Sushi in the Dark

So, we start to make sushi...  (Condensed story - lived outside of Denver - sushi was far away and $$$ - so Alec learned how to make it a little over 10 years ago.  Been kind of a gateway drug.)

Anyway - the fish was sliced,

and so was the veg

 the rice was in the rice maker.

Then Boom! (well really, "click") the power went out.  Alec stood there - baffled.  "Well, the rice is toast."
"No it's not.  It's just rice.  We can go old school.  Ya know, use fire."

And that's just what we did.  Sushi by candle light.

 NO Broiler?!
Break out the (creme brulée - ok XTra large version we use for torching sous vide meats) torch to crisp the eel.

 Looks cool in the dark!?

And some miso soup.

Which reminded me of part of the awesomeness of Japanese food - perfect no electricity food.  In fact this is a whole cuisine developed in a preindustrial setting - and yet, still brought to high art.  And the general lack of need for ovens helps when the power is down.  Sure, the Japanese love their sweet white bread (anpan/Milk Bread) and other pastries, but those are the imports, their own cuisine goes on without the oven.

And then after the sushi - Pandemic of course.  To complete the apocalyptic theme for the evening. (Are sushi and the apocalypse compatible?)

When it All Goes Wrong

There are somedays, instead of making something, I just make a mess.

Several weeks ago, I had a whole bunch of plums, and made a delicious baked plum and ginger... something.  The bottom of a crumble, or a cobbler, or the inside of a fruit pie, or I don't know what; the British* call it stewed fruit, but that doesn't sound yummy to modern ears.  We just hear "stew."

Anyway, it was extremely tasty over vanilla ice cream, and over Greek Yogurt†.

However, when I chose to make it again, I left it in a too hot oven for too long, and it came out like:

That's burned - and Not Tasty at All

Which meant, soak (have your husband NOT wash**, because it looks, "jammy or something you were working on"), wash, and try again.

When you do it right -

Tasty Plums for Over Ice Cream (or a variation)

Equipment:

Baking pan

Knife

Cutting board

Ingredients:

Ripe plums (pluots & apriums also work well)

1 Tbs sugar for every 2 large or 4 small plums

Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into slivers

Prep:

Slice the plums into bite-ish sized pieces.  toss with the sugar and ginger slivers in the baking pan.

Cook:

Heat the oven to 350˚F.

Bake the plums until they are juicy and tender, and the ginger has lost its sharpness. (20 minutes or so. Check at about 15 minutes first time you do this, and learn from my mistake.)

Eat with your favorite accompaniment.  Shortbread cookies are also good.

When you do it right it looks more like this:

*If you are British and object, blame Jamie Oliver.  And me, for not doing more research.

† According to me, and a taste test I found, Fage is the tastiest, Hands Down.  The taste testers say Oikos & Chobani are pretty OK, TJ's needs work.  I agree.  And say Greek Gods is too runny to be real Greek Yogurt.

Bonus: Greek Yogurt is a stellar stand in for Sour Cream.

** The right move in the face of past experience.