Shrimp and Onion Tempura served with Baked Potato

There is nothing difficult about making the TEMPURA. But everyone who has ever attempted it know that deep frying is a 'messy' cooking method. Ordinary kitchen vent is less than ideal to prepare Tempura. In fact, I recall in my childhood memory that folks deep fry outdoor in Japan and not in the kitchen. The oil splatter takes more time to clean than the time you spent enjoying the meal. So tempura is a dish that everyone really enjoy ordering at the restaurants rather than preparing them at home. There is also the challenge of the 'secret' batter to create this beautiful and light 'spider' crust when the food item is coated and placed into the deep frying oil. Is it the egg white? or soda? or Potato starch, or ??? whatever it is, the satisfaction of ones meal comes from the thought of "homemade", "home cooked", "made from scratch"and appreciation for the effort of the preparer. So, here is my Shrimp Tempura and Onion Tempura served with baked potato topped with sour cream and chives.
The shrimp is fried once. Right before serving, it is deep fried (in high temp) 'quickly' for the second time to golden brown.

Homemade SHISO FURIKAKE with SHAKE (Salmon Flakes)

Finally my SHISO - beefsteak plants have grown successfully this year.  Taking the opportunity of the bumper crop and before any insects beat to it, I started to work with this wonderful aromatic wonder leaves.  FURIKAKE ("shake to cover")  is one of our favorite "spice" condiment flakes to top wonderfully cooked steamy rice or "OKAYU" (porridge style rice ... resembling risotto).  There are quite a few varieties sold at the Japanese or Asian markets.  As simple as the ingredients to this condiment, this is my first attempt to make it at home.   After nipping the leaves off the stems, they are washed thoroughly, then air dried on a large flat basket.  It is air dried for about 3 days.  They can be crushed between the hands or simply use the food processor with wand.  Then, toss it into homemade salmon flakes -- FURIKAKE with SHA-KE (Salmon).  Season with coarse sea salt.  Keep in clean glass Mason jar in a refrigerator.
  To prepare for this wonderful FURIKAKE with SHA-KE (Salmon) - the aromatic condiment, I was very lucky to have found Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon on sale.  The color of this salmon is so beautiful that I was admiring it as I  cleaned and deboned, sliced and vacuum packed the salmon steaks. The salmon fresh is in beautiful orange, nice and firm.  Definitely beats the farm raised salmons.  Whatever were left went in the saute pan with some vegetable oil.... not much oil, but just enough to keep the salmon from sticking to the pan.  Stirring the frequently, as soon as the salmon is slightly browned and look dry, turn off the heat.  Then remove all the meat and transfer them to a bowl.  Add finely crushed SHISO leaves, and coarse sea salt to taste.

 Trimmed off stomach area had plenty of lean meat on this wild Alaskan sockeye salmon.  Nothing got wasted. 

 Return the salmon meat in to saute pan and flake the chunks into very small pieces--'minced' and a bit brown and 'dry'.

 Transfer to a plate, cool.  Add the crushed beefsteak leaves-SHISO, and season with coarse sea salt to taste.

Store in air tight clean Mason jar and in refrigerator.  Serve a teaspoonful or two on top of piping hot cooked rice and enjoy the wonderful homemade SHISO FURIKAKE with SHA-KE. 

Whisker Nav Boe-Bot Project

Sometimes, you need a break from the world of the kitchen and spend some time to explore other potentials in the kitchen. So I did just that during the summer semester. My time was spent immersing myself n the "Introduction to the Robotics" class at the ARC, Sacramento. I spent hours and hours programming the Boe-Bot for the future world of modern kitchen. Naaa... not quite, but it is true that I spent many hours programming because I am not a programmer!! I just couldn't let the opportunity pass either, so I pressed on. It was well worth it. It's 21st century and our 'modern' kitchen is no where close to the Jetson Family style of living. I want to make sure that I take a step toward that progress. While this "Tactile Navigation Boe-Bot" does not take food order or deliver food to your table, understanding the principle of electronics and programming helps me to vision how I would like my virtual kitchen or the restaurant to be. This particular Whisker Boe-Bot will move forward and change its direction when the wire whiskers get in contact with an object. Then, at the end, it makes 360 degree circle and sing a song and stops. The other Boe-Bot projects included singing robot, remote control robot, (and Ping Boe-Bot.) I am hoping for some free time to build the Ping Boe-Bot, as it will have two "sight" scopes that act as "eyes".