A very close friend from Portland sent them over - and it is a yearly gift - a bag of short grain rice from her family's ancestral farm in Japan, and I cooked them right away. I made a dish inspired by an uni bowl appetizer I had from Mu Ramen shop, a new restaurant in Long Island City which has received reviews to high acclaim. My rice had toasted seaweeds like Mu's, but unlike it had salmon eggs (instead of uni) and sweet-salty homemade tamago omelet (instead of tuna tartare), and for freshness mixed in tricolor cherry tomatoes halved, and fresh lettuce and raw Brussel sprouts, their outer soft leaves. It's almost like a Korean bibimbap, right? (Except the gumption of kimchi.) Mine came from dressing the salmon roe in a quick marinade of Todaro mustard, carrot juice chili oil and pepper flakes! Mu's bowl, what's artful about it is, it doesn't try to impress. It's deeply, unadulterated good. The uni rice bowl with salmon roe and wasabi and tuna alioili - a taste of distinction each a whole ensemble! And that's what I tried to achieve. Thanks, Shizu (my friend from Portland), I cooked my Nagasaki rice with your whole farm in mind - all the colors of her fruits, all the joy of home!
Your Nagasaki rice is so full, so rich and colorful.... I could taste it right now. You know I just had Nutella for lunch today. I sent you txt with picture of it while I was enjoying the chocolatey hazzlenut spred and thinking of you with a question: "what's cooking with Gary?" ...I know, I should asked: "what's Gary cooking at this moment?" (imagine a different answer to an almost the same question but actually not the same question at all....) Your cooking is fascinating!
And now I am enjoying your Japanese rice :)
Thank you red moon! As always thank you for your appetite for the "words" in my food! I really think that even if food is a delicious experience at the table - the real "word" is the cook on mind ! LOL !!
I love your comment ! Enjoy red moon!
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