I’m so thankful to have the chance to live in an environment which allows me to try new food from all over the world. However, choices of fresh seafood are so limited here in east Tennessee…and that makes me miss my home country even more.

Finding frozen cod, which is easily available here, changed my attitude toward cooking dramatically though. Just add a small amount into a soy sauce based soup to get a traditional restaurant quality flavor. I had no idea how to produce such an elegant taste before and perhaps not the right way…anyway, what I want to say is ever since I started using this high protein, low fat, vitamin-rich white fish, it has become one of the items that I always have in stock in my freezer. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I have eaten more cod in the past year than I did in my entire life in Japan.

Cod goes well with so many different sauces and types of cooking because of its mild flavor. This time, I prepared it with a creamy sauce, still guilt-free because of the fish’s health benefits. Its delicate flaky texture is perfect for embracing the flavorful sauce.

Cod with Brussels Sprouts
& Lemony Anchovy Butter Sauce

I enjoy making table coverings on occasion. The blue and brown plaid table covering is the one I made for Valentine’s day. My first choice of color for this event was pink but my two guys would have felt out of place…so I coordinated everything on the table in a blue and brown scheme with some touch of tan, white and gold. I also made an extra cloth of the same color combination in polka dot to lay on top by shifting 45 degrees. Now that spring has come and all the pretty pastel color fabrics are out there, I can’t wait to make some springy happy table items:)

Don’t you think Brussels Spouts are too pretty to be true? It’s one of the vegetables I could never imagine liking when I first ate one a long time ago, but it’s always amazed me how people’s tastes change over the years and also the ways things are cooked.

So juicy and moist…love, love, love it!
The tangy lemon makes the sauce light and the hint of anchovy gives depth to the flavor.

Accompanied by fusilli coated with pesto, fresh vegetable salad and a bowl of soup.
Thick slices of a loaf of home-baked bread made this meal complete…

Although going to the neighborhood grocery store and wandering around for some fun food is one of my favorite hobbies, having to run for just a few ingredients to make a planed meal complete was the last thing I wanted to do after a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Luckily I had a bag of imitation crab meat in the freezer which I kept for cooking with octopus to make something called “DAVY JONES” from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and an instant mash potato mix in the pantry. Since we also had leftover Mac & Cheese deep dish pizza in the freezer from the other night, I decided to make croquettes for a side dish.

Although croquettes seem to be considered a time consuming and labor intensive dish,
they are actually very versatile in terms of ingredients. You can also make a bunch of them ahead of time and refrigerate them. Just fry them when you’re ready.

Zucchini and Crab Croquettes

Here’s the instant mash potato mix I used for today’s recipe. It works as a perfect binder and also much healthier than adding cream sauce made of butter, flour and milk. And off course, it’s EASY!

I’ve used this with a different flavor for gnocchi before and that worked wonderfully, too.

I tried my first bite with mint chutney. I guess it wasn’t the most wonderful sauce to go with this crabby dish or maybe it was just me, lol…

I would suggest tartar sauce or your favorite tomato sauce.

By the way, my family looooves green olives that come in a jar. One day when we were shopping in a then newly opened grocery store known for their generous variety of sample foods, my son shouted excitedly “Daddy! These green olives have green pimentos!!” Without giving us even a second to take a look, he threw one in to his mouth. We instantly found out what these ‘green pimentos’ were. Chopped jalapeno was a bit too much for a boy who thinks pepperoni slices are already beyond his limit. As you can imagine he did everything he could to cool down his poor mouth, jumping around with his hands flapping like a bird learning to fly, breathing in and out with tears in his eyes.

I’ve never seen pimentos being used in any other food than in green olives. Very possible that I just haven’t had a chance to see it in different ways or have passed without recognizing them. As we were laughing at today’s table talking about the episode, our son was again amazed by how a pimento fits perfectly in this little green ball. Then my husband concluded “Yep, they are made for each other.” What a sweet way to put it. I still don’t know what a pimento is (the ingredients on the label on a jar just says ‘pimento’) but it doesn’t matter after hearing this. Hey, they are made for each other, what else is more important? Just eat them! Enjoy them!

Bon Appetit!

Here’s the Mac & Cheese deep dish pizza I mentioned earlier.
My husband and I have been working on coming up with several pizza recipes to call our own. Everything is made from scratch from the crust to the sauce. We have been successful with our very first basic pizza and this is the second one in which we challenged ourselves with slightly more adventurous toppings. Just stay with me cause I’m already excited about sharing our pizza stories.

Have a nice one!