…not to buy cafeteria spaghetti and expect it to be al-dente?
…not to buy cafeteria meatballs and expect it to like mine?
…not to hope cafeteria garlic bread will be edible?

…not to resort to cafeteria food for sustenance? Why?

Pretty Labels
I think these address labels are classy.

I am glad my family and friends in Singapore will be able to enjoy eggs once more.

We are selling Mike’s car. Do you know someone around Seattle who needs a good mileage, well-kept car? We love the car but we don’t need 2 cars here.

I realize that the focus of this blog is quickly moving towards just food. Methinks it’s because we’re living in a city where fresh ingredients and great restaurants reside. Last Sunday, we spent the afternoon outside chatting with our neighbor and he had a whole list of places to visit.

Tonight, we’re going to try one of them – The Crab Pot - it’s down by the pier – highly touristy but the seafood is supposed to be excellent. We particulary want to have the put-on-your-bib-use-hands-only-pile-of-seafood-on-table style of eating and I’m thinking of the Westport [I've waited too long for my crab fix]. Scrummy!

Tomorrow marks a new dawn – private travel to space. Our great grand kids might be able to travel to space for a vacation. That thought baffles me.

More food pictures to share: Mike made his mom’s chili yesterday and we toasted tortillas over the flame to accompany it.

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Some noodles, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, barbecue pork [char siu] and chye sim – we got this scrummy hawker noodle dish from home. We didn’t get any wonton skins so here we are without any.

I found a fresh seafood shop just a mile from our home. They have sushi grade fish at very reasonable prices, various types of oysters, crabs and fish. As we were browsing the counter, I spied some saba (mackerel). I’ve always loved the richness of grilled saba. The texture of Japanese saba is smoother than horse mackerel or Spanish mackerel. Maybe it’s because the fish is smaller in size.

I knew I had to find some good saba recipes:

• Saba No Shioyaki [Grilled Saba Mackerel] -below
• Saba No Tatta Age [Deep Fried Marinated Mackerel]

Marinating chicken or fish in soy, grated ginger and sake always makes a very tasty meal. I love the lunch meals in Open Kitchen - makes you realize that homecooked meals are often taken for granted. Very good instructions and pictures too.
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On Friday, we went for groceries and there was a crowd at the egg counter. I was suspicious and thought that eggs were on a shortage (highly unlikely here)…I walked over to take a peek and found that they were on sale. Get this: 3 dozen medium sized eggs for 99 cents. (limited to 6 dozen) Still, I had to get in on this deal. We could make deviled eggs, curry eggs, tea eggs, soy braised eggs and omelettes. The list goes on for a bit.

First on our list: Deviled Eggs [made with homemade mayonaise that Mike whipped up from Scott Peacock's & Edna Lewis' book].
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I’ve been posting about food quite frequently ever since we moved into the new place. Can you tell we love the kitchen? We made some hot beef curry (Singapore style) and some stirfried Chinese greens (chye sim/you chye).

Hot Beef Curry with potatoes

Stirfried Chye Sim with garlic and ginger