Time for Some Changes: Food

There have been gentle requests lately for me to stop using Dashi, Gomashio and Nori in our food. I love those three ingredients. The same person also asked that maybe I should make the Chicken Hotpot less often or make it without the Dashi. My Chicken Hotpot is not complete unless I cook it with Dashi. Okay, I do admit that I have been going a little overboard lately. I confess that I have been serving up my Chicken Hotpot 3 nights in a row per fortnight since mid-January. What baffles me though is that he requested that I should serve the dish less often or cook it without Dashi last Monday but then I also found him gulping down every single drop of the liquid in last Tuesday’s serving. So, does he like Dashi or not? (The liquid is made up of Dashi, Soy Sauce, Sugar and Mirin.) Another request for the hotpot is to reduce the amount of Lotus Root but that is so good though.

It looks like it is timely that I change our fortnightly menu again. I haven’t changed it since mid-January! Before that there were three changes in the period between December (08) and mid-January. From the mouth of the ‘fussy-pot’, I heard that he is yearning for comfort food. The nasty devil inside me felt like to tease by saying, “You should have married an Aussie wife like what everyone has been telling you if you want to eat wholesome Western food all the time.” Of course I didn’t say it to his face. Why would I? The truth is that M is not very fussy at all. While I can live with the same food over and over, M needs variety more than me. For example, when we used to go to Pancake Parlour, I used to order the same meal but M would try something different in each visit. At home he had been eating the same dishes repeatedly over a two week cycle since January. So, I do agree that we need a new menu.

M had been asking for his favourite soup and something with lamb. So perhaps my Chicken Minestrone and Irish Stew will be back on the new menu. The soup will replace the Chicken Hotpot but I will try to cook enough to only serve it over two dinners per fortnight. Oh, another dish that we both love in Winter is Chicken with Tarragon and Mushrooms. Now that we know that chicken is cheaper at ALDI, we can’t seem to have enough of it. LOL. I am still not sure what Asian dishes I would like to include this time. I will have to consult my cookbooks in the next few days.

Our menu always consists of dishes from both the West as well as the East. This inter-racial couple is always seeking to achieve balance in every decision we make. I admit that I am a pretty dodgy cook and I am glad that M has been putting up with my dodgy food for so long. I have seen Asian men complaining about their wives’ cooking in public. That is just awful. I have also seen one Aussie personality (some people reckon that he was quite a celebrity) who used to sell his wares on TV complaining about his second wife’s cooking after he ditched her to return to his first wife. The second wife is a youngish Asian (Thai/Filipino). When they first got together, he gave her heaps of thumbs up for everything. Anyway, as an outsider, I do not know the full story behind the fallout and I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead too. All I can say is that I am super glad that M does not put me down in public. But I still don’t understand why he doesn’t like Gomashio. So, would I be banning those three ingredients from our kitchen? The answer to that is NO. Regarding the Dashi, I will dilute it before I use it in some of my cooking. Not all dishes require Dashi. M never said anything when I used it diluted. As for the Gomashio and Nori, I will sprinkle them on my food and not his. He will just have to peg his nose while I am eating. LOL.