UpCountry – The UpCountry

Homemade Gyoza

In addition to flowers, I also grow a lot of vegetables in my garden. My garden is a cottage garden where all kinds of plants grow together so my family and I get the many benefits of fresh vegetables in our daily life.

I recently felt like making homemade gyōza for dinner. I picked some napa, nira (garlic chives), green onions and Korea perilla from the garden. I also grabbed a head of garlic I had harvested from my garden and dried this spring.

I chopped everything up into small pieces, mixed in some ground pork, ginger, and soy sauce, and wrapped the mixture in homemade gyōza wrappers. I don’t always make homemade wrappers but I had an extra energy to do so this time.

My favorite dipping sauce is easy:
1 part soy
2 parts rice vinegar
A drizzle of hot chili oil

Our son ate so many. He reminded me how much I loved making and eating gyōza at home with my family.

Gochisōsama deshita!

Rose Gardening

This is my first time to blog since officially closing the UpCountry.

I have chosen to share something from my garden. Gardening has been a hobby of mine for more than two decades. I got started in gardening because my mother-in-law has a beautiful garden that inspired me. Over the years, gardening has transformed from a hobby into an activity that gives me space where I can reflect.

Let me share the words from Venetia Stanley-Smith, a British gardener who lives in Kyoto, Japan, and whom I respect and admire deeply: “The simple joys that nature gives us in our gardens become our refuge from the pressures of each day. The sun in the garden warms us, the storms give us energy and the winds blow away our worries and cares, and our heart becomes still.”

Along with many other plants and vegetables, I have a collection of about 60 rosebushes. This year, all of them bloomed dramatically. They showed me hundreds of thousands of beautiful flowers throughout the spring and autumn seasons. Some of them are still blooming.

Why do I like growing roses? Although it may seem a bit strange, I think the reason I like them so much is because they are so high maintenance. I am a pretty quiet and calm individual but when the new growth and flower buds come on in spring, I become very aggressive and protective against the deer. So I guess it’s the pesky deer that keeps me motivated to grow these wonderful flowers!

Pastries and Kalua Pork Sold Out

Thank you all for the wonderful support. I’m completely sold out today but will be back tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Weekend Pastries and Kalua Pork

I hope everyone is doing well.

With so many concerns and uncertainties, I wanted to do something to cheer people up that is safe, so I decided to sell some pastries on the weekend. (I did this when the Great Recession hit, too.)

I will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to sell out. Items are limited. Cards only, please, since I don’t have a cash register!

I also have some lunch items to go: Hawaiian kalua pork with rice, my grandma’s potato salad and house made kimchi.

I hope everyone stays safe and healthy.

Presenting UpCountry Beer by Atwood

Atwood Ales of Bellingham has recently released two specially crafted beers just for the UpCountry, and what a delight they are. Thank you, Atwood Ales!!

One of these special brews is an amber ale, bottled with a red label, and the other is a saison with a green label. Made from local ingredients, including Skagit Valley malt and hops grown on premises, these beers are a nice complement to a meal or simply great on their own.

Available exclusively at the UpCountry, this amber and saison are relatively low in alcohol content. As always, please enjoy responsibly!

Kimchi

I first tried my hand at kimchi after a trip to South Korea in the early 1990s. When I got home, I went to a Korean district and bought the napa cabbage, gochugaru (chili powder) and other ingredients. I salted the cabbage leaves and covered them with the chili powder, and let everything ferment for a couple of days. (See “Napa cabbage kimchi” for a recipe with instructions and pictures.)

It wasn’t as good as some of the kimchi I’d had in Korea, but it was still really good and the hardest part about making it was waiting for it to ferment.

After that, I bought a Korean cookbook and asked Korean friends about their traditional home recipes. There are lots of ways to make it!

Sometimes, I make kimchi at the UpCountry. The kimchi in the picture is cucumber kimchi. When added to a salad, it gives a nice crunch as well as excellent flavor. I prefer my kimchi fresher to letting it sit until it gets sour.

Kimchi goes with any meal, but my favorite way to eat it is simply with white rice.

Orange Rolls

I love passing my passion for good food on …

I still vividly remember the first day Kim Smith taught us how to make these heavenly delicious orange rolls in pastry class. They are incredibly light and fluffy, yet very flavorful.

I started making these rolls every weekend in 2003 when I opened Hiroki, my bakery in Seattle. They became popular quickly and got write-ups in “Seattle Magazine” and other publications. Even after all these years, they are still one of the best-selling items.

I made them the other day with my son at the UpCountry. He loved them so much, he ate two. I love passing my passion for good food on to the next generation.

Karaage

I went with a tandoori marinade and then deep-fried …

Japanese-style fried chicken is one of my absolutely favorite foods. Literally meaning “bare (kara) fry (age),” karaage is so named because it has only a thin coating of seasoned wheat flour or potato starch as opposed to a more substantial “koromo,” or coating.

Typically made with chicken, the karaage preparation has a wide range of variations from sanzoku-yaki (mountain bandit cooking) in Nagano to zangi in Hokkaido. I usually make it using a simple mix of soy sauce and sake to marinate the chicken, and them dip into katakuriko (potato starch) before frying until crisp. (Adding garlic and ginger to the marinade is also a great way to go!)

The other day, I wanted to experiment with this classic. I went with a tandoori marinade and then deep-fried with the typical katakuriko. The experiment was a success. The chicken came out tender and succulent and worked as a great friend of a nice saison or a hazy citrusy IPA.

Who doesn’t love fried chicken? Karaage is cut into pieces two or three bites in size and is usually boned, making it a great comfort food for lunch or dinner, as well as a fun appetizer to kick off a party.

Takoyaki Nostalgia

When I was growing up in Osaka, takoyaki was one of my favorite snacks. Originally from Osaka, this tasty treat has spread throughout Japan and abroad, including the US. Nevertheless, Osaka is the place to go for takoyaki. Everywhere you go in the city, stalls and shops offer endless variations on this scrumptious snack.

Takoyaki starts with a batter that is poured into a special griddle with half-spheres. A small piece of octopus (tako) is placed in each one. As the batter on the bottom half cooks, the takoyaki balls are rotated for even cooking. When done, they are typically covered with takoyaki sauce, katsuobushi (bonito flakes), aonori (seaweed) and mayonnaise.

A *takoyaki-ki*, or takoyaki griddle (from Wikipedia)

For the octopus-squeamish, don’t worry! The small bit of octopus is so overwhelmed by all of the flavors, you may not even notice the slightly chewy texture of the octopus.

A takoyaki stall, probably at a festival (from Wikipedia)

I remember growing up in the industrial Osaka suburbs, where small factories and metal shops flourished. Across from our tiny row house, a woman made takoyaki in her house to earn extra money on the side. I would stop by almost every day after school to buy some. Ten for 50 yen, or about half a dollar.

They come with toothpicks for eating. The takoyaki are so hot, it’s almost a game trying to enjoy the flavor while not burning your mouth!

I have a small takoyaki griddle now and will pull it out on occasion. As I turn the balls in the griddle, I feel nostalgic for my childhood.

Eating at Home

Since I cook for a living, UpCountry customers often ask what I eat at home.

Well, a lot of cooks don’t like to cook at home (one chef whose cooking I really admire eats cereal), and I’m no different. As often as not, I’ll just assemble UpCountry leftovers for a meal.

Pork tenderloin with sautéed shiitake sauce

Here’s a recent assemblage I had at home: pork tenderloin decorated with a sauce of sautéed shiitake, a sticky-rice-and-asparagus spring roll, and blanched baby cauliflower.

That’s fancier fare than usual, though, as meals at home are typically simple affairs. My biggest consideration is the ingredients: I buy organic, free range, local, and natural raw ingredients whenever possible. Just like at the UpCountry, I keep seasonings to a minimum so the true flavors of the ingredients can shine. Probably my favorite seasoning is a good olive oil.

This is more the normal fare at home. While it might look fancy, it’s merely a piece of pan-fried chicken breast, some couscous and leftover vegetable ends plated together.

The nice thing about starting from scratch is that everything is edible! I don’t throw anything away, and never peel vegetables. The skin is the best part. If you’ve got some veggie parts you just don’t want to use, throw them into a pot and make vegetable stock!

And you know, a visit to the Porterhouse for a pint of beer and a basket of their delicious fries and then maybe a schooner of beer to top it off is a great way to get out of the kitchen—about once a week is how I roll!