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The latest…and Catching up with #QuarantineCooking

The past couple weeks has been eye opening – a lot of learning (and more to do), seeing people’s true colors and the heavy impact the recent events of racism has put us through as a nation. While I don’t prefer to mention politics, it’s become ever more clear that showing up and voicing our opinion is one major way we can make change. i.e. Go vote!!

One simple way as a food blogger to help support the black community is to lean in and listen. I have been reading about their backgrounds and how they got into food blogging (or any food related professional). In my last Instagram post I remade a pineapple sheet cake recipe made by Grand Baby Cakes, and noted about her history behind her blog. Firstly, the recipe was So. Darn. Good. Like, I know some people hate the word “moist” but this is next level moist lol. Secondly, her recipes are deeply rooted to her grandmothers recipes and how she takes a twist to a traditional dish. I love that! We often learn from our parents/relatives and this certainly hit home for me as I used to watch my grandmother cook whenever I visited in Japan. In my future recipes I will be looking for inspiration and learn from black food bloggers; although a small movement, it’s one way to help become a better ally.

So I’m excited to check out more bloggers as I find inspiration for me next recipes! I have still be cooking at home in the meantime and have been recording my meals per my #quarantinecooking updates. I missed the last couple weeks so I wanted to share what else has been going on in my cooking adventures…It sounds like we will be reopening this week so this might wrap up soon!

Week 11 & 12 of Quarantine Meals:

Breakfast

I ate a lot of these the last couple weeks – yogurt with hemp, cacao nibs, berries, nut butter and optional: honey or date syrup. So good!!

Lunch

You know I love eggs…I could eat them all day. Here is spinach/eggs scramble over lox. Everything bagel salt on top with my homemade bread 🙂
We had made air fried “fried chicken” and waffles one day and used the leftover chicken to make a quick chicken spinach salad!
Some leftover gyro meat from a takeout dinner we had, over a bed of spinach salad with chickpeas and cucumber. The dressing is a lemon garlic dressing from Chosen Foods. Super tangy!
Leftover lamb kabob and rice with lettuce and my favorite – tzatziki sauce!

Dinner

We had take gyro and lamb kabob takeout for dinner one night. We haven’t had it so long that it was totally worth it!!
I made a pressure cooked “buta no kakuni” which is like a soy braised pork belly dish with veggies. Technically it’s cooked for house but the pressure cooker does the job!
Pork loin with sautéed garlic kale and air fried “fries”. They turned out pretty darn delicious.
I didn’t have tobanjan to make mapo tofu so I make shifted a bit, still a great hearty meal!
Yakisoba is sometimes the easiest thing you can make.. a Japanese comfort noodle dish. I broiled some cod and dinner was ready in under 30 minutes!

These are just a sampling of my cooking the last couple weeks – I will post more updates as the weeks progress but I think with quarantine restrictions starting to lift, like re-opening of restaurants for outdoor dining and such, I will be dining out as well to bring some normalcy back into life!

Have a great week everyone. Keep reading, learning and pushing to educate yourself and others!

Love,
Rina