Many summers ago, my friend and I drove our boss’ car across country when the company was relocating to the East Coast. He paid our travel expenses and we spent a fun week cruising from California to Boston.

My friend, who is of Hawaiian-Japanese descent, packed us a cooler full of goodies and it was then that I learned the importance of quality munchies to a great road-trip.

We had fresh fruit, carrot and celery sticks, a HUGE bag of Dorritos, Oreos and her homemade teriyaki chicken and seaweed-wrapped onigiri, ie. Japanese rice balls.

I was a relative novice in the kitchen at the time but as a college girl learning to cook for myself, I was very impressed with her delicious and easy to make teriyaki marinade. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t believe how easy and versatile it was.

Savory and sweet, it makes a tasty base for a variety of meats, tofu or skewers of veggies like mushrooms, peppers and onions.
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On a recent visit home, my mom showed me how to make this dish which is a special favorite of mine. Unlike the traditional dessert-style chimaki served on Boy’s Day in Japan, this one is a meal in itself, more savory than sweet and chock full of tasty veggies, meat, and rice.

These rice bundles are wrapped in a fragrant bamboo leaf then steamed, perfect for picnics since they come with their own “plate” (the leaf) and hold their shape well when unwrapped and taste quite good at room temperature. My mom packed up a few for our drive home and we happily ate them watching the surf and seagulls along the coast.

Like tamales, they can be steamed and then frozen for another day. Then, when you’re ready to eat one, just pop it in the microwave for a minute and lunch is served!

Chimaki are actually very easy to make though a bit time consuming. You may encounter slight difficulties folding the bamboo leaves on your initial tries but don’t give up. The trick is to get your mom to do them — no, wait…the trick is to remember you’re not making anything elaborate, just a simple triangle. And we’ve got step-by-step photos showing you the correct way to fold these guys. So no origami credentials are required
How To Make Savory Chimaki
Step 1: The Recipe
Step 2: Folding the Leaves
Step 3: Steaming & Serving

From those lemon flowers
Set free
By the light of the moon
From that
Odor of a love
Frustrated,
Sunken in fragrance,
There came
From the Lemon tree its yellow,
From its planetary system
The lemons came down to the earth.

Tender merchandise!
Our shores filled up with it,
The markets
Of light, of gold
From a tree,
And we open up
The two halves
Of a miracle,
Congealed acid
Which ran
From the hemispheres
Of a star
And the most profound liquor
In nature,
Unchanging, alive,
Indestructible,
Born from the freshness
Of the lemon,
From its fragrant house,
From its acid, secret symmetry.

Inside the lemon the knives
Cut
A small
Cathedral,
The window hidden behind the altars
Opened to the light its glassy acids,
And in drops
Like topazes they were dripped
Onto the altars
By the architecture of freshness.

So when your hand
Squeezes the hemisphere
Of the cut
Lemon onto your plate,
A universe of gold,
You have poured out
One 
Yellow cup
Full of miracles
One of the sweet-smelling nipples
Of the breast of the earth,
A ray of light that became a fruit,
The diminutive fire of a planet.

Pablo Neruda

We’re spending a quiet Valentine’s evening at home with the cats, no reservations made, no special menu planned, just a simple, hot, tasty home-cooked meal of sauteed zucchini, tofu and beef over rice.

When I was younger, I used to believe that it was important for the man I was in love with to make a concerted effort on this *one* day of the year (forgetting for the moment that he should also make that special effort on my birthday, our anniversary, Xmas, etc etc) to show how much he loved me. After all, I spend the rest of the year doing all kinds of little things for him to show how much I cared. For example, I was busy rearranging the contents of his kitchen cabinets and drawers, potentially much of his furniture as well (even though I had a home of my own), putting out fresh flowers, adding plants, cooking delicious meals, even (gasp) doing his laundry because it was an outward expression of how much I cared.

“I care so much about you that I must manipulate your physical surroundings to my taste. I also hate how you have a pile of laundry taller than me in your closet and cringe to see you wash a single set of clothes every day (shirt, pants, underwear, socks). Here, this is how you do a load of jeans.”

In discussions with girlfriends, I believe I am not alone in my experience. Perhaps, you recognize some of these traits and tendencies as well?

Through the years, the boyfriends, and now the husband, I’ve learned to keep my expectations about Valentine’s Day in check. In the handful of years we’ve been married, hubby and I are rarely on the ball enough to make reservations on time so we often make do with something more spontaneous or casual.

Last year we took a road trip to Mendocino and, seeing a sign for the Charles Schultz museum, turned off in Santa Rosa on a whim. We caught the “Little Red Haired Girl” exhibit when all little red haired girls had free admission. My hair is black and had blue streaks at the time.

But the museum was marvelous. We rediscovered why we had fallen in love with Peanuts in the first place. We weren’t just crazy kids way back when, the strips really were better eons ago.

That night we stayed in Ukiah where we stumbled upon the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas monastery just as twilight was decending when we were looking for something (anything) to do. It’s a magical place where peacocks roam the ground, settle on rooftops and scream from high atop the trees, and where a colony of squeeky bats lives in the rafters of the main building.

This year we aren’t going anywhere and haven’t made any plans for the evening. But during the day at work I found myself anticipating the time I could go home just to be with my husband.

Now he’s now cooking me dinner and I feel relaxed, blessed and loved. The bouquet of flowers on the dining room table looks lovely and I’m looking forward to the meal and spending time a quiet evening with the ones I love.

Here’s hoping that your Valentine’s is just as memorable.

PS. Incidentally, all is not lost on the laundry front. My husband is actually able to do a full load of laundry now. Alas, the new challenge is in getting him to move that load into the drier before it starts to crust over.

I’ve spent much of the day cleaning up my Movable Type templates and it’s getting late. I’ve still got work-related stuff to do so in lieu of an blog entry, here’s a wonderful piece by Brendan Sodikoff that was published in the San Jose Mercury News on Nov. 28, 2001.
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Our potted meyer lemon tree is full of ripe, fragrant lemons. During the winter I love making piping hot lemonade sweetened with one of the honeys we pick up at Middle Eastern markets. This is an ideal drink to curl up with when it’s chilly out and the honey and lemon combination is especially soothing if you have a cold or sore throat.

But this week has been surprisingly warm and sunny so I made the standard summer version with simple white sugar and chilled water. Refreshing and sweet.

Recipe
1/3 c. fresh meyer lemon juice (if using regular lemons cut down to 1/4c)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 c. water
2 mint leaves for garnish, optional

Mix juice and sugar together then pour in water. Then stir until sugar is dissolved. For the hot version, replace sugar with your favorite honey and use hot, instead of cold water.