PSA: Wear helmet while cycling. Mine took a right side impact, left side cracked 6 in. Can't wait to get this IV out.

I lack the disinterest in meat and moral direction to be a vegetarian, but actually cooking with raw meat is such a pain for cleaning. :( To enable my laziness optimize effort vs. satisfaction, I skipped the beef in Just Hungry's Japanese beef curry (and used curry base instead of making a roux, among other shortcuts and substitutions). The resulting MSG-laden brown glop wasn't too bad although the potatoes should have cooked longer and I probably needed additional cornstarch to thicken. I forgot about boiled potatoes not being good for freezing, so I picked them out to bag a few portions. My freezer meals are racking up.

I also made banana bread again but this time poured the batter directly into the loaf pan instead of lining with foil. The knife came out clean at exactly one hour. The extra 15 minutes can be spent scrubbing the loaf pan!

Yesterday I made pancakes. They were uneventful but good enough to be saved for a week of snacking.

However, today's chocolate chip cookies turned out well! L found a recipe that was similar to the Nestle original - same ingredients but said to melt the butter before adding to egg + sugar. We halved the recipe since we thought 60 cookies was a bit excessive and also had to bake 8 at a time in foil on a glass baking dish, which I'm sure affects results. It was a lot of work for two dozen cookies. I'll get a real baking sheet for next time, but I'm still holding out on the electric mixer (ugh, extra gadgets).

This weekend I decided to eat hot pot stuff instead of making curry. I still want to do bacon-wrapped scallops (need toothpicks) but it takes a lot of work to pre-cook the bacon just right on the stove. :( I also have a bag of frozen okra which I bought on a whim. I'm debating between frying (how okra is supposed to be, thank you all those years of deep south school cafeterias :P) or doing a casserole which is friendlier to my vent-less kitchen.

P.S. I seem to have forgotten to mention baked kale chips. It sounds weird, but seasoning using oil and salt makes them taste like potato chips!

Butter and sugar - I softened the butter by, ahem, setting it on a napkin on a laptop for a while. I was using the laptop and could keep an eye on it easily. However, it wasn't enough, so I put it in the mixing bowl anyway and propped the bowl on a pot above hot water. I mashed at the mixture with a fork.

Batter - Replacement tools for a mixer: potato masher, wire whisk, silicone spatula, and chopsticks. I also licked some leftover batter because there was no one to stop me! :)

Baked result - It took about an hour and 15 minutes at 350 F. The insides were noticeably drier towards the outside of the loaf. I had some test subjects give their approval, so maybe I should make another loaf or two for gifting purposes.

Oops, the kara-age mix failed. It's possible that probably because I misread the instructions. I couldn't get the coating to bind with the chicken, so the result was pieces of chicken and separate pieces of coating. The pieces of coating also took much longer to fry (to crispiness) than the chicken. I wisely didn't use the whole package of chicken but marinated the rest teriyaki-like for normal stir-frying.

Not only that, my saucepan warped so that the lid doesn't fit anymore. I'm not sure why because all I did was boil water in it, and I used the correct burner for the size. At least it was just a cheap aluminum pot from Target? I suppose I could use a spare, water-filled pot as a makeshift humidifier. My sinuses are suffering a bit these days.

On the bright side, my stuffed shells did well at the potluck. Next time I'll use more spinach, real tomatoes, and less meat.

This afternoon I made stuffed pasta shells - enough for dinner and an additional tray which I've put in the freezer. I used this recipe for inspiration.

Other upcoming experiments:

-- Japanese curry: I bought a package of "curry sauce" from a local shop of Japanese stuff. It's evidently made for a foreign market since the packaging and instructions are completely in English, but House Foods Corporation is the parent company of the CoCo Ichibanya chain that I like. I'll be stir-frying up some broccoli to go with this and rice.

-- Japanese fried chicken (kara-age): The store also had a kara-age mix in Japanese packaging. I slogged through the directions; I think it says boil water, add mix, dip chicken, and fry.

-- Banana bread: I haven't made this in a long time but earlier this week suddenly had an overwhelming desire. The bananas should be ripe enough by next weekend. However, I don't have an electric mixer, so, uhhh, workout with a wooden spoon and potato masher?

-- Bacon-wrapped anything!

Who is having a 27th birthday next? I want to make you a cake shaped like three cubes. Too bad it won't be funny anymore.

No more excuses - since my kitchen is suitable for Thanksgiving dinner, I need to start using it for normal dinners!

L's apartment is bigger and better stocked, but we decided to do it at mine because I have a dishwasher and am closer to our primary grocery sources. We cheated a little took a few shortcuts, but it was still good overall:
7 lb turkey breast (sale price of $0.57/lb!) - Lightly seasoned with oil, garlic salt, and pepper and basted every half hour until the sensor thing came out.
Sides - My mashed potatoes (liberal use of butter), Trader Joe's prepared stuffing, and an ordinary green bean casserole.
Toppings - Cranberry sauce from real cranberries and Trader Joe's prepared gravy.
Dessert - Pumpkin pie (Libby's canned pie filling).

We shared with the doorman and maintenance man on duty (well, we ate first to make sure everything was suitable) and still had leftovers. I also kept the turkey remains for stock.

Well, DDR X was fun while it lasted. The older U.S. versions simply can't compare. Mostly, it's tough not having tactile feedback - I can't feel the clicking of the steps at all - and they're less forgiving about mistakes. Once I noticed that I had a full bar, but on my next misstep, I think it dropped by 20-25%! In Tokyo, I would never fail a 6. :P Then again, other people don't seem to have issues.

This afternoon I also passed by Andy's friend's parents' store and found that they had extremely cute 1-up mushrooms! There were several different sizes - small ones with a hanging loop and larger plushie types. Oddly enough, I didn't see any in Japan (although Tokyu Hands did carry mushroom coin banks). I may have to go back and get some!

It should be easier to find Japanese food though. In particular, I want to investigate some of Japanese Food Report's recommendations.

(By the way, I had an evening nap again. I hope it will go away this weekend.)

http://chicagoist.com/2009/09/02/chicago_retains_title_as_forbes_mos.php