Update! Onigiri! Daiya Cheese!

Where the hell have I been? Funny you should ask. I have been here. All along. I've just been pre-occupied. Cooking is never far from the horizon. In fact, it is always in my kitchen, morning and night (I'm not here at noon Monday thru Friday). I just have a few other things in the oven, so to speak. I will continue to be cryptic because I have no idea where I will be venturing to next, if anywhere. I will say no more. It may jinx me. I'm superstitious that way.Yesterday I finally experienced the wonder that is Daiya vegan cheese. I found it at my local Whole Foods store, was disappointed in the price but purchased it anyway and took it home where I learned it was the tastiest treat ever and totally worth what I paid for it. I took a baguette, cut it in half lenghtwise, slathered both halves with Earth Balance (another miracle of vegan foodie-ism), sprinkled with garlic powder and salt and then covered it with Daiya cheese. I then baked it in the oven until the Daiya cheese melted. The next step was to eat it. All of it. Neither Kelsey nor I spoke a single word while we scarfed this down. And Kelsey absolutely hates vegan cheese. It. Was. That. Good. Here's the proof:Even Tiny wanted in on the action, too. Who can blame him? Here, he is saying "Give me some of that, dammit!"I've been working on preparing my garden, too. Last year I was physically incapable of having my garden. It broke my heart. I live to play in the dirt. My doctor thought making some changes to my rheumatoid medications would be to my benefit. These changes didn't help. In fact, it made things much, much worse and I went downhill from there. Nearly a year later I am on Remicade and a mild dose of prednisone. I'm not sure what this will do for me and my desire to be med-free at some point in my life, but I will settle for feeling good enough to work in the garden, practice yoga for fun and not just for pain relief, and being able to workout at 4:30 am (I know, I am the only person who actually thrives on that!).Today I transplanted my seedlings into larger pots and sometime this week I will start the hardening off process so they can be planted in the garden in two weeks. My husband really doesn't like seed-starting season because for three months or more I have a mess of greenhouses, seed packets, heating pads, watering cans and dirt in the dining room. It smells earthy and like tomato plants.The grow light is on all night, illuminating the entire living space of the upper floor all night long. This is the start of a fruitful spring, summer and fall. This is the start of a winter filled with the harvest I put by from my garden. Harvesting. Canning. Freezing. Dehydrating. Cooking. Harvesting. Canning. Freezing. Dehydrating. Cooking. This is what I thrive on. And I am capable this year. Oh, what a feeling!

Back in November I spent some time in Japan. Not my first time and certainly not my last. I am in love with that country. The culture, the people, the smells, the sounds. I love Japan. And I love the food. What little of it I can eat, that is. The sake makes up for what I can't eat there! I bought some onigiri shapers when I was there last and I only began using them a week ago. What fun I had in the kitchen! Take a look a the mess I created:Your onigiri can have any number of different fillings, from pickled daikon to sauteed greens to my favorite filling - rehydrated dried shiitakes sauteed in soy sauce and mirin. Yum! I made this for lunches this week..:This is how:

Soak 4 dried shiitakes in boiling water for 20-30 minutes.

Cut the tough stem piece from the centers of the mushrooms.

Slice the mushrooms.

Saute in pan with a teaspoon of olive oil. Add about 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce and about a tablespoon of mirin and saute until the mushrooms are no longer exuding the soaking liquid and the soy sauce mixture has reduced to nothing. You want to smell the salty goodness of the soy sauce. This is how you will know it is ready.

Chop the mushrooms into small pieces..I cook up 1 cup of Japanese sweet rice and shape the rice using the shapers. Make an indentation in the middle and then cover with a bit of rice.Then I pour black sesame seeds on a plate. I also pull out some nori strips. My favorite are these spicy teriyaki nori strips.Some of the onigiri get dressed in the sesame seeds and some of them are dressed up in the nori strips. Some of them get a special coating of my favorite rice seasoning, or furikake (which my juvenile mind finds hilariously funny). And speaking of funny, the Japanese put some really strange phrases in English on stuff. This is what is on one of my onigiri shapers:Soon I hope to be posting a couple of book reviews. I also hope to feel like blogging more often. I have a lot to talk about, just no motivation. I have a stressful job and I am beat by the end of the day, but I have the best family in the world to come home to and a lovely home with a roof over our heads. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Say your prayers. Send some good vibes out into the universe. Whatever it is that you do, please do it. Right now I need it. And right now I am going to finish off the night with a lovely glass of wine whilest listening to Bob Seger singing Night Moves.