TONITE: GOYA CHAMPURU!

"But I'll never get the fellers to eat Goya," I found myself e-mailing my sister. HA! Kinya said he'd try Goya Champuru for dinner tonight if I'd cook it! So he went out and bought one bitter cucumber (that's what Goya is), some Tofu, and a can of luncheon meat. We had plenty of eggs in the refrigerator. The rice cooker was set for 6, and Kinya made three bowls of instant miso soup to go along with the stir-fry dish I agreed to cook.

I was a little nervous. The entire time we lived up in Iwatsuki, Kinya did the shopping and cooking both--I was so out of practice. Would I be able to do it? I shot a silent prayer heavenward and plowed in.

Ack! No pork! (I'd completely forgotten to ask for it.) No pepper! The salt in the shaker is years old and has "lost its saltiness", so it wasn't extracting the goya juice the way it was supposed to! (I could see the Goya wasn't "sweating", so I asked Kinya for new salt and added it as if the first dash had not even been present.)

But as it turns out, dish including pork served 4 people; and there were only 3 of us. God probably knew less ingredients made it less confusing for me, so He decided tonight's menu could manage without the pork. Tofu and egg proteins were added anyway.

The teaching on the Sermon on the Mount about "salt losing its saltiness" never really hit me until tonight. Salt is sprinkled onto goya slices and left there for a while to squeeze out bitter juices before stir-frying them. Also, the slices, instead of being hard and acrid, become soft and juicy. I realized if the salt hasn't done its job, you can end up with a hard and bitter dish! 

After we were all done with the meal, there was a little leftover, so I made a Goya Champuru bento for tomorrow. Even without the pepper, I thought it turned out rather good. Thank You so much, Father.