sesame-covered tebasaki: just winging it.

as babies, most of us regularly ate and bathed in our food at the same time.  and even though we are all adults (some more than others), i think a small morsel of that glorious messy-eater mentality remains in each and every one of us, regardless of how cultured, well-preened, and properly educated we may be.  somewhere deep inside, we all have a soft spot for getting really super messy at meal time.

it follows, therefore, that there are very few people in this world who don’t enjoy a good chicken wing.

poor man prepped a plate of pan-fried piiman.

when my japanese elementary schoolers list off the foods they detest, there are three which top the list without fail.  eggplant and mushrooms are neck and neck at number two, but so far, the undisputed winner is piiman.  the following is a brief list of reactions i have observed at the mere mention of the word piiman:

1. vigorous shaking of the head
2. two thumbs down
3. face-palm
4. face expression reminiscent of edvard munch’s “the scream”
5. ten solid seconds of fake barfing noises

japanese tuna salad rolls: a bound salad set free.

if you were to wander into one of the estimated 46,000 convenience stores in japan, you would eventually come upon a section of the refrigerated shelving designated for rice balls.  some of them contain extravagent ingredients, like spiced cod roe, chopped green onions, and fresh wasabi.  others are decidedly non-japanese in flavor, such as the surreptitiously bright yellow dry curry rice balls.

but no matter where you go, regardless of whether you are in a 7-11, familymart, circle k, daily yamazaki, or lawson, you will undoubtedly find a rice ball labeled “sea chicken.”

it contains, as you might guess, a 1:1 mixture of tuna and mayonnaise.  they are the cheapest for a reason. namely, because they are just awful.

king trumpet mushrooms: because every party needs a fungi.

close your eyes for a moment and think about every type of mushroom you have ever eaten.

in no particular order, my list includes: morels, white button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, chanterelle, portabellas, creminis (which are technically just baby portabellas), hen-of-the-woods, shiitake, brown clamshells, white clamshells, porcini, matsutake, enokitake, maitake, and king trumpet mushrooms.  there might be some others, but those are the main ones i can think of.  honestly, i think fourteen different kind of mushrooms is pretty good right off the top of my head.  what was your score?

while you are distracted with this fun little mental exercise, i guess i’ll go ahead and get to the point of this post.

true, this post is about mushrooms as i am sure you have already guessed.  but this post is also about a swedish guy named carl linnaeus.

this bread is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

i don’t pretend to be a professional chef.  i cook like a poor man, and i pride myself on that.  i don’t use fancy ingredients, extensive chemical reactions, or obscure tools.  poor man cooking is based almost entirely off of improvisation and a deep knowledge of the ingredients i choose to use.

suffice to say, i am truly atrocious at baking.