Fried Tofu:  Wash a block of firm tofu and press under a weight and a plate on a slanted board in the sink. The object is to remove as much H2O as you can. Cut the block in half, then each into thirds. You should end up with 18 thin-ish pieces. Double-roll each piece in potato or corn starch. [What I mean by "double-roll" is roll the pieces of tofu once in the starch, wait a few seconds, then roll again.] Remove rolled pieces to another plate (if you leave it in the starch, the remaining moisture in the tofu will turn you starch into glue.) I DO NOT deep fry the pieces and here’s why: if any of the pieces touch each other during cooking they will stick to one another. I have more control by frying them in a non-stick pan, in corn oil and keep a butter knife handy to separate pieces that DO touch (Oh, and they will.) Turn pieces to cook all sides. Transfer to a paper towel. Cool at room temperature. All this is a tad fussy, but again…it’s worth it.

Dashi is a thin, but hearty broth used in many Japanese dishes. It is traditionally made with bonito flakes and kombu, a Japanese kelp. I’m fine with the kelp, but due to that I am a vegetarian and that I have raised fish, I can’t, for the life of me stop equating bonito flakes with fish food. I like my untraditional, but tasty recipe for dashi.

Vegetarian Dashi:  Bring 1 Qt. H2O to a boil. As it approaches boiling add 4 medium-sized dried shiitake mushroom. I got a whole bunch of gourmet goods from my former student, Regan, for Christmas. One (of many) things she gave me was an assortment of dried mushrooms. I threw 2 Oyster Mushrooms in as well. To the H2O I also added 2 pieces of 6″ kombu; 1, 6″ piece of each wakame and smoked dusle. When the H2O comes to boil, remove mushrooms and cut in half. Return to stock. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1/2 hour. Strain veggies from stock and return to medium heat. Add 2 Tblsp. each mirin and shoyu. Leave cover off and reduce until 1/3rd stock is gone. While the stock is reducing, make the spinach and noodles.

Spinach and Noodles:  In 2 Qts. H2O add a pinch of sal de mer a couple drops of  oil. When, H2O comes to boil, add I bag of baby spinach and blanch for no more than 2 minutes. Remove to strainer with a slotted spoon (but KEEP H2O.) Rinse under cold H2O until you can handle the spinach and squeeze H2O from it. Place on a paper towel. Add soba noodles to boiling H2O. Cook no more than 4 minutes (they should be al dente if they call it anything close to that in Japanese.) Strain. Add cold H2O to arrest cooking.

Chop the very end of the green end off 1 bunch rinsed scallions. Chop small pieces of green end and save these pieces. Remove root from white part and put these (you should have about 2: of white part) in the simmering dashi for about two minutes. Add spinach and noodles to dashi. Just before serving, add fried tofu (you want tofu to be still crispy…not soggy…yet to soak in the dashi. Serve with shoyu and top with furiake and green scallion pieces.

Mmmmm…Writing this up, makes me want more! I’m going back for seconds!

Yes. William Wallace was brave enough, he would've munched a bunch!!! Er...IF cranberries and edamame grew in Scotland!

Having run through my Christmas reading for the year, and in a bit of a post-Holiday funk “whatever” mood I reached out for the nearest book, which happened to be “Braveheart.” One really can’t go wrong reading about a Celtic hero, especially when it was one that actually lived, however fictionalized the account. At the same time, I was developing this recipe. The connection? As I was working this up, I thought no one would  be quite “brave” enough to actually serve it, as it is way weird (but very good) so I have nicknamed this snack “Bravehearts.” Also, the title “Only the Brave with a lot of time on their hand” was too long. So, you will have to brave and be patient with this one, but trust me…it’s a winner!

It all started when I went out for a snack at the grocery store. I was looking for something that was healthy, tasty, and somewhat neat. I ended up finding some roasted edamame with dried fruit. This commercial snack had a decent taste, but was dry as bones! One gripe I have with a lot of health food manufacturers is that they sometimes make things too healthy. I hope you all find each of my creations to be healthy, but I will NEVER sacrifice taste to make it so! This snack had promise, so I wanted to re-make it to get it closer to what it should have been.

OK. So this snack is “Roasted Edamame and Craisins.” Now, before you all start saying “Whaaaat” like that cute little minion in “Despicable Me” remember it’s all about bravery (and a bit of trust…and a smidge of patience.) Since I would never ask you to do something that I wouldn’t do, I’m showing my bravery that I have borrowed off another real-life Celtic hero: my friend Pam. She runs her food blog “Feral Homemaking” and she has consistently done what none of us other foodbloggers does: she posts her successes and her failures! Borrowing a page from Pam’s book, and since this was the first time I made this, I will show you what I did vs what I should have done to make this a perfect snack!

“Bravehearts” (Roasted Edamame and Craisins):

Boil two packages of Frozen Edamame (1 Lb.each) in about 2 Qts. H2O. A pinch of baking soda in the H2O will keep the edamame green. Don’t bother with the salt in the H2O, salt comes later. You are really just blanching the edamame to soften the frozen pod, in order to de-pod, so boil no more than two minutes. Strain edamame and immerse in cold H2O, several times to cool. Strain. Here’s where the patience comes in: you have to de-pod the edamame to get the pea-like soy bean inside. There are usually two, sometimes three peas to a pod. This takes time. Put on some music or pop in a movie (Hey! Why not “Braveheart?”) Mulch the pods in your compost. The worms will love you. Rinse the edamame peas. Drain. Dry on paper towels if your patience has not waned at this point. Mix edamame with 1/4 Tsp. Olive Oil and a little bit (1/2 Tsp.) fine sal de mer. On parchment covering a cookie sheet (foil is too conductive and will roast too fast) roast in oven, turning edamame often.

What I did: I roasted the edamame in a 325°F oven for an hour. Tasting them then, they were perfect when warm (half the snack never made it to the finish, they were so tasty.) Out of the oven…heaven! What I noticed is that when they were cool, they were too spongey, indicating that there was too much H2O in the pea still. I put them in for another half-hour. These were crunchy when cool, but were too brown (I wanted a more green edamame.)

What I should have done: Roast the edamame at a lower temperature (275°F) for about an hour and 15 minutes. This should keep them green but allow the moisture out of the pea. Make sure the edamame is crunchy when cool.

Mix with craisins. Serve. Enjoy! Some guests will balk when you tell them what this snack is. That’s OK. More for the brave. You don’t have to do it for Scotland or anything, just give “Bravehearts” a shot and cry “Freeeedooooommm” from boring snacks! [Sorry, guys...I couldn't resist...it was too easy!]

Today is the day of my patron saint, Stephen. It is also called “Boxing Day” in England, as it was the custom there to give servants a “Christmas Box’ on this day. This has always sounded rather elitist to me, as in “Jeeves, you did a smashing job with the roast goose yesterday, slaving all day making sure each and every one of our needs were met…here, take this box.” I’m hoping that there was always something pretty amazing in that box, like a month-long getaway to the Bahamas or at least a really, really good tip.

Today was also called “The Day of the Wren” yet another odd (and old) English custom was to hunt a wren down this day, and kill it. The first kid to do so, got a prize. Boy. Rewarding children’s cruelty to animals.The “reason” or rather, I should say, the connection is that St. Stephen, captured by soldiers in Scandinavia, was about to make his escape, but a wren made some noise and woke the soldiers up and they killed Stephen. Mmmmm…I guess you have to be British for that tradition to make sense.

Yet another Christmas connection is that this is the day, that in the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslaus” he “looked out” and is a good day to talk about a rather obscure Christmas theme that I see coming up in Christmas literature and songs, that of “Good Masters.” Now, I’m not talking about the golf tournament, I’m talking about people who have authority and treat workers well.

One of the most popular Christmas stories that concern “Good Masters” is “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. In that story, the ghosts all try to convince Scrooge that he could be much better to the Cratchit family, the father of which, is Scrooge’s clerk. The saddest part of this story is that Scrooge had an ideal Master in his youth, the character of Fezziwig, whose example should have set Scrooge on his own path of being a Good Master, but Scrooge, initially, rejects this fine example. We only see Fezziwig just as he finishes his workday, but one gets the impression that he works as hard as he plays…and he plays hard. Wrapping up work as fast as they can on Christmas Eve, Fezziwig and Scrooge set up for music, dances, food and games for the company’s family and sundry visitors. Fezziwig is generous, playful, loving, funny and just full of life! Scrooge himself defends his former boss, for when the Ghost of Christmas Past calls Fezziwig’s efforts “a small matter” for spending a few pounds on the party, Scrooge retorts:

“It isn’t that, Spirit. He has the power to make us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words an looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ‘em up: what then? The happiness he gives is as great as it cost a fortune.”

Scrooge is already on his way to being a Good Master. He just needed the example put before him once again. By the end of the story, Scrooge is finally proclaimed “…as good a friend, as a good a master, and as good as a man, as the good old city knew…”

Good King Wenceslaus (and if you’ve never heard the carol before, you may find the lyrics here) was a real person and from all accounts was good…he just wasn’t a king (at least not when he was alive.) Wenceslaus was Duke of Bohemia from 921 until his murder in 935. Because he was devout and pious Catholic, a decent ruler, and an all-around stand up guy, the church increased his status to king right about the same time they made him a saint. Oh…and the person that murdered him…was his own brother: Boleslav, “the Cruel.” Boleslav may have gotten to be the next Duke, but Wenceslaus is elevated to not only king, but saint; is called “Good” and has people sing a song of praise about him, hundreds of years later. Boleslav is called “Cruel” and has spiraled from obscurity to the level of hell fratricides go to. He and Cain can commiserate.

In the carol, Wenceslaus notices a poor subject and pities his hard plight in terrible weather and seeks to comfort him with a warm meal and drink. Wenceslaus is adamant in helping the man, despite the weather. In his efforts, he forgets his young page who is suffering from the cold. Wenceslaus then shields his page with his own body to protect him. Noticing, pity, seeking to comfort, shielding, protecting…these are the qualities of a Good Master!

I’ve had my share of good and bad masters over the years. The good ones inspire me. The bad ones…well…I can only shake my head. I tease my current boss that he is like Fezziwig, if Fezziwig were a wise-ass! That’s just my way of telling him that I think he is good man and interesting as well!

So, in review: Don’t harm little birds (despite tradition.) For pity’s sake, don’t harm your brother!!!! Do all you can to be a Good Master. You will set an example that just may reverberate further than you know.

Remember what the carol says:  ”Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.”

• Stuffing: Wheat Bread with Soryizo (meatless soy Chorizo); Apples, Crasins, Walnuts, Onion, Sage, Fresh Thyme & Veggie Broth.
• Baked Potato: Crusted with Butter, Sal de Mer, and Herbs de Provence
• Tofurkey: Baked with Butter and Crasins
• Acorn Squash: Basted with Butter, and French Thyme
• Béchamel: Infused with Tarragon and Ground Pepper

After dinner, I lit the Yule Log in the chimenea out on the deck and had it with a mug of warm mulled wine and probably the best cigar I’ve ever had (the perfect size; undertones of chocolate.) In anticipation of Peppermint-Stick Ice Cream for dessert.

“Fiercest heat-giver of all is green oak…” [from "The Death of Fergus Mac Leide"]

Merry Christmas World of Okonomy Readers!

And before I go on…yes, I know there are more important things to address this Christmas. I’ll do “World Peace” or some other worthy issue some other Christmas, but today…please indulge me.

I have never lied to you, dear readers, and never will. I am officially coming out as a fruitcake lover!!! OK, my own peculiar infatuation aside, would someone please tell me: what the hell is there not to like about fruitcake!!!? C’mon folks, really? You’ve got dried fruit. What’s wrong with that? You’ve got nuts. Everyone likes nuts. And you’ve got cake. Who hates cake? Plus, you can soak fruitcake in brandy or a nice bourbon and it just improves the whole mélange of tastes.

Admittedly, fruitcake is, for me, a comfort food. Every year, some business associate would send a fruitcake to my father, just before Christmas. When it arrived, each year, I would start salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs. We had a family injunction against opening the fruitcake, but scamp that I was, I often opened it up anyway and blamed it on one of my siblings. I just couldn’t get my fix fast enough. Also, that fruitcake was the harbinger of the whole Christmas season, so I associated fruitcake with that ramping up of excitement for the main event of  the year in our house: Christmas.

OK, but that’s me. What about the rest of you? Well, one of my theories is that there must be some really awful fruitcakes out there somewhere. One thing that certainly doesn’t help is the addition of citron in most fruitcakes. I’m not sure who had the bright idea of adding dried citron to fruitcakes, but I personally blame this person for the downfall for what could be the perfect treat, fruitcake could be. Citron is the fruit of an Asian citrus tree. The fruit is similar to a lemon, but all I can tell you is that dried citron is bitter! Fruitcake makers have gotten wise to this and have reduced the amount of citron they put in. As a child, I used to pick out the citron in each piece for a more perfect fruitcake.

The other theory I have is that people are caving into popular opinion and just say they hate fruitcake…and I have the evidence to support this:  For the last five years I have gone to bat for my beloved fruitcake. Each year, I have walked up to the bakery section of my local grocery store and firmly, but politely asked why they don’t stock fruitcake. The standard reply was “No one likes it” to which I would reply “Well, I do, and I don’t believe I’m alone on this, so please order some next year.” It took five years, but I can be very stubborn and I was on a quest. Like drops of water wearing down stone, my resolve finally got results. Lo and behold, this year, I was pleased and surprised to see it stocked! In a return visit to purchase more, I ended talking to the person that ordered fruitcake to thank her. I noticed there was only four left on Christmas Eve and I asked her how many she had ordered. “Forty-eight” was the answer. I bought two. So, in my close perimeter, that makes forty-two other fruitcake lovers!!!

I have one young friend who has told me that she would never ever taste fruitcake again and that she loves all kinds of food! It made me sad that there are people of the next generation who may not have a fruitcake appreciation. I asked her when she first tried it and it turned out that she had it when she was very young, so maybe fruitcake may not be a good treat for the very young.

If you have ever had a bad fruitcake experience, do me  a favor: try to give it another shot. You just might be surprised. And, if you are one of those who say you don’t like fruitcake, just sneak it on the sly. I won’t tell. Promise. It’ll be our little secret.

Christmas Bark:  Toast @ 325°F 1C. whole Pecans and 2C. whole Walnuts on a cookie sheet covered in parchment for about 20 minutes, turning often. Cool and coarsely chop. Also chop 1C. Craisings (or you could substitute Dried Cherries.) On a double-boiler, over medium heat, melt 7C. semi-sweet chocolate chips. When chocolate is melted, add nuts and craisins and stir until both are coated with chocolate. On a 10″ X 15″cookie sheet, covered with parchment, pour the chocolate mixture and use spoon to level. Cool at room temperature and then further cool in fridge. Chocolate will harden in about 30 minutes. Break, by hands (covered with rubber gloves to keep both you and the chocolate clean, but also to insulate the chocolate from your hands’ warmth) into chunks and bag. Use the tines of a fork to break the tougher pieces. Keep all pieces that you are not working on breaking, in the fridge, as your hands will start to melt the chocolate if it is at room temperature.

Simple. Tasty. Quickly made. An original Christmas treat!

First you need to skin the onions. This can take a while as the young onions hold their skins close to their delicious insides. I had about a pound of onions and it took me about half an hour to skin them all. With a very sharp knife, nip off the tops and carefully peel skins away.Rinse, and immerse into boiling water (2 Qts.+2 Tblsp. of sal de mer) for about 20-30 minutes until the largest onion is easily pieced with a fork. Drain. While onions are boiling, prepare the Béchamel Sauce.

Béchamel Sauce:  In a pan over medium heat, melt 3 Tblps. butter. Add 3 Tblsp. white flour and whisk until bubbly. Heat for another two minutes (careful not to burn the butter.) Still whisking, add 1/2C. veggie broth (or chicken broth, if you like) plus 1C. milk. Continue whisking until the Béchamel thickens. Add 1/2 Teasp. fine sal de mer, a few grinds of pepper and 1/2 Teasp. Herbs de Provence. If Béchamel is too thick, add a bit more stock. Pour over drained onions. Serve.

Yummy!

A caveat here: I AM NOT A DOCTOR! These are things I have found to be generally true and certainly help ME, but if you have a sleeping condition, please see a doctor for help. I was amazed that while doing research for this article, that there are things I’ve always considered innocuous, but can be harmful to some people. For instance chamomile is part of the daisy family and can really mess you up if you have a daisy allergy!

The good news is that there are a few things that can help a regular sleep cycle. The bad news is that it may involve a change of behavior (but in a good way.) It is not a small coincidence that just about all these rules revolve around a healthy life style and a fair dose of common sense. It’s nothing you’ve haven’t heard before: exercise regularly, eat no or lean meats and more veggies, avoid excesses of: sugar, white flour, alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, drugs of all sorts..oh…and food! Try to regulate your sleep schedule, so that you go to bed at the same time each night. Blah, blah, blah…like I said: it’s the old song and dance. Trouble is: I do ALL of these things and STILL have the occasional bout of insomnia!

So, my tweaks: first is a Zen approach to the whole event. Nothing is worse that the insomniac’s worry “If I don’t fall asleep soon, I won’t have enough sleep to function the next day.” Honestly, this is torture, but this added stress does nothing for the problem. I literally can’t count the nights I’ve gone without sleep, and while it certainly is not comfortable, you can do more than you think you are able without sleep. So first: LET GO of the problem (as best as you can) and find a way to distract yourself. Reading helps me, but I have learned to stay away from the very interesting, active plot-lines. Philosophy, for instance, puts me right out! I love movies, but they are too stimulating for purposes of rest.

I started this article with the idea of finding a food panacea for insomnia. Most authorities recommend a high-carb diet within four hours of sleeping. Carbs are said to increase serotonin, a neurotransmitter that reduces stress and promotes rest. So, a PB&J sandwich, pasta, oatmeal cookie and milk. Yep, generations of pre-school teachers knew what they were doing feeding kids cookies and milk before nap time! I find a warm drink helps, so my warm milk and freshly ground nutmeg is my “go-to” cure. It’s said to have tryptophan (another stress-reducer) but I believe it has more to do with the action and habit of a participating in a mundane chore. The same with making tea. Teas with herbs like chamomile, valerian, lavender, and lemon balm are said to help digestion and relax muscles.

Pets can help too: there is nothing so Zen and ready for a nap than a cat, and I have a friend who uses his two large German Shepherds like huge, cozy, hot-water bottles! Having no pets, I have to look to my inanimate buddy, pictured above, for an example. “Sleepy” was my crib-mate from my first days. He’s lost his closed lashes that earned him his name, and has had all the stuffing loved outta him a long while back, but he still has that relaxed demeanor that with one look, just as in childhood…lulls me off to the Land of Nod.

C’mon Sleepy. It’s been a long day. Off we go.

A while ago, Yoshio gave me a package of tofu skins and I have been thinking of how I could best use them, and I came up with asparagus wrapped in tofu skins. If you’ve never had them, tofu skins are a product of dehydrated soy milk that are in thin sheets, like paper. Be aware that these sheets are very fragile. Handle with care or you will have a pile of tofu crumbs (which are not bad as a healthy snack.)

You need to reconstitute the tofu skins. Add three sheets of tofu skins at a time to a shallow pan of: 1C. hot H2O, 1 C. hot veggie broth, 1Tblsp. each of shoyu and rice vinegar and 1/2Tblsp. mirin. When the skins are soft, put on a plate or between paper towels to drain. Meanwhile, remove ends and boil asparagus in salted H2O for about 2 minutes. Immediately drain and immerse asparagus in cold H2O and drain. [You may want to trim ragged ends of tofu skins as you do the next step to make a neater wrap.] Tightly wrap each asparagus in a tofu skin and cut at 60° (you will get two pieces per asparagus.) Top with black sesame. Have dipping sauce as a side.

Dipping Sauce: 1 Tblsp. each of shoyu, rice vinegar and 1/2Tblsp. mirin

These make a slightly unusual, but a very healthy hors d’oeuvre!

“American Pastime” begins as a an American utopia: it’s title sequence uses a blend of documentary footage of 1941 combined with movie stills to tell a quick story of a group of young integrated friends as they grow up in California. The movie starts as these friends are hanging out upstairs, talking about their loves: jazz, baseball, and their favorite movie stars. Their parents are downstairs organizing a cookout for them all. I love the quick pan of the food on the table where you get to see corn on the cob, spaghetti with sauce, and riceballs (and what I think is okonomiyaki!!!) all together on one table. This is an America that was supposed to be. Unfortunately, December 7th, 1941, the “Day of Infamy,” changed all of that.

Within the first few minutes of the film, the Nomura family (father, mother, and two teenage brothers) are packed up, along with 120,000 others of Japanese-Americans, told to sell all they own, and are shipped off inland, the Nomuras to Utah to be interred in the Topaz Relocation Center.

I’ve written about this black chapter of American history before in my article “Kiri’s Piano” and I readdress it here, because I still find it hard to believe that America interred it’s own citizens with no proof of collusion with an enemy. Yes, America was at war, but we were at war with the Germans and Italians at the same time, yet only Japanese-Americans were interred.

The Nomura family, along with their fellow internees, try to form a sense of normalcy in their new and rather bleak surroundings. The deal with the bigotry of not only their guards, but also a few of the townspeople, as they go into town to buy supplies to improve their camp. One of the things I like about “American Pastime” is that the bigotry is dealt with in a realistic way. They show people the way they really are: not every one of the townspeople is hostile, some of those who are, change to the better. Some will simply, never let go of their hatred. The bond that all the people have in common is the game. Baseball is the cultural glue of the American people and as long as you play well (physically and ethically) it doesn’t matter what your heritage is. Dignity and mutual respect can be achieved through excellence.

“American Pastime” is not a perfect movie. It tries a little too hard to stuff many worthwhile topics into the film: bigotry in time of war: issues between fathers and sons, between brothers, between lovers: all very noble topics, but a little too much for one film. Still if you like dramas based on real life, or (unlike me) have no issues with sports films, “American Pastime” could be the film for you.

Check out the “making of” part of the DVD. They interview some of the Japanese-American heroes of the 422nd Regimental Combat Team (the  most decorated in US Armed history.) They also interview the actors, and to quote one who sums up well the notion that dignity can come through a game says, “There are more important things in life, but sometimes it takes a game to understand them.”