Just because its made at home and served at home doesn’t mean its not any less important. I was intending for my next few reviews to be the foundation for a series on Washoku (traditional Japanese cooking) but, I was able to enjoy a meal prepared by my Aunt Karen ( and company) in Cincinnati, and I said that I would review it due to the quality and levels of pure sensory joy that I had. So, I am a man of my word.

Because this was a home cooked meal I will do my best to stay exclusively close to describing the texture and flavor of the food rather than going into uncomfortable depth about what the service was like or whether or not the marble floors complemented the velvet curtains that were ornately decorated with silk line art depicting ancient chinese battles.

Here is the menu:

Sweet Corn
At first glance, these little yellow nuggets of flavor are not everyone’s choice vegetable, but definitely with the proper tender care in preparation these little morsels can be served up without any fuss. Aunt Karen made sure that the vitamins and flavor, as well as firm and crisp crunch were preserved during her cooking process. These are in fact leaps in the vegetable world.

Coleslaw
Little known factoid for the you three readers out there, I don’t like coleslaw. There has always been that bucket of slaw sitting idle at every picnic or party event that I turn my nose up at for various reasons. Such as, most people over sauce and over flavor the slaw to the point of mushy bland pull of clipped grass.

On to Karen’s dish however the rules apparently have change. There haven’t been many times when I would sample a new twist on an old least favorite of mine, and was more pleasantly surprised. There seemed to be something uniquely fresh and simple about the dish, from the disks of pear that decorated the serving platter to the light crispness of each byte (duh i work in computers). 

Unlike most slaws, there was no bitter tastes or unpleasant odors, simply nothing but pure, if even slightly sweet delight. There was an almost fruit like quality to the dish, this may have been a juice or in fact something like thinly sliced pieces of apple or some other firm flashed fruit used to soften the blow of the cabbage’s less than pronounced flavor.  

Noodle/Pasta Salad
Noodle salad is indeed one of the most coldly misunderstood dishes available on any table. Usually a slightly cooled dish with a single mixture of mayonnaise and curled pasta noodles. This particular version was in fact warm and had a slight cheese saltiness as well as several herbs nestled into the flavorful bouquet. Believe me I had seconds. 

Grilled Chicken &
A great chicken wing has a delicious exterior, but incredible chicken has fall off the bones well seasoned meat on the interior as well. There are few things more amazing than truly succulent chicken. Not wet but not dry, not salty but well seasoned, this sort of two step is very difficult with chicken and if you don’t believe me, feel free to give a whirl.

Beef Brisket
Again, brilliantly almost smoked like meat juicy and tender on the inside. Crisp hearty bark on the outside, any man in Texas would stand up and salute. 

I have nothing but wonder and joy that every single bite of this meal was satisfaction. A home with atmosphere, good conversation and delicious food is all one can ask of this life and in fact.

Happy eating

Zach
Thank you again Aunt Karen and Company