BLT in Okinawa, with extras

This is the first time I've been in a rush to cook dinner. This is also the first time I realized it may be possible to make my favorite American home foods in my Okinawan kitchen. I'd just picked up some lovely produce from JA, and I decided I needed to eat some uncooked vegetables. They're harder to chew, and they're not as mellow, but they're (supposedly) better for you because the cellulose walls, vitamins, and nutrients haven't been broken down by cooking heat. I disguised them with the clever ruse of bacon, cheese, and eggs. Not that I don't love these

Micro Cherry Tomatoes (see chopstick for size comparison), a big bag of cuteness of

One of my schools gave me fresh butter lettuce from their garden!


Here's my version of a BLT in about ten minutes:

• cheese
• tomato
• 1 slice bread
• bacon
• lettuce
• egg
• salt, pepper, basil flakes

First, to sate my appetite (or maybe stimulate it--tangy things will do that!) I ate a lilikoi. As one Kauai adventure tour guide once said to a ten-year-old me, a lilikoi is nature's juice box! Also known as passion fruit (ポッション　フルツ）, lilikoi is one of those extraordinary flavors you usually don't find in a grocery store. Fresh ones are hard to come by, and ones as big as my hand for 100yen each were too good to pass up! I cut off the top and eat the lilikoi out of the "cup" with a spoon:

Meanwhile, fry bacon on low heat to make it extra crispy. If you use high, or even medium heat, the bacon will curl up and the fat won't dissolve. It'll just get soft and burn quickly. Bacon = low heat! It's worth the extra time. Bacon in Japan does exist. It comes packaged in 250g packages of neatly arranged half-slices. This is about half a pack:

About 10 minutes later, when brown and crisp, remove from pan and set aside.

Prepare your cheese! I love the taste of smoked cheese. Heck, I just love cheese. Cheese in Japan is very expensive, and comes in bite-sized morsels wrapped to resemble candy. And, all of it, no matter what, is simply called "cheese." There are no varieties of cheese. I am very disappointed in this. However, this cheese is a close approximation to smoked gouda, in miniature. Mini cheese:I sliced a few pieces to melt onto my bread:


Then I popped the bread into the "fish grill" part of my stove. This is a wire rack with flames that broil from the top perimeter. It's very useful (and FAST) for toasting bread. My cheese didn't appreciably melt, but what the heck, it's Japanese cheese, right? I halved some micro cherry tomatoes and added those: (notice how MINI everything is! Oh, Japan)

In the unwashed bacon pan, crack an egg. Sprinkle on some salt, pepper, and basil flakes. By the time you're done, so is the egg!
Slide the egg on top of the bread cheese tomato bacon layers:
Add lettuce as the top layer. I like open-face sandwiches, because I don't especially like the dryness of bread. This one required a knife and fork. I ate it with some fresh pineapple, a very good choice. Whoever invented the ham and pineapple pizza had the right idea!

After I'd mangled half of it:


Of note: this brand of preserves labels their stuff "Blueberry Jam," but actually puts blueberry JELLY inside the jar!
jelly, not jam (but I'm not complaining too much)

Thai-Inspired Omlette

I'm not entirely sure why this omlette is Thai-inspired, but I definitely beat in an enormous dollop of that sweet reddish-orange chili sauce they put on Thai BBQ Chicken. Doesn't everyone love that sauce? I've been so excited about it since I picked it up at JUSCO, and this is the first opportunity I've had to make it. So, omlette and soup for dinner!

It came out tasting much better than omlettes I've made in the past, possibly because I added a lot more flavor than my usual breakfast omlettes. Omlettes are usually one of those foods that I can eat a few bites of before getting turned off and stopping because it's not tasty enough. Fried egg by itself just isn't that interesting. This one was different. And very quick to make, especially considering that it normally takes me at least an hour to cook my dinners.


Thai-Inspired Omlette with Bacon and Bell Pepper:
Total time: 5 minutes
(serves 1)

half slice bacon (they sell it that way in Japan)
olive oil
2 eggs
thai sweet chili sauce
chinese soy sauce
dried basil flakes
1 mini green bell pepper, about 1/4 cup (again, Japan-sized!)
white pepper

1. Chop up half a slice of bacon and sautee in a bit of olive oil on low heat.
   
2. While bacon is cooking, beat two eggs with thai sweet chili sauce, chinese soy sauce, basil flakes, and white pepper. Chop up one small green or red sweet bell pepper.
   
3. Add chopped bell pepper to cooked bacon and olive oil. Cook about a minute. Pour egg mixture over all. Cook. Push back edges of omlette and tilt pan so that egg runs to exposed pan surface. Fold into a nice omlette shape when egg is mostly cooked. Serve.
   

I ate it with a bowl of Sweet Potato Carrot Ginger Miso soup I had saved in the freezer. Hit the spot.