Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Steamed Ikan Kurau

Choya's portions.

Toddled off to Meidi-ya to get a lovely piece of madai sashimi for the Smol Girl, and also a good quality fillet of ikan kurau / threadfin to steam it for her. The fillets weren't small. So I got two packs of four fillets. As a result, I decided to steam up fillets for our lunch too. LOL

I also needed coriander and spring onions; got some bok choi too. Decided to do up a second dish of an easy stew in the form of lean minced pork, silken tofu, daikon and mushrooms. This would do for a light superbly healthy lunch filled with proteins. No additional carbs needed in the form of rice or noodles. 

I prepped the fish for the Smol; Girl first. She had a first small main topped with madai sashimi. Then a second main of steamed ikan kurau. Another portion went into the fridge for the next day. Hers held just a tinkle of salt, and a base of bok choi and coriander. She didn't need anything else. I knew she wouldn't care about vegetables, so I just left them at the side, and topped hers with a fresh coriander leaf. She doe eat coriander, when she's in the mood. Heh. Today, she slurped them all up. 

Today I felt like using bok choi as a base to line the plate before steaming the fish. It would lend some sweetness to it. The portion for humans included mushrooms, garlic, shallots and ginger, and a generous dash of soy sauce and fish sauce. Steaming fillets this small and thin wouldn't require too long. Just under 15 minutes on high heat, then turn it off to let it cook in the hot pot.

I rustled up the tofu, daikon, shiitake and minced pork separately. Those were done with dashi and a bit of white pepper in pot. That was easy and tasty, and added some bite to the meal. While I prepped the food, the man went off to the gym for 1.5 hours. The stew didn't take long to be ready. #ImpieCooks2024  

I decided to have my own lunch first. I didn't use the giant steamer. Used a small pot and split up the bowls of fish. Steamed my slab of ikan kurau first, and ate it. Steamed the man's fish slightly later when he texted that he was on his way back. Fish tastes best cooked just about right. 

When the man got back, his fillets of fish was just done. Nice. His portion of stew of tofu and daikon and mushrooms were easily scooped out into bowl. Fuss-free one-pot meals FTW. He loved this little lunch chockfull of tasty proteins. 

Monday, March 18, 2024

Find Your Life's Meaning and Purpose


Borrowed Nick Bradley's 'Four Seasons in Japan' (2023). It was absolutely meta, a fictional story of fictional story. A book within a book. I end up needing no more affirmation that the answer to life's new paths is found in books, in reading them. 

I also loved that the author (currently teaching the Masters class in Creative Writing at University of Cambridge and MA at UEA) delved into a PhD on the figure of a cat in Japanese literature. He speaks Japanese fluently, and has also worked as a translator for several books. But I haven't read his first book 'The Cat and the City' (2020).

Oregon-born and now living in Japan protagonist Flo Dunthorpe works as a translator. She's got ennui; she's sick and tired of Tokyo, stuck in a rut with her job and disillusioned with a relationship that seems to have run its course (partly her own fault), with her partner Yumi going off to New York City. Of course they have a cat named Lily. The cat lives with Flo and isn't going anywhere, till one day Lily disappeared from the apartment .

One day in the subway, she picks up a book left by a fellow passenger. It's titled 'The Sound of Water' written by Hibiki in Japanese. As Flo reads it and endeavors to translate it to English, she gets caught up in the lives and emotions of the protagonists and thought about how much her own life parallels theirs. It's an absolute hoot — a book within a book, and a translation within. 

The subway book talks about a grandmother Ayako and her grandson Kyo living in Onomichi after a family tragedy (his father died by suicide). Kyo's mother thought he should be with his grandmother. A mundane but steady life running a coffeeshop versus dreams of being an artist or to keep trying to pass the exams to medical school. Ahhhh, ageing and youthful dreams. 

'The Sound of Water' divided its chapters into the four seasons. We see Flo working on it through the seasons too, and there seems to be progress as she works on it bit by bit, section by section, concentrating on getting it right and getting sufficient material to send to her publisher to see if they're keen to publish it in English. 

One of the dangers of literary translation work was falling down research rabbit holes. Whether it was googling a tonbi coat to see what kind of overcoat Ayako was wearing (she'd seen online that it looked a bit like Sherlock Holmes's coat), or working out how to weave into the text that Japanese of the older generations put cloth covers over their landline phones (she still felt she'd done that poorly), she'd keep falling down on a single sentence and it would suck an hour from her morning.

Flo had visited the reclusive author Hibiki who lives in Onomichi. That was a pen name. Hibiki is a manga illustrator who wrote this book for fun. This meeting happened because Hibiki's partner Henrik Olafssen contacted Flo. She also met their cat Coltrane. She got permission from Hibiki to translate the book, and his blessing to send it across the world, but he would remain private. 

We readers are treated to this translated book within a book, and the whole novel ended with a 'Translator's Afterword'. Flo's. We see that she has gotten over the hump and ennui, and it meant everything to her to get this translated and published. She found her mojo again and gained new inspiration and insights. She has learnt that not to push her friends away and being more open with her emotions with those who genuinely care for her.

'Please, Flo-san,' he says, 'by all means, translate the book into English. You have my blessing. I myself have no interest in what happens to it, but I can see that it's important to you. That's what really matters — who am I to stand in the way of your dreams?'

I bow, and thank him profusely. We say our farewells, and just as he is about to leave the room, he pauses, as though something important has occurred to him. 'But if you do translate this book, Flo, you must promise me one thing.'

'What's that?'

'You must promise to make it your own.' He looks me straight in the eyes. 'Put something of yourself in it. So the readers get a sense of you.'

'I promise,' I say, bowing.

He turns to look at Coltrane, curly up on the floor of the tatami. His feet are twitching as he dreams. 'Oh, to be a cat,' he says. 'They dream, but they don't let their dreams consume them. That's the thing about humans — we feel like we have to make our dreams real. And that's what causes us such joy and discontent.'

There's a proverb used in this book: 「山あり谷あり」, literally 'there're mountains and there're valleys'. It's pretty much a reminder to us that there're ups and downs in life. We can only manage our own attitude towards our own lives and take control whenever we could, and leave it up to God when we can't. 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

NAE:UM :: Episode 7 'Jeju Blossoms'


It was a brand new Episode 7: Jeju Blossoms at NAE:UM. The menu held loads of fish and shellfish. No beef, no quail, no pigeon, no chicken and no lamb. It was just pork and fish for the mains. My allergies are still flaring, but I didn't ask for menu swops. I took an antihistamine and hoped for the best. Figured that I could toss the shellfish over to the husband. 

The really cute starter box of each Episode never disappoints. In this Episode 7, there was a little dol hareubang / rock statue (many are seen dotting Jeju Island) in the box too, setting the tone for some Jeju Island specials. On the Signature menu, the starter of duck galbi could never seem to disappear. Hehehehe. This time, it was served with a wrap and they called it 'taco-galbi'. Dohhh. 

I loved the oi-naengguk (chilled cucumber soup). It was deftly boosted with sea snapper and seaweed, then the chilled cucumber soup/brine was poured over it. Really tantalizing. What a great appetizer. The ama ebi, radish and pine nuts came layered with a squid ink wrap. It was fun! I ate everything but the prawns. Gave them away to the husband.

My favorite NAE:UM somyeon is not on this menu. In its place is mul milmyeon, which is a Busan iteration of cold noodles / mul naengmyeon. This is a dombegogi memilmyeon of pork, buckwheat noodles, and white kimchi. Dombegogi is pretty much boiled pork placed on a board. It honestly paired well with mul milmyeon. Loved it!

The first main was a lovely golden threadfin with minari and sweet cabbage. I was soooo taken by it that I told myself to get a Balai threadfin (ikan kurau) to steam it as a snack for the Smol Girl. I wouldn't be able to buy a golden threadfin at Meidi-ya. 

The servers trotted out the box of knives for our selection to use for the meat. The second main of pork was a total hit for me. It was iberico presa, abalone and celeriac — absolutely perfect. Tender and flavorful. I wished there was a second slice of abalone too. Hurhurhur.

The first dessert of tangy tangerine ice-cream with shredded carrots and basil hit the right notes with me. It wasn't sweet — it was slightly sour and savory. That was sooooo good. Then it was my favorite jujube ice-cream with a bit of truffles and white chocolate topped with the familiar crisp charcoal leaf. The dagwa at the end came with kombucha (thankfully not so sour), candied tangerines, nuts and sweet sticky rice.

I'm very taken with the 'lighter' notes in this menu. A lot more fish and shellfish. Totally works for me. The husband loved it too. He's always enthusiastic by the menu switch. He loved the pigeon and the quail in the previous menus. He might have been a bit sad that this menu doesn't hold game-y meat.