Ok, so, yes the title of this post is a total ripoff of "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee," but it's true that I'm trying to actually feed myself while I'm here.
In fact, as you can see by this weirdly written chart, I've even been trying to "meal plan," or at least make sure that when I cook I eat all the leftovers since I'm still limping along to my first paycheck (it should arrive on the 25th!). As you can see, it becomes a work-in-progress as meals get shifted around or as ingredients start to look a little funky in the fridge (I had to throw out two bags of spinach today because for some reason they were secreting some weird brown liquid...which was not only gross but a waste of money. Lesson learned: buy your perishables as close to the day you were planning to make/eat them as possible.)
But I've had some decent successes, too! I have to find things that I can make in one pot without an oven, and I've also been prioritizing things that I can make in bulk and either refrigerate or freeze for later. They're all still simple things at this point, but given that I've really only baked and never cooked for myself, well, I'm a teensy bit proud of myself. And everyone at training, and now work, is impressed I bring my own food. It's true that 80% of the people buy lunch and/or just eat cup ramen so it's not insignificant that I cook for myself.
Some examples (excuse the plain photo presentation):
Spaghetti with homemade meatballs.
Miso-glazed Japanese eggplant with sesame seeds.
Provencal-inspired marinated chicken with a steamed Japanese sweet potato.
Tofu and spinach stir-fry over rice and a "deconstructed" caprese salad because I had an extra chopped tomato lying around.
Tortilla with peanut butter (which I found! I found it at a specialty grocery store! Skippy my love...), banana, and honey (usually for breakfast).
Beef and cheese burrito with salsa and some soft tofu in soy sauce.
Miso-fried rice with a fried egg, over easy, on top. This rice was a happy accident. I was trying to make yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls) but they kept falling apart so I just gave up and mashed up all the rice and the miso I'd put in and it became this delicious, caramelized, slightly salty bowl of deliciousness.
I've got a few more experimental recipes in the works (and a few I forgot to take pictures of, like my ginger and leek fried rice with egg) but I have a feeling "rice with stuff" and "pasta with stuff" and "chicken with sides of rice and veggies and stuff" will be my staple meals.
But I'd still kill for an oven to bake in.
There's supposed to be bread recipes you can make in a rice cooker so I just might have to try one out...
In fact, as you can see by this weirdly written chart, I've even been trying to "meal plan," or at least make sure that when I cook I eat all the leftovers since I'm still limping along to my first paycheck (it should arrive on the 25th!). As you can see, it becomes a work-in-progress as meals get shifted around or as ingredients start to look a little funky in the fridge (I had to throw out two bags of spinach today because for some reason they were secreting some weird brown liquid...which was not only gross but a waste of money. Lesson learned: buy your perishables as close to the day you were planning to make/eat them as possible.)
But I've had some decent successes, too! I have to find things that I can make in one pot without an oven, and I've also been prioritizing things that I can make in bulk and either refrigerate or freeze for later. They're all still simple things at this point, but given that I've really only baked and never cooked for myself, well, I'm a teensy bit proud of myself. And everyone at training, and now work, is impressed I bring my own food. It's true that 80% of the people buy lunch and/or just eat cup ramen so it's not insignificant that I cook for myself.
Some examples (excuse the plain photo presentation):
Miso-glazed Japanese eggplant with sesame seeds.
Provencal-inspired marinated chicken with a steamed Japanese sweet potato.
Tofu and spinach stir-fry over rice and a "deconstructed" caprese salad because I had an extra chopped tomato lying around.
Tortilla with peanut butter (which I found! I found it at a specialty grocery store! Skippy my love...), banana, and honey (usually for breakfast).
Beef and cheese burrito with salsa and some soft tofu in soy sauce.
Miso-fried rice with a fried egg, over easy, on top. This rice was a happy accident. I was trying to make yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls) but they kept falling apart so I just gave up and mashed up all the rice and the miso I'd put in and it became this delicious, caramelized, slightly salty bowl of deliciousness.
I've got a few more experimental recipes in the works (and a few I forgot to take pictures of, like my ginger and leek fried rice with egg) but I have a feeling "rice with stuff" and "pasta with stuff" and "chicken with sides of rice and veggies and stuff" will be my staple meals.
But I'd still kill for an oven to bake in.
There's supposed to be bread recipes you can make in a rice cooker so I just might have to try one out...
Hi Claire! I stumbled on your blog today and it sounds like we've had similar trajectories, so I thought I'd post a comment and reach out!
ReplyDeleteI graduated from Dartmouth in 2016 after doing 2 study-abroads and 1 internship stint in Japan, managed to grab a job at BCF, and arrived in Japan in February of this year. Currently living in Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture near where my job is, but I go into Tokyo almost every weekend.
I was thinking maybe we could go grab coffee sometime and share our experiences about Japan? Let me know!! :D
Wonderful illustrated information. I thank you about that. No doubt it will be very useful for my future projects. Would like to see some other posts on the same subject!
ReplyDeleterice prioritization