Autumn #6: In a Pickle / 秋＃６：一夜漬け

In a perfect world, I would never have any responsibilities beyond cooking (and eating).
私にとって、理想郷というのは料理以外の責任がない世界である。

Reality is a bit different.　理想と現実の差はね。。。

Sometimes I may be reduced to reheating frozen leftovers, but at least I also keep stashes of...
ですからたまに私も冷凍された料理の残りにする必要がある。幸いにこの備え。。。

Anyone who has lived with me knows I keep mystery jars of my culinary experiments in the fridge.　台所実験を発見！

Tonight seemed an auspicious time to break out my onion pickles, which I made a week ago. As you'll notice in the above photos, I added a little kick to the basic pickle juice formula of water, vinegar, salt, sugar with star anise, peppercorns, darjeeling tea, garlic, and ginger.
今晩の食卓に手作りタマネギ漬け物を！上の写真で見えるように、シンプルな水、酢、砂糖、塩という漬け物 汁にスターアニス、コショウの実、ダージリン紅茶、ニンニク、ショウガで贅沢をした。

Lately I've really fallen for this little spice in particular:
最近このスパイスに愛着を感じ初めて：

In chicken soup, pickles, jams, or curries, a hint of star anise makes the flavors both more cozy and intimate, and yet also more exotic. So speaking of curries...
チキンスープにも、漬け物にも、ジャムやカレーなどに、スターアニスをいれると何となく深みがあるエキゾチックな味を生み出す。ところでカレーと言えば。。。

The main dish tonight was reheated curry rice (with my tea pickles in a dazzling cameo). I got the basic recipe for Japanese curry rice from scratch here. The key really was carmelizing six onions for ninety minutes. It was also the reason why I froze a few portions of the curry for later, since it keeps well and I certainly could use some easy curry when I'm feeling short on time. I highly recommend adding a little bacon with the beef, and kabocha with the vegetables.
今晩のメインは前からの手作りカレーライス。レシピは ここで見つかった。ポイントは９０分にちかくタマネギをいためること。そのためにもたくさんのカレーを冷凍した。冷凍されてもカレーはおいしく保存できるので時間に迫っている時にまた暖めるだけでいい。私のおすすめはお肉と同時にベーコンを入れると野菜と同時にカボチャも。

Here is the meal, in all it's rushed-preparation glory:
これで１５分以内に作ったメニュー：

How could I resist a little sesame on the rice and an egg on the curry? Sometimes this modern life gets messy, and we feel like we don't have enough time to pamper ourselves. If you can plan ahead for those moments just a little bit though, you'll be able to find yourself in a pickle and yet also happy to to just...
ご飯にごま、カレーに卵。たまにこの現代的な人生は散らかったものだ。その時に余裕なくなってしまうね。本当はきれいな食卓を整えればいいけど、結局一夜漬けしかできない。大丈夫だよ。ちょっとだけ準備すると、乱雑になっても。。。

   Dig in. がつがつ食えばいい。

Autumn #5: Tororo Omelet / 秋＃５：とろろのオムレツ

Can't make an omelet without breaking any eggs? Not always.
英語のことわざで「卵を割らずにオムレツは作れない。」賛成できません。

Faced with the terrifying prospect of having to clear my fridge of leftovers before being able to buy new ingredients to play with, I disproved one old proverb while proving another: "Necessity is the mother of invention."
冷蔵庫にある材料を使わなきゃと思いながら、この卵を割らないオムレツを作った。

At my disposal: the nagaimo and edamame of Autumn #3, leftover rice, and little sweet red peppers. 使わなければならない材料は秋＃３の長いもと枝豆、残りのご飯と赤ピーマン。

I opted for a an omelet, the preparation of which was almost identical to Autumn #3, except I mixed the tororo with yuzu kosho (a spice made by grinding together the Japanese citrus fruit, yuzu, with chiles) and then fried it up in a pan, stuffed (rather overzealously) with edamame, slivers of red pepper, and rice.
作り方はだいたい秋＃３のとろろ丼と同じですが、とろろにゆずこしょうを入れて、フライパンで揚げた。中に（ちょっと多めの）枝豆、ご飯、赤ピーマンも入れた。

And: voila!
じゃじゃーん!

 

The nicest part was probably the bits in which the edamame got fried into the tororo:
一番気に入れたのは枝豆もとろろと一緒にに揚げたところかなー

ごちそうさまでした！

Autumn #4: Miniature Tea Eggs and Chrysanthemum Sunomono / 秋＃４：茶玉子と菊の酢の物

The other day I noticed flowers being sold at my local greengrocer. Chrysanthemums, to be specific.
この間うちの近くにある八百屋が花を売っていることを発見しました。近寄ると：あっ！菊だ！

I'd never cooked with chrysanthemums before, so I asked the little old lady how I should go about preparing them. She recommended sunomono -- a vinegared Japanese-style side salad. 菊を料理に使ったことない私だから、お店のおばちゃんと相談した。彼女のおすすめ：酢の物。

Sunomono is quite simple really, it just calls for equal parts rice vinegar and mirin (sweet cooking sake), and a touch of salt. I decided to jazz it up, and take the opportunity to tackle a recipe I've been biting at the bit to get to. 酢の物は本当にシンプルで、ちょっとだけチェル的にしようかな。。。

Ever since I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. このレシピを見た瞬間、私も絶対作りたいと思った。

Tea-glazed eggs. 茶玉子。

But when I got to the poultry store, delicate little gems beckoned me away from those ungainly, vulgar chicken eggs...
でも鶏肉屋に入ったら、このちびっ子に誘われた。。。

The little masochists begged me to boil them and crack them and boil them again. How could I resist? I'm only human...
この誘いなので、抵抗できなかった。。。

So I boiled them for half a minute or so to set them, cracked them with the back of a spoon, and then put them back in the pot, this time joined by soy sauce, darjeeling tea, star anise, and a splash of mirin. And I let them boil...
そして３０秒ぐらいゆでて、出して、スプーンで軽く割れ目を殻につけって、またお湯に戻した。この時に醤油、ダージェリング茶、スターアニス、みりんも入れました。

And boiled them and boiled them, for close to two hours.このまま２時間近くゆでた。
And when the came out, they were scarred - but also somehow more hauntingly beautiful. And also more delicious.
だしたらちょっと不気味な美しさ。。。でも確かのおいしさ。

I wasn't through with them yet. I prepared a beautiful bed of sunomono made from slivers of mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley), okra, red onion, and the chrysanthemum petals, which I plucked from the flowers and doused in hot water before adding to the mix. このミニ茶玉子をチェル的な酢の物を！みつば、オクラ、赤いタマネギを細く切って、菊の花弁も湯通ししてから入れた。

Autumn is a sad season of endings, a season of bitter experience: the spring chicken gets fattened to become winter's warming soup. But with experience comes...
秋は切ない季節です。終局を感じられる季節。それでも。。。

Deliciousness.
おいしい。

ごちそうさまでした。

Autumn #3: Edamame and Persimmon Tororo Donburi / 秋＃３：枝豆と柿のとろろどんぶり

There is an expression in Japanese: "Shokuyoku no Aki." It translates into "Appetizing Autumn."　食欲の秋ですね。

I can't even walk down the street without the being stopped in my tracks by the produce spilling out of the mom and pop shops. 今の八百屋で青物大盛り。。。圧倒的な気持ち！

Just last night I couldn't resist the temptation to buy fresh edamame on the stalk. 昨日どうしても新鮮な枝豆を買いたくなってしまった。。。

Afterall, "edamame" does mean "beans on a twig." 枝豆っていうから、枝で買うともっと適当でしょう？

But what to do with them? それで、枝豆とどうすればいいかなー

Then I remembered another fall favorite: the persimmon. そうね！もうひとつの秋の味を思い出した！

I first discovered persimmons as a fifteen-year-old living in Japan. They baffled me. They were like the lovechild of a tomato and an apple. All I knew for certain was that I wanted to eat them. A lot of them.

柿との初めの出会いは１５歳の時だった。日本に来たばかりで、この果実は特に不思議だと思った。トマトとリンゴの隠し子じゃないの？

Whatever it was, it was love at first bite. 一口惚れだった。

Today the weather was perfect for something light, so I thought I would go ahead with my plan, and make an early autumn donburi. 今日の天気も晴れて、ちょうど軽い初秋がおいしいの日。

A donburi is basically a one-bowl rice dish. To bind together the bright green edamame and the vivacious orange persimmon, I turned to the nagaimo, or "long potato."　枝豆と柿を結ぶことを長いもに任せた。

Ain't much to look at, but like so many brutes, the nagaimo has a sensitive interior. いる人間のように外面はひどいけど内面はきれいな長いも。

The inside of this root vegetable, when grated, makes tororo: a cloud of white goo upon which I intended to rest my autumnal jewels. これでとろろの雲の上に枝豆と柿を載せる。

First, I parboiled the edamame and then shelled them. まず、枝豆をゆでて、さやをとった。

Such bright little beans! なんと元気なみどり豆ちゃん！

After dicing the persimmon, I then peeled and grated the nagaimo, filling a bowl with neba-neba : slimy deliciousness. それで柿をさいの目に切って、長いもをおろして、とろろのねばねばを生かした。

Neba neba! ねばねば！

Then I simply mixed all three, and poured them over my rice:
この三つを混ぜて、ご飯にかけた：

For seasoning, a little soy sauce and wasabi...
醤油とわさびで味付けして。。。

                          AND EAT IT! 食う食う食う！

Autumn #2: Bacon-Embraced Figs / 秋＃２：ベーコンに抱きしめられたイチジク

Figs are in season. イチジクの季節ですね。

All fruits are sensual, but the fig in particular exudes a kind of eroticism. 果物は基本的にエロチックだと思うけど、イチジクが特に色っぽいと思わない？

Maybe it's because the fig is actually the flower of the plant, the blossoms of which form inside the plump little beasties. Quite literally, the Chinese characters used to designate the fig translate as "no flower fruit" (無花果). イチジクは同時に花と果物で、多分それはイシジクの好色力の原因かもしれません。イチジクの漢字（無花果）だけでわかるけど、実はフルーツの中に花が隠しているだけ。

What a little flirt！ 色っぽいって言ったんじゃないですか！



Tonight I decided to wrap these babies in the savory embrace of bacon, but not before stuffing them with honey, miso, crushed walnuts, and (why not?) freshly ground pepper.
今夜このイチジクを塩っぽいベーコンに合わせたが、その前ちょっとだけ蜂蜜、みそ、くるみ、コショウもを果実にたっぷり入りました。

The little bundles of joy looked like this when they went into the toaster oven:
オーブンに入れた前はこんな感じだった：

And ten or so minutes later:
約１０分後：

 

Quite a lusty affair. 恋愛沙汰.

To flesh out the meal, as it were, I took my leftover latke batter (from yesterday's dinner) and leftover rice:
料理の残り物のホットケーキ生地とご飯も使って、このイチジクに合わせる食事を作りました：

...and made fried rice. それでチャーハンを。。。

It was a little dry, but it balanced out the extreme juiciness of the sticky figs.
ちょっとパサパサだったけど、すごくジューシーなイチジクにはおいしかった。

...Satisfaction. ごちそうさまでした！

Autumn #1: Potato and Kabocha Pancakes / 秋＃１：サツマイモとカボチャホットケーキ

I just moved to Tokyo from New York City. Japanese food is delicious, but I feel a little clumsy in my own kitchen. My mission is to buy local and seasonal, and cook it up my own freestyle way: a little Western, a little Asian, all Cheru style.

ニューヨーク都から東京都の引っ越し。和食は確かにおいしいけど、自分の台所では不安ばかり！それで、このブログ。目的はできるだけ季節の日本産材料でちょっと西洋的な、ちょっと和食的な、まるで適当にチェル的な料理を。よろしくお願いします！

First things first. I needed a farmers' market.

まずは、ファマーズマーケットが必要です！

I tried this one in Shibuya.

The bounty of fall! それで、これを買った：

I was seduced by the colors of the mini kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), purple sweet potato, red okra.
ミニカボチャ、紅サツマイモ、赤オクラの色に夢中。

Which led to this evening's menu:
Spiced sweet potato and pumpkin latkes
Okra and avocado salsa

この材料を食卓へ！今晩のメニュー:
スパイスサツマイモとカボチャホットケーキ*
オクラとアボカドサルサ

*Cultural Note: いもに作られたホットケーキはユダヤ伝統的な料理で、「latke」というものだ。ユダヤ人じゃない私にも愛されている。

For the latkes, I coarsely grated the red sweet potato and kabocha, to which I added coarsely grated onion, finely grated ginger and garlic. Also some pinches of cumin and salt. ホットケーキにはサツマイモとカボチャ下ろしにタマネギ、ショウガ、ニンニク下ろし。少しだけ塩とクミンも入れた。この感じで：

 Lastly, I added two eggs to the mix, and fried them up in vegetable oil. 最後に卵２コと混ぜて、普通のホットケーキと同じように油とフライパンで揚げた。

For the salsa, I used raw okra, thinly sliced. サルサには生オクラ：

Okra are what the Japanese call neba neba: slimy, but in a really delicious way. To match this glorious sliminess, I added diced avocado and fresh lemon juice. Also, on a whim, some black sesame salt. オクラのねばねばを生かすためにアボカドとレモン汁と混ぜた。適当にごま塩も。。

And so...それで...

How about an action shot? クローズアップで。。。

With a little salad it went down real easy. いつものサラダと食べて。。。あっ。満足。ごちそうさまでした！