Wakame Salad to Die For!

I made this recipe and WOW! it is amazing. In fear that the link ever goes down, I cut and pasted Heguiberto's recipe from his blog weirdcombinations. Check out his blog. There are lots of good recipes and yummy looking photos of food.

40g. dried wakame (I get mine at Nijiya Market)
1 small head lettuce, cleaned and torn into bite-size pieces
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp light shoyu (soy sauce) (or use Gluten Free Tamari)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp pan roasted white sesame seeds
red pepper flakes to taste

Place wakame in a large bowl and cover with about 2 pints of water. Let it re-hydrate for about 30 minutes. Drain, rinse and squeeze as much water out as you can. Transfer to a serving bowl with lettuce.

Meanwhile to make the dressing add mirin, shoyu, rice vinegar, sugar and toasted sesame oil to a jar, cover with a lid and shake to combine. Taste. It should have a pleasant salty, briny, tart, sweet and toasty flavor. Add more of any ingredient if needed. Toss with wakame and lettuce. Sprinkle with pepper flakes and sesame seeds.

Crop Swap

Our garden is booming, so my landlady and I harvested it and took the veggies and herbs to a Crop Swap at the Temescal Public Library. There were cut flowers, lemons, herbs, veggies, and succulents. Some folks brought starters that they'd been cultivating.

At the Crop Swap people bring the extras from their garden and lay it out on a table. Then folks fill up bags of whatever they would like. It's not tit-for-tat. It's take what you like, even if you didn't bring anything. It's a fun time to chat with your neighbors and ask them gardening tips and recipe ideas.

It's a monthly event, but next month will be the last for the season and then it will pick up in the spring. 

The next crop swap is Saturday, October 13th, 2012 from 10-1pm at the Oakland Temescal Library.

The tool lending library is also at this book library. All of my favorite things in one place: produce, books and tools.

Don't live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Jump on Google to look for a  Crop Swap near you. 

vegan frosting that's actually thick like frosting should be

Normally I have a photo, but the frosting didn't last very long. First waffles were made as an excuse to put frosting on them. Then berries appeared. The last bits were eaten with a spoon.

Amazing vegan frosting recipe!

I've been looking for a recipe that has the correct consistency. We added coco powder and for shortning we used Spectrum naturals butter flavored non hydrogenated shortening.

Summer Potluck Dishes

I'm on a Japanese food kick.

• For a potluck I made wakame salad, (which I ended up impressing myself how good it was and it super easy to make!)
• I also made a jicama and corn salad with a French dressing.
• And I roasted beets, mean while I sauteed garlic, onions and beet greens for a cold side dish. 

My new favorite breakfast

The stars aliened and I had all of the necessary ingredients to make gluten-free, chicken egg-free, and lactose-free french toast with coffee!!! I haven't had French toast since before my allergies were diagnosed in 2004. It was just as good as I remembered.

I've been looking into traditional breakfasts for other cultures. I've noticed a stark difference between how I feel when I eat a bowl of rice with toppings versus waffles for breakfast. I feel light and energized. Not all bloated and tired. Even though I really loved eating the French Toast, it's going to be a sometimes treat.

My new favorite breakfast:

Rice with toppings: toasted black sesame seeds, hard boiled quail eggs, bits of nori, fried corn and tahini. 

Our yard

Just five weeks ago these plants were all less than 6 inches tall. I love sitting in the yard. So do the butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. 

Japanese Women Don't get Old or Fat

At the library this book caught my eye. After having it in my home for the past 4 weeks, I foresee using it often. I think it's time to get my own copy. 

What I love about it is that it covers everyday Japanese food. 

The reason I first started this blog (which was then called weird and surprisingly good), was to discover what other cultures eat. I was sick of eating the same thing over and over. I wanted to find out what I was missing out on. Now I know. It's called Japanese food!

Besides making food look pretty, having small dishes helps with portion control. So I treated myself to some new dishes. Between two thrift stores and the grocery store I bought all of these for $25!

 It's so much fun matching the food to the design on the bowl. It's like picking an outfit to match your mood.