Category Archives: Soba

Sweeps Week Soba Dinner

So May Sweeps on the television is almost over, and what a week its been. Not only do I love television, but I have to watch a lot of it for my job (whether I like the show or not) but who can complain. As my boss always says “What other job requires you to watch television?!?!” He’s right- it’s not like I have to risk life and limb catching crab in the Bering Sea or nothin’ (Deadliest Catch is possibly the best show on television and explains why crab costs so dang much!).

In addition to the American Idol finale (eh, it would have been more interesting had Blake won…it was a so-so season but that performance with Doug E. Fresh was awesome), Heroes ended with a bang (literally) and Dancing With The Stars closed out with Apolo Anton Ono (shout out to the Hapas everywhere!) crowned the winner. But really- who cares about any of this when LOST just blew it all out of the water with last night’s season finale?!?!?! I had to remind myself to breathe during the entire two hours. One of the editors I worked with put it best when he said “The last five minutes of LOST last night was as significant as when Darth Vader tells Luke, “I’m Your Father” in terms of major twists in pop culture history.” Now before you Star Wars maniacs start writing me hate email, remember that I’m simply quoting my co-worker. Not really being a Start Wars maniac myself, I can’t really compare but I can tell you- it was awesome!

Anyway, back to LOST later. Here’s a soba dinner we had recently.

Zaru soba- cold, buckwheat noodles dipped in a bonito broth mixture, wasabi and green onions. A summer-time favorite!

Sugar snap pea and tomato salad with sweet sesame dressing:

Soramame (fava beans) boiled, peeled and tossed with some yuzu pepper. They sell bags of frozen fava beans at Mitsuwa, and although they aren’t as good as fresh, you don’t have to take them out of the pods so it’s great for a quick snack or sidedish.

Speaking of LOST- we were lucky enough to have Michael (who’s been gone FOREVER!) aka Harold Perrineau visit us on set the other day. He brought along Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) so we were extra thrilled!!!

Me and “Michael” with me cut out.

Me with “Jin,” who I congratulated (remember, he and Sun are having a baby!)

We also did a food segment, and Bob Blumer, aka The Surreal Gourmet, was kind enough to come and show us how to whip up the most charming dishes for any party. As a food blogger, I was thrilled to have him and the food was delicious.

Me and the Surreal Gourmet

So I guess this isn’t much of a food post..more like a blubbering fan post. Sometimes variety is the spice of life, no?