Last year our gingko tree produced a massive crop of nuts leading to the question of how to preserve them. I carefully washed and dried the unshelled nuts and put them into sealed plastic containers. Some I stored in the pantry, some in the fridge, and some in the freezer.

The gingko nuts from the freezer were chewy, and while they retained a little gingko-ness, they were not the ephemeral seasonal gingkos. They are fine to add to a hot pot, or soup, or steamed with vegetables because they would add a nice texture, but they are only a sorry memory of a bountiful autumn.

Our beautiful tree won’t have many nuts this year…

My recent casual but frequent abuse use of umeboshi, the sour salty pickled plums loved in Japan, set in motion a series of meals involving kimchi and fresh Korean soba noodles. Little Tess went to the Galleria to pick up some more umeboshi for me and saw that they were selling the same brand of fresh soba she loved in California. Like any good shopper who doesn’t stick to her list she fell for a container of kimchi which she’d been craving.

This is a recipe we have often enjoyed.
In 2004, I copied it from The New York Times, from Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column called
“Crossing Over to the Dark Side” (July 14).
My old computer still has some files (recipes, emails, pictures) we occasionally want to look at: No matter how many times I print this recipe, it gets lost. I want to post this favorite recipe on my blog so it will be easier for me to find in future. And I hope you appreciate it as well.

This is a very nutty pesto—just the right sauce for an original wafu spaghetti,
or other culturally crazed noodles, Japanese-style.
You could call this recipe a mistake, because I filled a 2 cup measure ¾ full for ¾ cup of almonds…
How did that work out?
Oh nuts!

Nothing looked prettier on ice at the fish counter than some pale pink and silver trout fillets to accompany the new potatoes and really ripe tomato from the farmers’ market. The green beans were so fresh they really did snap!

This post outlines how to “salt-grill” fish, and how to prepare green vegetables so they retain their bright color. Both are valuable techniques to add you your cooking repertoire.

This recipe is an interesting variation of the classic combination of umeboshi and shiso with chicken. By adding sauteed onions to a paste made with umeboshi and shiso, the flavor becomes richer, a little like a French sauce, yet clearly retaining its Japanese character. This chicken is roasted in the oven so it’s easy to prepare, but tastes as if you spent hours in the kitchen.

My pot of shiso is still going strong, though we are reaching the time when I must allow it to flower and die.
My daughter took these pictures. The beauty of the beetle prevented me from killing it. The beauty of the wasp is alarming.

The last time I visited my favorite Ann Arbor Japanese grocery a display of pretty green and white packages of noodles caught my attention. The packages showed colorful vegetables and curly green noodles. “Deliciously Chewy!” proclaimed the top line, and near the bottom, “Ready in 2-3 minutes.” The noodles are made with leaves of the moroheiya plant, making them a “great source of fibers & vitamin A.” Unlike most instant noodles, these are not fried nor do they have added MSG.

Mr. Tess and Little Tess were home for lunch, and hungry. Usually lunch is a matter of foraging in the fridge, pantry, and breadbox but I was curious about these noodles. I added a lovely tomato, a half package of soft tofu, wakame, and sliced green onions to the soup.

Mr. Tess worked out of town several weeks this summer. Cooking for one: white grape juice, directly from the bottle. Tuna and mayo on macaroni. Thin spaghetti with butter and pepper. Vanilla ice cream in front of the freezer. What do you eat when no one is looking?
Here is a “cooking for one” meal which had some healthy green things to supplement the essentially white starch and carbohydrates I was over consuming.

Cool foods in summer, simply prepared, and served casually, make it possible for us to survive this extraordinary heat.

Cooking once for two meals, planned leftovers, makes the time spent in the kitchen efficient. Sandwiches come to mind as a second chance meal. And noodles are quick to prepare and easily transform a meat dish into a lovely soup or salad sort of meal very different from the original.

A friend returned from Hawaii with a gift: two vintage cookbooks from Japan she found at a used book sale.
We were curious about the DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA, Yokohama, who compiled the recipes.
We wondered how a book published in 1939 could be in great shape.
I did some research about the Yoshikawa Book Store who sold the book,
And its publishers: O’Dell’s Service Bureau, Yokohama.
There was a mystery about Refugees International Japan, and an endorsement from a fellow in the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service.
As usual, I was sidetracked and have an academy award winning short video about Chiune Sugihara, who could be called the Japanese Schindler.
And why was there a need for basic American recipes to be printed in both English and Japanese?