okudo-san, ume-beans, mayo, natto in progress

I have someone very special to introduce to you. His name is Okudo-san, and he is my birthday present from Gen this year. He's got 3 eyes. When he gets hot, smoke shoots out the top of his head. He may sound strange but he's very helpful, especially around lunchtime....

The day before my birthday I caught Gen and Midori discussing my birthday present in Japanese, but again, I managed to crack the code... it was going to be either a fancy electric oven or a sewing machine. Fortunately Gen saved me from both those daunting appliances and proposed that we spend my birthday together, not doing whatever it is most normal couples do on their birthday, but working.

Which suited me just fine. Except for the part where we get in an argument on whether or not to put a chimney on the thing, and the whole working together idea went out the window. Which also suited me just fine. Anyhow, cement isn't the kind of stuff that can wait a half hour when you've got a hungry baby to nurse...

So here he is, all finished. See his face? And his 3rd eye?

He's been making lots of rice and noodles. Sometimes I'll put a wok on his head and he makes vegetables for us too. He even helped me do some water-bath canning. I love him. Thank you Gen, it's probably the nicest thing I've ever gotten for my birthday. And I'm even glad you gave him a chimney (that's removable. Heh.)

In other news, I did some experimenting pickling green beans in the leftover juice from umeboshi. We put up maybe 40 quarts of umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricots) back in June. They're a pretty incredible food, especially since right off the tree they are toxic. After salting them, they start oozing juice and eventually they are bobbing around in their own fluids. Then you put in a little red shiso to turn them pink. Somewhere in this process they become edible. Put them in the center of your white rice and you've got the Japanese flag. They are reputedly healthy, though it's hard to understand why, since they are extremely salty and sour. Corrosive, actually. Which is why I thought the juice might make for good pickling liquid. I'm bored with dilly beans, and we have too many to eat, thanks to Jen's green thumb.

I stuffed a jar with beans, put the juice on to boil, poured it in the jar, then boiled it in a water bath for ten minutes. The beans got all shriveldy and lost their vivid color, and it looks like they're floating in kool-ade. I'll leave them alone a while before I make someone else try them.

Lunchtime. Okudo-san's eyes are fired up. Rice, green beans and tofu and Korean spicy miso, stir-fried komatsuna, and cabbage and tomato slaw. What, no mayo? We'll try making our own, thank you Mark Bittman, this took about 30 seconds to make in the food processor. And it's sooo good, especially after eating MSG-laced Kewpie mayo (which does have it's merits) for the past year and a half. Mmm. I'm dipping radishes, tomatoes, and green beans in it right now.

Then I prepped some soybeans by boiling them til soft for an experimental batch of natto. Apparently, all you need to do to make it is get a package of store-bought natto, mix it up with your hot soybeans, and keep it at around 115 degrees for 24 hours, but it must be ventilated because it needs oxygen to ferment properly. I'm trying to do it in my new dehydrator (another awesome birthday present-- thanks Mom & Dad).

I guess I'd better explain natto a little... it's fermented soybeans which, when stirred, become super sticky and slimy and stringy. When you try to put it in your mouth it leaves lots of little spiderwebs hanging from your chopsticks and then the wind catches it and it gets all over you. And it smells like feet, or cheese, or something gross like that. It's delicious, especially over rice. But not for food wusses. And, like umeboshi, is also supposed to be good for you, packed with blood-thinning enzymes, vitamin K, and it also helps you absorb calcium.