I truly can’t believe that it’s only been 6 months since we were married.  So much has happened this year that it doesn’t seem like we could have possibly fit all of those experiences into such a short amount of time.

I never thought that I would agree to marry someone after only a year of dating, but with Jeff, I was already sure within just a few months that I would make him that promise some day.

:::Sniff:::

I’m ok, lemme just go grab a tissue…

Back! 😀

Anyway, we thought it might be fitting to try to relive some of our honeymoon by hitting up a Japanese restaurant for dinner.  I’ve heard a lot about Miso Izakaya; I’ve seen many of their dishes being reviewed here and there online and in local newspapers, so I already knew there were a few things on the menu that would be right up our alley.

What’s an izakaya, you ask? In Japan, an izakaya is a type of low-key bar where you can order easy drinks like beer or cheap liquor and order little snacks like yakitori. You can think of it like a Spanish tapas restaurant, lots of small plates and lots of drinking!  Miso Izakaya is a little unique in that they’ve taken this relaxed concept and tried to elevate it to the level of fine dining. You could still easily just come in and have a drink and a snack with friends before heading out for the evening, or you can do like we did and make a dinner out of all the delicious samplings!

We started by ordering from their extensive collection of shochu, a liquor that can be distilled from a variety of different products; most commonly rice, barley, or sweet potato.

I chose one distilled from buckwheat because I love soba. Jeff got one made from barley, his favorite.

The first thing we knew we had to try was the soft-boiled soy egg.

I gotta tell you, it was pretty damn sexy.

This was easily my favorite dish of the whole evening. The flavors of soy, miso, and toasted rice were so intense!  I’m definitely gonna recreate this at home in donburi form soon!

Next we had takoyaki, little chunks of octopus fried in a sweet and savory pancake-like batter topped with mayo, salty sauce, and shaved bonito flake.

This is classic Japanese street food.  I think we had these at least 3 times in Japan!

It tasted exactly as I remembered, and was just as mouth-meltingly hot as the fresh ones in Osaka too!

Recognize this?

Here I am recreating this image which I use as my online identity…

That’s my Gravatar that shows up in comment feeds, and yes, I’m popping a takoyaki in my mouth in it! (BTW, if you don’t have one, go grab yourself a Gravatar. It’s free to use and all you have to do is upload a picture of yourself. It really helps people to identify you and remember you when you comment, and because you can choose to have it automatically add your image to other services you use, like Twitter, it keeps your identity consistent across the internet.)

Back to dinner!

Next we had the duck buns…

Delicious marshmallow-soft steamed buns filled with cucumbers, crispy duck, and an anise-infused sauce. These were incredible, the pillowy texture was so comforting and soft.

Next up was hamachi kama, or yellowtail collar.

A huge piece of lightly fried collar (the area between the head and the fins) with ponzu for dipping. This was so rich and fatty, it melts in your mouth like butter and the crispy skin was excellent too.

Then we ordered ja jiang dofu, crispy tofu in a spicy-sweet black bean sauce. Jeff was not really excited about ordering tofu, but this turned out to be one of the stand-out flavors of the evening. The thick sauce was so good we were mopping it up off our plates!

Lastly, we ordered a dragon roll.  It had tempura shrimp and cucumber inside and was topped with avocado, flying fish roe, and grilled eel.

It was good, but we were getting so full that we were having a hard time finishing this heavy selection.

We ordered two more drinks so we could sit around and chat. Jeff got a different barley shochu and I got a cocktail made from sweet potato shochu, peach bitters, honey, and white tea liqueur.

It was so full I had to drink it like a kitten at a milk bowl!

Jeff thought that was hilarious and was laughing at my plight.

Though we were beyond full we ordered dessert, green tea creme brulee!

Creme brulee is easily my favorite dessert, so this was perfect to me.

It was glorious. Perfect way to end a fabulous night of authentic Japanese food and booze!

I think we’ll be back to Miso Izakaya, it’s hard to find authentic Japanese food that isn’t sushi or hibachi (you know, where you sit at a table right next to a flaming grill and have food thrown at you, not authentic!)

Cheers to 6 months of wedded bliss and to many more months (and years!) of happiness to come!

One of the best dishes I’ve ever had at a restaurant was the Seafood in a Claypot at Ma Li. It’s full of noodles, ginger, mushrooms, a piece of fish, some squid, some shellfish; all cooked in a personal-sized clay pot that seals in all the juices, making for a rich and delicious broth.

When Jeff and I were honeymooning in Japan, we looked for a clay pot to take home with us, but they were all very large, heavy, and expensive.  We were already lugging around more than we could comfortably carry, so we opted to not purchase one while we were there.

I’m still looking for a good clay pot, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying to recreate my favorite dish with what I have available.

I chose to use a large baking dish to make my soup in.  I started with a layer of bok choy and slices of daikon radish. I just cut the ends of the bok choy and separated the leaves a bit, then I used a vegetable peeler on the daikon to remove a layer and cut it into thin slices.

Next I sliced up some shiitakes and scallions and spread those over, then grated about an inch-long piece of ginger over the top. I cut a portion of salmon into a few smaller pieces and nestled them into the vegetables.

I used some leftover miso soup and added a swish of soy sauce and about a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil.  If you don’t wanna make miso soup, just use vegetable or seafood broth and add a bit of miso paste.

I poured it over the vegetables and salmon along with some water and covered the dish with aluminum foil with a few holes poked in the top.

Baked at about 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, it comes out looking and smelling intensely divine. I like to add a drop or two of chili oil to the top to finish it off.

This dish is so easy because it’s mostly just assembly. There’s nothing you need to stand around and monitor while it’s cooking, you just stick it in the oven and go do something else.

I still want a real clay pot to try this with, but the baking dish works surprisingly well. I’m sure this technique could work with many other kinds of soup too.

Mmmm…warm and spicy soup sounds so good right now.

As promised, here’s a little tutorial on how to make sticky sushi rice like a pro at home!

I buy my sushi rice from the farmer’s market in bulk but I’ve seen it in grocery stores too. This whole bag is a little over a buck!

Sushi rice is different from regular rice in that it’s a short grain, (you can see it’s kind of rounder and fatter) and it’s more glutinous than regular rice, which makes it sticky when cooked.

For two people, 3/4 cup of uncooked rice should be enough.  If you’re super hungry, make a full cup. The rice to water ratio is 1 to 1, easy to remember.

Before you cook it you need to rinse it. Just run some cool water over it until the water that drains out is mostly clear, not cloudy.  This takes out some of the starch so that it doesn’t just form a gluey porridge when cooked.

Put both the water and the rice in a pot that has enough room for it to expand some and steam.  Now here’s where the important stuff starts.  Turn the temperature up to high and wait for it to boil uncovered.  As soon as it boils, turn the heat all the way down to the very lowest setting and put the lid on.  Set a timer for 15 minutes and get ready to make the seasoning.

Sushi seasoning is basically a mixture of salty, sour, and sweet flavors.  There are many recipes, but the one we use is this: A three-finger pinch of salt, 1 tbsp mirin, and 1 tbsp rice vinegar. Mix it together and set aside.

When the timer goes off for your rice, remove the pot from the eye and set another timer for 10 minutes.  Do not open the lid at any time!

When that timer goes off, dump your rice into some sort of plate or dish with high sides. We use a baking dish for this.  Try not to mess with the rice too much from here on out. You want to “cut it” with a spatula and fold it, but don’t stir or press.  Be gentle! Fan it like crazy, fold again, fan like crazy some more.

Pour your seasoning slowly over the back of your spatula and lightly fan the spatula to spread the seasoning around.  Fold and fan like crazy one or two more times.

What you’ll have is a pleasantly sweet and slightly sour rice that sticks together, making it simple to pick up with chopsticks.

It may seem like a lot of work, but really most of the process is spent waiting on the rice to cook.  There’s plenty of time left over to create something to go with it. Top it with a stir-fry or roasted vegetables, maybe some simmered squash and tofu, and you’ve just made a donburi!

Hope this was helpful. Maybe someday I’ll finally get a rice cooker and I can have it do all the work for me!