Culinary suggestibility

-Still a fan of Cooking With Dog, still on some level convinced that the mere presence of a miniature gray poodle makes Japanese home cooking flourish. My sushi-rolling has improved. Tempura's getting there. Agedashi tofu, why had I ever found that difficult? Still unsure how to make dashi stock correctly, and what to do with it once it's prepared. But I've incorporated some techniques, such as "remove the excess moisture with a paper towel" (from what? many things) and rinsing fish in sake "to remove the fishy smell." (The ideal use for a year-old bottle from Trader Joe's.) What results can't possibly be less Japanese than my Italian cooking is Italian. 

-I'm always excited when I see a NYT restaurant review by Karla Cook, because her beat is, from what I can tell, the area drivable from my apartment. Ever since she'd written about Chung Sol Bat, my mouth had been watering. It's more expensive than what 'ethnic restaurant just off Route 1 in Edison' might suggest, but let's all remember that "[r]efusing to spend money on non-Western restaurants is racist." Yes, it's over $20 per person for BBQ, with a minimum of two orders per table, which, if you're just two people, is Princeton prices. But the banchan! A place to go with a group, something to remember when it isn't the time of year when summoning a group would be most difficult.

-Some internet sinkhole recently lead me to a profile of Isabella Rossellini's daughter, much of which is about her appreciation of pesto. This stuck with me, and $5 worth of out-of-season basil, three bowls of pasta later, here I am.