Menu Swap: May 12th

I’m so proud of my menu this week. I guess its because I paired everything together so harmoniously and that I got everything that I wanted to at the market in the first place. It’s also probably for two other reasons: one, I have both my favorite cuisines, Japanese and Indian, and that the ingredient of the week is strawberries!! I love strawberries!! Strawberries are one of my addictions. I can sit there and eat a pound of strawberries in one and not feel guilty about it. The odd part of it all is that I haven’t eaten strawberries in such a long time and I don’t know why. So, the ingredient this week gives me that excuse. Normally I wouldn’t cook with them but I have frozen strawberries so I’ll do just that. There was a frozen fruit sale at the supermarket and I grabbed a bag last week. Here and there the succulent berries will appear throughout my menu but mostly in a raw state save for one - in a chutney. I haven’t made chutney since I made the mango pickles and I have yet to finish them off.

Regardless, I think they’ll pair beautifully with the plantain chips I’ve decided to make. Plantains have become another obsession of mine almost matching that to my kabocha. Mm.. I had some kabocha fries for lunch; they were awesome!!

Again, this week is going to be comprised of doctor visits and exams if my papers come in the mail for my finals. Otherwise, I kind of can’t take the exams without my exam papers..duh. I’m also making two bento lunches to compensate for the lack of posting bentos when I should. I keep eating them so fast or forget to take pictures of them..heh, oops. Well, anyway, I’m hoping - really hoping - that nothing gets alternated or eliminated from my menu plan because, as I said, I’m really happy with how it looks. I bought some Thai eggplants (so cute!) since I felt I haven’t had eggplant in a while.

Thank you Terri for hosting this week and for choosing glorious strawberries for the ingredient. I think it’s time to revisit the sweet red berry once again. In fact, I might just go and buy fresh ones because they appear to be on sale at the supermarket.

If only I hadn’t ran out of breakfast cereal - rats!


Menu Swap for May 12th
Monday - Korean
- Lunch - Tukbokki (Spicy Rice Cake Stir-fry)
- Dinner - Soon Dubu Chigae (Spicy Tofu Stew)

Tuesday - Indian
- Lunch - Baked Plantain chips with strawberry tomato chutney
- Dinner - Chitranna (Lemon Rice) with potato-brinjal kura

Wednesday - Japanese
- Lunch - Noodle Bento
- Dinner - Okonomiyaki with Japanese potato salad

Thursday - Indian
- Lunch - Strawberry Kosambari
-Dinner - Rajma Pulao with plantain vepudu

Friday - Japanese
- Lunch - Traditional Bento
- Dinner - Yakisoba