Today's letter comes with a personal story to go with the meal I'm sharing today. But.....if you just wanna dive in to the food - this is the recipe to try.
Heyy girl, hey 👋🏽
If there’s any sorta bowl to have when all you need is a hug, it’s this one. But while I get that going, lemme tell you my steamy-bowl story.
As most stories go, I met a guy.
It was 2011 & he was just back from Japan where he’d been living for several years before college.
We were on the same track - a lil Dentist meets Med student sorta thing.
This guy was irresistible like fresh chocolate chip walnut cookies to a glass of creamy, cold milk.
So much so that barely a month later I told him (& I quote) “I’ll make you a married man, [full government name].”
Bold but true. 👰🏽🤵🏾♂️
And so began the best part of my life.
We wove our presents together & shared about our pasts over open textbooks & really good food.
In fact, a large part of the foodie I am today is due to my husband who took the 18-yr-old only-eats-chicken-strips-&-quesadillas version of me & introduced me to literal WORLDS of food & flavor.
the humble beginnings of a simple meal
Then one day, he described a unforgettable dish from Japan. One they all know, love & eat on repeat there.
It was his favorite meal for years & he’d been craving it but hadn’t found a spot serving it in the culinary desert we lived in around campus.
I pocketed that morsel for years before braving internet streets for an *authentic* recipe.
Except I couldn’t even spell the dish, girl so how was I to know? 🤦🏽♀️
Eventually I found a promising lead (meaning it called for stuff I didn't have in my cabinet) & trekked out to Giant to make what would become the first of mannnny, many, many, many Asian meals made at home.
✨ Japanese gyudon. ✨
What I know now is making a dish from scratch you’ve never tasted before is cooking blind. (And my first-year married husband was sweet on me when he said it tasted legit. 😭)
Although I still haven’t had Okaasama’s gyudon myself, the recipe I use today must be wayyyyyyyy closer to it.
I mean, all signs point to it by the multiple bowls my husband has when I make it now vs back then.
It’s soft & has comfort written all over it - as most meat & rice style bowls do, btw.
And I just don’t know which is better - the end result or the no-stress, no-fuss process of making it.
Simplicity never tasted so homey. Warmth never felt so good. A meal just never eased away the tension we hold in our shoulders like this one.
It’s a must-try, especially if this is your first go at Asian cooking.
The ingredients are simple, the cook is easy (no special techniques or tools) & the smell that fills the air while cooking is sweet.
Beef
Onions
Rice 🍚
And if you only have the lil packets of soy sauce from the Chinese take-out spot hidden under take-out napkins, plastic spoons, cheap chopsticks & dish rags…8-9’ll do you right.
Maybe you haven’t got mirin (a Japanese rice wine) or hondashi (instant fish stock granules).
But if you wanna answer the call of a steamy bowl of goodness yourself, most mainstream grocery stores carry both on the ethnic aisle.
And ya know...stick with me & you'll have plenty use for 'em that's for sure.
a steamy bowl of comfort
This simple dish is one I make with relish because it’s a special taste memory of my husband.
So in a sense, it’s more than a meal. It’s a gift.
The humbling experiences of making it blind is a fun food memory of mine. #NeverForget
And the kids enjoy a small bit of it all until we take them overseas where they'll create their own special memories associated with the experience.
Food is worth connecting the dots for.
The meals you make might not always be familiar to everyone at the table the first couple times you try it.
And that’s OK.
Scout a recipe. Shop the list. Write the story & tell it over dinner. ❤️