A notification popped up last week informing me that the Lunchadora had reached 100 posts.  It made me proud.  It also made me wonder…the Lunchadora was born of a near-nervous breakdown in a Wegmans parking lot whilst listening to Bob Seger… Was I still that person?  Was I the same self-absorbed, neurotic, pessimist expecting the world to offer me fulfilment without giving anything in return?

I think so.

But that’s okay. I now have 100 recipes organised by category.  When I want to make gluten free chicken nuggets, the recipe is right there.

And it’s more than that.  I’m grateful for this space and for a routine to process my thoughts about food and life.  There have been weeks, due to uncharacteristic happiness or sadness, where I’ve taken a break.  But I come back to it.  I like writing this blog.  Sometimes I reread something I’ve written that makes me cringe.  Mostly it’s fine.  Sometimes I laugh.

It means more than I can express that there are people who take the time to read this blog.  I suspect they’re mostly rogue spinsters, successful Japanese businessmen living in Germany, and my family.  To them, and to you, dear reader;  Thank you. Doumo arigatou.  Ankthay ouyou eryvay uchmay.

Banana Bread

• 125g butter (room temperature)
• 120g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3-4 gross old bananas
• 225 gluten-free flour mix (I use Doves Farm)
• 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 50 grams finely chopped dates
• 50 gram finely chopped pecans
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to (fan) 160c/320f.
2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy with a mixer.
3. Beat eggs in one at a time until fully incorporated.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and fold together until fully incorporated.
5. Pour mixture into buttered loaf tin, and bake for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted.
6. Leave to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.
7. It tastes so nice toasted, with lots of butter.

Nutritional Information: (8 servings)

• Calories:  373
• Carbs:  54g
• Sugar: 26 g
• Fat:  16g
• Protein:  5g

My mother has written two cookbooks.  They’re small, spiral-bound volumes full of my favorite childhood meals and desserts.  She didn’t print many.  Just enough for rogue spinsters and family.  But they’re great cookbooks, and the world should know about them. And with John Besh and Mario Batali out of the picture-this could be my mom’s year.

To be fair, you won’t find a japchae recipe in volume I or volume II.  But that’s only because Wegmans didn’t stock dangmyeon noodles in the 80’s and 90’s.  My mom was (and is) always trying new recipes and experimenting.  As a kid, I thought all moms fed their kids carefully considered meals from the Betty Crocker international cookbook, and had a non-negotiable mayonnaise brand.  (HELLMANN’S!)   It wasn’t until I asked a friend to stay for dinner that I learned otherwise.

“Well, what’s your mom making?”  My friend asked.  She’d spent ninety straight minutes with me, and probably had the wits about her to anticipate things might unravel at any moment.

We walked into the kitchen.  Harry Belofante was blaring, and my mother had just set a tray of bananas on fire.

“Ooh.”  I said, turning to my friend, “It’s Caribbean night.”

My friend declined.  Maybe her family was having Stovetop Stuffing or something.  And, in hindsight, a stew studded with raisins and cilantro was an ambitions meal to spring on an eleven year old from Cheektowaga.  She missed out though.  In all the years since, I haven’t had goat so tender, nor bananas so perfectly caramelised.

Japchae

• 4 tsp tamari
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp rice wine
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 salt
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger, grated
• 1/2 lb sirloin steak, cut into strips
• 1 TBS chicken broth
• 1 tsp honey
• 100 g spinach
• 200 g sweet potato noodles (dangmyeon)
• 1 TBS avocado oil
• 1 carrot julienned
• 1/2 red pepper sliced into thin strips
• 5 shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly
• 4 green onions cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 TBS toasted sesame seeds, divided

1. Mix the tamari, sesame oil, rice wine, white pepper, salt, garlic, and ginger.
2. Divide the sauce mixture, and marinate the steak in one half of the sauce mixture for 1 hour.
3. Combine the other half of the sauce mixture with the chicken broth and honey.  Set aside.
4. While waiting, parboil the spinach for 30 seconds.  Remove the spinach and rinse.  Drain by squeezing the water out.  Don’t drain the water in the pot.  Keep it for the noodles.
5. Gently cook the noodles for five minutes.  Drain and cut into 6 inch lengths.  Toss with some sesame oil to keep it from sticking.
6. Heat the avocado oil until shimmering.  Add the beef and stir fry until cooked through.  Remove and set aside.
7. Add the carrot, pepper, and mushroom and cook for a minute or so.
8. Add the noodles, spinach, green onions, sauce, and half the sesame seeds.
9. Stir fry 2-3 minutes.
10. Plate and top with remaining sesame seeds.

Nutritional Information: (2 Huge Servings)

• Calories: 749
• Fat: 31
• Carbohydrates: 99
• Protein: 18.6

I can’t remember if it was last year or the year before, but my New Year’s resolutions were insane.

Highlights:

1. Give back to the community in some vague, noncommittal way.
2. Become a completely different person.
3. Learn to play the accordion.
4. Make sure every part of my body is never gross.

And about thirty-five more.

I didn’t follow through on a single one. I can’t quite articulate the uneasy space of striving to be a better, but creating a set of expectations that sabotages the entire process…yet I’m sure that’s what I was doing.

Not this year though.

Goals for 2018:

1. Pass UK driving test.
2. Become an Eagle Scout.
3. Quit caffeine.

Honey-Miso Coconut Butter

• 40 grams coconut butter, softened
• 10-15 grams white miso
• 10 grams (or to taste) honey

1. Mix together into a smooth whipped butter.
2. This is for a friend who is lactose intolerant, but eats cheese, milk, and butter anyway, and then soils rental cars.

Nutritional Information:  six (10g servings)

• Calories: 78
• Fat: 4.6
• Carbs: 7.4
• Protien: 0.4

***My brother

I wish I could write something fun that doubles as a life lesson, but I can’t.  Not today.  At least not without being super preachy.  I’m feeling sanctimonious having been stuck inside for two days caring for my sick five year old.  See, I’m a perfect mom when my child is ill.  Cuddles, timely removal of vomit from buckets, a constant stream of grape flavoured electrolyte, games of Operation, and I never take a temperature rectally.

Normally, I don’t mention my kid because I’m sure it’s upsetting to some people that I’m responsible for the emotional and physical health of another human being.  But I”m prideful of my mothering abilities on a sick day.

Anyway, here’s an easy recipe with a thousand ingredients and several labor intensive steps. My brother liked it, but he’s been placating me ever since he told me a few weeks ago that he never misses me.

Okonomiyaki

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2/3 cup dashi or chicken broth
• 2, large eggs beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 5-6 spring onions thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 pointed or napa cabbage finely shredded
• 300 grams raw shrimp, peeled and chopped
• 2 TBS katsuobushi flakes
• 4 TBS oil for frying

1. Combine all ingredients up to the cabbage and mix until smooth.
2. Gently stir in the cabbage,  shrimp, and katsuobushi flakes.
3. Heat 1 TBS oil until shimmering.
4. Add 1/4 of the mixture and cook for three minutes until nice and golden.
5. Carefully flip and cook another 2-3 minutes.
6. Use a pastry brush to coat one side of the pancake with the okonomiyaki sauce (recipe below).
7. Follow the same process to create three more.
8. Top with katsuobushi, sesame and nori, and mayonnaise.
9. It is a lot of work, but it’s worth it!

Okonomiyaki Sauce

• 3 TBS ketchup
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 TBS worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

1. Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and heat on low until combined and slightly thickened.

TOPPINGS:

• okonomiyaki sauce
• Mayo (I have a great recipe on this site, but I’m not sure how to connect it)
• nori and seaweed flakes
• katsuobushi flakes

Nutritional Information: Includes the pancake recipe plus the okonomiyaki sauce and 1.25 TBS mayo.

• Calories 582
• Fat 32
• Carbs 38.7
• Protien 28.8

***Like this guy, my brother ain’t missing me.