curry soup

Yay I made curry soup and it was great! though it was my rendition of curry soup and probably tastes nothing like the curry soup that I have been reading about tastes. Perhaps next time I will look up a recipe and attempt it that way. oh by the way, in case you didnt figure it out already, it was an American bastardization and was flavored surf and turf curry flavor mmmmmm. sorry about the odd colorization of the image. I didnt have my camera with me and had to use my girlfrends and I dont know where the white balance is on it.

american cooking

I have been racking my brain to decide what American food is and I have decided that America doesn't have any cuisine of its own. Most of Americas food is derived from bastardizations of other countries food. On one had this is great, we have some really delicious food that makes us a culinary adventure anytime that you want to try something new. On the other hand it is really difficult to pin down a recipe that I would take to Japan to describe American cuisine. Sure I live in the south and I could technically make grits, collard greens, cornbread, black eyed peas and other stereotypes but I don't think that is a good representation of who we really are. Please put in your vote on what American cuisine really is and Ill keep working on it. I leave you with a recipe that I designed and that I currently am eating.
noodles in butter sauce:
1 large package of egg noodles (I prefer the spiral kind)
24 oz chicken stock
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of green olives
1 can artichoke hearts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
12 oz mushrooms of your preference
mix together butter and chicken stock boil until it has reduced by half volume. next add olives, artichoke hearts, cream of mushroom soup, and mushrooms. simmer for 5 minutes. combine with very well drained prepared noodles then serve.
I have found that pork goes very well with this so feel free to add diced ham, bacon, or prosciutto.
I can not stop thinking about curry soup I think I am going to attempt a rendition of that tonight. Ill be sure to post the results.

What would I bring

So I was reading another JET hopefuls blog Flying sound. He has just finished the interview process of the application and recounted some of the questions that they asked him. This has given me a ton to think about. The most worry some question was "what would you bring to Japan to teach people about America?" After a few days of thinking about what I would do I decided that I would bring my cooking skills. Several great advantages of this; first is that taking a skill instead of an item takes up much less space in my luggage, second is that every one like food! Thinking about it food is one of the biggest defining factors of any and all culture,s so it seems like one of the easiest ways to teach about America.

mmmm soooo good!

I want to announce to the world that their are some things that America Bastardized from other countries (including Japan) that turn out bad... BUT I have found one of the things that turned out great! and it is pure gold baby! I was in Walmart spending the last of my cash on food for the coming week when I walked past the ethnic food section much to my suprise I found Golden brand curry mix making me jump for joy in the middle of the isle. Upon closer inspection I noticed that there were some very dirty bottles that looked like they had been on the shelf for half of an eternity. I was shocked at what I saw, Tabasco Soy Sauce. I snatched up one of the sticky and dust covered bottles and tossed it in the buggy with partal glee and partal horror. So when I made it back to my girlfrends house I took it to the sink and gave it a nice scrubbing befor opening it up. After that I ripped of the seal, poured some into the palm of my hand, and tasted it woah moma is it good! I should have guessed that spicy soy sauce would be good due to my love to Wisabi and soy sauce mixed to gether for sushi. I was just suprised at how well tabasco did it. so to all the people out there who like spicy food and soy sauce you should try it out. you wont be sorry!