Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Feisty Bento #213: Badges of Honor

I was looking at my arms yesterday afternoon (this has to be the slowest possible week at work, EVER... maybe), and noticed little spots all over my forearms.  I got a bit of a tan on Saturday at this awful BBQ, and the spots were distinctly lighter in color than my tan or even my normal skin tone.  A bit of peering, poking, and I finally realized what they are.

Scars.

Not just any scars though.

Burn scars.

I've been cooking since I was about 10.  (With a year off from 10.5 to 11.5, for setting the kitchen on fire.)  Over the past 18 years, I've gotten a fair share of oil splattering on my arms, producing fleeting pain that I guess has been sticking around in the form of tiny little scars that I rarely notice.  I mean, I've noticed one or two here and there over the years, but I always attributed it to "that really bad bug bite I got that time" even though they are way too small to be bug bite scars.  It finally dawned on me yesterday that, yeah, these are battle scars.

Badges of honor... time spent cooking in the kitchen... signs of experience...

Was it worth it? 

Judging by how much people like my cooking, I'd say "Hell yeah."

Top tier:  adaptation of miso chicken; miso mushrooms; Woorijip spicy chicken
Bottom tier: spicy marinated cuttlefish; garlic mashed potatoes

Should have sprinkled some parsley on the mashed potatoes to make them pop a little more, oops!

I've been eyeing that miso chicken recipe since JustBento posted it a week or two ago.  For some reason, my supermarket does not stock boneless/skinless chicken thighs, so I used skin-on, bone-in thighs, and marinated them overnight in miso, mirin, and a bit of honey, since I didn't have brown sugar or sake on hand.  Then I plopped them, skin side down, into a screaming hot pan to get a nice crust on the skin. 

After they were cooking for a few minutes, I flipped them, added in the extra marinade, and then added a box of button mushrooms I'd sliced up, to emulate my miso mushrooms.  Of course, these came out a little bit sweeter, from the honey in the marinade, but still super yummy!

Happy bento everybody!!!

4 comments:

  1. Cooking scars? That's cred! My husband chopped off the tip of his thumb making a roast one time. I tell him to be proud of his flat-top thumb.

    (Yes, I retrieved the thumb tip and put it in a Ziploc with ice; but the hospital said it wasn't possible to reattach and tossed it. Shoot, I should've kept it for a necklace.)

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  2. Glad I'm not the only one that burns myself in the kitchen - lol. :0)

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  3. Hi Feisty bento, I like your cooking..I started bentoing after I read your blog. HEHE. I still look at your blog to get inspiration sometimes..or to get ideas for my bento. So thanks and keep up the good work. Well see-ya.

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  4. I came by to see how you did this after I messed up my miso chicken. I'm so gonna steal your combo there. Can you tell me if you use the same ratio of chicken to miso that Just Bento used? 1 tbs per 3 oz of chicken? That was way way too strong for me.

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