Dashi (Page 92)

RECIPE #1030

• Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009 -- 12pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

This Japanese stock was a component recipe for the Miso Soup in The Book, which will be my next post. This recipe was very simple. I added some konbu (dried kelp) to cold water, then brought it to a boil. I removed it from the heat, removed the konbu, and sprinkled bonito flakes (shaved dried fish) over the liquid. I let it sit for a few minutes, then poured the liquid through cheesecloth to strain out the bonito. That was it! This dashi was extremely flavorful, and had the perfect flavor for the base of the miso soup. Dashi is used frequently throughout Japanese cooking, and I would certainly use this recipe again for any of my dashi needs. It was quite tasty, with a great balance of flavors.

The recipe is here.

I am exhausted, but in the most delightful way! My special gentleman and I had an absolutely wonderful weekend moving into our new house! We closed on the house early Friday morning, and the closing went off without a hitch. On Friday afternoon we took my special gentleman's things out of storage, where they have been sitting for the last year, and we moved them into the house! We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning, unpacking, arranging, etc... Most of our things are actually in storage in Indiana, and we aren't moving them into the house until Friday. So the house is still pretty empty. But we absolutely love it! We spent the whole weekend saying over and over, "I can't believe we live here!" It really is a dream house for us.

Aside from how much we love the house, the neighborhood also seems great! The neighbors are incredibly friendly. All weekend people were stopping by to introduce themselves. So many people came by that we started making a list so we would remember who everybody is. Several people even brought us bottles of wine to welcome us!

This morning I woke up to the sound of kids playing football in our driveway, which happens to be the bus stop for the elementary school. It just warmed my heart seeing them outside waiting for the bus. When the bus came the kids all lined up in a very serious manner, each of them with a backpack half the size of their body. My special gentleman and I just watched and laughed!

I drove back to Indiana today and now not only do I miss my special gentleman, but I miss our house too! I am looking forward to being back there on Friday and moving in the rest of our stuff. It just doesn't even seem real -- a little over three weeks ago we went through that house with our real estate agent, and now we own it! Crazy!!!