Second year of fireworks « Zach awry in Japan

10 August 2008 Second year of fireworks

This past Friday was a huge fireworks festival held every year on the lake we can see from our balcony. As with last year we invited a bunch of people, only this time I decided to check out my cooking prowess by making everything by hand instead of buying stuff at Cosco. Of course, we ended up with way too much food. I invited about 20, cooked for 30, and 12 came. And, some people brought their own dishes as well. Still, somehow everything got eaten, but only because I wasn’t above making people go home with souvenirs of about a quart of pasta sauce.

Six quarts of pasta sauce. The first time I’ve ever maxed out the “Cauldron,” as I call my huge cast iron monster

I also used the Cauldron for making a huge loaf of bread. Yummy….

Two purple cabbages, three bell peppers, an onion, and a head of garlic before being cooked with red wine vinegar and sake on very low heat for about 90 minutes. I love the colors.

I also cooked enough potato salad (recipe taught me by my Japanese mother-in-law) for an entire army regiment, but I didn’t bother shooting that.

Maki and Zoe getting ready for the fireworks

If you’ve read through this post in the hopes of seeing pretty pictures of fireworks, I’m sorry to disappoint. Right at the end of an entire day of cooking I grabbed a steel pot lid, having forgotten that it had been in the oven for the past hour. And, I didn’t just graze the thing, I grabbed it hard to pick it up. I think Genbo learned about five new words in the ensuing pain-induced swear-fest. So, I had one hand permanently encased in ice for the remainder of the night, and wasn’t able to take pictures. I refer you to last year’s post instead.

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1 comment in “Second year of fireworks”

Jon Van Dalen says:
August 12th, 2008 at 10:46 pm

Sorry about your hand. I am an avid cook as well and about 6 months ago had some yummy potatoes and bell pepper chunks in the oven at 425 degrees for 45 minutes or so. I then reached in and picked up the glass baking dish they were in. Flesh and glass met with catastrophic results. Luckily I was okay a week later, but I actually stuck to the glass it was so hot.