— Hilda P J

Right. Um, so, you know, at at home here, we've got, uh, direct influences from Japan and from India, uh, as well as, uh, you know, north American, uh, you know, us sort of, uh, food culture, um, within our, our family matrix. And then we bring in influences from our travels, um, you know, to, to different parts of, uh, the world. And, you know, just, you know, I'll, I'll mention one place, which is a favorite of mine, and that's Mexico. And so, you know, those places that, that I just mentioned, uh, appear with some regularity in the rotation here at home, you know, with some, um, sprinkling of other influences maybe from, from, you know, the Korean kitchen or a a, uh, a Thai kitchen, uh, among others. But, um, you know, we like, uh, tortillas and we always have some masa arena so that, uh, we can quickly mix that with some hot water and, uh, press some, uh, tortillas and, um, cook those off. And, you know, once you have that, that beautiful aromatic, uh, homemade, uh, tortilla from the masa arena, so it's gonna be a corn-based, uh, tortilla, then anything really goes in as a filling. And if you want to eat something that's based on, uh, you know, animal meats or, you know, plant-based, um, things like beans, uh, and then, you know, we like to make different, uh, salsas, whether it's, uh, salsa roja from dried, uh, chilies, uh, salsa verde from tomatillos that we grow in our garden. Um, and, uh, you know, maybe some guacamole from the avocados that we pick up at the, at the grocery store nearby. And, um, you know, we always have probably four or five or six kinds of beans in the house. And so those show up as different sorts of fillings. And, um, and then in terms of other toppings, you know, it could be, again, anything. Uh, the other day, you know, we had some, uh, you know, very thinly sliced, uh, or you could also say shiff nod of, uh, cabbage, um, and a, uh, a quick pickle of onions, uh, at the table. So all those things are very easy. They take just minutes to prep, and they can, uh, create a lot of variety at the table for, for each person, depending on how they want to build a taco. Okay. And, uh, let's see, you know, on the Indian front, um, oh, probably in the last couple of weeks we've been on a, uh, kind of on a, on a run of, of making doa, uh, which is a flatbread, kind of a crep like flatbread, uh, based on rice and lentils, uh, that are soaked and then blended, uh, to make a smooth batter. And then that's cooked on a griddle. And then here too, you can use a lot of different fillings, uh, or side items, uh, that you would then use the flatbread to eat. And, you know, sometimes it's gonna be a, a traditional, uh, Indian preparation based upon potatoes and onions, uh, with the addition of spices, you know, mustard seed and, and turmeric and some chili and, and, and a couple other things. Um, but it be, again, anything else, it could be a, um, a vegetable stir fry. It could be with the addition of tofu. It, it could be, uh, um, you know, some, uh, beans that were left over from Mexican night. Okay? Those things come up. Um, and, uh, on the Japanese front, uh, each morning for breakfast, uh, I make miso soup. And that's, um, what our son has been eating, um, in the mornings for most of his life. And, you know, he's, uh, pushing on 20 years old now. And, uh, so I make, uh, you know, enough for the three of us, uh, you know, each morning. And, um, I happen to have some, so I make the dashi as well. And the dashi is stock, essentially, uh, in the traditional Japanese manner. And there, there are different versions of this, but a common one is based on dried bonito flakes or shavings with the addition of bu or kelp, and then that's gonna be simmer, and then other ingredients are added to it to build up the soup. So I happen to have, uh, some dried bonito pieces, uh, from my trip to Japan last summer. And, um, I have a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a shaver. It's a, it's a box with a, a blade on it. It looks like a plane, you know, that a woodworker uses, except you've got this dried piece of bonito that actually looks like a piece of wood. Um, and so each morning, i, I shave some bonito that goes into the pot just as I, as I described. And, uh, we've got some miso soup coming up, and I usually have, um, two or three types of miso. Um, I've got, uh, some white miso right now in the fridge, um, as well as a very dark red style miso from, uh, from, and that's got a very pungent, very strong taste and, and a dark brown, uh, color to it. And so you can use those singularly or you can blend them in different ratios to make these different, uh, uh, styles of soup according to your preference. And then ingredients, um, this morning it was tofu, uh, it was some carrot and onion, and also some, uh, cauliflower greens, you know, the, the STEMI green portion at the, at the base. Um, we always, uh, hang onto that, and I use that for soups. And, um, uh, and then, you know, the other two meals are, they, they can fall into the categories, like I mentioned, uh, just a few minutes ago. So it gives you just a little peek into, uh, what we might be doing here at home.