food | kimberly ah

Jun 24 2014

adventures

Canada Does It Better

Naoto recently came home from a trip including a layover in Canada. He messaged me to ask if there was anything I wanted from the Calgary airport. My heart went all aflutter and I quickly messaged back “POTATO CHIPS!!!”

It all might sound weird since we have so many flavors of potato chips here in the States, but Canada really does it better when it comes to tasty chips. I requested my three Canadian favorites–dill pickle, ketchup and all dressed–with hopes that Naoto could at least find one. Well, he found all three!!

We can find dill potato chips pretty easily in the U.S. but dill pickle remains elusive. There is a huge difference in flavor as the dill tastes like dill and cream (kind of like sour cream and onion, except with dill) as opposed to tasting like the pickle in the Canadian version.

And ketchup potato chips can be found here in the U.S. too, but it’s not as good as the Canadian ketchup. While I despise ketchup in its gloppy, red, squeezed-from-the-bottle form (french fry dip, burger topping, egg accent…yuck!), I love the potato chip flavoring. It’s kind of sweet and tangy and salty.

And last but not least, all dressed, which are the most difficult to find here at home. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the taste reminds me of…kind of a mishmash of flavors including salt and vinegar, ketchup, sour cream and onion. Crazy good!

It’s going to be such a treat to tear into these later today.

Not as much as a treat of having Naoto home again though.

Tagged adventures, food

Jun 20 2014

3 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Plot #6: Let There Be Loofah

We neglected the garden last weekend because of false rain predictions and unexpected schedule changes. I thought by the time I visited Plot #6 on Tuesday that everything would be dead. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Some of the tomatoes were a bit droopy, but nothing a little shot of water couldn’t fix. And our peas and flowers looked great. But who cares about all that… WE HAVE LOOFAH!!! I wasn’t expecting to find anything on the loofah mound and I yelped with delight when I saw these. Then I yelled “LOOOOOFAHHHHH!” in the middle of the empty community garden. We’ve never gotten to the plant portion of loofah growth before! It seems that allllll of the loofah seeds I soaked and planted came up…which means I might have to thin them a bit. But I’m really excited. And worried. We didn’t think anything would happen, so I’m not really sure we left enough room for an actual vining plant. Details, details…I’m just going to bask in the loofah celebration for a little longer and worry about building a loofah trellis when Naoto gets home. (Oh and any loofah advice you may have is completely welcome!) Our crazy pea patch is growing nicely. I planned to build our pea teepee on Monday, but I forgot the twine at home. Instead of building, I found some leftover lima bean seeds in the bottom of my gardening bag and planted them next to the peas. I might regret that decision later. Maybe I’ll just name this gardening season Planting on a Whim.

Tagged food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Jun 12 2014

Plot #6 Progress

Our garden is growing! On Sunday we went down to the garden to plant our last two tomato plants. (My dad gave us four Juliet plants and we couldn’t find anyone to take the extra two, so now we have four Juliets. If they all live and all produce as many tomatoes as our last single Juliet plant did, I will be opening a road side stand this summer.) I need to go buy some more bamboo stakes. Our peas (shown above) are growing nicely, and soon I will need to build my little pea teepee so they don’t grow into a big jungle like they did last year. I also soaked some extra loofah seeds overnight and planted them on National Donut Day…still nothing. I’m sure that the cool days and nights we’ve had recently didn’t contribute to the poor loofah’s growth either since they tend to like hot weather. I’m still holding out hope that we will see a little sprout soon. On Sunday, we met our friends Laura and Scott at the garden for the first time this season. Laura planted some delicious radishes last month and we tried her harvest…it made us regret not planting any radishes. So, maybe I’m going today to buy a seed packet or two…

There’s just something about gardening that turns me into an optimist!

P.S. Happy Loving Day! In case you missed it, here’s a post I wrote about our experiences with interracial marriage last year.

Tagged diy, food, forest park, garden, gardening

Jun 04 2014

4 Comments

summer manifesto

Summer Manifesto 2014

Naoto and I wrote up our summer manifesto during our anniversary dinner. It looks a lot like last year’s manifesto. What can I say? We are creatures of habit around here.

This summer we will:

* tend to our garden and balcony garden

* create three new cocktails using herbs from our garden

* invite special guests to Hasegawa Happy Hour

* hang out on the balcony whenever possible

* rediscover Chicago

* try three new tomato recipes

* take more walks

* visit some new Farmers Markets

* wear sunscreen & sun hats

* enjoy live music…somewhere

And that’s our summer in a nutshell. What’s on your list this summer?

Tagged adventures, cocktails, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

May 31 2014

2 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Garden Beginnings

We’ve been slowly planting our garden plot over the past couple of weeks. So far we’ve planted two Brandywine tomatoes, two Juliet tomatoes, one yellow pear tomato, peas, flowers and a loofah. Our loofah didn’t make it last year but we thought we’d try it again anyway. So far, the seeds have done nothing. Again.

We decided to skip the root vegetables since ours failed last year. (The beets didn’t do anything and the daikon were so skinny they were almost nonexistent.) Tomatoes and peas and flowers…and maybe a cucumber or some lettuce. We’ll see. We still have about a third of our plot left to work with.

Today I’m working on planting some climbers on the balcony and trying to come up with some sort of notebook to hold my seed packets for reference during the season. Last year I thought I’d be better about keeping a garden journal and I failed miserably. This year…it’s going to be different. (Hopefully.)

Happy gardening!!

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

May 21 2014

Trader Joe’s Panko-Breaded Tilapia

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about Trader Joe’s…

Last month, Naoto brought home a box of frozen fish. I’m not usually a fan of frozen fish, but I agreed to try this because it was Panko-breaded tilapia filets. Panko breadcrumbs are the best breadcrumbs. (Panko could have its own Japan Does It Better post!) And tilapia is my favorite fish because it’s not too fishy and it has a nice texture. I’ve eaten several meals of panko-breaded tilapia since then. I’m a fan.

The box comes with four filets, each individually wrapped, making it perfect for work widows like me. I just take one out, pop it on a cookie sheet and bake it for twenty-five minutes, flipping once at twelve minutes. The panko breading is thick and crispy and the fish is moist. We love it topped with our favorite Japanese condiment, Bull-Dog sauce. Bull-Dog sauce is used most often for tonkatsu (panko breaded pork). It is kind of like America’s Heinz 57 sauce but fruitier and tangier…it’s hard to explain, but it’s delicious, especially on fried foods because the tanginess complements the heaviness of the breading. Trader Joe recommends topping the tilapia with their corn salsa, but trust me…nothing is going to beat Bull-Dog sauce! (You can find it in Asian markets.)

We had this for dinner on Sunday night along with couscous and a tasty salad (painstakingly chopped by Naoto-the-slicing & dicing-perfectionist.)

If you’d like to see more Trader Joe’s posts, go here.

Tagged food, forest park

May 20 2014

5 Comments

adventures, Japan 2014, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Shabu-Shabu

Please note that this post and this website has no affiliation with Hot Pots Biz.
Shabu Shabu One of the many things I wanted to eat in Japan this time around was shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu is a meal of thinly sliced beef that is cooked in water at the table. We’d eaten it at Naoto’s colleague’s house a long time ago and it’s fun and tasty so it’s been on my Tokyo wish list to try the real deal.

We found a shabu-shabu restaurant in Oka-san’s (Naoto’s mom’s) neighborhood and popped in for lunch one afternoon. It was a long lunch, but everything was presented so beautifully that it was nice to take some time to savor the presentation, the food and the company. While we enjoyed tiny dishes of salads and appetizer bites, our server brought out a big heavy pot of water seasoned with citrus and turned on the burner. Once the water was boiling, she brought out a tray of thinly sliced beef and a basket of vegetables. The vegetables are pictured above through the steam of the water. We had cabbage, mushrooms, seaweed, scallions, carrots, tofu and bean sprouts. Have you ever seen such a romantic basket of vegetables?

The beef is sliced so thinly it is almost see-through, allowing it to cook quickly in the hot water. You pick up a slice with chopsticks and put it in the water (still holding on!) Once you’ve swished it into a figure eight, the beef is cooked. Swish, swish…that’s all it takes. To me, the best part is the dipping sauces–a thick sesame sauce and a ponzu (citrus) sauce–for the meat and vegetables. The ponzu sauce is so tangy and a perfect match with the savory beef!

Most of the vegetables took a little bit longer to cook, so we left them in the water while we swished the beef and ate them with the sauces in between bites.

Once all of the beef and vegetables were eaten, the server brought out another dish of thin glass noodles to cook in the shabu shabu broth. I ate those noodles with the ponzu sauce as well. And, even though our meal was enormous, I couldn’t resist sakura ice cream for dessert. It was vacation after all.

Tagged adventures, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

May 16 2014

5 Comments

adventures, coffee talk, Japan 2014, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail, Tea

Scenes From Bunbougu Cafe

Oh Bunbougu Cafe! Please expand to my community!

I know, I know…it wouldn’t be the same. I wish more people in the US would embrace the marriage of cafes and stationery shops.

I spent a lot of time at Bunbougu during our vacation. In addition to spending my birthday there, we went back again and again for coffees and shopping. My favorite thing (other than my birthday dinner) was the snack you see above. I ordered a set that included a pot of tea and three tiny sweets. As you can imagine, I was blown away by the tiny office supply-shaped cookies. I ordered the strawberry matcha poundcake, the hazelnut ginger pencil cookies and the yuzu pepper key cookies. Everything was so flavorful and delicious–the keys were so peppery that my mouth was burning (in the best way possible!) There were other options on the menu (including a coconut flavored triangle and protractor) and you can see them here.All of Bunbougu Cafe’s menus are hand drawn (by one of their own workers) with gorgeous colored pencil illustrations of their food and cocktails. One of my favorite things to order was the caramel tea latte, a milky black tea with a hint of caramel-y sweetness. I’m working on perfecting my own at home since it will be awhile before I can drink one at Bunbougu again! If you received a postcard from me in Japan, most likely it was written at Misdo or Bunbougu…it’s the perfect place for mail! Bunbougu offers loads of unique stationery, desk items, pens and pencils, washi tape, office supplies… Many things are made in Japan and most of their offerings are from small makers and businesses. I saw many familiar American makers’ products too. I ended up buying two more silver boxes, pencils and washi tape.

But my favorite “purchase” was my new membership at the Bunbougu Cafe. For ¥700, I now have my own membership card and a key to the stationery drawers at Bunbougu! Now each time I go, I can show off my key or my membership card and get into special events (if they ever occur during our visits) and unlock the stationery drawers at the cafe. I already left my business card in one and sifted through the pretty papers and pens…apparently too busy enjoying things to take a picture (sorry!)See you soon, Bunbougu Cafe!

Tagged adventures, coffee, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan, mail art, office supplies, snail mail, washi tape

May 15 2014

6 Comments

Japan 2014, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 13: Furu Pote

Back on our first trip together to Japan in 2011, Naoto and I stayed with his mom for a few days. We watched her regular TV programs with her at night and enjoyed a game show about restaurants. A “food expert” (I can’t remember if it was a famous chef or a food critic or what) ate every menu item from a fast food restaurant and rated each item. Sometimes the food expert had high praise, but as you can imagine, the best TV was when the food expert criticized the best sellers on the menus.

Lotteria was a featured restaurant and I became obsessed with going there and trying Japanese fast food. We finally went with Hisae and Norio (my sister-in-law and brother-in-law) and I enjoyed a shrimp burger, fries (better known in Japan as furaido potato) and a melon soda. Hisae got fries too. But she had a little pouch of powder that she sprinkled on top, giving them a salty seaweed flavor. I was amaaaazed (and disappointed that my fries were plain ol’ fries.)

Apparently, furu pote (fries shaken in a bag with seasonings) are popular in several fast food chains in Japan and across Asia.

During our trip in March, we went to Lotteria and I got to try the fries for myself. I got the butter soy sauce flavor packet and Naoto got the seaweed. I enjoyed every bite of my fries and every sip of my melon soda. And still I wondered where this concept was in the US.

For the past three years I’ve thought Americans would eat up furu pote like crazy. (Of course we would have to name it something else.) We could have sour cream & onion flavored fries, BBQ flavored fries, cheddar flavored fries. Where was this kind of thing in the home of the french fry?

Well, last week I came across this article announcing McDonald’s plans to introduce flavor packets for their french fries. If you try it, let me know what you think. I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s since 1996 and a little flavor packet isn’t going to change that. But I’m excited to hear how they taste.

So, even though the idea skipped across the ocean and is finally here in the US, when it comes to flavored french fries, Japan Does It Better!

P.S. To see all of the other JDIB posts, go here.

Tagged adventures, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

May 07 2014

Japan Does It Better 12: Hot Dogs

I’ll be the first to admit that today’s JDIB post is rather controversial…especially since Chicago is (unarguably) the hot dog capital of the world. I do love a good Chicago-style, dragged through the garden (onions, tomatoes, relish, cucumbers, sport peppers and a pickle spear along side mustard and celery salt, never ketchup!) hot dog on a poppyseed bun.

But there’s something about the Japanese hot dog that’s just better. First, the dog is nicely seasoned. It has more flavor than any American hot dog I’ve ever tried. It’s not quite spicy like a Polish sausage, but there’s flavor in there! And it’s really juicy and has a nice snap. (No one likes a mushy hot dog, Oscar Meyer!) But the best part–the part that highlights the Japan dog and helps it shine–is the bun. Oh the bun! I love a good poppyseed bun, but this is so much better! The texture is light and fluffy with a nice toasty “crust”. And the bun is often grilled to perfection, making it the ideal vehicle for a simple dog and a little mustard.

So, as much as I love my Chicago dogs…I have to say, even with something as American as a hot dog, Japan Does It Better!

The picture above was taken at the cook out. I know the hot dog is blurry, but it was the best I could do with my mouth watering.

To see my other JDIB posts, go here.

P.S. No hate mail, please…I’m lookin’ at you Chicago & NYC!

Tagged adventures, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan