EN - Food is Mighty

Okara no gomokuni

Food is mighty.

It gives us energy.

It provides us comfort.

It brings people together.

Food is mighty.

It's rare to find okara outside of Japan, but luckily because Hawaii has local vendors who make tofu, there is okara. Okara is a by-product from tofu. Its freshness lasts only a few days. In other words, it goes bad quickly.

When I find it, I get excited. I usually find it at Pukalani Superette in Pukalani.

I used okara to make a dish called okara no gomokuni (the first photo of this entry) with konnyaku, gobo (burdock root), carrots, and shiitake mushroom, and cooked soybeans.

I find this yummy food at the upcountry farmers market, sold by a lovely Korean couple.

It's $5. I love getting this.

Many fruits were given to my by my friends.

When I see food in abundance, I feel so grateful and more rich than any millionaire.

Vegetarian Mapo Doufu

This is a Chinese dish. Usually, minced meat (beef or pork) is used, but I make it with veggie ground (made by a company called Yves's).

I love miso soup.

In Japan, we have a bowl of miso soup at least once a day.

This one, I cooked with different kinds of seaweed.

Zenzai - azuki beans cooked with sugar (I use brown sugar), and the white round things are shiratama (rice flour dumplings).

Tenpura made by my friend's mother.

I don't make tempura at home because it uses lots of oil, but I love eating it.

She even made Tentsuyu (soup for the tempura; you dip the tempura in it briefly before you eat), and she wrote it so, so that no one would mistake it as tea or something else - such a detailed care.

Yeah, this is what I am talking about :)

This photo was taken at a potluck party (to celebrate the last Yosakoi class of the last season).

Most of the dishes were prepared by my friend Mika's mother, Fusayo who was visiting Maui at that time. She even has a nickname for her "catering services." It's Chirin-Tei.

I rarely get to eat this many varieties of Japanese or Asian food at one occasion, so this was indeed a special treat, and I loved it. I wish Chirin-Tei will return to Maui soon :)

Food is mighty.

Food bonds people.

Food nourishes us from inside out.

I hope you are eating food that was prepared with care with someone you love.

- Extra -

These are candies made in Japan, representing all 12 Chinese Zodiac signs: Mouse, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and boar.

Aren't they cute?

I was born in the year of dog.