density of the city was really getting to me, and the sheer price of real estate becomes evident, there is the Imperial Palace.

That is some expensive real estate, especially considering the moat.

It feels a lot like Buckingham Palace in London, but instead of the high wall that lets you see nothing at all, you can gaze across the moat at all those trees and empty spaces.

The recipes are UP!

2011-11-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Cooking Your Local Produce

Want to tackle the produce from your Farmers' Market (if you still have one, Lucky!)? The last CSA boxes of the season (or are you year round)? Stuff from your winter garden? Stuff you have in the freezer? Or do you just need to make some tasty veg?

The recipes are up on Google docs. The links on the pages in my blog. Clicking the recipe title links you to the recipe. They are open for comment. Let me know if a recipe just doesn't work, or the wording is muddy, or the I've just done something dumb. If it is as good as I think it is, that's nice to know too.

What do you get out of helping me? Other than tasty food? I'd love to have any and all commenters in my acknowledgements section. I've never been in one.

There will be 6 pages - one for each plant part.

Check 'em out and cook up a storm.

Leaves

Shoots

Flowers

Fruits

Seeds

Roots

Me, with the big knife.

Recipes for cooking leaves!

2011-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

Or... the cookbook is starting to exist.

Cooking Your Local Produce

More than just a bunch of ideas and loosely associated files, it is beginning to have substance.

The first two sets of bunches of recipes; Leaves and Stems have been through the 1st draft process - red penned, and are now ready for their first release into the wild.

Anyone wanting to take a look at some (or all) are welcome to.

I'll post my recipe list now, and let me know what you want to see.
I will figure out how I want to cache documents so you can look at what you want easily... and make comments/corrections/suggestions/biting sarcasm - you know....

But for just this moment, let me know what you would like to see, and I'll send it to you.

Leaves:

*Start with Chard

*Crispy Kale

*A Big Chopped Salad

*Green Goddess Salad + Dressing

*Hearty Greens for Grilled Food

*Braised Greens & Spicy Sausage

*Green Rice

Herbs go everywhere

*Pesto – Basil & others

*Gremolata

*Herb oils

Shoots:

*Roasted Asparagus

*Raw asparagus salad

*Pea Shoot Stir Fry

*Garlic chutes/scapes

*Fennel & Cabbage Slaw

*Beet & Fennel Salad

*Black Bean Kholrabi

Fruits, Seeds, and Roots are on their way.

Day 12 - Part II - Tokyu Hands & Ito-Ya

2011-11-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

What happens to Home Depot when it can’t spread out, is supported by a buying public with an appetite for both the “kawaii” and the crazy invention? You get Tokyu Hands.

It is where you go to buy the mundane – the light-bulbs, screws, hammers, nails (pretty much all individually over packaged) paint and bungee-cords.

But you can also buy inflatable mannequin portions....

Not selling the socks, just the AirQuin.

magic music monkeys

A version of these are being pushed as the hot new thing
next to this year's Elmo

random usb port plug-ins that do nothing but do sit-ups and, ummm, other things.

Buckyballs were all the rage when we went, both in the US, and in Japan, but the one thing I wish I had gotten was a planetarium nightlight/tub toy.

However, Tokyo has it’s formal side as well. In contrast to all this wild and crazy colored silly cuteness is the nearly restrictive culture of stationary and invitations.

Their use of paper – for decorative wrapping and as statement making when chosen for visiting cards, business cards, invitations, thank yous and cards accompanying gifts makes Martha Stewart and the DAR look like rank amateurs and untutored bumpkins. If you are searching for a palace of such papers, Ito-Ya, of the giant red paper-clip is a wonderful glimpse into this world.

So for the pen-junkie that I am, it was almost torture to have to stroll through this store at a pace that meant we would leave before lunch time. I did manage to find some beautiful wrapping paper though, so I could present the gifts that I brought to our “hostess for a day” (see Day 13) in a little bit of style.

Day 12 Part I – Hachiko & Kawaii

2011-11-14T20:35:00.000-08:00

Back to the trains!

Tavin and I hit the subways, feeling pretty comfortable getting around as long as we had a station to go to, and a surface map of the surrounding area.

The first journey turned out to be a trip down memory lane as we exited the Shibuya train station at the Hachiko exit. I was read a picture book version of this incredibly faithful dog way back when I was in elementary school – and here I was at the actual train station where it all took place!

And the Japanese still love Hachiko.

I got to see the Hachiko wall

Plenty of directions to places refer to the "Hachiko Exit"
This sort of instruction is actually essential since
leaving a train station by the wrong exit can leave you
0.5 km, or more, from where you want to be.

the Hachiko statue,

and there is even a special shuttle around Shibuya, the Hachiko bus.

And for those Akita fans out there… yes, Hachiko was an Akita.

Now notice for a moment what they’ve done to Hachiko on his bus. They’ve made him super round and fuzzy… really, really, unrealistically cute.

The Japanese word for this extreme cuteness is “kawaii” (kuh-why).

This is a way of life for some Japanese, especially girls between the ages of about 11 and 18. And some continue on with it for much, much longer. It is usually accompanied by high-pitched giggling.

We headed for kawaii central – Kiddy Land – and were not disappointed. They were remodeling the main store, and had a young woman dressed like a school girl, standing in front of the construction, handing out maps to the temporary store.

Here are a few things we found:

Yes, Hello Kitty in a pink leopard print suit.
She giggles, and that tail makes her roll around.
Yes, it is next to a monchichi display.

This just about undid me - Elmo in a Hello Kitty suit, and Hello Kitty...
I can't even say it.
And yes, just to the left, I now see there was also
a Cookie Monster option I was blind to at the time.

And we even caved a bought a sushi thumb drive. And Tavin scored a couple of stuffed animal Pokemon.

And yet, there were plenty of odd gag-gifts

A vending machine that would sell you
your own cringing middle-manager?

Is this one a commemoration of President George H.W. Bush’s visit?

And we found kawaii in some odd spots in other places – road barriers,

and souvenirs at the aquarium.

Hello Kitty, out for a cruise on her pet manta ray.

Hello Kitty really is everywhere!

Day 11 - Part III Dinner from the Basement

2011-11-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

What do you do if you live in or around Tokyo, in a tiny little apartment without a kitchen? You certainly have a hot water pot and a rice maker (this is equivalent of a coffee maker and a microwave), but for dinner you certainly can’t eat out all the time – that would break you financially.

You can eat ramen from the Japanese equivalents of 7-11 or, if you want something more substantial, healthful, or downright delicious, you might pick up dinner in the basement of a “Depah-to” or department store. That sounds depressing it you are thinking of the bedding displays or clearance tableware or end of season decorations one often finds in the basements of American department stores. Not so in Tokyo.

The basement level is what delis would look like if Willy Wonka had been into savory foods instead of sweet. This is the depachika.

I almost drove my family crazy walking around the counters looking at the prepared foods of the world. Not just Japanese, but French, Italian, Chinese, Korean and on and on. The Japanese have no problem facing the fact that their meat comes from animals. Even in this shiny setting there were whole pig haunches of prosciutto, trotter still attached, on display in glass-walled cool rooms. Or roasted and bar-b-qued poultry with feet and heads still in place. A guarantee of quality to be sure.

Tavin and Alec were happy with a little sushi, or grilled chicken skewers. I wanted to try everything – but knew I couldn’t, so had to choose something. Agonizing and exciting – I could have just toured the food halls of Tokyo and been happy. The highlight for Tavin was when he got to exercise his budding Japanese to the point of ordering his own dinner. Hey, if you can speak food wherever you go, you’ll be OK.

The Japanese continued to prove themselves the master of over and precious packaging – all the way down to the tiny little blue-ice packs that come with your “self-catering” sushi.

We picked up drinks on the way home (purple Kagome for Tavin), spread out, and sat back to watch Japanese TV. (The best on that is yet to come!)

Day 11 - Part II Going Somewhere

2011-11-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

North is not up - it's north.

The park around the Tokyo National Museum introduced us to an idiosyncrasy of Japanese map use. All the maps of the “You are Here” type in the transit stations, throughout the park, and later the city, are not “North Up” (What Americans are used to – north is always the “top” of the map). Japanese maps are oriented to “what you can see when you are looking at this sign.” If you look left, you will see what is to the left of the map, and what you see behind you is at the bottom of the map, and what is in front of you is at the top of the map. Intuitive, sensible, BUT if it is not what you are used to, confusing until you figure it out.

And to keep things interesting, in many places buildings on a block are not numbered in the order you find them, but rather in the order they were built. Tokyo natives are not ashamed to admit they cannot help you find their way around, if it is not their part of the city. And just about every business card you will ever get has a quick map of how to get to it from the nearest large cross street or transit station.

We did find finally find the Tokyo National Museum. We got to follow the path of the Buddha into Japan. On this blustery day, we definitely appreciated the meticulous conservator instincts of the Japanese, especially after the cavalier attitude of the Chinese. The building was warm, nicely temperature and humidity controlled. We got to see Samurai armor,

Yes - that snail shell is a helmet.

beautifully painted scrolls

This was my favorite.

Yes - it really was a painting of a
tree pulling game.

and other esoterica of Japan. Like their European counterparts, the paintings were interesting in their own right, but also a window into what (rich) people did at the time.

The ocean theme was continued outside as we found the very large model of a blue whale.

See little Tavin way down there

Despite the size it was not life size. Those whales are almost unimaginably huge.

On our way out of the museum I got to see more of the oddities of the Japanese bathroom. I know it seems odd to talk about toilets here, but it is hard to go to Japan and not mention them. I mean heck, in the English language paper we got, there was even an article talking about how this year was the 30^th Anniversary of the Washlet.

This is the seat that has all the buttons to control water jets. The temperature, intensity and aim are all adjustable. Some models have a heated air dryer as well, colorful lights and even songs. The Simpsons did not exaggerate. They didn’t have to.

Not all of it is so showy; there are practical aspects as well. The bathroom also featured the “false flush” and the most complete sink ever. The politeness of Japanese culture has many ways of dealing with being so close to each other all the time. One method is using flushing sounds to cover up any other sounds you don’t want to share. But being an island nation, the specter of water shortage is always there. Instead of wasteful flushing, just wave your hand in front of this device, and it will make as many flush sounds as you want.

The sink wasn’t about politeness, it was just cool. All in one sink unit, you had the no touch faucet, no touch soap, and in the surface of the sink closest to you was one of those high-speed hand dryers. Very nifty.

And speaking of nifty, the bathroom mirror in our hotel had a little heater behind part of it, so even when the bathroom fogged up one little square of the mirror was still clear.

Now we were ready to try getting dinner again.

Day 11 - Part I - Learning How to Pay for the Tokyo Subway

2011-11-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you barely speak the language, can’t read it to save your life, and the fares are obscure and ever changing depending on distance, time of day, and which rail line you used to get from point A to point B?

You get a reloadable transit card. Charge it up, and let the computers figure out what you owe – like everyone who lives there does. And these are good in trains, busses and some taxis.

The subways... look like subways.

However the machines only take cash… and we were very low. It was at the end of this day that we realized the only way to go was to just use the cash machine at Denny’s. It didn’t care we were foreigners. Every other cash machine we tried (in the subway stations, at banks… and the museum store we went to didn’t even have an ATM, who’s ever heard of that in the US?) required you to have an account in a bank IN Japan. We didn’t. So, we had to find a machine that only needed the reassurance of VISA.

Fun Fact: Most Japanese carry huge amounts of cash on them at all times. Just weeks after we visited Japan, this fact was borne out by the huge number of home safes, full of cash, that washed up as debris from the tsunami that ravished the east coast of Japan after the magnitude 9+ earthquake that hit Japan March 11, 2011. Paying with plastic has not really caught on. The transit cards are beginning to work like debit cards – especially with the vending machines, but in general, Japan remains a cash society.

We finally got SUICA cards for all of us (getting a kid transit card was the hardest – they only give them to you if a kid is actually there – and make sure it matches the kid’s ID.) These are the nationwide transit/debit cards. There are also city only cards, but being travellers we went for the wider option. Phew, we could now pay without complication. It was time to go exploring. The Tokyo National Museum and the surrounding park seemed like a great place to start.

Day 10 - Part II – Dinner & a Show

2011-11-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Yes… now that we are in Japan, we can have sushi.

And as I had come to suspect, one of the reasons for the worldwide success of sushi is that good sushi is a result of a nose for fresh ingredients (unique to location), the right rice (easily transportable) and technique. The sushi we had in Tokyo was very good, the trimmings made it more Japanese than I had experienced,

There were certainly more different fish, and small fish to choose from, and the clam broth – with cute little clams in it was delicious and comforting. Umami.

When we were all happy, relaxed and full, we got ready to go, and were presented with beautifully wrapped little “take home sushi” (of the pressed and cut variety, rather than rolled) was the cherry on top making it not like at home at all.

After we returned to our room, and realized no one was tired yet, we pulled out the Lonely Planet, and realized we were just down the road from Hakuhinkan – or – as the English writing on the outside says, “TOY PARK.” This place looks like troop of 13 year olds were in charge of stocking it. Everything you want is crammed cheek by jowl with everything else everyone else wants, in only a mildly haphazard fashion. And there is the biggest slot car track I have ever seen on the 4^th floor.

Almost painfully authentic;
the Japanese girls in coveralls
and pigtails... and all those boys.
Except for his gargantuan parent,
Tavin fits in a little too well

Cars were driven and crashed.

And then it was time for us to crash too.

Day 10 - Part I - Breakfast at Denny’s & Video Game Shopping

2011-11-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Alec was ready for less adventure in the morning – not more.

So we headed across the street. The cigarette machine on the way in and the wine list at the table (Spanish, Italian & German – French is only at the fancy places) should have hinted that Denny’s here does not mean what you think it means.

They did have “western” breakfast. It was just so small. On the other hand, Tavin and I went for hot Japanese breakfast – and between the salmon filet, noodle soup, seaweed, and tea, we were all set for the day.

What we should have noted was the ATM – near the cigarette machine – for that became our source of cash. Most bank ATM’s in Japan only work with their own cards or network cards, not just some random Visa Debit card. We only came to terms with this after fussing with several machines for many minutes – both in train stations and at several bank branches around the city.

Before we really got going in Tokyo – we had a mission – to find a Specific PS3 video game. So Alec went to Akihabara – Electronics Town with Tavin on a hunt. Success all around.

This is the one time the pictures taken are pretty much indistinguishable from pictures taken at home… and are all of things Tavin thought were cool.

Since Alec had Lonely Planet – with maps & Japanese characters, he was able to get a Taxi there and back. We saved “braving the Japanese rail system” for the next day.

Somedays Simple is Best

2011-11-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

"I'm hungry."

"What would you like?"

"Apple. And something."

"Well, let me see what we've got." Fridge opens to a hopeless mish-mash of this, that, and the other.
"How about oh... umm... well, we've got...."

"No, I just want something simple."

And here it is.

Yes, with the new crop apples, it is time to bring back apples and peanut butter - whether you like creamy, crunchy, salted or not, and with extra goodies - like flax seed. Or for those who've had it with the peanut, there are plenty of options sunflower butter, cashew butter...

And then there's another favorite - pears with almond butter.

It's Cold Baby... Bake Me Somethin' Good and Warm

2011-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

This morning had a gorgeous sunrise - a good while AFTER I was up.
And when we walked to school, we could see our breath.
(This is going to be one of these silly conversational posts - here's just the recipe for Roasted Root Veggies.)

Are We being spoken of?

And I am loosing patience with the cat as he lingers at the door deciding, "how long do I sit here before she closes the door in my face."

Ok, I don't actually know what my cat is thinking, but I am more impatient when my toes are getting cold while he's doing it, and I swear he's taking longer about it.

All of this means Fall is here.
And I want something warm, cozy and full of flavor.
And we got one of the last CSA bags of the season full of roots of all sorts.

carrots, beets, parsnips, potatoes & onions
and some kale & sage - yes I know, those are leaves.

Roots! Isn't that a bunch of stuff that grows underground?
Like, in the dirt?

"Mom, your build up to introduce beets isn't fooling anyone. You are going to try to convince people to eat beets."

"Well, kale and parsnips too." "Hey, I don't know how to type that noise." "Or that one."

"And mom, you know cooking carrots ruins them. Ruins them!"

"Not always."

"Does so."

"Look - you're going to have to take a..."

"I know I know, a no thank you bite. kkKkKKkkkkkKKk."

Anyway, I'm starting with a pile of vegetables. And I'm not even going to pretend, all that rinsing and peeling and chopping, along with the other prep happens in a flash. It doesn't. It will take time, and make a pile of peelings.

Cooked root veggies freeze GREAT! Especially par-cooked. Why do you think the freezer isle at the grocery store has an entire "potatoes" section.

So I am taking on this pile once to make lots of...

"Boring! Yes, very good cook once, eat lots. Get it."

"Aren't you impatient."

"Hungry."

Alrighty Then. The root veggies get turned into chunks, the beets thinner, 'cuz they are the toughest.
Salt and oil on a sheet pan at 425˚F.

"See always with the 425˚F. What's wrong with 350?"

"Better for baking. I like the hint of a crispy edge on my parsnip."

For 20 minutes.

"How are you going to work in the bacon drippings? You know most people just throw away their dirty used grease."

"Hey, that grease hasn't been used. The bacon had too much, the stuff in the dish in my fridge is what it couldn't use. And it's not dirty, just seasoned. And I'm going to use it with the sage and kale. And chicken stock. So there."

When you get everything par cooked - Tupperware!

"Isn't that just a brand name, that you happen to not be using?"

"It works if everyone knows what I'm talking about."

"Until the Tupperware police come and get you."

Anyway... do this:

3 servings. 1 for now, 2 for the freezer.

To finish all of them, all parts - the root veg, the kale, the herbs. Stir in a little vinegar and bake at 425˚F until super tasty.

Truffle salt may be good here too for finishing it off.

"It's not optional. That thing you did with the frozen ones with the rice vinegar and soy sauce wasn't as good. Truffle salt all the way. OK. The carrots weren't ruined. I still like them raw better though."

Fall Roasted Root Veggies

2011-10-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Just want to bake some steal-out-of-the-pan good root veggies with out all the drama?
This is very definitely a use what you have kinda recipe.

The two secrets - 1) removing water from root veggies creates more intense flavors,
2) cooking at a higher heat breaks down the natural starches and sugars to make yummy brown flavors (OK, it caramelizes them. I hate how that word has been overexposed and overused of late.)

Here ya' go.

Roasted Root Veg

Equipment:
knife
cutting board
vegetable peeler
baking sheet
sauté pan w/ a lid
(snap top container - for freezing extra servings)

Ingredients:
12 - 15 root vegetables (include starchy, sweet & earthy if you can)
Choose From
-potatoes
-beets
-parsnips
-onions
-carrots

a drizzle of salt
2 tsp oil

small handful sage

(& I had parsley too - so a big one of parsley)

2 tsp bacon drippings (or oil, or butter)

1/4 - 1/2 C chicken stock/water

1 lb (+/-) hearty leafy dark greens
Choose From
-kale
-collards
-chard
-beet greens
-mustard greens are good too if you like that kick.
(stay away from the cabbage-y stuff for this.)

balsamic vinegar - 1 Tbs per baking pan.
truffle salt - to taste (sprinkle, stir, taste, repeat until perfect)

Prep:
All the root veg. Rinse them off so they are not muddy.
Cut off the fuzzy roots (let your parsnips stay pointy!) and any other parts you wouldn't want to eat.
Peel off the tough outer skin with your vegetable peeler.
Cut up the veg into bite size pieces, and make the beets thinner, since they are tougher and need more cooking. The onion pieces can be a bit larger.

Place these on your baking sheets
(I had 2 pans worth!)
Spread them out so they are not stacked.

Sprinkle a bit of oil and salt on your veg, and toss thoroughly (clean hands works great).

Kale, collards and mustard all have a stem
like a stick. Not yummy. Pull it out.

Rinse your leaves and herbs well.
Tear the big heavy stems out of your greens (you can just chop up chard, stems and all). Tear or chop the leaves into pieces hand size or smaller.

The herbs need to be chopped fine.

Cook!
Heat your oven to 425˚F
Pop the veg in for 20 minutes.

While the veg are roasting, heat up your sauté pan with the fat in it. Toss in a piece of sage, when the pan is warming up over medium high heat. When it sizzles, stir in the rest of the herbs until they are fragrant. Toss in the leaves, and get them coated in the fat and herbs. Stir for a minute or so.
Add the stock, clap on the lid, lower the heat to medium and cook for about 8 minutes. The leaves need to be limp, but not necessarily cooked to done.

Pull the par-cooked veg out of the oven at the end of 20 minutes and lower the heat to 375˚F.

Combine all the veg. If you have made a "whole bunch" this is where you cool and freeze servings for later. See below for the "from frozen" directions.

Toss the veg on the pan with vinegar, and a pinch of the truffle salt.
Back into the oven for 15 more minutes.

Check the veg. Are they tender? A tiny bit of browning? When they get there, pull them out and toss them together in a bowl. Taste for vinegar and salt.
The sweet of the carrots and/or beets and/or parsnips should be met with a little sour from the vinegar. And taste for salt - and mysteriousness of the earthy truffle. Add a little more of either if it is needed.

And suddenly what may have been a bad idea in the frozen section becomes something that gets stolen out of the pan before it gets to the table.

***From Frozen***

Heat your oven to 375˚F
Spread the veg (roots & leaves) out on your pan.
Toss with the Tbs of vinegar and a sprinkle of the truffle salt.
Roast for at least 25 minutes. Again, check for the browning, and intensified flavor. When you get there, finish the same way.
Not instant, but darn fast. And darn good.

An Easier to Follow Calzone Recipe

2011-10-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

I don't know what got into me when I put together that last recipe. But if you found it a little hard to follow... here's the sane version:

Pumpkin-Ground Beef Calzones

Equipment:

Large Bowl
Knife
Cutting Board
Sauté Pan
Square baking pan
Counter Space - for dealing with dough
Small Bowl
Cookie Sheet (or Pizza Stone if yer fancy)
Measuring spoons - if you don't feel good guessing spice amounts.

Ingredients:

Calzones -
Pizza dough (make or buy)
Small "pie" pumpkin - the kind for eaten' not for looking' at.
1 lb ground beef (I'm betting lamb, pork or a combo are all good too - even turkey)
1 med. onion - purple if you can
Chili Powder (start w/ 2 tsp)
Smoked Paprika (start w/ 1 tsp)
Garlic Powder (start w/ 1 tsp)
Salt & Pepper (start w/ 1/4 tsp each)

Dipping Sauce -
Really ripe tomatoes
the spices you used in the calzones
- or -
Super basic tomato/marinara sauce with some chipotle salsa stirred in
-or - some variation to make a smoky, spicy tomato based dipping sauce.

Greens on the Side -
Dark green greens (whatcha' got - just know 1 lb = 1 Cup cooked)
A few cloves of garlic
2 tsp bacon fat or oil
Salt & Pepper
1/4 - 1/2 C water or stock
Splash of vinegar

Prep:
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
With the large knife, cut the pumpkin in half, and scoop out all the insides. (See previous recipe for info on proper transformation of the pumpkin guts)
Place the pumpkin halves open side down in your baking pan with a small puddle of water (no higher than 1/4 in. (1/2 cm)). Bake for 30 min, or until the flesh is fork tender, and the edges are browning a bit. When this is done, set it aside to cool.
(This can also be done ahead, and refrigerated at this point for tomorrow)

Slice you onion into pieces thinner than your pinky.
Get all your spices out.
Wash and roughly chop your dark greens (Spinach, chard, beet greens, kale...)
Slice your garlic as thin as you possibly can, or mince it fine.
When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh off the pumpkin's skin, and mash it up roughly - so it is broken up. (Don't worry if the flesh is a little under cooked, you will be cooking it the rest of the way as you continue.)

Cook!

Heat a saute pan, cook down a sliced onion (purple if you got 'em) and some sage in a little bacon fat (or oil) over med-low heat, until the onions are soft. Brown the pound of ground beef.
Stir in the spices - in the starting amounts. THen taste and add more of what you think it needs. Mine needed more garlic, smoked paprika and salt.
Then stir in the pumpkin pulp you scooped off the skin after it cooled enough to handle.
Mash it up and stir it into the seasoned ground beef and purple onions. Taste and adjust the seasonings until it makes you want to eat it all up right there. Restrain Yourself.
(Fillilng can be cooled and frozen at this point - so make double, and save some for later)

Get a clean expanse of counter very floury. Divide up the dough into 6 pieces. Make them into small circles. Put A few tablespoons of the pumpkin-beef filling into the center. Fold the circle onto itself, seal the edge by pressing down emphatically. Fork tines help. Repeat with other dough circles.

When your calzones are all closed up, poke them a few times to let air escape. Place on a cookie sheet (or appropriate alternative) in the 375˚F oven for about 30 min., or until dough is in a GBD state (Golden Brown & Delicious).

The dipping sauce is only a matter of mixing the ingredients together to get a smoky, tomatoey dipping sauce.

For the greens, while the calzones are baking, start the sliced garlic in the bacon grease over med low heat - to slowly melt it. When it gets floppy and mild, turn up the heat, add the greens to wilt them. Add the liquid, and cover while the greens simmer until they are tender. Take the top off, reduce the liquid, add salt pepper and a splash of vinegar to make them extra tasty.

Serve everything... and as the phoneticists say - "WA LAA!"

Pumpkin-Ground Beef Calzones

2011-10-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Or maybe they are Empanadas? Nope, not fried, so Calzones.

(If you are just looking for this recipe... go here ---> Pumpkin-Ground Beef Calzones)

Oh dear... they're not pretty,
but they were so good we ate them all
before we could figure out a pretty picture

The challenge at my house has always been a ban on fruit with meat. So the usually spicy sweet route for pumpkin as an accompaniment to meat was OUT. Banned. Disapproved of.

But I love pumpkin, and the creaminess it brings is reminiscent of the best of gravy, so I wasn't willing to give up on pumpkin. I just needed to make it Not Sweet, also known as Savory.

Fortunately for all the palates concerned, Smoky as a flavor option has come a long way since the days of "Liquid Smoke" and "Gravy Browning." For the purposes of this recipe, smoked paprika and chipotle peppers (which are ripened, smoked jalepeños) do the trick.

And the beet greens with masses of sautéed garlic was the best bonus.

Step 1 - roast the pumpkin. A pool of water at the bottom of the pan, as you set it at 375˚F for 30 - 40 min will make it soften right up. Be sure to use a cute little pie pumpkin. They have the best taste. "Big Carvin' Pumpkins" are watery and not for food.

Pull it out when the skin and the edges are starting to brown, and the flesh is fork tender.

Step 2. Don't toss the pumpkin guts.

Step 3. Why - because you can make roasted pumpkin seeds! YAYAYAYAYYAYAY!!!!

(At the same time you are baking the pumpkin)

Normal Person 1: "But I hate getting all those orange ecchchy stings all over my fingers!"

Kitchen Geek: "Me too, but I figured out this cool way to get rid of that problem."

NP1: "You spent time on this?"

KG: "Well, I just like fresh roasted pumpkin seeds that much."

NP2: " What are you two talking about?"

KG: "Well, all you need to do, is put the pumpkin guts..."

NP1: "Why do you keep saying pumpkin guts?"

KG: "Remember Sally from the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Special?"

NP2: "Oh right, when she freaks out from opening up the top of her pumpkin and scooping out the..."

KG: "Right, so anyway, put the pumpkin guts into a big bowl of water. If you squeeze the pointy end of the seeds they pop away from the orange stringy things and just float on the water. Then you can scoop them out."

Step 4: Toss them on a cookie sheet/ half sheet pan with a silpat,

(NP1: "You ARE a Kitchen Geek.")

with a little salt, and just enough oil to coat them lightly. Bake at 375˚F until lightly browned and crunchy (25 - 40 min... depending). And as far as I'm concerned that's the point of Halloween.
(NP2: "Total Geek.")

KG: "HEY! Who ate all but a handful of the roasted pumpkin seeds? Huh!?"

Anyway, Step 5:

Heat a saute pan, cook down a sliced onion (purple if you got 'em) and some sage in a little bacon fat (or oil) over med-low heat, until the onions are soft. Brown a pound of ground beef, and

Add Chili powder (Start w/ 2 tsp)

Smoked Paprika (Start w/ 1 tsp)

Garlic Powder (Start w/ 1 tsp)

Salt & Pepper (start w/ 1/4 tsp)

until it tastes almost right.

Then stir in the pumpkin pulp you scooped off the skin after it cooled enough to handle.

Mash it up and stir it into the seasoned ground beef and purple onions. Taste and adjust the seasonings until it makes you want to eat it all up right there.

Step 6: Restrain Yourself.

Get that bag of pizza dough from Trader Joe's you bought earlier today.

NP1: "Wait, so you bought a pie pumpkin, a pound of ground beef and pizza dough at Trader Joe's today?"

KG: "Well, I didn't have much a choice did I?"

NP2: "Next you are going to tell us you were stopped in your tracks by these items."

KG: "Well, it was all the pumpkins that did it. I see the other 2 things all the time."

NP1 & NP2: "You are just not normal."

KG: "Do you want dinner?"

OK, anyway. Get a clean expanse of counter very floury. Divide up the dough into 6 pieces. Make them into small circles. Put A few tablespoons of the pumpkin-beef filling into the center. Fold the circle onto itself, seal the edge by pressing down emphatically. Fork tines help. Repeat with other dough circles.

Stab a few times to let air escape. Place on a cookie sheet (or appropriate alternative) in the 375˚F oven for about 30 min. That is until dough is in a GBD state (Golden Brown & Delicious).

While the Calzones are cooking...

Step 7: Vegetables
Wash & tear some green stuff. I had beet greens. Chard, spinach & tender kale are all good here too
.

Saute with large amounts of well chopped or thinly sliced garlic. Add broth or water and let simmer until all is tender and mild. Don't forget the salt.

And then make a dipping sauce. Basically take a nice plain Marinara or similar, and stir in some chopped chipotles in adobo... or chipotle salsa.