Cabbage Seafood Salad

I'm exhausted from my weekend.  Yes, from my weekend.  I spent Saturday morning at a volleyball game, and I was quite impressed with the Kohala Cowboys.  Country teams cannot be taken for granted.  They must dedicate lots of time to practicing and honing their skills.  No more volleyball until after spring break.  Spring break, what took you so long?

Just two more days to keep it together at work.  Yay!  I can't believe I made it this far (and I know there is still a long road ahead of me to finish the year).  Prom is coming up soon and graduation will be here in two months.  Ugh.  I feel so unprepared, although I'm more than ready to relax.  I even have my liquid refreshments on deck, and in case Kraken falls short, I brought in reinforcements-wine from a recent Costco trip. 

On the cab ride back to her dorm (bags not even at ambient temperature), D1 laid it on me about the Pure Aloha Festival in Las Vegas coming up in mid April.  No, wait.  I got my story wrong.  She didn't tell me about the festival; she asked me to book her air travel (book=pay for).  Her friend's family will be selling 808 logo items at the festival so she claims she is going there to work.  If she had a car, she could drive to Vegas, but I don't dare suggest it, especially since I know what her driving is like.  I don't think she has ever been to Vegas and likely has no idea how crazy it is to drive there. 

In a few days, D2 will be off on another adventure.  This time the adventure will take her across the continent.  Glad she will be with Uncle Edz (happy 5-0 to you!).  Once again, I'm amazed at all the travel opportunity kids have now.  Times certainly have changed.

With D2 gone this past week, it was only The Help and me.  I figured this was a good time to use up the imitation crab sticks I bought in the jumbo pack from Costco.  D2 said they did not taste like kanikama and wanted nothing to do with them. 

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Cabbage Seafood Salad

     3 tbsp butter, melted
     1/2 small onion, sliced thin
     1/4 c celery, sliced thin (optional)
     2-3 c shredded cabbage
     2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
     1/2 tsp salt
     1/2 c cornflake crumbs
     1 c imitation crab, shredded
     1 c mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 1 1/2 quart ceramic dish.  Pour 1 tbsp butter into a skillet.  Saute onion, celery and cabbage.  Add Worcestershire sauce and salt.  Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.  Combine remaining 2 tbsp butter with cornflake crumbs.  Set aside.  Add imitation crab and mayonnaise to sauteed vegetables.  Spread mixture in prepared dish.  Top with cornflake crumbs.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Food Processor Food: Kamaboko Dip

kamaboko=Japanese pink and white steamed fishcake on a wooden board which is normally sold in plastic shrinkwrap

This past week of work went a lot better than the previous week.  Perhaps my body clock got used to waking up early.  Or perhaps my brain knew it would be a short week for the kids.

We had a student-free day on Friday.  While that might sound dandy, I'll take a day with students any day over a "planning & collaboration day" with adults.  Kids rock.

In spite of my reluctance to even try to enjoy Friday, it actually turned out well.  We got a lot done and I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone present was so task-oriented.

Since there was hardly any traffic that morning (several other teachers were being tortured the same way), I made a small detour and picked up lunch from Asamis Kitchen.  I nonchalantly asked the counter person to add a wonton to my order.  When I bit into the wonton, I was shocked to find it was filled with some type of kamaboko dip.  I've eaten wonton with imitation crabmeat filling before, but the kamaboko dip in the wonton was a novel taste.  Kamaboko dip wonton is something I need to try on my own someday, maybe when D1 returns, since she says she likes kamaboko dip.  I have never seen D1 eat kamaboko dip.  Ever.  But she says she likes it.  Whatevers.

Anyway, while D1 was home for the holidays, she attended a party at a friend's house.  She took a container of kamaboko dip for sharing.  I had made a triple recipe of kamaboko dip since I knew my cousins would be over so there was more than enough for D1 to take to her party.  When I asked her if she liked the dip, she said she didn't have any.  She said she left the container on the patio with some intoxicated boys, and by the time she made her way back to the patio, the dip was gone.

So while I cannot verify that this dip recipe will work well as a wonton filling, I can attest that it is enjoyed as an accompaniment for chips, crackers, and/or vegetables.  I normally just serve it in a dish, but The Help thought it would be cute to pack it onto a clean kamaboko board in the shape of a kamaboko.  If you decide his idea is worth replicating, shape the kamaboko on the board, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill until ready to serve.  Remove plastic wrap just before serving.

Now you might today might be a good time to try making some kamaboko dip wonton, today being a holiday and all, but I'm a little busy today.  I'm spending the day at work, prepping for tomorrow.  I thought I would be able to get some prep done on Friday, but my time was consumed with other things.  When I thought I might have a moment of breathing room, I had to call the help desk to ask them to fix a mistake created by a colleague.  Apparently the help desk could use some help too.  The person who answered the phone was incompetent and sent me over to the wrong side for help.  When I said, "next time, make it a policy to ask which side I'm calling about before handing me off," the person who took my call said, "please be understanding because we are short staffed."  Dumbass.  My call had nothing to do with staffing!  It took over 30 minutes to get my issue resolves, 25 minutes of which were spent holding for the wrong person. 

 click on recipe title for printable recipe

Kamaboko Dip

     1 block kamaboko, cut into chunks
     2 tbsp celery, minced
     1 tbsp onion, minced
     3/4 c mayonnaise
     1/2 tsp garlic salt

Place kamaboko, celery, and onion, into work bowl of food processor.  Process until kamaboko is chopped fine.  Empty into small mixing bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Party Food: Ogo Salad

I'm feeling rather thankful the holiday party season is over, but perhaps I'm just a tad more anti-social than most people.

The family party on New Years Day was an endless affair.  I started my day before 6 am because I had so much to do.  Guests didn't arrive until after noon (the time I said we'd eat).  The last guest left a few minutes before midnight, so its accurate to say I had a full day.  I think I'm going to lay low from any parties for a few months. . .its going to take a while for me to recover anyway.

If you are a party animal or still in party season mode and need a dish to contribute, might I suggest ogo (seaweed) salad.  Ogo salad is welcome at any party in Hawaii, and most markets sell ogo year-round.  I think Marukai sells the best ogo, but since I don't always travel to Honolulu for work anymore, I usually just buy ogo from KTA.

This is the "salty" type of ogo.  Sometimes I'll make a sweet-sour version.  D1 prefers that, but I grew up on what we called "ogo kimchee", so when I'm jonesing for ogo, I'll go for the salty/spicy type first.   If you are allergic to or just don't care for the taste of dried shrimp, just leave it out.  The salad will be fine without it.

printable recipe
Ogo Salad

     1/2 lb ogo, cleaned, blanched and chopped

     2 tbsp sesame oil

     1/2 c shoyu

     1 clove garlic, crushed

     1 chili pepper, minced

     2 tomatoes, diced

     1/2 sweet onion, minced

     1 stalk green onion, sliced

     2 tbsp dried shrimp

     1 tbsp macadamia nuts, chopped (optional)

Combine sesame oil, shoyu, garlic, and chili pepper.  Toss with prepared ogo.  Add tomatoes, onion, green onion, dried shrimp and macadamia nuts.  Marinate overnight.

BTW, as far as the new years day party food went, I think some people should be banned from food preparation.  We had the ever-undercooked teriyaki meat sticks.  Even a 10-year old knew the meat wasn't cooked, so it blows my mind as to how adults can think its cooked.  After seeing the teriyaki sticks, I wasn't gonna chance the yakitori kabobs either.  I stuck to things that I knew were cooked well.

Mom wanted a family pic so The Help, with Dus' help, set up all his lights and reflectors by the khasy bamboo outside.  Unfortunately, he was working against daylight, as people were still in the coming-going mode.  He managed to take a pic of every family, but by then, D1 went off with Mr. Dependable.  The Help spent even more time processing the pics so each family could take home a cd of pics.  I was going to post a pic of the family, but I opted for one with two of my favorite people instead. . .nyuk nyuk.  Actually, they were the only ones willing to pose.  Most people ran inside to eat dinner and watch some bowl game.

Birthday Confetti on Salmon

In honor of someone's birthday, why not honor them with confetti . . . confetti on salmon! 

In the 90's, while I was living in Honolulu, the Honolulu Advertiser, sponsored a recipe contest.  Winning recipes were featured in the food section of the newspaper with a story about the person who submitted the entry.  Unlike other recipes which appear in newspapers, these recipes were submitted by "regular people" who were not employed in the food service industry.  In other words, "regular people" were capable of recreating these recipes.

Confetti Salmon/Salmon Confetti was one of those winning recipes.  It was around that same time that I remember Mom making an oven-baked salmon frosted with mayonnaise and onions.  Of course, Mom's version was the best, especially since I didn't eat tomatoes back then.  In a familiar vein, once I began eating tomatoes, gateways to many different dishes opened up for me.  This is what led me to give Confetti Salmon a try.

As its name implies, the topping is what gives this dish the appearance that multi-colored confetti was thrown over a slab of salmon.  Credit for this recipe goes to Steven Tsai, who was a writer (not food) with the paper.  Like me, he had also spent some time in the Pacific Northwest, making him an amateur salmon expert!  Thank you, Steve, for sharing this recipe!

Happy Birthday!

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Birthday Confetti Salmon

     1 1/2 - 2 lbs salmon fillet, bones removed

     mayonnaise

     1/4 c onion, diced fine

     1 tomato, diced

     1/4 lb mushrooms, diced

     4 tbsp bacon bits or 4 slices bacon, cooked and cut fine

     2 tbsp capers

     juice of 1/4 lemon

     salt and pepper to taste

Place salmon, skin-side down, in a shallow pan.  Spread a layer of mayonnaise over entire salmon.  Sprinkle mayonnaise with onion, tomato, mushrooms, bacon and capers.  Squeeze lemon juice over.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes.

I sure could've used a Goma Tei restaurant in Hilo this past week.  I stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday, spending most of my time in bed.  I spent Saturday in bed.  I tried to join the living yesterday, but never ventured outside of my property. . .after the small chaffeuring mishap on Friday when I bravely (and stupidly) attempted to take D1 to the Mooheau Park Bandstand for Black & White Night. . .the episode left me a bit fearful about driving while on meds.  If only Goma Tei were here. . .I know the tan tan noodle broth would've cured my ills in no time.