Oyster Rolls

I love oysters.

I will eat them raw.  I will eat them cooked.

I've eaten raw oysters on both coasts of the United States and in a foreign country.  I bought oyster shooters from some seafood stand in Pike Place Market.  In a fit of drunkenness, my friend DY and I went to a seafood restaurant up the street from our apartment, sat at the bar, and had a bunch of oysters before stumbling home.  My raw oyster experience on the opposite coast was much tamer.  My family and I went to a raw bar in Lexington Market (Baltimore) and filled up on oysters and clams.  I couldn't believe how fast those guys could shuck oysters!  When The Help and I went to Victoria, we enjoyed a cold platter at a seafood restaurant near the harbor.  I got to eat all of the raw oysters on the platter.

Whenever I go to Miyo's, I cannot help but order the fried oysters.  Having attempted, with very pathetic results, frying them at home myself, I can appreciate Miyo's.  I wanted to try the grilled oysters on sticks which were being sold on Miyajima, but I never got around to it.  Until I go back, missing out on the experience will always haunt me.

Unfortunately, the people I live with don't share my enthusiasm for oysters.  They just don't get it.  Losers.

But they will eat oyster rolls.  Go figure.  I think its because the oysters are chopped and there are other ingredients in the mix.  I suppose you could say it's rather underhanded of me to "hide" the oysters.  Oh well, it works.  And in spite of being allergic to some shellfish, D1 can eat oysters, which is a big plus for her since much of the food she associates with home contains oyster sauce.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Oyster Rolls

     2 cans (8 oz each) whole oysters, drained and chopped
     1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
     2 can (4 oz each) mushroom stems & pieces, drained and chopped
     2 tbsp cornstarch
     2 eggs
     1 lb fishcake paste
     2 tbsp sugar
     1 tbsp shoyu
     1/4 tsp 5-spice
     1/4 c chopped green onions
     panko
     oil for frying

Combine cornstarch and eggs with a whisk.  Mix in fishcake paste, sugar, shoyu, and 5-spice.  Stir in oysters, water chestnuts, mushrooms and green onions.  Heat oil in a skillet.  Place panko in a small bowl.  Drop heaping tablespoons (#40 disher) of mixture into panko.  Coat completely with panko then shape into 2-inch long flat oval.  Fry in heated oil, turning once.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve with shoyu-oyster sauce mix.

I barely survived the stress from the Summer Ends music festival from a few weeks ago, when D1 dropped another bomb on me.  She told me her school has a fall break too and she was going to visit friends in California and she was going to take the Greyhound bus to get there.  I was okay up until the "take the Greyhound bus" part.  I was hoping Mr. Dependable would put the brakes on this, but he didn't.

So D1 went on an 8-hour bus ride to downtown LA with her friend A, who was actually going home for the break.  She had contacted the SoCal Uncles earlier in the week, and fortunately, UDus was in town and able to get her from the station, which, I discovered, isn't too far from Skid Row.  Frick!  UDus got her safely to Orange County where she met up with Hawaii friends.

D1 sent me a bunch of pics from her trip.  I guess she had a lot of fun.  She mentioned going to Knotts.  Gee, it's been over 20 years since I've been to Knotts.  I'm sure the attractions have changed a lot.  I wonder if they still offer the chicken dinner.

Of course, all the vicarious happiness garnered from D1's fall break trip was tempered by the anxiety of her getting safely back to AZ.  OMG!  I was on pins and needles hoping she'd make it back to the Greyhound station on time.  It didn't help that she was going back on the overnight bus.  Then came the worry of how she'd get to campus.  I'm glad all went smoothly, and later that day, I received a pic of yukgaejang and banchan from HoDoRi, which seems to be the mainland doppelganger of Restaurant Osaka (she said they also make good katsu).


While D1 was stretching her wings and doing all kinds of shit, D2 was also keeping busy.  Mr. Dependable arranged golf lessons for her.  So far, things seem to be working out.  She hasn't grumbled about going.  We'll see how long this will last. . .

On behalf of all of us here, I'd like to extend a huge high-five to the man who re-energized my career.  Thank you for bringing be back and giving me the opportunity to spend valuable time with my children.  Thank you for helping me remember why I do what I do.  Thank you for having faith in me.  Best wishes in your new endeavor.  I hope our paths will meet again one day.

The Cinnamon Challenge: Cinnamon Roll Edition

Speaking of challenge, this past week at work was extremely challenging.  I'm still having trouble getting up in the morning, and I have not yet resumed my treadmill walking regimen.  I really need to get back on the wagon because I go to see Dr. KO next month, and I don't want to see rising numbers for my cholesterol.

One of my gifts to myself this Christmas was a Fitbit Zip.  Its a tiny device which functions like a pedometer, but you can also use it to keep track of calories burned and consumed.  It also functions as a clock.  You wear it on your waistband or keep it in your pocket.  Ladies can also wear it on their bra (yes, convenient).  It syncs to your computer via dongle, so you can keep track of your progress.  I don't think its been very motivating yet.  The Help has one, and he constantly tells me, "I earned a badge.".  Having never earned a badge yet (I think you need to walk 10,000 steps in a day), I'm not privy to the excitement.

Perhaps I should be more into Fitbit because while the holiday guests were here, there was definitely some overindulgence going on.  As of Friday, all guests have gone home.  In spite of the new years day never-ending party fiasco, I hope I get to see (most of) them again soon.  In one of the pre-overindulgence family activities, I invited a few favorite family people over for dinner.  It was a simple dinner...soup and rolls.  I made two batches of rolls (thinking D2 can eat half a recipe on her own in an hour) and ended up opening my institutional-size bag of bread flour.  This means that in the next few weeks, I'm going to be busy baking bread things...again, another reason to use the Fitbit (lotsa calories in bread things).

A few months ago, I posted the Cinnamon Challenge:  Snickerdoodle Edition.  This time around, we are doing the Cinnamon Challenge:  Cinnamon Roll Edition (thanks to that dang giant bag of bread flour).  The best cinnamon roll recipe can be found on allrecipes.com:  Clone of a Cinnabon is truly a clone of Cinnabon.  Submitted by Marsha Fernandez, not only is it delicious, but the dough in amazingly easy to work with.  It rolls out nicely, and it rolls up nicely too.  It is not one of those doughs which sticks to everything everywhere.  And if you are wondering. . .yes, I have made other cinnamon rolls before.  This recipe is, by far, the best tasting, and the procedure is no different than other cinnamon rolls.

rolling out the dough to a giant rectangle.

spreading the butter

sprinkling the brown sugar-cinnamon. . .love the aroma

rolling up

ready to rise again

freshly baked and glazed...do NOT skip the glaze

I'm facing another challenging week because I have a major presentation to give this evening at the local university.  Its a presentation I do yearly, and I go through this anxiety every year.  In addition to the stress from that, I inadvertently added to the Ds day be scheduling dental appointments for both of them.  D1 ends the day with a basketball game, so it will be a long day for both of us.  I'm considering attaching my Fitbit to one of the basketball players!

Clone of a Cinnabon...worth all the effort!

Thank you, Marsha, for sharing your recipe with us all!

Shogatsu Party Idea: Build-Your-Own Sushi

Happy New Years Eve!!!  I'm here at my computer when I really should be preparing for the party I was voluntold to host.  Yup, Kikukat Mom did it again, and I'm the sucker.

A month ago, Mom told me that it would be nice for me to host the family new years party.  She informed me that the main party would be dinner on new years eve, with partygo-ers returning new years day for lunch and, very likely, dinner.  Being terrified of Mom or not, I had to make like General Travis and draw the line in the sand.  I told her I would be willing (I'm quite sure I didn't use the word "glad") to host a party on new years day ONLY.  At the time of the offer, Mom informed me that my offer was not acceptable.  I breathe a sigh of relief because I thought I was off the hook.

A few weeks after that, some of Mom's family members met (without me...I was invited, but refused to attend, figuring my services were rejected=my help not needed).  It was decided there that the party would be on new years day and that I would indeed be the host.  If I had bigger balls, I would've told Mom that the statute of limitations regarding my generous-yet-originally-rejected offer had expired and to find another family member to shove on the responsibility.  Alas, I don't have big balls, and when you add my heightened sense of fear of the temper, I decided I would just shut up and oblige. 

Suisan poke assortment:  spicy ahi, mixed plate poke, salmon nori wasabi

You see, its not that I don't like my family.  I DO like my family, or at least most of them.  Some of them drive me crazy, but I still like them.  What I don't like is the idea of having to prep my home for 50+ people.  There is a crazy domino effect here...if I invite this one asswipe (okay, I don't like him), it means having to invite another dozen people (due to his ties and familial proximity). In fact, my late, beloved Uncle Ray, just before his tragic, sudden passing, had been lobbying hard to ex-communicate this guy (and others with equal familial proximity) from future family parties.  Some family members have since betrayed his wish, but I intend to keep his flame lit to the best of my ability.  Anyway, Mom assured me that asswipe was not going to be included on the guest list (around 25), so it was another reason to just shut up and oblige. 

BLT fixins

For the party tomorrow, I was asked to made dessert, save for a pineapple upside down cake, which some idiot requested AE to make.  I told Mom I'd make it, but Mom said that it was a direct request to AE.  Whatevers, I can't be responsible for bad taste.  Since most of my day is going to be spent making desserts for tomorrow (layered jello, brownies, banana bread), I will have very little time to prep for dinner tonight.  This is where the Build-Your-Own-Sushi comes in handy. 

cucumber and kaiware (daikon sprouts)

The pictures in this post are from the last time I did the B-Y-O-Sushi thing.  The main prep is to cook and season the rice...totally simple if you use a rice cooker and the seasoning packet.  The only other mandatory thing to have is nori sheets (cut in half).  Everything else can be done to suit your own taste.  D1 and I enjoy poke as a filling.  The best place in town to buy poke is Suisan.  D1 says the spicy ahi poke there is consistently good.  That's her favorite.  I like the mixed plate poke (marlin, ahi, opihi) or nori salmon wasabi.  The Help isn't big on poke (although he has no problem forking out the benjamins at an omakase sushi bar), so his B-Y-O-Sushi mainstay is the BLT fixins...bacon bits, crisp lettuce and diced tomatoes (seeds taken out by me so that I can eat it too).  D2 is happy with imitation crab, so I'll put out ingredients for a California-ish roll: cucumber, kaiware, honey mayonnaise.  When I've made this for parties, I've also done the following:  cooked shrimp, fried egg strips, avocado, tobiko, ikura, unagi, seasoned kanpyo, neri ume.  I'm sure D2 would've loved to see Spam and beef teriyaki strips too.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Honey Mayonnaise

     1 c mayonnaise

     1 tbsp honey

     1/2 tsp sesame oil

Combine all ingredients.  Chill until ready to use.  Can be made a day ahead.
See you in 2013!

Celebrating with Lobster

Sometimes I just don't feel very American.  Its not that I'm anti-America (truth is, I love being an American), but there are many times that I feel the rest of the United States levies a special penalty against me (and everyone else who lives in the 808).  For example, many retailers in the continental U.S. will not extend free shipping offers to Hawaii addresses.  In fact, many take advantage of the opportunity to gouge us.  This is why I try to limit my online purchases to websites that offer reasonable shipping charges to Hawaii:  Amazon, Origins, Crocs, PT's Coffee, Petco, Arcata Pets, Apple, Verizon, just to name a few.  There have been many times where I've had a full cart and attempted to check out, only to go into cardiac arrest when the shipping charges were added.  Okay, enough of my rant!

Today, most of my fellow Americans will be celebrating Independence Day/Fourth of July.  In Hawaii, typical celebrations involve some type of beach activity.  Up until the County banned tents in Bayfront last year, people would camp out for days prior to July 4th just to get prime temporary real estate for viewing the fireworks (lit on Coconut Island).  Liliuokalani Gardens is always packed on this day, as it offers an even closer view of the fireworks.  This is when you know summer has arrived.

Summer means its time to dress down and beat the heat with cool and refreshing foods.  A throwback to my Seattle days is having strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Every street fair had a strawberry shortcake booth.  Not long after my Seattle days, I took a summer trip to visit Aunty Janice in Lanham, Maryland, just outside the Beltway from Washington, DC.  The Maryland trip turned out to be a conduit to the most awesome seafood . . . raw clams & oysters, crab cakes, soft shell crab. . . but no lobster.  I guess I needed to go further north for my all-time favorite seafood.

Its apparent I won't be going to Maine soon.  In fact, I don't think I'll be leaving my house anytime soon.  No, I'm not under self-imposed house arrest like I was last year.  I was told that the lazy, good-for-nothing hard-working police officers have set up road blocks all over Hilo to entrap ticket drivers who may have consumed too much alcohol.  This being a holiday, I began celebrating early in the day (cranberry juice with Ketel One Citroen).  I don't think my employer would look kindly at a DUI on my record.

Nope, I won't be going anywhere today.  I'll be staying at home and relaxing.  I have a whole menagerie to keep me company.  And I also have a decadent lobster salad sandwich waiting for me.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Giant Lobster Roll

     2 lbs lobster claws* (this will yield about 2 cups of meat)

     1/4 c mayonnaise

     salt & pepper to taste

     optional vegetables:  cucumber strips, lettuce, etc.

     12" baguette, filone, batard, ciabatta, hoagie, etc.

Combine lobster meat with mayonnaise.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Split bread.  Heap lobster onto bread and top with desired vegetables.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but its a reminder to people to keep things simple.  The lobster is very flavorful, so adding fillers is discouraged.  In fact, some purists may even opt out of the vegetables.  These people will also likely pooh-pooh the use of bread other than hot dog buns, which are traditionally split down the top-middle and filled with the lobster salad.
*purchased at Costco.  Comes pre-packaged in 2 lb. bags.  As you might have noticed in the 2nd picture, lobster pieces come scored, simplifying the shelling process.  Most claws just have 1 piece of cartilage in them.