Seattle food blogger’s at Vermillion

My husband and I went to my first Seattle food blogger’s event held at Vermillion of Capital hill which is very nice art gallery with bar and restaurant. I brought home-made California rolls and Tempura. I met fellow members of Seattle foodies and exchange our business cards. We had a lovely time talking about food, blogs, and etc. Karen Brown who organized events asked us to vote for bar food contests and most of us got some prize for our snack food. I received Strangest bar Snack prize for my California rolls, The Greek Gods Yogurt. I look at Japanese bar food recipes. It is true that Sushi is not listed in the book. Tempura is in the book though.
I posted three photos in this blog, our bar food, Vermillion Sample menus, and my photo with Greek Gods yogurt guy. He told me he was from Greece and surely he was speaking in some other language to other Greek Gods worker. This was taken at Seattle Women’s show at Quest field last spring and I never had opportunity to use it.

Sushi-Making Week

Since last Saturday until this Saturday, I made Sushi 4 times.
On last Saturday I taught 4 students how to make Sushi rolls. They made a California roll, a Seattle roll, and a Japanese roll. They were happy to take home their Sushi for their family. They told me they had a great time producing nice looking Sushi rolls and their family loved them.
Tuesday, at ARCS’s club bamboo I showed fellow assistant cooks how to make California rolls and tuna salad rolls. Although I failed to cook rice correctly and rice was hard, the customers at Club bamboo seemed to like Sushi served with Miso soup and spicy Nappa cabbage salad. One of fellow assistant cooks told me that her husband loves Sushi and she will make some for him soon. Another told me that she learned the reason why Japanese restaurant charges so much for food. It is because Japanese dishes uses so many ingredients and requires a lot of work. I admit that there are many ingredients on my kitchen counter when I make Japanese food.
Wednesday, my friend asked me to make 3 Japanese rolls, 2 Seattle rolls, and 12 pieces of Inari Sushi. Inari Sushi is made of Sushi rice stuffed in deep fried Tofu pouches. I finished all Sushi and brought to my friend’s house around 11:30am. The most of the guests were Japanese wives and they loved my Japanese Sushi and Inari Sushi. I was happy to please these Japanese ladies.
Today, on Saturday, I made Japanese Sushi rolls for Japanese school’s New Year’s potluck and Seattle rolls for my husband’s friend’s moving party.
My family had to eat Sushi after my class and to take Tuesday’s lunch. I think we eat Sushi more often than my parents who live in Japan. Generally speaking, Japanese people eat Sushi for special occasions such as family gatherings and serving for special guest. Some Seattleite loves Japanese food and they buy Sushi at grocery store and have it once a week.

Japanese Curried Rice at ACRS

At ACRS again, Chef Alice was nice to assign me to cook Japanese curry with rice on Tuesday’s lunch. I brought two boxes of curry sauce mix from home. I was planning to make usual my Japanese curry which includes meat, onion, carrot, and potatoes. However, Chef Alice had a better idea. Ground beef and eggplant curry! The curry tasted better than my usual one and looks good with tomatoes and green peas. Unfortunately I didn’t take photos of curry. Alice even prepared nice cucumber salad with Miso dressing and mandarin orange served with curried rice.
Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
I lb Ground beef
3 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
3 Chinese or Japanese eggplants
3 cups of Water (Add less for thick and more for soupy curry.)
¼ cup Frozen green peas
1 tomato
1 box of Japanese curry sauce mix 7oz (Or you can fry curry powder and flour in butter and add chicken broth. You need to adjust thickness and taste. By using sauce mix, you can make tasty curry easily.)
Cooked Japanese rice(Calrose )

Cooking Instructions
1. Peel, cut half onion and make them thin slices.
2. Peel , and mince garlic
3. Cut eggplant halt vertically and slice them to a half inch thickness
4. Heat frying pan and add oil
5. Fry onion until they are transparent and caramel colored. Do not burn.
6. Take onion out and add more oil and fry eggplant. I fried them until well-done. However, since the eggplants will be cooked in the soup, you can quick fry the eggplant.
7. Take eggplants out and fry ground beef with garlic
8. Heat stew pot with 3 cups of water and add cooked onion, eggplants, and ground beef.
9. Boil it and take out dark bubbles floating the surface to the soup.
10. Cook until eggplants are done.
11. Turn heat very low and add curry sauce mix into the soup.
12. Stir until the sauce mix is completely melted.
13. Cook low heat for 20 minutes or more. Stir as necessary.
14. Slice tomato and add them and frozen peas into the curry and cook for 5 minutes.
15. The curry is ready to be served. Serve the curry over the steamed rice.