Green stuff! -another belated August post

A recent night called for cold soup, and I had the perfect foil, from Pink of Perfection:

Avocado-Cucumber Soup
First the nice presentation, with a lovely crumbly cornbread, from In Praise of Leftovers (also a wonderful blog!):

And then the more interesting leaders-up to the final product: Preparation, or Green Stuff,

and The Moment Before the Blitz.

It was very tasty, very soothing, and hit the spot on a hotter than hot day (August 27th, to be exact).

Some belated posts on food, put on hold by Japan!

Ratatouille!
I used a recipe from my new favorite blog-source for cooking ideas: In Praise of Leftovers. The author is great, and not just on food, but on Life as well. Even though she is across the country, married, has kids, and is religious, I find myself feeling the resonance of some of her thoughtful posts. Check it out.
So, back to her ratatouille.
I followed it pretty closely. Here was the rainbow progression, from when I made it on August 19:

It did take significantly longer than advertised (2 1/2 hours, maybe?), but that could be my oven temperature. It has been yummy on cornbread, yummy on orzo, and definitely yummy as a leftover healthy-thing-to-eat-in-a-hurry. Thanks, Leftoverist!

Video from Okonomiyaki

Living, Breathing Katsuobushi! On top of our Japanese griddle-cake. :-)

More Tokyo Tastings

Ok, so here is something different: Instructions for Okonomiyaki:

1) Receive raw ingredients (here: egg, meat, vegetables)
2) Follow instruction card for order and timing of placing ingredients on griddle in middle of table.
3) Divide the now-formed savory pancake amongst the party and enjoy!
This was udon noodles with vegetables- I can't remember if this one had the squid, or the other one... whichever, it all tasted good (but this one was my favorite!).

Tokyo Treats (and Airplane Atrocities)

My first food consumed in Tokyo- ramen with pork broth (and several different forms of pork, I think): heaven in a bowl!

My second meal in Tokyo, the next morning: the freshest sushi around, right outside the Tsukiji Fish Market (it was about 6:45 AM at this point). Just for contrast, my airplane meal for breakfast on the United flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles- yuck! The egg-cheese-form was edible, the sausage was not, and the potato-y thing was good with salt.

More to come! :-)

Eat, Pray, Love moment

Ok, so it's not food-related, but I thought this was beautiful. Enjoy the view off Mt. Fuji.

August Anew

Ok, so maybe no peach encore- I ended up devouring most of them with some type of dairy product, straight up: ricotta with walnuts, creme fraiche with cinnamon, the combinations are endless. :-)
And right now I will have to come up with something from the pantry, since I got back from vacation late on a Sunday, meaning, no farmers' markets. Boo...
But you have something to look forward to: next entry will have a photo or two from my trip to Japan, where I visited my brother in Tokyo for a week. I took plenty of food photos, believe you me... A plus!