Friday, July 06, 2012

Tanabata


Technically I'm a day early with this but it ties in nicely with the little Japanese theme I've got going on tonight. From time to time I get emails from a certain Japanese Museum and Gardens about 45 minutes drive to the North of me and the latest one is for Tanabata:
Tanabata traces its origins to a legend about lovers that are allowed to meet just once a year—on the seventh day of the seventh month. In Japan, children and adults write wishes on strips of colored paper known as tanzaku, and hang them on bamboo branches. Mirroring that tradition, visitors can write their own wishes and place them on the Tanabata bamboo in the museum lobby.
Well I just happen to have a clump of bamboo growing at the front of my house so maybe I'll go out and make a wish! LOL

Anyway, since I've gotten really out of control with eating lots of crap lately, I've decided to get back on the Healthy Wagon. So when I got hungry for a midnight snack tonight I went and broke out the wakame so I could whip up a quick portion of seaweed salad. I coudn't quite remember the exact ingredients so I just rehydrated the wakame and rinsed it a couple times and squeezed out the excess water. It always smells skanky like a fish's ass so instead of using rice vinegar I decided to use sweet mirin and sesame oil and then added black and regular sesame seeds. The mirin really seemed to knock down the skankiness. I like the texture of the wakame but I generally can't stand that fish smell. I ate the tiny amount that I made and that took care of my appetite. Seaweed is supposed to be healthy and it kills my appetite so I guess that's a win-win.

I'm fairly certain that this is why you don't see many fat Japanese people other than sumos. Japanese food is just something that you don't want to eat a lot of. Too much skanky fish ingredients and other assorted dried things from the sea. It's certainly not my idea of comfort food.

In other food related news, I've already harvested two delicious pineapples from my garden and I'm waiting for the limes to get a bit bigger then delicious limeade here I come!

5 Comments:

Anonymous arekino said...

hungry for a midnight snack

Were you up late? Or did the hunger wake you up? I've heard of people getting out of bed to eat something but I've never understood how that happens.

I like the texture of the wakame

According to Wikipedia wakame has a slippery texture. Do you like slippery food in general?

Too much skanky fish ingredients and other assorted dried things from the sea.

Well, the Japanese live on an island so it's not that surprising. Then again, so do the English and their cuisine is rather different.

delicious limeade here I come!

Hm, how about limeade slushies? Sounds refreshing, right?

Friday, July 06, 2012 5:55:00 AM  
Blogger Xul said...

Were you up late? Yes. Another bad habit I've gotten into. Once I'm asleep, I'm asleep. I won't wake up to forage.

wakame has a slippery texture. Do you like slippery food in general? I wouldn't say slippery so much as a sort of crunchiness. Not potato chip crunchy since it's rehydrated, but sort of a springy/bounce-back kind of texture. I'm not big on slippery food.

English and their cuisine is rather different. Yes. Meat and potatoes! And dairy. And fresh fish. I just can't handle dried fish products.

limeade slushies? Sounds refreshing, right? Yes! Very yummy.

BTW, how's you all's farming adventure going? What veggies were grown?

Friday, July 06, 2012 11:40:00 AM  
Anonymous arekino said...

Were you up late? Yes. Another bad habit I've gotten into.

I used to do that as well but ever since I had to bring the kids to school and now greet them in the morning sometimes during their vacation, I´m in bed at 22:30 and up at 07:00.

BTW, how's you all's farming adventure going? What veggies were grown?

We've had kilos and kilos of strawberries, some lettuce, we're going to get some green beans and probably some other vegetables.

Saturday, July 07, 2012 7:17:00 AM  
Blogger Xul said...

Mmmmmm, strawberries! /Homer Simpson

I could definitely help you put some of those away!

up at 07:00 Ugh. :::stretches arms out in front and crosses index fingers in the sign of the cross:::

Saturday, July 07, 2012 10:27:00 AM  
Anonymous arekino said...

up at 07:00 Ugh.

Hey, sometimes I wake up at 6/6:30 and decide to sleep late till 7 :)

Saturday, July 07, 2012 1:32:00 PM  

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