Remember how I love Delica so much? Delica is that awesome Japanese delicatessen located in the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

I finally figured out their recipe for the Spicy Burdock Root Salad. Their salad has lotus root, but I was all out. I subbed in water chestnuts instead. Theirs also has mizuna (a salad green), but I didn’t have that either so I just left it out. The ingredient list looks long, I know – but it’s really very simple. Texture is really important here, so make sure the onion and celery are both sliced very thinly. My mandoline helped me achieve the awesome textures, but a grater would work just as well; so would a lot of patience with a knife.

I kid you not – this will be the best salad you ever make.

FYI: Konnyaku is a Japanese yam… it’s the base of shirataki noodles. A block of konnyaku has 0 calories (just like true shirataki noodles – not the tofu kind). It’s great for digestion and overall health. I get mine at my local Asian markets. It’s next to the miso. I would also check near the tofu, or near the refrigerated noodles. If you can’t find it, I guess you could substitute a different veggie or maybe some seitan.

Maggie’s Spicy Burdock Salad

Ingredients (serves 4-5 normal people… or 1-2 crazy salad eaters)

• 2 cups of burdock, sliced up (I used a mandoline)
• 1 block of konnyaku, cut in small slices (or a different veggie or seitan)
• 1 small can of water chestnuts (6 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon oil (sesame)
• 1 inch of ginger, grated
• chili powder and/or chili flakes, to taste (optional)
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced (mandoline)
• 4 stalks of celery, finely sliced (mandoline)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon stevia (or other sweetener, to taste)
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons Bragg’s liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Boil the konnyaku slices in water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse.
2. Heat the oil in a pan (wok) over high heat. Add the ginger and saute for 1 minute. Add the burdock, drained konnyaku slices, water chestnuts, and chili powder/flakes. Saute for about 5 minutes. You can reduce the heat to medium-high if you’re nervous about burning. When the burdock is tender enough to chew, remove it from the heat and let it cool.
3. Mix together the water, vinegar, and stevia. Soak the sliced onion and celery in the mix for 5 minutes, then drain.
4. Combine the burdock mix, the onion/celery mix, the carrot, sesame seeds, Bragg’s, and salt and pepper. Top with more sesame seeds, if desired. More sesame seeds are always desired by me.

Om nom nom. Bobby and I devoured this. He actually said it was *better* than Delica’s salad. You MUST make this. If you are scared of any of the ingredients (burdock! konnyaku!) – don’t be. Burdock is amazing for you. Burdock health benefits: it’s good for the reproductive system, the skin, the digestive system, and it’s even anti-cancerous. Other burdock or konnyaku recipes:

• Carrot Burdock Kinpira
• Lemon Garlic Okra & Sweet and sour Konnyaku
• Hijiki salad
• Vegetable sukiyaki

I adore Asian/Eastern food. I love eating with chopsticks (way cooler than forks). If it were up to me, I would probably eat Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai food for every single meal. Oh wait… I pretty much do The only difference is that I eat oatmeal or oat bran instead of rice, and I eat squash every single day. (Sounds kind of like a cool vegan lady I know.)

What are your weird food quirks? What is your favorite food (cuisine or dish)?

Stay tuned for a silly picture and updates from this weekend’s apple picking adventures!

On Wednesday Bobby and I were up in San Francisco again for a job interview (Bobby’s). We had to go to Delica rf-1 again; we go there almost every time we are in SF. Delica is a sweet little Japanese deli/delicatessen with takeout foods. They have salads, bento boxes, soups, and other cute Japanese dishes.

I got almost the same thing as I did last time (3 salad combo), except I doubled up on the Spicy Burdock Root Salad (A spicy mix of braised burdock and konnyaku (mountain potato) tossed with thin slices of white onion, celery, julienne carrots, and wild mizuna), and got a single a serving of Hijiki and Soybean Salad (Hijiki (seaweed rich in calcium, iron, and fiber) mixed with dried soybeans, edamame, konnyaku (mountain potato), daikon, wild mizuna, fried tofu, and kuko (wolfberry)).

Bobby got the 2 salads + 1 main item combo (like last time). He opted for the Spicy Burdock Root Salad (this is our favorite), the Wasabi Garlic Potato Salad (Garlic potato salad with wasabi mayonnaise, edamame, snap peas, and romaine hearts), and for his main item he got Sweet & Spicy Chicken (Marinated chicken, lightly fried, served with sweet & spicy sauce).

We split that iced tea.

I made my rice cooker oats again for breakfast one day this week…

This time I topped them with chopped dates and a whole bunch of sesame seeds. I love adding sesame seeds to oats – they give a nice chew and crunch. I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better.

Have you tried rice cooker oats yet?

You guys had some really good input about my post regarding rest days. I continued my pattern of unintentional and/or fun workouts the last few days – I had my accidental 5 mile walk on Thursday, yesterday I did 20 minutes of Tom Morley yoga and about a mile of walking (I consider yesterday a very lazy day; I just walked to the grocery store but got too much stuff and Bobby had to pick me up), and so far today I did a 35 minute video – Self: Slim and Sleek, Fast! Bobby has class all day so I’m on my own. We were going to go to a pumpkin festival but that will probably happen tomorrow instead.

Oddly enough, Meghann and Kath both posted about non-rest rest days yesterday! Their opinions were similar to mine. Remember to check out my workout page if you ever want to see what I’ve been doing. And don’t forget about my yoga page – it has lots of great (free) yoga resources. I should probably update it because I’ve found some more (free) sites.

Another post I enjoyed reading was Tina’s post this morning – she ate a pretty amazing looking muffin for breakfast. Muffins are actually one of my favorite foods, but I don’t really eat them that often. She reminded me that I should definitely treat myself occasionally! Back at Cornell, Bobby and I used to go to a cafe called Mate Factor and they had the most amazing muffins. This is their raspberry one (old picture). I’ve posted about Mate Factor HERE and HERE and HERE.

I’m off to shower and enjoy this lovely fall Saturday. What are your plans? What’s your favorite muffin?

On Sunday’s blogger meetup we went to a cozy little cafe called Bread & Cocoa on Sutter Street in San Francisco. How could I resist the $2.99 oatmeal?

It was a humongous bowl, so I went pretty easy on the toppings. I had raisins, almonds, and in-house granola. I also added a little bit of skim milk. I actually managed to finish all but 1 bite of this gigantic bowl of oats. I brought the bloggies some homemade tea bags…

For lunch we went to the Ferry Building to get our favorite – Delica rf-1. It’s a Japanese delicatessen with the most amazing salads. I got the 3-salad combo; Bobby got the 2-salad + a main item combo. Bobby got Wasabi Garlic Potato Salad (Garlic potato salad with wasabi mayonnaise, edamame, snap peas, and romaine hearts), Spicy Burdock Root Salad (A spicy mix of braised burdock and konnyaku (mountain potato) tossed with thin slices of white onion, celery, julienne carrots, and wild mizuna), and for the main item he got Tofu & Chicken Patty with Hijiki (Free-range chicken and organic tofu patty with hijiki seaweed and carrot; served in a sweet soy sauce).

I got the Spicy Burdock Root Salad, and a double serving of Hijiki and Soybean Salad (Hijiki (seaweed rich in calcium, iron, and fiber) mixed with dried soybeans, edamame, konnyaku (mountain potato), daikon, wild mizuna, fried tofu, and kuko (wolfberry)).

I think we go to Delica almost every time we head up to San Francisco. It is probably the best food I have ever eaten. I’m not kidding. It’s that good. We’re heading up to SF tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll be back.

What is your favorite restaurant, and where is it? What do you get?

I have 3 goals in mind for July:

1. Less kabocha!
2. More healthy fats!
3. Be spontaneous

I had a kind of last hurrah with kabocha last night and finished a whole one (and it was big).  I think it’s time for moderation.

As for healthy fats… I do enjoy my nut butters and olive oil, but not enough.  Maria posted about this yesterday, too.  I have nut butter with breakfast and usually a little bit of olive oil with dinner and lunch – but it probably totals about 2 tablespoons altogether.  So I’m going to go for it and start incorporating more fat.

Spontaneity is also something I want to improve on.  This is just eating what I want when I want it, rather than waiting for the normal times that I eat and eating the same things.

Yesterday wasn’t a total bust in terms of goals though – I made a kickbutt Thai papaya salad based on my recipe here.

Ingredients – 1 shredded green papaya (50 cents on sale @ Vietnamese market), 1 shredded organic carrot, 2 chopped plum tomatoes (also on sale), 5-6 cloves of garlic.

Dressing – soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, sugar (sweet simplicity), PB2, chili powder, chili flakes… (I might be forgetting something).

This is Bobby’s and my favorite salad, and we ate the whole thing while we were watching jeopardy and wheel (million dollar winner last night!).  Yes, we are old and we love jeopardy and wheel.  I probably had about 80% of the salad, but I was impressed at how much of it Bobby ate.  He’s not as much of a veggie disposal as I am.  The whole salad cost me about $1 to make because of this great Vietnamese store that has a cheapo rack. I got a green papaya ($0.50), a big bag of 4 chayotes and 4 tomatoes ($1.50), and 6 eggplants ($0.50).  I think that’s all.

In the afternoon I made a lunch sort of thing with shrimp, konnyaku, chayote (on sale), olive oil, stir-fry sauce, and mustard (added later).  I’m almost done with the shrimp. I’m liking chayote – it’s kind of bland, but it’s nice and crunchy and good with other flavors.  I had a few other random snacks, so this wasn’t really a lunch.  Yummy though.  More like a snack to hold me until dinner.

Want to join me with any of the goals?  What are your goals for July?

Before I forget, Justine is having a really cool giveaway, so I’m going to do a confession of the day to get an extra entry – I hate clutter, but I have a terrible time getting rid of things.  I try to make Bobby give away all those ratty t-shirts that he never wears, but I always want to keep mine.  I hate the clutter but I’m scared that as soon as I give something away I’ll need it!

One more thing – my friend just launched this cool recipe search engine, NomFinder.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  I’ll pass on suggestions to him.