What's a party without food?! Plus: Make our family favorite Japanese comfort food recipe for dinner.
Happy September!
My birthday falls during the second week of September and even in this crazy roller coaster of a year, we still celebrated with family, food (more on that later) and my favorite part, cake. I have been thinking about how all cultures use food in their celebrations and that although our food choices and traditions may be different, what remains the same is the ability for food to provide a shared experience and a sort of social glue that binds us all together.
Birthday cakes with candles are the obvious American tradition when celebrating a birthday, but did you know that in South Korea being one year older is celebrated with Seaweed Soup? It contains important vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants that can protect a person from future damage and ensure that he or she lives a long and healthy life. As Korean culture is based on Confucianism, your birthday is also a reminder of the day that your mother gave you life. So, as a sign of respect to your elders – your mother in this case – you eat Korean birthday soup – seaweed soup – as a way of giving thanks.
In Australia children are served “Fairy Bread” (sliced white bread, spread with butter and dipped in colorful sprinkles, which are referred to as “hundreds and thousands” in Australia). It’s simple, nostalgic and rarely served at restaurants or cafes- only at home for a child’s birthday celebration.
And in Japan, they didn't start celebrating birthdays until after the 1950’s! The concept of celebrating the day you were born was initially a foreign concept. Before, the Japanese had only one ‘birthday’, which was the New Year’s Day, since everyone believed that they got older on that day and celebrated together. Today most parents celebrate their children’s birthdays with cake (traditionally a white sponge cake with whipped cream frosting and a chocolate square with the birthday greeting) and sing the “Happy Birthday” song in English!
Traditions from around the world can inspire a new twist (who doesn't love a “theme” party?!) on your next family celebration. Celebrating a birthday at home or just the first week of school (whatever that might look like this year!) there is always a reason to celebrate with food!
Here are a few ideas on how to make your next meal a little more interesting and exciting:
The Mexican Fiesta (Taco Tuesday is a regular thing in our house!)
Fun
Finding a kids Piñata is easy with a quick order from Target or Party City, but if you really want to step it up a notch for the adults try this adult booze version. Makes a great gift too!
Food
SALSALOGY- we love this brand of Traditional Mexican all natural one pot simmer sauces. Perfect to be used in an Instant Pot or slow cooker (easy!) these sauces can be incorporated into margaritas, salads, seafood, vegetables and meat recipes. Their website has lots of creative recipe ideas.
Flavors of South Florida (my birthday stone crab fest!)
Fun
Everything about my birthday dinner was fun! My daughter shares my passion for food and loves to set the scene for a themed meal. She showcased the amazing seafood my husband had delivered (more on that next) with the perfect stone crab table setting. Cute little wooden crab mallets and crab bibs topped each plate along with a mini party hat. The table was covered with a red disposable table cloth(important for clean up as we scattered the stone crab claws ALL OVER the table!) and little bowls were set out for melted key lime butter, and dipping sauces. It was perfection!
Food
Wow, just wow! A friend who lives in Florida recommended that we order our stone crab claws from Key Largo Fisheries. In addition to the claws, we also ordered the chipotle dipping sauce and a stick of the key lime butter (which was amazing and got me thinking about all the other things Key Lime butter would be good on), conch chowder and a smoked fish dip. It all arrived frozen the day before. The claws came fully cooked so defrosting was all the prep required. We had to work for our crab meat but it was so much fun to hammer away at the table and eat the results of our labor! We finished off the meal with a traditional birthday cake from one of my favorite bakeries, Magnolia. We are lucky to have one in Chicago, but they do ship nationwide and never, ever disappoint in the category of sweets!
Japanese food adventure (order in sushi and a special dessert or cook yourself!)
Fun
Play a little and order a Kendama to test your coordination, balance and reflex. This traditional game is fun for young and old alike with many trick variations. My kids used to love this when we lived in Japan and we still have a couple hanging out in our house!
Food
Sushi is one of our go to take out items these days and for a special Japanese dessert I have recently been turned on to a company out of NYC called Mochi Doki. They deliver the most amazing flavors of our favorite Japanese dessert- chewy mochi rice cake wrapped ice cream. Seriously a flavor explosion and a special treat to bring a little taste of Japan to your home.
If you're inspired to cook, I’m going to share with you a family favorite Japanese-inspired comfort food recipe. My boys request this all the time, and it is a carry over from our many years of living in Japan. The original recipe came from an Asian cookbook I was gifted on my 30th birthday (coming full circle here!) while living in Taipei. Since then, I have made it my own with a few tweaks. It’s quick and easy and simple to interchange protein choices. It was originally titled Miso Eggplant (Nasu Miso-Itame), but one of my kids didn't like eggplant at the time, so I renamed it “Miso Pork” as it had ground pork. Then I started substituting ground chicken, ground turkey and even replacing the meat with just vegetables. We still call it Miso Pork no matter what protein I use, except when I’m serving it to my vegetarian daughter without the meat! Actually, I think I should re-name it MI SO HUNGRY!
Miso Pork…Japanese Comfort Food
Makes 4 generous servings.
Ingredients:
2 Small Japanese (thin) eggplants, cut crosswise into 2-inch lengths and then lengthwise into 1-inch-thick wedges
3 Small peppers (any color is fine, original recipe was green), seeded and cut into 1x2 inch pieces
2-Inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced or grated
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Pound of ground pork, chicken or turkey (omit if vegetarian and replace with extra veggies)
1 Tablespoon of sake (you can substitute white wine or even leave this out if you don’t have)
2 Tablespoons of miso (I prefer white miso for this dish but dark miso works too)
1/2 Cup water
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon of cornstarch or arrowroot starch
1 1/2 Tablespoons cold water
Process:
Prep all vegetables and ginger.
Mix 1/2 cup water, soy sauce, miso and sugar together in a small bowl to dissolve sugar and blend miso.
Mix cornstarch with 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water in small bowl until smooth, reserve.
Heat wok or heavy duty skillet over high heat for 30 seconds. Add oil and heat until hot. Add ground meat and cook stirring constantly until meat turns white, about 5 minutes.
Add ginger, eggplant and peppers to wok. Cook stirring constantly until vegetables are almost tender about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add sake to wok, cook 30 seconds.
Stir in miso mixture and reduce heat to a simmer (not good to boil miso!). Add cornstarch mixture and cook stirring until sauce thickens, about 1 minute. Serve immediately over steamed Japanese white rice,
Teach your family what one says before eating together in Japan-Itadakimasu!
Stay hungry and curious and be sure to share this with a friend who is cooking from home and looking for some inspiration. Have a great weekend!