Since we're starting the Obon season, this is the time to
reflect on those who have passed on and remember those yesterdays and events
that still make us smile. After all, Obon season is when we dance and celebrate
with the ancestors. And I'm sure you're not surprised that many of my memories have something to do with food. Of course,
food is one thing that usually brings people together including families. And I
was fortunate to grow up in a time where the family always had dinner together
or the extended family always celebrated the major holidays with potluck meals.
Remembering Dad
There's not a lot food wise that Dad and I had in common. While growing up, Dad never developed a taste for Western type foods... or perhaps I should reword that. Dad always had to have rice with his meal. Rice with breakfast, rice with lunch and rice with dinner. In fact, if perchance we finished the rice from the previous night's dinner, Mom would cook a new batch the next morning for his breakfast and lunch. Even on those occasions when we did take-out pizza, Dad would have to finish his meal with rice usually with a can of Vienna sausage. Ironically as Dad hit the later years in life, pizza became one of his favorite foods... even without rice. That and Hormel microwave cup meals.
But I did acquire one food habit from Dad. The glorious
sunny-side egg. Dad said he was consuming sunny-sides well before meeting Mom.
In fact his usual dinner while living Stateside was (I have to take a
simvastatin even before typing this) six sunny-side eggs cooked in the
drippings of 1/2 pound of bacon with everything poured over a huge mound of
rice. If he wanted a richer version (like 6 eggs yolks and copious bacon grease
isn't enough), he would melt butter over the hot rice then slathered everything
(rice, bacon, eggs, butter) with shoyu.
My chest is gettin' a little tight just typing this. And this was Dad's dinner
on a regular basis! Okay, so I didn't acquire a taste for this meal (occasional
foie gras is as fatty and cholesterol laden as I roll and as a reminder for you
Golden Staters, foie gras goes the way of the dinosaur at the end of the month)
but I did develop a taste for runny egg yolks from Dad. He always used to eat
every bit of egg white leaving the runny yolk intact then sprinkle the yolk
with several drops of Tabasco sauce and pop the whole thing in his mouth at
once. Rich, runny goodness! Mom always teased him that after all that fanfare,
he would end up dropping that last bite on the floor. Never did happen though,
it always ended with that last luscious bite! So thank you Dad for gettin' me
hooked on runny egg yolks!
Remembering
Grandma
There weren't very many foods that Grandma craved. She liked dried kaki (persimmon) mainly because it reminded her of Japan and mentioned to me on a couple of occasions (when I lived with her in Waimanalo as an undergrad) that she would rather die in Japan than Hawaii. But even I knew that she wasn't serious as all of her family left Japan for Hawaii so she had no family left in the Motherland. And for Grandma, even Japan wasn't actually the motherland as she was born in Hilo and simply lived in Japan during her adolescence to help bring the rest of the family to Hawaii.
Grandma also liked French dressing especially when it
soaked her rice - I think it was simply because the vinegar in the dressing
mixed with the rice reminded her of sushi.
Her main sustenance was simply rice and tsukemono
(Japanese pickled vegetables) with stirred fried vegetables. But on occasion
she did make this eggplant and mackerel dish that I still enjoy today.
Unfortunately most of the issei and nisei, never really measured anything
while cooking. If you watched them cook and asked for the recipe, they would
simply say "add this much" sugar or salt or any ingredient for that
matter. Sometimes it was even more abstract "simmer it until it tastes
like this". So I had to try and come up with Grandma's nasubi (eggplant) recipe on my own. Basically just 1
can of mackerel with four or five Japanese eggplant cut into bite sized pieces
cooked with sugar, shoyu and a touch
of mirin cooked down until the
eggplant is very soft and the mackerel is broken down to tiny bits. The key is
not adding too much shoyu so it gets
salty and not too much sugar so that it gets sweet but just enough of
everything. Thank you Obaachan for
your nasubi!
Remembering
Grandpa
As a child, I used to be a semi-picky eater. And mainly with certain vegetables. I didn't like celery - that's why Auntie Corinne always made a separate batch of potato salad for me at family gatherings without bits of celery labeling the serving bowl "Ryan's Salad". I also disliked macaroni and cheese so Mom always packed a lunch for me when it was macaroni and cheese day at the cafeteria. I also didn't care for raw cabbage as well as other raw crucifers and still don't care for raw broccoli or raw bean sprouts. However Grandpa converted me from the raw cabbage dislike to the like.
Once every couple of months,
Mom and Dad would pack us in the car for a trip from Kaneohe to Waimanalo for
dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's house. The highlight of dinner was always the
same - roast beef. Mind you, most Hawaii families during the 60s got their
daily meat in canned form - Spam, Vienna sausage and Hormel canned corned beef.
You could literally stretch one can of corned beef for several meals with half
a can added to several pounds of cooked, mashed potatoes for corned beef
patties and the other half added to several sliced cabbages for corned beef and
cabbage. Likewise for Spam and Vienna sausage because the salty and fattiness
allowed you to stretch your carbohydrates and vegetables. Therefore during
select Sunday dinners, we were treated to real meat. Fresh roasted beef. But
that's not what I really remember or even crave. It was the side dish of
shredded cabbage and carrots served with French dressing. Mind you, raw cabbage
wasn't anywhere near the top of my cravings AT ALL. But when Grandpa took a bite
full of that pseudo-slaw and looked at you and said "Mmm, good, yah"!
there was no way I could say "but I don't like raw cabbage Grandpa".
So I simply took my bite full and said "Yah, good Grandpa". Good
enough for Grandpa, good enough for me. And I eventually started eating raw
cabbage on my own even when Grandpa wasn't there. So thank you Ojiichan for getting me on the raw cabbage
bandwagon since everyone knows that pulled pork and slaw is one of the best
sandwiches known to mankind!
Remembering All
I also relish Maui Baban's Konbu Chicken and Auntie K's Maui hotdogs with sweet Kula onions
and Uncle Ogi's chili pepper water and fried tako (octopus) and Auntie Itamura's fried noodles and kim chee and Mr Abe's tamago meshi and so on and so forth. And
though they are no longer here, whenever I recreate their culinary creations in
my own kitchen, they once again are with me. Not in person but definitely in
spirit. So I thank all family and friends no longer here who have contributed
to the way I see food and the way I eat food. And unlike the Obon season which
comes just once a year, I cook and celebrate and remember all year long. Gochisosama!
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