Island Style Cooking

The rain stopped and Monday was a sunny day. However it was really windy and cold! I did a quick run to the grocery store. I do laundry on Mondays and I actually finished early compared to most Mondays.

For dinner I fixed a dish that my dad probably would have fixed for our family. It doesn't really have a name, its chinese cabbage and meat. I use napa cabbage and ground chuck. He might have used bok choy and pork or chicken. We didn't eat a lot of beef when I was growing up, it was too expensive, I'm sure. This is the type of dish that can be stretched to feed a large family. It is also very simple and goes together very quickly.

First I brown the meat in a large pot. I don't know if anyone does this, my dad told me to cook ground meat this way. I put some salt in the bottom of the pan, get it hot and then put the meat in. It browns very nicely and then I drain off the grease and/or water that accumulates. If I have it, I'll put some fresh ginger minced up and fresh garlic in the pan first, get it browned up before adding the meat. I dice up half of an onion and add that to the meat. Then I add salt, pepper, garlic powder if I didn't use fresh garlic, shoyu (its what we call soy sauce in Hawaii) and sugar. I don't measure the shoyu and sugar, I just put in what I think is enough. After that is all stirred together, I add the cut up cabbage. I also add more shoyu and sugar and a little water. Stir it up until its completely mixed, put a lid on the pot, turn the fire down and let it simmer until the cabbage is wilted.

I serve it over hot rice. We'll eat some of the Japanese pickles with it too and Gerry likes some hot sauce on it. We didn't do either last night. This is a dish that Gerry really likes.

I am still not feeling 100%. I think because of it being windy and everything blooming my allergies and asthma have kicked in. I have a bad cough and am short of breath some times. I can also hear wheezing in my chest when I cough. I had an inhaler but it expired so I need to probably do something about that.

The Sacramento Valley is a bad place to be if you have allergies!