Fish and Gatsby

Reading: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Listening: "Flavor of Life," Utada Hikaru

I haven’t updated my “Kristine in the Kitchen” series. I’ve been preparing only unremarkable dishes. My latest night-of-no-groceries dish consists of hot rice blanketed by an over-easy egg, atop which I sprinkle katsuoboshi. The latter dances in the heat, which lends the bowl an entertaining touch. Add a bowl of miso soup and you have yourself a mini meal.

I’m slowly attempting to lose my fear of fish. Cooking fish, that is. I found a slim, illustrated “fish manual” that details how to prepare and season such creatures as sake, saba, tai . . . I recently prepared salmon meuniere, a posh name for floured fish pan-fried in butter (healthy, ne?), which I then drizzled with a sauce of butter, lemon, and parsley. Basic, but yummy. I paired it with a side of stir-fried cabbage tossed with balsamic vinaigrette and more lemon juice.
Lately I’ve been craving roasted meats—roast chicken, roast beef—which may require that I invest in a convectional oven. I could practice new cooking skills while indulging in a return to baking. I’m not missing out on sweets given that Kobe is a center of confectionery artistry. Rather, what I long for is the sweet fragrance of brownies wafting through my kitchen or the warmth of fresh cake on my fork.

On a completely different subject, I've laid the Marie Antoinette biography yet again. I now read only on the go (gasp!), and the volume is too . . . well, voluminous for my purse. I've instead turned to Gatsby, which could fit neatly in my pocket if I had any.