miso soup

Man, if I hadn't forgotten my camera cord you would have been treated to the unbearably exciting sight of the miso soup I made last night. I know, don't cry, maybe I will remember it tomorrow. Oh well, I'll upload a picture of natto from the net that captures the slime well. Last night was either my fourth or fifth time eating natto in an attempt to overcome my aversion and it is going well. I was enjoying the flavor of the natto and was much less put off by the slime that was coating my mouth, my chopsticks, and my wine glass. Smiller would not even try a teeny bite, however. By the way, I got the idea that you have to eat a food seven times to overcome that from a Steingarten chapter. Here's the recipe for miso soup that I got from our host in Japan, well a rough summary:

-Bring a packet of dashi to a boil in an open pot and boil for five minutes. Dashi is like a teabag, as I learned when I ripped open the first packet and then had to discard the whole mess

-While it's boiling, throw in the ingredients that need some cooking. Last night I used enoki (pictured above) that I got at Otos (I got all the ingredients at otos) and some silken tofu

-When the five minutes is up, turn off the heat and stir in two tablespoons of miso paste.

That's it but it was so delicately flavored and delicious! It was fishier from the dashi than I am accustomed to at restaurants. It also needed greens or seaweed.

Tonight I'll be dining at either the original Mikuni, Maguro in Folsom, or Hana Tsubaki. I have to call around and whichever one has uni is the place I will pick. Hopefully I won't have to gag down any more nasty uni.