Donabe Steam-fried English Peas & Pea Shoots

Yes, I've been cooking and consuming English peas incessantly while they are in season. Spring is also the best season for egg. So, I love the combination of English peas and eggs.

This time, I made simple spring steam-fry dish of English peas, pea shoots, and egg with Tagine-style Donabe, FUKKURA-SAN. Here's how I make it.

In the skillet of Fukkura-san, saute garlic, shallot, and 1C English peas in olive oil for a couple of minutes.

Add 8 oz English pea shoots and 1/4 vegetable stock. Cover and steam-fry over medium-heat for 1-2 minutes until pea soots are lightly wilted.

Add 2 eggs (whisked) and cover again. Turn off the heat after 1 minutes. Let rest for a couple of minutes. (Carry-over heat will cook the egg further). Uncover at the table and serve immediately.

It's a very pure and full-flavored seasonal dish, which I just love to savor so much.

I also made simple English Pea Potage, seasoned with Shio-koji and Saikyo Miso (no cream or butter) with my Soup & Stew Donabe, MISO-SHIRU NABE. It's so good that it feel like I can drink the whole potful of it! I hope to introduce this recipe soon also.

Happy donabe life.

Shio-koji tofu...served "Shira-ae" style

Power of shio-koji, indeed.

After shio-koji tofu is marinated over 7 days, tofu starts to dissolve from outside and it becomes extremely creamy.

With my almost 2-week-old shio-koji tofu, I just mashed it and mixed with roasted beets, radish, and kale.

Righteous. Super rich amazing taste. Guilt-free version.

On another time, I simply whisked the 7-day marinated shio-koji tofu (it's so soft that it becomes smooth just with a whisk) and added some yuzu juice and sliced shiso leaves. Then, just served it with crackers as a little snack with aperitif.

Endless possibilities with shio-koji tofu.

Happy fermentation.

Donabe-steamed Clams & Mushrooms with Shio-koji

It's a nice season for wild-caught clams right now.

So, I made quick "sakamushi" (steamed in sake) style clams & sun-dried mushrooms, with home-fermented shio-koji!

For this dish, I use my wonderful donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe". I just set it at the table, put the ingredients, and the dish is ready right at the table.

This dish is ridiculously easy to make and amazingly tasty. In a shallow bowl (good enough to fit the donabe), put some sun-dried mushrooms (shimeji, enoki, and shiitake) and clams. Add about 2 tablespoons of each sake and water. Also add 1/2 tablespoon of shio-koji. Put the bowl into a steaming Mushi Nabe and steam until everything is cooked through (about 5 minutes).

To serve, I sprinkle some minced chives and drizzle la-yu. So tasty.

Happy donabe life.

Trip to Riviera Maya (Spring 2012 Day 8)...Last ceviche & fish taco lunch...until next time

Good morning, Riviera Maya.

We woke up to watched a beautiful sunrise coming up from the ocean horizon from the bed this morning again. I felt so spiritual just watching it slowly coming up to the sky.

Our last breakfast in the balcony in this trip. It was already our 8th and last day of this trip. After breakfast, we played tennis again for a little over an hour. Really fun.

We are going to miss this magical resort. We had so much fun last 8 days here.

We did ceviche and grilled fish tacos again for our final beach lunch. After we finished everything (including a large plate of guacamole & pico de gallo with tortilla chips), we ordered another round of ceviche. Just couldn't get enough!

In this afternoon, our driver took us to Cancun airport and we took an evening flight back to LA. I ordered margarita on the rocks during the flight, but obviously, it just didn't taste like what I had past days in Riviera Maya.

We are already talking about our next trip to Riviera Maya...our paradise.

Trip to Riviera Maya (Spring 2012 Day 7)...Final dinner

After spa, we joined a small wine-tasting session.

The head sommelier of the main dining gave us blind tasting of 4 wines. I got all the grape varieties and most vintages right...yay.

For our 7th and final evening in this trip, we went back to the main dining of the resort for dinner.

It was another delicious meal. I had kurobuta pork from Mexico. It was really meaty and so juicy.

Mexican chocolate sabayon with papantla vanilla ice cream had nice deep flavor.

Thank you so much, chefs! We will be back again.

Trip to Riviera Maya (Spring 2012 Day 7)...Best snorkel cruise

Today was our last full day in Riviera Maya in this trip. We are going back to LA tomorrow evening. Time flies too fast.

We played tennis again this morning. I brought Japanese sencha green tea powders from home, so we make green tea drink many times every day. It really gives us lots of energy.

Today, we did a special catamaran cruise with another couple. It was a beautiful boat with three suites and living room inside. The catamaran left our resort's pier at noon.

Our exciting afternoon luxury cruise started. There were just 4 of us with a captain and his crew member, and we had a great fun.

After about 1 hour, we switched to a small boat and taken to a coral reef area for snorkeling. It was such a wonderful experience snorkeling in the area. We saw many beautiful fish and ocean creatures.

We went back to the catamaran again and our lunch was waiting. They set up a table and served a nice lunch...I was so happy that they had ceviche! I asked for 2nd, 3rd, and maybe even 4th serving of it. It was great with Sauvignon Blanc.

Cheesecake and tart tatin were lovely, too.

We even had tequila shots...and more wine...and Naoko got sleepy.

They treated us like kings and queens. What an amazing cruise it was. We got back to our pier in the early evening and it was already our spa time.