Thursday, July 19, 2007

My last supper

I am looking forward to finishing my left over pesto pasta I made last Sunday before heading to badminton. Pasta really is so much better the next day! It might seem like a strange meal choice when I have easy access to specialized Japanese ingredients but, in light of forgetting to add the dried tomatoes I bought last time, the desire to make pasta was strong in me. Rest assured last night's meal was more traditional: salad, tofu and rice balls. The lettuce was from a friend's garden and the mere smell of it caused me to regret ever needing to buy the stuff. The tofu was good because I have discovered Katsuo (sometimes referred to as Benito in the West) as a great topping. Add some nori flakes (dried sea weed) on top, put a little soy sauce over the whole thing and it's a great protein source. If I don't feel like adding all those toppings I will just slice up my tofu as usual and add Ajipon. Ajipon is the perfect healthy flavoring. It offers in perfect proportions soy sauce and rice vinegar, probably passed down from the Buddha. It's taste balances the deep savory salty flavor of soy sauce and the tart sour taste of rice vinegar. The best part is not its zero-calorie count, but the fact it can be put on anything. I have no idea if you can buy it at T&T market. I hope so because it's a great thing to have in the kitchen. Sometimes I am tempted to use it as my salad dressing and put it on my tofu but that seems like over kill.

As for me increasing my low tofu intake, this is mainly a factor of understanding how to add flavor to tofu better and knowing what brands are the best. With running so much my body craves meat and tufu offers a healthy way to do that. I only eat it twice a week because the draw for normal meat is too strong, but I don't roll my eyes at buying it anymore. It would actually be kind of hard to eat in Japan if one turned their noses up at tofu because it can really sneak up on you and be found in any dish. I doubt I will continue to eat tofu once I get back into Canada. I remember eating it a couple of times and the texture, due to freshness or quality I don't know, was not the same as what can be had here locally.

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