Mom and Daughter Weekend

My father is an avid amateur astronomer and this past weekend, he was away attending "Space Camp."This is not the space camp in Florida, but rather an astronomy retreat in upstate NY. It's rather exclusive and you must make reservations well in advance. Essentially, it's like camp, but all the attendees stay up all night stargazing. Everyone brings their telescopes and it's basically astronomy heaven. This is my dad's second year going and he love love loves it!

To keep my mom company, I decided to come home, so we enjoyed a "girls weekend." Although I spent most of the weekend studying calculus, the evenings were very pleasant. Lots of delicious foods, cocktails, laughter, and Foyle's War.

Despite the fact that my mother tells me that I need to diet (which is true), she made enough food to keep at family of 6 happy! Granted, although the food was abundant, it was all quite healthy. Not only did my mother empty out a lot of the fridge, her Japanese-inspired meals, are incredibly nutritionally balanced! The best food I'd eaten all week!
First mommy-made meal --- yakisoba for lunch
Mostly veggies, with a bit of delicious pork
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evening 1 --- a selection of delightful treats
(L-R): Shio-koji grilled chicken, okara korokke, fried vegetables in a dashi sauce, simmered fish cakes and mizuna [top left of 2nd picture]
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evening 2: essentially all of the same things, but with a few more goodies.
[L-R] Shio-koji roasted chicken wings, sauteed corn/beans/red pepper, sauteed mung beans (moyashi), fried vegetables on somen noodles, okara korroke, and fish cakes with mizuna

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You may be wondering what "okara" is. It's a by-product of tofu. It's incredibly healthy, but a bit bland.  It's used in all sorts cooking in Asia. If you are interested, here is a wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okara_(food)

To end our girl's weekend, mom treated me to Japanese pancakes! These are thicker than diner-style pancakes, resembling hot cakes. So delicious! 
We drizzled some of mom's homemade chocolate sauce on the pancakes. So delectable! 


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