Last night, Iris’s pick for the week was mini-tonkatsu, which she saw in the new book Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking. We had Harumi’s book from the library after learning about it on Lara Ferroni’s blog:

Udon with no shoes on

Of course, Iris and I immediately made the homemade udon, stomping the noodle dough with our bare feet. (The dough was in a bag.) I’m sure our neighbors were thrilled. The noodles were huge, rustic, and chewy, and we ate them for snack and for dinner–first, tossed with sesame oil and salt, then in kitsune udon with dashi, soy sauce, chicken, and simmered fried tofu.

Then we looked through the Harumi book to see what else caught our eye. For me, it was pretty much everything. For Iris, mini-tonkatsu, which is crispy fried pork on a stick. I bought and pounded four loin chops and cut two of them into cubes, which Iris helped dredge in flour, egg, and panko. I left the other chops whole but breaded them just in case we didn’t have enough pork croutons.

We had more than enough, it turned out. Iris ate five and I ate thirteen, which was enough to leave both of us staggering.

Tonight I dealt with the last two chops. Laurie noted that we had pecans and Rogue Creamery smokey blue cheese in the house, and they should be combined in a salad. So I fried up the remaining pork chops, cut them into slices, and topped them with a salad of spring mix, sherry vinaigrette, and the pecans and cheese. Everything got along well, and for one night at least I felt like one of those guys on TV who can make a great meal out of random stuff found in the fridge.

There’s a ginger pork salad recipe in _Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking_, so I’m duty-bound to try it and compare.