Gohan dekita!

So I made dinner tonight. In an effort to contribute more to my family in a way that we'll all enjoy, I've decided to start cooking dinner for them every Friday night. Today I made one of my standards, Oyako Donburi, a Japanese rice dish made with chicken and eggs. Oyako means "parent-and-child" and refers to the chicken and eggs in the dish. It can be made with beef instead, though I've never really done that. I have to substitute chicken broth for the dashi, since my family doesn't really like the taste of it, and I also use a combination of rice wine vinegar, apple juice and sugar for the mirin, since we don't have any alcohol in our house (religious reasons). Usually I make it with carrots and broccoli, but last time I noticed that most of them were picking out the carrots. So I decided to make it with red peppers and snow peas this time, so there was still color contrast, and the peppers are about as sweet as the carrots.

So it's a modification of the recipe from Gaku Homma's Japanese Country Cooking. I really like that cookbook, because the recipes are fairly simple and rustic, and it's full of cultural notes about food in Japan.

( The Recipe )

While I cooked, I watched the Food Network, and in one of the shows they had a seafood boil. Fun! I really want to do that sometime this summer, so if anyone is interested in coming to El Granada for a seafood boil, let me know! We can go to the beach (walking distance from my house), or play games (I have lots of games) or watch a movie or anime or something. I'll gladly throw some steaks or hot dogs or something on the BBQ for those who don't like seafood.

I love to cook for the people I care about, and I don't get enough opportunities to do so.