December 22, 2016 Lunch and Dinner - Azuma Chirashi Donburi.

December 22, 2016  Lunch and Dinner -  Azuma Chirashi Donburi.

At 7:15 I started preparing the 4 lb. of posole.  I chopped ½ onion and 2 lb. of pork sirloin and sautéed that three times until I had cooked 6 lb. of diced pork.  I then washed the posole to remove
December 22, 2016  Lunch and Dinner -  Azuma Chirashi Donburi.

At 7:15 I started preparing the 4 lb. of posole.  I chopped ½ onion and 2 lb. of pork sirloin and sautéed that three times until I had cooked 6 lb. of diced pork.  I then washed the posole to remove
any remaining lime and put all of the sautéed onion, pork, and posole into our largest pot with  a couple of gallons of water and started cooking it at a medium high temperature.  I added ground cumin to each skillet full of meat as it sautéed and four handfuls of Mexican Oregano to the pot, plus 1 T. of cumin seeds,  1 T. of ground coriander, and later in the day about 15 cloves of garlic and 2 or 3 T. of chili caribe and about 2 tsp. of salt.  I cooked the posole all day until 8:30 at night adjusting the seasoning, such as adding a T. of dehydrated chicken stock to enrich the broth.

 I made lax open faced sandwiches on Toasted French baguette smeared with goat cheese, dotted with capers, and garnished with thinly sliced white onion.

At around 11:00 I  was happy when Aaron reminded me that we had a lunch appointment today.
 
I asked, “Where do you want to go eat?”

Aaron answered, “You are the pert, what do you recommend?”

My response was, “Let me make three suggestions and you pick one; East Ocean for Chinese food, Taj Mahal for Indian food or Azuma for sushi,”

Aaron thought a moment and said, “Let’s go to Azuma.”

So I picked Aaron up at his home at Noon and drove us to Azuma by way of Pastian’s Bakery on 2nd St., where I bought day old hamburger buns for $.75 per bag of 8. And then Fano Bakery on McLeod, where I bought five freshly baked baguettes and gave one to Aaron.

When we arrived at Azuma Aaron ordered two specialty rolls and I ordered Chirashi Donburi with my favorite fish and a dollop of seaweed salad.

There was a new chef cutting fish today and I must admit that this was the best Chirashi I have ever had at Azuma.  Not only were there more slices, they were longer and they were more uniformly sliced. Not only was there an addition of seaweed salad, there was also some chopped yellowtail in a cornucopia shaped horn of roasted nori, there were thick slices of egg omelet and spears of imitation crab (fish cake) and shredded daikon, sliced daikon pickles and lots of sushi rice covered with orange flying fish eggs.

I could not eat half of the lovely bowl filled with all the lovely ingredients and took the rest home in a styrofoam box.

Suzette arrived home in the afternoon and began afresh to cook her English desserts like a poached fruit triffle.  We had no plans for dinner, so I tasted a bowl of posole and adjusted the seasonings once again, and we decided to eat the PPI Chirashi.  I made green tea and Suzette drank Rose and we enjoyed our fresh fish dinner.

The Chirashi was a welcome dinner which required no cooking, as the kitchen was already filled with a lot of cooking activity.

We each ate a bowl of ice cream for dessert.

Bon Appetit