Patrick: Midweek update

I've decided that I should write these posts as soon as I get the chance before I lose motivation, making way for writer's block and procrastination to settle in. (yes, those Tokyo posts are still blatantly in progress...) Here are some pictures of what I had to eat at home this week:

First up is homemade Oyako-don (chicken and egg rice bowl). The rice is layered with shredded nori and I bought some cherry tomatoes to give the dish some color. Naturally the chicken was bought as well; crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside.. so not like KFC affair in Japan.

08122007

The next one is Yasai-reimen (cold noodles with vegetables). For this one, I was too lazy to go and buy some meat. You'll notice that all my eggs so far have been boiled. I confess that I have not yet mastered the art of eggs-over-easy. Yes, I've watched Alton Brown's wonderful treatment on Youtube about making the perfect eggs but so many unexpected problems arose: the heat was too high so the egg white cooked too fast, the pan's really cheap, didn't coat the pan evenly with enough oil so things got stuck, the pan sucks, the egg yolks broke too early, did I mention the pan isn't all that high-quality...? I think I also had the eggs for too long. Even though they haven't expired yet, according to Alton Brown, grade AA eggs will degrade over time to grade A eggs due to the loss of rigidity in the egg white's protein scaffold as the eggs lose freshness. It looks so easy though when he does it on TV! You'll also notice that the cucumbers are all different sizes and shapes. I experimented with the different ways to cut them as described in my 料理の教科書. My cutting skills are definitely no good. How do they make all the pieces so straight and evenly thin?

08142007

Tonight I had dinner with my co-workers at the lab. Professor Kanehisa, my supervisor, brought us a vacuum-sealed roasted Peking Duck that he bought on his business trip a couple days ago in Beijing. My co-workers had me read the label describing how to reheat it since it was written in Chinese:

1) soak in hot oil for 10 minutes
2) cut into small pieces and stir fry
3) microwave for 3 to 4 minutes

Since we ate it at the lab, where cooking supplies and ingredients were rather limited, we opted for method #3. Also written on the label was the length of time until expiration... 90 days. I don't know if it would have been better to eat it as soon as possible after it was put in that vacuum-sealed bag or wait until the 90th day and after it had been thoroughly checked for the absence of maggots and decay. There must have been ridic preservatives in that thing... maybe now I'll get to preserve some of my youth as well. My co-workers joked that the essence of the roast duck truly comes out only after it's been properly aged. I don't buy that. In any case, we ordered some pizza from Pizza Hut. Oh the delights of finally biting into some cheesy goodness! Though the mayonnaise and pitiful size was a constant reminder that we were alas, still in Japan...

08152007