Cook Japanese with Tamako

One of the difficulties of living and working away from my husband is that I cannot take care of him by cooking for him. When I do come home, I try, but it is often easier to cook what we are used to. However, as we get older, our way of eating needs to continue to change. When we are together, we take turns, but when he has to cook for his mother everyday as a caregiver, it is very stressful and I think his health has suffered over these past three years that I have been working on another island.

Although I have seen things like the Mediterranean diet and the Keto diet for diabetes and high blood pressure patients, I have to go with what makes sense for us, and that is to go back to the kind of food that I grew up on not only when I was living in Japan, but also when I was at my grandmother's kitchen in Lahaina and when my obachan, my great grandmother took care of me.

I have been researching simple Japanese cuisine, not local Hawaii Japanese cuisine that is full of fat, oil, salt, but real Japanese food with kombu dashi, lots of vegetables, very little meat. Even when we were vegan, I have been researching vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian Japanese recipes because this is what we are familiar with. It is the taste profile that reminds me of my grandmothers.

This book has beautiful pictures, easy recipes, familiar ingredients (for me) and the chawan mushi on the cover, one of my favorite comfort foods drew me in. I would love to figure out how to do some of these recipes in the Instant Pot so that is my next challenge.