Autumn #12: One bad egg may spoil my lunch, but not the bunch / 秋＃１２：食通の卵。とそのあたり。

A little over a week ago, I had the great pleasure of deepening my intimacy with one of my favorite elixirs...
しょっちゅう焼酎！

Ah, shochu! So similar to humble water, yet so much more potent. In the sobering light of day, however, its glowing promise dimmed. The Japanese term for a hangover is "two-days drunkenness." With the help of a light case of food poisoning, the "two days" turned into a week of a self-pitying, vaguely unsettling stupor.
夜の輝きは朝の暗い苦労。二日酔いより一週間酔いになると、あら。。。食あたりの疑問も。

Thinking back, there were about four raw eggs of varying degrees of trustworthiness, and a rather pink mouthful or two of grilled chicken, all of which I had consumed either with or shortly after the offending shochu.
ちょっとだけ考えても、４個の生卵、生ぽいの焼き鳥。。。容疑者は少なくないね。

So, in reviewing my equations, I hit upon this formula: (copious amounts of shochu) + (raw eggs of suspicious extraction) 
それで、（焼酎）＋　（生卵、鶏肉）＝

One week of a diet based on Seirogan pills. The key ingredient seems to be creaosote, which Wikipedia (alarmingly!) informs me is a kind of coal tar.
１週間の正露丸ダイエット。

But I'm back on the horse! Or, rather, under the chicken! A little touch of salmonella is no fun, but a life without runny eggs is no life at all. What better way to celebrate the newly harmonious relationship between myself and my guts than with an omelet?
でも私とわが内蔵の関係が改めて仲良くなって、一個だけのいやな卵を食べるは食通の卵の運命と理解して、卵を防ぐなら人生の意味もないぐらいので、また卵を挑戦！オムレッツはいかがですか。

And the eggs here in Japan are so very yellow and seductive.Whisked with a little bit of miso and mirin, they are irresistible.
それとも、日本の卵は特に魅力的です。ほら、みそとみりんと混ぜって：

It is a sunny-side-up universe.
太陽の色。

I decided to make a whole brunch out of it, a meal that I've missed for the past few months. Still a little wary of bloody mary, I stuck to the basics: eggs, starch, some greens.
このオムレッツ懐かしいニューヨーク式のブランチを作ろうと思った。

For the starch, I turned to these happy little fellows who found me on one of my local wanderings:
ポテトのためにこの子を：

They are wee little yamaimo sprouts. Yamaimo is a monster of a root vegetable when it reaches full-size, and is most commonly grated into a lusciously slimy goo called tororo.

山芋の芽だ！






These little guys resembled a gang of starchy insects (hard to see how to make this posting less appetizing). Each was quite small on its own:
ちょっと虫の群れのようだ（本当にだんだん気持ち悪くなっているね）。一匹ずつは可愛い。

So, I threw the whole gang in a hot frying pan with oil. In the meantime, I put some sliced up eringi mushroom in the toaster oven.
群れをフライパンに。そうして、エリンギをトースターに。

Eringi mushrooms are incredibly fragrant and meaty.You would be doing yourself no disservice to just grill and devour them.
エリンギの焼くとものすごく味を生かす。。。

But we have an omelet in the works. So: potatoes pan fried, eggs beaten, mushrooms toasted. I also fried some tomatoes for good measure, and made a side salad with a prominent dose of shiso, Japanese mint-basil leaf. Shiso makes a mean cocktail ingredient, too (as bartenders at NYC's bozu and Angel's Share know), but my liver remains a bit shy.
そのオムレッツにフライトマト、しそ入りサラダ。しそといろいろなおいしいカクテルが作れるけれども、肝臓はまだ「酒なんかイヤ」っと強く主張している。

 

Brunch, a New York institution! ブランチができたよ！

I suppose some institutions can be imported after all. But even so, there is a twist.

クローズアップ！

The mini yamaimo turned out to be little treasures. Although they still vaguely (or clearly) resembled buggy bugs.

山芋の芽もこの食通の卵の口に合った。

Well, their buggy marching across my plate can't deter me. Not in the face of such deliciousness. A little ugly root vegetables, or even a little chicken sashimi, can't stop the adventurous palate. Yet.

やはり虫と似てるね。でも虫の形の芋も、ちょっとした食あたりも、この冒険的な食通を止められません！

まだ。