A Favorite Supper and Breakfast - Japanese Style

 

Song:  Old Man

Artist:  Neil Young

For elderly people...

the following two light meals are not only supremely healthful...

highly digestible, and very tasty...

but they are very inexpensive and easy to make.

Although I usually add some kind of greens to my meals...

on some nights...

I am not so hungry.

Regardless...

Unagi (freshwater eel) is a favorite quick meal for me.

Japanese food is my overall favorite type of meal...

although I love Mediterranean food as well.

Unagi is very healthful as it is a highly digestible protein...

which...

like other fatty fish...

are high in Omega 3s and other nutrients and vitamins.

I really love Unagi...

especially as it has the health benefits of sardines...

and yet...

are less expensive...

and are, to me...

 much more delicious

It is also a very satisfying meal...

and so...

you will not eat so much of it.

The red circular objects in the upper left container are Japanese salted pickled plums...

called Umeboshi.

I often eat these with most Japanese dishes.

They provide just the right tartness to accent the meal.

I also have a small rice cooker...

which when I cook a full batch...

gives two full meals worth.

This way...

the rice I cook will last for a supper...

and then for breakfast in the morning.

That is what I had done here.

Last night I had eaten Unagi with rice.

I then refrigerated the rice...

and finished it off with my breakfast.

This is one of my favorite breakfasts...

Natto mixed into rice...

accompanied by Umeboshi...

and sometimes with Miso soup.

I left the Natto over the rice just to give an idea of how much

Natto I use for a meal.

After I had taken this picture...

I thoroughly mixed the Natto into the rice.

They often come in three packs at the Asian markets...

and although some people use just one pack per meal...

I use all three.

The Natto may be frozen...

and then defrosted in the fridge over a couple of days.

You then put the Natto into a small bowl and mix in the included

ingredients:  a light sauce...and a mustard pack.

Some people don't like the smell or consistency of Natto.

For me...

Natto smells like coffee...

and the "sliminess" pretty much goes away once mixed in with the rice...

but even so...

 I like it just as much as I like okra.

Natto has a plethora of healthful benefits 

(look up Natto...you will be convinced to try some just for the health benefits)...

besides being a wonderfully light meal...

and yet...

ever so satisfying.

Actually...

I really don't like typical American breakfasts.

I only had to make some before because I hadn't...

at that time...

gone to the Asian market.

The boxes on the 2nd and 3rd door shelves (from the top)...

of my washroom vertical deep freeze...

are the packages of Natto...

bundled in sets of three.

As soon as I have more room in my freezers...

I will be buying many...

many more packages of Natto.

----------------

I will soon begin making my own yogurt...

as well as dehydrating lots of veggies so I may use them in my cooking.

There are so many projects for me to do around the home...

but they will all be labors of love.

Although I will not live to see the fruit of many of my property improvements

(ex...planting of trees)...

just knowing that what I do now will positively affect others in the future...

by just creating more beauty around me...

or with a little effort now...

much protection may be given to the things in life I value

from the ravages of time and weathering...

these are what make my future projects labors of love.

I am now gathering many of the equipment needs for the future projects...

and I am researching, designing, and arranging my visions of the future

on an invisible and unknowable timeline...

and of which are based on an unpredictable future.

However...

I am in no rush to do anything.

My pace in life is now on Toller Time.

---------------

"Nothing is really immediate...

nothing has a higher priority than that what I deem to be so.

I have the basics covered.

My mind may now go on free flight...

to soar the skies...

or to perch myself on a mountain top to watch a sunset.

I may unhook myself from the rest of the world...

at least for much of the time...

and I may just be me.

I have serenity.

I am the old man on the mountain.

I have the freedom to no longer care about most things.

My sieves have a finer screen...

the path up my mountain...

longer and more arduous.

I am not what I may seem to be.

I am more than you can know.

I have divorced myself from my past...

from my old misgivings...

from my old desires...

I...simply...

am."

(While this IS basically me...

it is also the thrust of a new writing project I will be working on soon).

The freedom I have with my writing allows my mind

to spring forth with which my heart most desires at that time.

I have many started writing projects...

some many chapters long...

many of which I have placed on a back burner.

While my mind plays pinball with its ideas...

I won't hesitate to place on a back burner...

or to drop...

 any theme which no longer stirs passion in my heart.