The Red Sink - Where Have You Been?Sunday, April 1st, 2012
You may have wondered where The Red Sink has disappeared to, these past few weeks. The Red Sink has been very busy planning a round-the-world trip for the next 8 months, so I will be temporarily off the food-blogging-grid until I return in January 2013. No, this is not an April Fool's joke. We have been very busy preparing our lives for this adventure. As part of the preparations, we have also been busy visiting all of our Kansas City foodie favorites (and some new finds) before our departure, since we will miss the ability to eat whatever we crave, whenever. Oh, the beauty of American consumerism. We know we will encounter many wonderful food experiences along our journey, but what I may miss most while traveling is access to Tex-Mex, of all things. Why is it that no one can make decent Tex-Mex outside of the US? I may also stash a small bottle of soy sauce into my backpack. One never knows when I need a dash of the salty umami flavor on anything, just to satisfy my occasional craving for the flavors of Japan. I used to make fun of my mom for having a bottle of soy sauce in her purse when we traveled around the US. She always knew best, all along. No doubt our trip will be heavily food focused. Our food adventures will be captured through our travel blog, www.travelsabbatical.com, or you can "like" us at the Travel Sabbatical Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/travelsabbaticalblog. Come back and visit The Red Sink in January. 'Til then, sayonara! Red Sink Supper Club Inspiration...Welcome to The Red Sink Supper Club! I spend alot of time at my red sink in the kitchen, giving me Inspiration for all things food. My original inspiration is my late mother, Yoko. This is for you.
As my bio indicates (in the blog section), my mother was a master of cooking a delicious meal from 'nothing.' She never planned any meals in advance. She only used cookbooks for 'inspiration.' She would open the refrigerator door, take inventory of what was available, and 30 minutes to an hour later, our whole family was eating a delicious meal! I, of course, thought this was perfectly normal. She was also a master of deconstructing meals that she discovered during her travels and eating at restaurants, and making it her own. For example, she fell in love with the raclette when she went to Switzerland. When she returned to Japan - made every variation on the same theme, and they were all delicious. When we were growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the 1970s, we did not have the luxury of Oriental Supermarkets, yet that did not deter my mother from creating authentic Japanese dishes at home. Once a quarter, we would drive to Los Angeles and and hit all the Asian wholesalers. We would buy several cases of Nanka Seimen noodles; a huge burlap sack of soybeans; large bag of rice, and so forth. My mother made homemade tofu, natto, miso, used the okara for other dishes, gluten, etc. She was truly a creative home kitchen chef. My mother also dabbled in amateur cook stardom when her tofu patty recipe won a cooking competition in Japan and she appeared on television to demonstrate her recipe. My cooking skills don't cast a shadow to my mother's culinary talents, but I enjoy the same spontaneity in making something from 'nothing; deconstructing and reconstructing dishes; sharing food; and making food the primary objective in most of my travels around the world. |
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