And now for something that completely broke that trend: dengaku. I had borrowed this cookbook from the library and was looking through it for things that sounded good (I will most likely end up buying a copy because just about everything in it sounds tasty and easy enough to attempt), and came across eggplant dengaku = grilled eggplant with a caramelized sweet miso sauce baked on. Traditionally tofu is used instead of eggplant (see the picture - the one on the right is your most basic kind), and it's grilled on skewers. I had only had the dengaku sauce before, made by my dear host mother at home, and we had it on boiled tofu and vegetables. Normally dengaku is something you'd find at a street food stall or alongside yakitori. I had eggplant in the fridge and a hankering for miso so I decided to give the recipe a whirl, and I have rarely been so satisfied with a first try at a Japanese recipe. I also had some tofu that was getting old so I squeezed the water out, browned it with the eggplant, and while both were really really good, I liked the tofu better. It's a hell of a lot of soy at once, but at least it's good for you (minus the shit tons of salt).Bonus: Ty loves it. I always feel great when I try a new recipe he's skeptical about and he ends up liking it. I feel even better when I like it too.
I also cooked a lot of things for the "Classy New Year party" we had at our house on Wednesday night: Salt and Pepper Cheese Puffs (very easy, very tasty and pretty fatty), Double Chocolate Pecan Brownies (I love exploring Maki's blog entries and this recipe of hers is AMAZING), hummus with sun-dried tomatoes (which are tasty but have the texture of shoe leather...I eventually let the blender chop them up instead of trying to cut them with a knife), fresh fruit, and I was going to attempt calamari but ran out of time and I'd had enough of cooking by then. Instead I washed all the dishes, changed into my dress and had fun the rest of the night, and woke up to a clean kitchen. Perhaps my favorite part of the preparation was going to Dig & Save, the last-chance store for items that didn't sell in this particular organization's thrift stores, where you pay for everything by the pound, for some supplies. We couldn't have a CLASSY party if people drank wine out of pint glasses and plastic cups, after all. We found some mostly ridiculous wine glasses (25th Anniversary ones and the like), two heavy glass bar-style shooter glasses, two brown and green Chinese tea cups that remind me of the kind Dianne had when I lived with her, and two Asian-styled black plates that exactly match Ty's rice bowl, in immaculate condition. (We were lucky that day! Many things at the Dig & Save are chipped, cracked, scratched, broken, dirty and/or ugly.) We paid less than $3 for everything :) The party itself ended up rather low-key, but raging parties are not all that classy. It was nice to be able to sit and chat with everyone for a while - there were few enough people so that you could spend a decent amount of time with each person. Most of those that said they would definitely show up did not, but the people who showed up in their place were just as awesome. We also had a few more crashers than planned, but with a whole house to share, it was comfy :) The least classy we got was listening to a couple of Wesley Willis songs because someone there had no idea who he was and we needed to give him one...haha.
And now I'm going to enjoy two MORE days off (for the last two weeks I have been off Wednesday and Thursday from work due to the office being closed for holidays) after working today. Other than how much money I'm not making, I really could get used to this schedule...
