Our New Addition to our Family

While we both love dogs, we're out of the house for a long time each day at work. We adopted a fish a few months ago, but it's not the same things. Finally, we decided we're ready to open our hearts and our home to adopt a cat. We heard from the hubs' hairstylist who adopted a cat from the same place, that they like for people to adopt two cats at once. When we went to the open house, we wandered around and checked out the lovely cats. While many were sweet, two little ones stole our hearts. When the hubs picked up Boo, she nibbled on his ear and purred loudly. That was it. These sisters were our little girls.

Boo and her sister Amelia.

Boo is a super snuggler, who loves to sit on our shoulders and nibbles on ears. Amelia is very brave and the main explorer. She likes laps and warm blankets. During the day when we're at work, they like to take naps together, with their bodies wrapped around each other. When we're home and watching tv, they search out for a welcoming lap and snuggle. So much love for these little ladies. 

Homemade Gyoza with Gyoza Nabe

I like to make my own gyoza. You can always find some nice and inexpensive varieties in the Asian super market, even a decent version at Trader Joe's, but I like to experiment with the fillings and it's nice to know what the dumplings are really made of. My favorite filling is a mixture of napa cabbage, ground pork, ginger, garlic, garlic chives, scallions, soy sauce and sesame oil. After wrapping dumplings, I like to freeze them until I need to use them.

 Panfried pork gyoza with hane (wings).

I pan fry the gyoza and when adding the water, a bit of flour is mixed in. Cover the pan until the water is cooked off. Flip the gyoza onto a plate.

Miso nabe with sliced pork belly, napa cabbage, mushrooms, shrimp, scallions and chives, carrots, onion and pork gyoza.

Homemade Dinners

I finally finished all the application review and have reached another milestone, paying off my graduate school student loans. What a remarkable feeling it is to see all of that debt finally behind me.

 Buccatini with sauteed shrimp, spinache and artichoke hearts.

 Roasted chicken on potatoes, parsnips, carrots and onions.

Country-style pork spareribs in the slow cooker.

Welcoming the New Year with Toshikoshi Soba

The end of the year I end up super busy with reviewing applications for a program I participated on years ago. This year I ended up taking more me-time and reviewed fewer than last year. One week I didn't even look at a single application and it was glorious. 

To welcome in the new year, the hubs made toshikoshi soba for us to eat right before the new year.

 cook and drain the soba

Soba in a hot broth of dashi and tsuyu, mushrooms, scallions and raw egg.