Having Fun with Food

My Japanese friend and I were discussing Bento and how popular it is becoming. I have been focused on Bento for the past few days and not so focused on our simple life at home. I've been trying to get my hubby to eat healthier and this may do the trick.

Bento is essentially a stylin' lunch, Japanese-style. It's really cool! You can really get involved in the style of it and the planning of it.

I'm not going to say a lot about Bento here, so please check out my blog at www.cooking-like-crazy.blogspot.com. You'll get to see what I'm talking about and you can check out my first attempts at Bento...don't laugh.

Have a great day!

Mom's Gift

I am a crochet freak. I have been doing this since I was about 8 years old. However, other interests and a rural life kept me away from it until I was 17 or 18 years old. Since then, I've been making and making stuff. Mostly afghans and baby afghans. I've made some clothing items, but they didn't turn out quite so appealing.

During all of this time, I have never...I mean, NEVER...made my mother anything. 35 - 40 years of doing this and not one thing for Mama! I am ashamed of myself. Mom admired this when I started it last year, so this is what she'll be getting in the mail really soon. She doesn't know about it. Her birthday is in early December. I think if I get it to her now, she'll be able to keep warm for a longer period of time. She lives in PA and it's getting cold there, now.

This pattern is worked on the diagonal. It fits a queen-sized bed. What will be funny to see is, my Mom is pint-sized.  I bet she'll have to dig herself out of this one. LOL!

I hope you enjoy your gift, Mom!

OK!

Anyone know what this delicious thing is?

OKONOMIYAKI!!! That's what.

If you never EVER try any other kind of Japanese cuisine, you MUST try this. This has to be my all-time favorite Japanese food. It is very filling and it is very tasty. The best part of it is, it is a rather healthy food.

What it is...a cabbage and veggie pancake smothered with Tonkatsu Sauce (brown stuff) and mayo (white stuff).

It is very easy to make.

Okonomiyaki Recipe

Mix 3/4 cup COLD water with about a teaspoon of Hon-Dashi fish boullion. If you don't have Hon-Dashi, leave it out. It doesn't make much of a difference in taste. It is important to use COLD water or you'll make a noodle dough, which you don't want.

Then add 1 cup of regular flour and 1 egg. Beat this together to make a very loose batter. Set aside.

Slice about 4 cups raw cabbage very fine. You want either hair-like strings or you can chop it in half so it is manageable. Add to the flour mixture and stir together.

Chop some onions, carrots, green peppers and meat or fish into very fine dice. Mix them together and set this aside. You can use almost any vegetable or any meat, except for celery. Celery is not a Japanese flavor.

This is a trick to keep the veggies and meat together. Beat one egg in a cup and set aside.

Heat up a skillet - non-stick works best. I use an electric skillet set to 225 degrees F.

Add a little oil to the skillet. If you use a small skillet, put about 1/4 of the veggie/meat mixture into the oil. If you use an electric skillet, use about half the veggie meat mixture and divide into two. Some on one side of the skillet and some on the other.

Put a little bit of the beaten egg in a cup over each pile of veggies and meat. Just enough so it all kind of looks like a very sparse omelet.

On top of this, put about 1/4 of the cabbage mixture, after you've stirred it to coat the cabbage. Make sure it covers all of the veggie/meat mixture and goes a little over the edge of it. Flatten a bit so it is one thickness the whole way across.

Cook it slowly. When the bottom gets a bit browned and holds together, flip it over. You may want to cover and cook it the rest of the way at this time. This will help the middle get done.

Put the finished pancake on a plate. Lightly schmeer with mayonnaise...the real stuff. Drizzle the bulldog sauce over top. Eat and enjoy!

This takes a little time to make, but, in my opinion, it is totally worth it!

Happy eating!

Yahoo!

It's finally over! The poison ivy, that is.

Two and a half weeks with itching and medicating...I've really had it!

Now, we have another problem - mosquitos. We've been spraying...the county came by twice last week to spray...we have a flying insect fogger and we've been fogging. These things are horrible right now. It hasn't rained much, lately. So, I don't know where they're coming from. We don't have standing water anywhere. Even in the ditches.

Wish us luck with this problem. We need it!

Take care

A Beautiful Day!

I just had to share this photo with all of you. What a GLORIOUS Saturday it was in my part of South Carolina. The weather was perfect!

I love the smell of air-dried sheets on my bed. It makes it really easy to fall asleep at night.

My neighbor calls me 'Matilda the Washerwoman' because I line-dry some of our clothes. Don't say anything, but I secretly think she envies me. She's an older lady and a real sweetheart. I'm sure she's had her days of hanging clothes while growing up on the farm. I'm sure she never wants to do that chore again. Since I'm younger and a lot crazier (see previous post) than her , I'll keep hanging out the wash.

Take care.

Leaves of Three...Let Them Be!

For the past two weeks, I've been suffering with poison ivy. It's one of those 'I never got it, so I'll never get it' things. I won't ever assume this again!

I didn't realize I was rubbing up against it while cutting branches off of trees. Of course, I had a short sleeved shirt on. Of course, I knew it was there. Of course, I consider myself careless and stupid. The rash covered from my wrist to my pits on both arms. I used several creams and anti-itch lotions. I used straight alcohol and some straight bleach. I found Germ-X hand sanitizer gave me the most relief. All of this stuff brought temporary relief, but not any long-term relief.

I was good through the night until I had a hot flash. Then the sweat irritated the rash and I woke up itching. I had to wash my arms and reapply cream. Fun! Fun!

Then I found Benadryl. I don't take ANY medications so I had a good time with this stuff. I always take half doses of an OTC because I don't know what it will do to me. So I took one Benadryl. This is the REAL Benadryl, not a knock-off. It took the edge off of the itching for hours. It took the edge off of me, as well. I call it my 'I don't give a crap' medicine. At least it works.

On top of that, I couldn't shower normally. I had to wash all clear parts first, then do the rash parts...twice a day. For a fun time, try this. I promise, you will never EVER knowingly go anywhere near poison ivy.

OK. This is week three. I'm drying up and I'm still itching. I'm still miserable.

What's a gal to do?!