Food Consumption: Snapshot

Statistics on food consumption at our house:

1. Ben and I (mostly Ben) finished FIVE DOZEN eggs the last month. That averages out to be an egg a day between the two of us. Lots of omelets...
2. Main sources of protein: eggs and milk (50%) > chicken (30%) > seafood (15%) >> pork and beef (5%)
3. Our #1 most cooked/eaten meal: congee with a fried egg and dried beef (tastes much better than it sounds!). Cereal might be a close second...
4. Staples in our fridge and panty: canned tomatoes, pasta, eggs, rice, and frozen chicken breasts.
5. Favorite junk food: CHIPS (we prefer salty to sweet)

Turns out that I mainly cook and Ben mainly eats. Gotta give him some credit though- he is a pro dishwasher and great with the knife (...I'm pretty scary with a knife, fortunately no fingers cut-off yet).

Typical exchange around 5pm every night:
Lydia: "What should we eat tonight?"
Ben: "..." *takes off headphones* "What?"
Lydia: *louder* "What do you want to eat for dinner?"
Ben: "iunno."
Lydia: *sigh* "Katsu? Congee? Pasta?"
Ben: "umm... " *still staring at his computer screen*
Lydia: "Fine, let's make katsu. I'll take out the chicken from the freezer."
Ben: "Okay."

Where's the Snow?

Weather gods... you have let me down. The past 24 hours was childish, eager anticipation of snowflakes (SNOW!), yet every time I glance outside, I see the same boring Seattle- cloudy and wet, and absolutely no snow sticking around! Yes, I'm not too much of a grown-up (yet) that I abhor even the thought of snow, and the terrible driving conditions, backed-up traffic, and stores shutting down that accompany it. Well, I'll continue to monitor weather.com and my window, but chances of snow accumulation and school shutting down is getting slimmer and slimmer by the hour, and still no snowflakes falling!

Ben and I made chicken katsu tonight and stir-fry veggies over rice. Easy, but super satisfying dinner. I can't say enough good things about making your own katsu at home... now, I never buy katsu at restaurants (sorry, Ichi Bento's!). Pros of homemade katsu: cheap, few ingredients (basically just chicken, egg, flour, and panko), fast, and yummy (tastes as good as the restaurant's). The hardest part for me was knowing when the chicken is done... so usually I leave the frying to Ben :). Cooking time depends on thickness of the chicken... if you're constantly unsure like me, invest in a meat thermometer.

Make sure you don't forget the bulldog sauce for the katsu! Time from start of preparation (not including thawing the chicken) to eating is probably 30-35 minutes with 2 of us in the kitchen, and we cooked a LOT of chicken! Below is the jump to the recipe, my very first post on this blog!

**Jump for Chicken Katsu**