by Nanette Geller

It’s hard to focus on everyday life when tragedy strikes. Once we knew the risk in Hawaii was past, our attention was riveted on Japan. The horrific images of the quake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant explosions are magnified for us by memories of the 16 years we lived in Tokyo. My way of coping with a terrible situation I can’t do anything about is to cook. I found myself urgently needing to cook Japanese food. I wanted homey comfort food, not a fancy restaurant style meal. Here is what we ate for Sunday dinner.

Sardines simmered with ginger & umeboshi (pickled plum), served on a shiso leaf

Sugar snap peas simmered in dashi (Japanese fish stock)

Steamed greens in a peanut dressing

Broiled portabella mushrooms served with grated daikon radish mixed with shredded shiso.

Baby hakurei (Japanese turnips) lightly pickled in a rice vinegar dressing

Sake

When we’d finished our sake, I served rice with furikake (seasoned seaweed sprinkles) and a clear soup of dashi with green onion.

Somehow, we felt just a little better.

Permalink posted by Nanette @ 3/14/2011 09:26:00 PM