So very tired – and it even kicked off with a non-eventful public holiday! Speaking of holidays, I finally ordered from Japan Centre again under the incentive of a Bank Holiday Special; it was finally time to admit that my prunus would not even have one fruit to pickle into umeboshi.. Ok, that and I’ve been low on some more ‘exotic’ supplies.. Ok, ok I also got some natto to try* (retry? I’ve never been sure).
Meanwhile, I think I did achieve some success with healthier tweaks to my lunch: being quite a rice fiend (if any of you readers – hey mum – have not noticed: I am a riceaholic. Hi, I’m Kit) it was crucial I try to not go overboard. Or normal-board.. lots of polished white rice is not surprisingly very nutrient rich. I’ve used the carrot and quinoa combination because it reminds me a bit of something like takikomi, but the idea for yukari and hijiki came from Rocket News which may justify (rather weakly) my peruse of said click-bait site.
The carrot and capsicum kimpira this week had a touch of balsamic vinegar which definitely deepened the flavour, though I did add a tiny bit of mayo on the first batch which I thought was interesting. So now I wonder if I have swapped the ‘too much white rice’ problem to a ‘too much salt (miso, commercial yukari, and later umeboshi) and oils (mayo)’..
May 26
It doesn’t feel like a short week and I’m running low on supplies.. At least the omelette was premade yesterday morning.. Lunch is pickled radish, mushroom & capsicum omelette, steamed cauliflower with Parmesan, tomato, mini hamburgers on rocket and onigiri (hijiki & yukari and carrot with sesame & quinoa)
May 27
I always wanted to try combining the inner part of a radish pickled separately from the pink outer; best served quickly because the colour runs. Lunch is pickled radishes, kimpira veg (yellow capsicum, cauliflower stem and carrot), steamed asparagus, mushroom & capsicum omelette, tomato and mini hamburgers with tricolour rice (plain, carrot with sesame & quinoa and hijiki with yukari)
May 28
Batch-cooked more mince, and with the last of the red cabbage there’s quite a rainbow today. Korean-style chilli beef, pickled radishes, garlic red cabbage, spring onion, steamed asparagus, carrot & capsicum kimpira, soft-boiled egg and a mix of plain rice and carrot with sesame and quinoa rice. You know what that combination means.. *boom* bibimbap time; get it in!
May 29
Yay! After my package from Japan Centre arrived yesterday I got to use a riceball filling I’ve not used in a while: umeboshi. Okazu is seasoned shiitake, beef kofta, carrot & capsicum kimpira, miso glazed potatoes, tomato and steamed asparagus. Because the rice was freshly cooked this morning I didn’t need to use the microwave.. Fresh rice ftw!
* I had natto with fresh rice for breakfast on Friday – I still am confused if I’ve tried it before in a more ‘processed’ form in a different dish. I really don’t understand* the hyperbole about its slimy characteristics
** Says the person that has raw egg on hot rice for breakfast (and I don’t mix the egg fully into the rice either. But I do add spring onion and soy sauce.. Mmmm…)
