Takoyaki

Today was the summer festival at my favorite Japanese shop Ebisuya in Medford. They really did a lot with the store and have apparently become a Sanrio distributor. They also had some bento things, which is nice. I won't have to order soy sauce bottles online anymore. We had cotton candy and some traditional takoyaki which my eldest was kind enough to buy for us. The octopus wasn't what I expected. It was chewy, but it didn't make an unpleasant crunch as I thought it would. Still, a little fishy for me, which must have been the bonito flakes. It gave me inspiration to try it at home. I got the pan, and some sushi grade squid which was very cheap and gave it a go. First I had to learn how to prepare the squid. I came out of it with all my fingers and the ink sac intact. What I wasn't sure of what whether to cook it first. With the traditional octopus you boil it first, but the squid was much thinner and smaller. Still, I gave it a bit of a fry before adding it to the batter. I think that we could skip that step next time though. I also used chicken stock rather than dashi for the batter. Oddly, it came out tasting just like the stuff they were selling.  I also made some with just some green onions and no pickled ginger or squid. I am envisioning making them like little desserts also, with some sugar in the batter and maybe a berry in the middle. We will see. They are also very filling.

They almost came out perfectly round, not bad for a first attempt if I must say so myself. I think that I had the pan a little too hot, but my friend "Cooking with Dog" on You Tube said that the pan needed to be very hot. Next time I will turn it down a bit.

Paige also had her 14th birthday on the 30th, so I made her a cake.

The cake itself was just a boxed chocolate cake, but I made my own seven minute frosting with strawberry flavoring. Just what she wanted.

Penne in Red Sauce

Last night I used up the tomatoes that we got from the food bank along with the last of the sausages they had on sale. Normally we don't have meat with our sauce, but my eldest really wanted it and she rarely asks for anything. How could I resist? There is no picture because I am pretty sure that everyone knows what pasta and sauce look like.

From the cupboard I had a lot of small cans of tomato products which I introduced to some sauteed garlic that I had on hand. I put in some dried basil and red pepper flakes the dropped in the Italian sausage and let it simmer for about 20 minutes before I put the water on for the sauce. We didn't have an additional vegetable, but I do have enough sauce leftover and in the freezer for another day. I got the penne at on of the frequent pasta sales they have at the grocery. This box has been in my cupboard for a couple of months.

There will be no produce box this Friday which is good because we have no money right now because of bills, so this coming week should be interesting. I do have a few things left from the last box though, so we will see how it goes. I am avoiding going to the food pantry since we do have some food in the house still from the last time.