Lately Kuniko and I have been undergoing kind of a weird eating regimen. I don’t honestly recall exactly when we started it – maybe from the beginning of summer. During the week we eat a healthy, simple dinner. Usually we have just a raw cabbage salad, with maybe a few bites of kimchi. Kuniko will also have some natto, maybe some yogurt, and that’s it. We do this four days a week – Monday through Thursday. Then, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we have more exotic (and higher calorie) foods. Grilling, sautes, salads, whatever we like.
This kind of menu really works well for our schedules. I usually get home a little earlier than Kuniko so I can jump on the exercise bike and ride for an hour or so, then come downstairs and chop cabbage for our dinner. It has been so hot and humid lately that a cold cabbage salad hits the spot every time.
Since we eat mainly just salad and greens during the week, when the weekend comes around we can really enjoy the richer foods and they taste more special. Once the season turns cooler we’ll get back into soups, nabe, and curries, and those leftovers will end up being my lunch for work during the week as well. I can’t wait to fire up the slow cooker again soon.
Last weekend was a good example of eating good foods. On Friday night we were invited over to the Yamaji’s suddenly to visit with some friends of Yuki’s. The lady was originally from Morocco and had met Yuki in San Francisco while he was studying there. Her boyfriend was originally from the Domincan Republic and together they were taking a year or so to travel around the world and see the sights. Yuki’s place was one stop on their tour, and the Yamaji’s were nice enough to serve a delicious dinner of okonomiyaki while we talked and shared stories outside in the cooling weather.
After a wild night of okonomiyaki (and tequila) we slept in on Saturday. It was tough getting going, but since the weather was really beautiful we decided to take a run to a burger shop in Nishinomiya. We went to Awaji-shima Burger, right near Nishinomiya station. I had been there on my own before, but this was Kuniko’s first time. The burgers were good, and the dark, kind of dirty environment only contributes to the greasy-spoon feeling. This time I noticed that they put some kind of sauce on their grilled onions, and we felt the sauce was too strong – it dominated the overall flavor of the burger. The rest of the burger was great, but next time, I’m asking them to hold the sauce, please.
For dinner on Saturday we marinated some shrimp in cajun spices, olive oil and tabasco, and then put them on skewers and grilled them outside on the barbeque. I also grilled some onions (to see if I could do it better than the Awaji-shima Burger place), and Kuniko peeled garlic cloves and wrapped them with some butter and salt inside aluminum foil and cooked them on the grill. After taking the garlic off the grill it was perfectly roasted and browned on the outside, and soft and mild on the inside. Kuniko also made an avocado, tomato and mozzarella basil salad to go with the rest of the food. We were still a little full from the burger restaurant, but dinner was excellent. We had plenty of leftovers to work with for the next few days.
Sunday Kuniko had to go in to work to help out a student, so I did a little shopping and relaxed the rest of the day in the cool living room. For dinner I made three sandwiches that we divided and ate with dill pickles. Sandwich number one, salami with garlic and herb ricotta cheese on all-grain bread. Sandwich number two, cajun shrimp (leftovers), cilantro, and smashed avocado on a soft French roll. Sandwich number three, grilled cheese sandwich with Colby cheese and grilled onions (leftovers, too). This last sandwich was a big hit – we can’t get enough grilled cheese sandwiches since watching “Chef”.
So on the weekend it is all about the food, and we are really enjoying it. We’ll have to watch our calories during the week, but so far it is totally worth it!
