Tango and Carmen

Tango and Carmen played hard-to-get this morning. These are the best cuts.

Cosmos

Cosmos : what makes me homesick.

Autumn leaves

Sauteed Bokchoy with Shitkake mushroom

This is a great Banchan or side dish which can go well with any Asian entrees. Depends on mood and availability, I use XO sauce or oyster sauce to make this dish more flavorful. Please be careful not to overcook Bokchoys, otherwise they will be to too mushy and discolored.

ingredients

1 lb Bokchoys

5 Shitake mushrooms

1/2 tsp Xo sauce or 1 Tsp oyster sauce

1 heaping Tsp of garlic chili sauce (can be found in Asian grocery section)

2 scallion/chopped

1 Tsp sesame oil + 1 tsp canola oil

salt

how to

1. In a big pan, boil just enough water to blanch bokchoys with a little bit of salt. Toss bokchoys into the pan and cover to cook 1 minute or less. Bokchoys should be slightly crunchy and very green.

2. Drain, set the boychoys aside. Heat oils on high heat, using same pan, cook XO or oyster sauce with garlic chili sauce for 15 seconds.

3. Add the mushrooms with scallion into the pan, cook 30 seconds. Add the bokchoys and cook just enough to coat with the sauce.

4. Season with salt.

Crumbled Tofu with perilla leaves

This is subtly flavorful dish where Tofu plays major role. More and more people appreciate Tofu these days for its genuine taste- not as a blend but healthier choice of protein which is often overpowered by other ingredients. We Koreans are very serious about Tofu and I grew up eating locally and freshly made Tofu which was sold by street vendors. It was warm and purely fragrant, with just perfect texture. We didn't need much to manipulate the flavor. Sometimes just salt.

I used organic firm tofu in the recipe.

ingredients

a box of firm Tofu

al bundle of green perilla leaves

3 T green perilla seeds (or sesame seeds) / ground

1 T sesame seed oil

1 T Gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder)

a big pinch of sea salt

1 t soy sauce

1 T chopped scallion

1/4 t chopped garlic

How to

1. Drain the Tofu completely then crumble it with hands.

2. While draining Tofu, blanch the perilla leaves in salted boiling water for 15 seconds.

3. Drain the perilla leaves and squeeze out excess water.

4. Mix perilla leaves with Tofu and the rest of the ingredients.

5. Season with more salt if needed.

flowers for a rainy day

It's fall.

It's rainy.

So I love these flowers even more.