Brown Rice and Cancer ----new study

traditionally in japan, people have been eating brown rice porridge to cure serious diseases.
roast brown rice and simmer for hours, and eat only this dish for a while, many people are said to have recovered from illnesses.

recently, a group of doctors and scientists in japan published a new study on brown rice and cancer
according to this 30-year-study,a certain substance in brown rice can attack cancer cells.
i translated the digest of the study into english here(below).

http://wholelifewithjin.com/brownriceandcancer.html

Tofu Mayo Salad

summer, full of fresh produce, just makes me want to cook and cook and cook : )
with cabbage, red cabbage and corn i bought at the union square market, i created another macrobiotic recipe!

cut thin cabbage, sprinkle sea salt and knead(press)
boild corn and add.
tofu mayo :
tofu (wrap in a cloth and dry)
1tbs of miso
1tbs of ume vinegar, and brown rice vinegar
1ts of sea salt
1/2 ts of lemon juice
1/4 cup of soy milk(unsweetned, organic)
all in food processor until smooth.
mix everything and serve cold or room temp : )

Tomatoes --- night shade, too yin

Macrobiotically, tomatoes, along with potatoes, egg plants and peppers, are considered too yin.
so they are not recommended to eat too much, or if you are out of balance, feeling not well, it's better to avoid.

but they are in season now!
so here is one of the suggestions to balance out the energy.
by adding "yang" energy to it.

sprinkle a bit of sea salt(yang) on tomatoes.
this enhances the flavor and sweetness of the vegetable, as well as balancing the energy.
also mix with other yang food, such as wakame sea weed(also yang)

recipe
cut cube organic heirloom tomato(any tomato is good)
sprinlke sea salt.
add wakame seaweed and black sesame.
add ts of umeboshi vinegar or brown rice vinegar (or both) and mix.
serve room temperture.

The New Moon today

Time to contemplate, eat less, and pray....

Tea Cha Tea

tea, tea, tea,...
so many choices.
they say green tea is full of antioxdant, so good as a substitute of coffee.
in fact, it's said that one of the secrets of japanese people's healthy longevity could be this beautiful aromatic drink.
i, myself, drink organic green tea that my mom sent me from japan almost every afternoon. my hometown is well known for green tea!

---by the way, i do not understand why here in this country they add other flavor to green tea? like "mint green tea" or "lemon green tea", and even add some sugar!!
green tea--loose tea, not tea bag--has such a wonderful flavor so please do not kill it!!---

anyway, macrobiotically, though, green tea is a bit too "yin", cools you down, and a bit hard on your kidneys.
in fact, after i drink green tea, i have to go to bathroom every hour or even more.
---maybe im a bit too sensitive or my constitution is yin.

so what tea is more "neutral"?
kuki cha tea, bancha tea, or barley tea are suggested by macrobiotics.
then again, i reccomend not tea bag but loose tea (pic here is a tea bag , though)
you can find them at health food store.
they are milder, more minerals, less caffein.
real good alternative to coffee and green/black tea : )
have them with each meal or snack!

the bent spoon

it's a ice cream place in prinston.

and they use local and organic ingredient!


i LOVE the concept : )

i tried shiso flavor--can you believe??--- this time.

and yes, tasted sooooooooo good!!



they had heirloom tomato, and NJ corn flavor, too.

i must try them next time : )

Blackberry Picking!

there is a little farm near prinston, so we went there, where we could do berry picking.

i wanted to pick blueberry, but they were already gone, so instead, we picked up some blackberry!

i didn't even know how they grow!

i made a simple salad with the berry in the evening, and the next morning, had it with organic plain yogurt.
yum!!

Eating.....

come to think of it, we tend to think that "eating" is such an induvidual, personal activity.
but it's NOT!

there are so much, so many involved until the food comes to our table. everyday!
farmers, of course.
purveyers, drivers, retailers, or those who cook (and do the dishes, in some cases)
not just people,
but soil, water, the sun, the moon, the wind, worms, bugs, all the nature.
and if you eat animals or fish, they "sacrifice" their lives for us.

we tend to forget these things when we eat, and take it for granted....

in japan, we say "itadaki masu" before eat, and "gochiso sama" after we ate.
to show gratitude.
and i see in western culture, some people say grace before eating.
i think that's very beautiful : )

going to a green market and meet farmers every week, or doing a little gardening really made me realize those things : )
"how lucky, and happy i am to be able to eat this delicious meal today, despite everything else!"

My Little Organic Garden

my little organic garden in prinston is getting out of control!! ---in a good way : )

after the cool, rainy summer, i was afraid that some veggies could not survive, but the hot weather in the past week seemed to have helped!

beet, turnips, sunchoke are all good.
and even leek and celery are doing well : )

weeding, watering, harvesting just for, say 30min, under the intense sun really hit me.

and makes me appreciate how farmers are working so hard every single day, sunny or rainy, hot or cold, so we can eat!

when we say grace at dinner table, we should say, "thank you" to the farmers, too!

What's wrong with green bell peppers??

in yesterday's NY Times dining section, there was an article about how lots of people have not so good feeling about green bell pepper!

come to think of it, green pepper is one of the vegetables that many japanese kids do not like to eat.

for me, bell pepper means this green one.
i didn't even know that there are other colors, and taste different until not so long ago.

anyway, this is so UNFAIR!

so i immidiately cooked something.
sauteed green pepper with fried tofu.
by the way, i buy green pepper from the organic farmer that was interviewed in this article.
Norwich Meadow Farm.
they have a stall in union square market.
and they have so many different kinds of beautiful peppers!
and all delicious : )

i have a theory.
try organic one before you decide if you like it or not.
they taste different : )
or at least from local, small farms.
maybe people who do not like green bell pepper only tried non-organic one!

recipe

1 coat tofu with whole wheat flour or brown rice flour(or mix)
2 saute with sesame oil
3 add garlic, ginger and scallion and saute
4 finally add green bell pepper(cut) and saute with salt and pepper.
5 add 2 tbs of soy sauce and mix
bon appetit : )

Time's full story here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/dining/12green.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Refreshing Summer Noodle Salad

90 degree!
real summer at last!

this hot, humid and hazy weather can lose your appetite.
in japan, where its more humid than here, we eat cold noodle like soba-buck wheat-, udon or somen when we do not feel like eating.
they are easy to digest, and nutritious at the same time.
and also refreshing with dahi-based dipping sauce.

i added a bit of summer salad like celery(from green market, of course) , yuba(tofu skin) and wakame seaweed : )

recipe

boil and cook noodle, cool down.
cut celery, sprinkle sea salt and press
soak dried wakame in water for 5 to 10min, drain well.

dressing

dashi
soy sauce
brown rice vinegar
lemon juice
black sesame
all mix

place the noodle, and salad on top
pour generous amount of sauce
and serve cold

stir and eat : )

my happy happy saturdays

every saturday morning, i go to union square green market.
just looking at those beautiful, delicious produce makes me smile and happy.
---aren't these hairloom tomatoes just gorgeous?

they really stimulate my creativity.----cooking, in my case.
"what i can make out of this or that?"

coming back, straight to the kitchen, take care of all the veggies and fruits w/ TLC so that they last long and fresh. ---takes 30min to 1 hour!

then, cook for lunch : )

today's menu

1 sear-baked okra with sesame oil, ---alternative to deep fry
* eat with salt and lemon juice.

2 salad with hairloom tomato, arugula, peppermint, basil with pumpkin seeds.
*simple dressing ; 1ts olive oil, 1tbs vinegar, salt pepper and lemon juice

3 blanched red beet

4 soup with japanese turnip and celery leaf, w/dashi, soy sauce, ginger and salt

5 and sourdough bread with local grass-fed butter

delicious food makes me forget all the stress and makes me smile : )

summer beauty

in the market,
this year, i have discovered my new "it" there.
heirloom tomatoes!!

as a macrobiotic, im not a big "tomato" person, (nor eggplants or pepper) since they are tropical origin and considered a bit too yin, makes me feel off balance or even sneeze or runny nose when i overeat them ---typical yin condition : (

but look at these beautiful color and shape!
even though they are a bit more expensive than "normal"ones, they are just so tasty!

and i love their characters, too.
each one is so different, unique, just like new yorkers!

for a balance (to make it less too yin) , i add a bit of sea salt (and yes, to pay some respect those guys, i use special hawaiian sea salt) , or grill with basil from my own little organic garden ( i mean, pot)
yum yum yum!!

and each week, i try different hairloom tomatoes from different farm.
like tomato tasting!