A Humble Attempt at Homemade Japanese Cuisine: Celebrating Eleven Years
Growing older alongside my husband is one of my life’s greatest privileges. To celebrate our eleventh marriage anniversary this year, I decided to step completely out of my culinary comfort zone. We invited our parents and cousins over, making it a perfect table of exactly eleven people for our eleven years, and I set out to prepare a fully vegetarian Japanese feast.
I must preface this by saying I am nowhere close to being a foodie or a master cook. I bow deeply to true chefs and culinary connoisseurs! What I created was very humbly an Americanized version of a Japanese meal, prepared with the utmost respect for such a prestigious and beautiful cuisine.
The adventure began long before the cooking, right in the aisles of our local Asian market. I quickly found myself staring at labels and packaging I couldn't decipher at all. Thankfully, between the magic of Google on my phone and the incredible kindness of the store cashier, I successfully gathered all my materials.
Relying heavily on internet recipes, the anniversary menu came together: pan-fried vegetarian gyoza, thick udon noodles, warm miso soup, a crisp cucumber salad, and homemade avocado and cucumber sushi.
As someone who approaches cooking more like an observer, the most fascinating part of the process was studying the architecture of the flavors. The profile relied beautifully on the umami of soy sauce, the nuttiness of sesame, and the simplicity of salt. There were no bright lemons like there were in the Greek dinner spread I have prepared in the past. There were no tomatoes, which dominate Italian cooking, and absolutely no curry leaves or cumin to be found. It was a completely different, wonderful way to build a meal.
In the end, it was a truly cool culinary experience. But without a doubt, the absolute best part of the evening was looking around that table, sharing an adventurous meal, and celebrating eleven years of marriage surrounded by eleven of the people we love most.
