I have the best aunt EVER. My aunt came to visit in September from Japan. She speaks only Japanese. I speak English, French and just a tiny, tiny bit of Japanese. We hit it off fabulously, with a little help from my mother.
Just an aside, the aunts that I have in my life are terrific. Auntie Barb taught me to be a hostess. She could throw a party like none other and I love her to death. She opened up her home for my wedding. And the kinship that I saw at one time between Aaron's mother, Sharon and her two sisters was something that I really appreciated since my father has never been super close with his family. But meeting my mother's sister was something very, very special to me. For one, she LOVED Max. She would spend a lot of time with him, on his level. When someone loves your dog, you love them. How can you not? But back to what really connected me to my auntie, AKA Yoko Obachan... food.
It turns out Yoko Obachan is a terrific cook. She loves to cook and is a bit of a tyrant in the kitchen. (Sound like anyone you know? LOL!) Well, while she was here, Yoko Obachan taught me to cook a little. She showed me how to make authentic gyoza, which Aaron simply devoured. She made agadashi tofu which was divine. She made pickles and showed me a lot of tips and tricks. In short, I love her. She will forever be in my heart and you can bet your sweet petunias that I will learn Japanese and one day take a trip to Japan to visit and spend enough time with Yoko Obachan so that I can learn more from this amazing woman.
Before she left, Yoko Obachan gave me some money to thank me for having her and my parents for the 5 days or so that they stayed with us. I guess it's a Japanese custom to bring gifts for your host. She did that, bringing us presents and some delicious treats from Japan, including tea cups, Costella (sponge cake), home-made dried seaweed, seasoned seaweed, umeboshi (pickled plum) and numerous other items. My mother told me that she wanted me to use the money to buy some Le Creuset cookware. We had passed by a Sur la Table during one of our many excursions and we both stopped to window shop. My mother told me that Yoko Obachan had the full set. I told her that I was jealous! And so she left the money so that I could purchase some. Well, it's obviously been a couple of months since my family left and during that time I was able to save up some more money so that I could buy a set. And buy a set I did. See! It's right there, from top left to bottom... a bouillabaisse pan, some white mixing bowls that can go in the oven, an extra deep cast iron pan for braising, a sauce pan and a large au gratin dish with a silicone whisk and some new measuring spoons. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't cheap. But it was OH SO WORTH IT. I am in seventh heaven. I still caress the cookware, gaze at it lovingly. Aaron and Tina both think I'm just a little nuts. But I know there are those of you out there who know exactly what I'm talking about. They are simply beautiful and I will baby and love them for a long, long time. Sigh.
So anyway, I obviously needed to cook something in them, right? Friday night I had made a leg of lamb roast on the grill and mashed potatoes with sauteed asparagus. I made sure to make a lot. I mean A LOT. We had about 1/3 of the 5 pound lamb roast left and about 5 cups of plain mashed potatoes left. I had actually made an old friend's recipe for Shallot-Sage Smashed Potatoes sans sage but reserved a good amount of mashed potatoes before adding the shallot mixture. The Shallot-Sage Smashed Potatoes were a big hit. You can find the recipe here. Try it. And try some of the other recipes from Jamie and Jen's blog. You won't be disappointed!
Back to the story. Since I had that gorgeous au gratin pan, I thought...Shepherd's Pie. How perfect! How lovely! I could use TWO of my new pieces of cookware. Yahoo! I took the recipe from Joy of Cooking. I love that cookbook. It's fantabulous. When I first got married, I bought it because I thought it was required of a new bride. I opened it, looked through it and promptly thought, "What a crappy cookbook. There are no pictures!" Now, however, I love it. I love the fact that you can read all about the type of meat, vegetable, method of cooking, what have you. It's very informative and a huge resource to me.
It turns out Yoko Obachan is a terrific cook. She loves to cook and is a bit of a tyrant in the kitchen. (Sound like anyone you know? LOL!) Well, while she was here, Yoko Obachan taught me to cook a little. She showed me how to make authentic gyoza, which Aaron simply devoured. She made agadashi tofu which was divine. She made pickles and showed me a lot of tips and tricks. In short, I love her. She will forever be in my heart and you can bet your sweet petunias that I will learn Japanese and one day take a trip to Japan to visit and spend enough time with Yoko Obachan so that I can learn more from this amazing woman.
Before she left, Yoko Obachan gave me some money to thank me for having her and my parents for the 5 days or so that they stayed with us. I guess it's a Japanese custom to bring gifts for your host. She did that, bringing us presents and some delicious treats from Japan, including tea cups, Costella (sponge cake), home-made dried seaweed, seasoned seaweed, umeboshi (pickled plum) and numerous other items. My mother told me that she wanted me to use the money to buy some Le Creuset cookware. We had passed by a Sur la Table during one of our many excursions and we both stopped to window shop. My mother told me that Yoko Obachan had the full set. I told her that I was jealous! And so she left the money so that I could purchase some. Well, it's obviously been a couple of months since my family left and during that time I was able to save up some more money so that I could buy a set. And buy a set I did. See! It's right there, from top left to bottom... a bouillabaisse pan, some white mixing bowls that can go in the oven, an extra deep cast iron pan for braising, a sauce pan and a large au gratin dish with a silicone whisk and some new measuring spoons. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't cheap. But it was OH SO WORTH IT. I am in seventh heaven. I still caress the cookware, gaze at it lovingly. Aaron and Tina both think I'm just a little nuts. But I know there are those of you out there who know exactly what I'm talking about. They are simply beautiful and I will baby and love them for a long, long time. Sigh.
So anyway, I obviously needed to cook something in them, right? Friday night I had made a leg of lamb roast on the grill and mashed potatoes with sauteed asparagus. I made sure to make a lot. I mean A LOT. We had about 1/3 of the 5 pound lamb roast left and about 5 cups of plain mashed potatoes left. I had actually made an old friend's recipe for Shallot-Sage Smashed Potatoes sans sage but reserved a good amount of mashed potatoes before adding the shallot mixture. The Shallot-Sage Smashed Potatoes were a big hit. You can find the recipe here. Try it. And try some of the other recipes from Jamie and Jen's blog. You won't be disappointed!
Back to the story. Since I had that gorgeous au gratin pan, I thought...Shepherd's Pie. How perfect! How lovely! I could use TWO of my new pieces of cookware. Yahoo! I took the recipe from Joy of Cooking. I love that cookbook. It's fantabulous. When I first got married, I bought it because I thought it was required of a new bride. I opened it, looked through it and promptly thought, "What a crappy cookbook. There are no pictures!" Now, however, I love it. I love the fact that you can read all about the type of meat, vegetable, method of cooking, what have you. It's very informative and a huge resource to me.
This is the skillet, with onion, celery, carrot and a little EVOO.
After adding the chopped lamb and some flour, I put it in the gorgeous au gratin pan. Sigh.
Finished product.
Now mind you, this was a large pan. Aaron, Tina (our roommate, in case you didn't know) and I ate 4/5ths of this. I managed to hold myself to one serving, but Tins and Aaron went back for a second. It was very good. I forgot to make sure we had A-1 or Heinz 57 on hand though and so poor Aaron had to use Worcestershire Sauce. End result: Belly Full and Happy. Check!
So even though my Yoko Obachan doesn't know about my blog, let alone can't read English - Domo arigato Yoko Obachan. Anata no koto dai-suki desu.
So even though my Yoko Obachan doesn't know about my blog, let alone can't read English - Domo arigato Yoko Obachan. Anata no koto dai-suki desu.
2 comments:
OMG agadashi tofu is my absolute, hands down favorite! I can eat a whole serving, twice! People think I'm a little crazy...there are a few I've convinced of it's deliciousness but they're only half convinced.
I must admit...I am extremely envious. I have a set of All-clad but only one lone stew pot of LeCreuset and a pear ramekin w/ lid that Bethe got me last year for xmas. I am hoping to add to my lone collection of one...but will have to save for quite some time since I know the price on those lovelies! Mine is yellow, my mother bought it for me...I'm not sure if I had bought my own if I could of decided on a color. Same w/ my KitchenAid...I bought it for $25 at an antique store that I had worked at in Napa...it's the loveliest pale yellow. I had purchased and extra bowl and paddles and waahhlaaa it's perfect! I love, love kitchen gadgets...I used to spend hours (and hundreds)in Shackford's back home.
I'm SOOOOO jealous of those beautiful dishes! Congrats on such a fabulous choice of gift!
(I'm going to link to you soon, just have to figure out how to do it.)
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