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NOV

01

2022

i seemed to have given up on running. today being tuesday, it's supposed to be a run day, but i woke up so late (10am), it made for an easy excuse to skip the exercise. besides, i've already lost weight - not from running - but from my nearly 2-weeks of non-stop bathroom renovations. i didn't even have lunch even though i had leftover pasta salad in the fridge.

around 1:30pm i left to get some groceries from market basket. despite the overcast, it was warm today (lower 60's), and i didn't need to wear a jacket, just a sweatshirt was enough. i decided i'd make chicken katsu tonight, after seeing chicken breast for sale.

afterwards i went to the cafe to drop off some supplies (chicken legs, bean sprouts, eggplants). it also gave me a chance to see my taiwanese aunt one last time. today was her last full day in boston, instead of going out and doing something, she just came to the cafe to hang out with my mother and 2nd aunt and to knit. i said by good byes and returned home.

since the lottery machine at the liquor store was down, i headed down to P&K deli, where they also sold lottery tickets. i'd heard good things about this place - said to have one of the best italian subs - but i've never bought anything from here until today. i noticed they used the square credit card reader as well. i bought two tickets for power balls, but the guy printed them out onto a single ticket (i was going to give one to my parents).

i brought home some leftover prosciutto and finished all of it along with some jarlsberg cheese and swedish flatbread.

i didn't start making the katsu until 9:30pm. since this involved frying, i took all the necessary precautions, closing all the doors, installing the window fan, and stationing another fan further in the kitchen to blow all the oil smoke towards the open window. the chicken breasts i bought were 3 thick breasts. i tried to flatten them out with a meat tenderizer, but i don't think i beat them enough, they were still pretty thick. i covered them with flour first, followed by an egg wash, then coated with panko crumbs. i used my large flat-bottom pan for the frying, poured out 1 cup of canola oil.

the first cutlet was the lightest, since the oil still wasn't hot enough. it also took the longest to cook, and even then, the thickest parts still felt spongey, which made me think it was still raw. when i finally took it out of the frying pan, i sliced it open to reveal a raw center. i left them on the side for the time being, as i continued to frying the two additional cutlets. each one i cut open, to reveal a raw center. once the cutlets were done frying, i fried them a second time, raw section facing down into the hot oil. that seemed to done the trick to finally cook everything.

earlier i'd cooked 1 cup of jasmine rice. i also chopped some cabbage to go along with the katsu. i think i got the wrong kind though - green cabbage - which was overly tough and tasted like leaves. from the cafe i'd brought back a yellow pickled daikon radish and i cut a few slices. i made my own tonkatsu sauce too: 4 tbsp worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp brown sugar. the sauce tasted good, maybe not as good as kikkoman tonkatsu sauce, but still good enough that it's more than a worthy substitute. it was too runny though, maybe add equal parts worcestershire to ketchup next time (worcestershire gave it a spicy kick). finally, a prepared a bowl of instant miso soup to go along with the chicken katsu.

i didn't eat until 10:30pm. it was good, but there was way too much chicken. the cabbage was serviceable, even though i used the wrong kind (should've gone with asian cabbage). despite precautions, the oil smell did still get through all parts of the house. i ended up running my air purifier on high. i also took out the garbage after washing all the dishes.

one reason for me to get back into frying was the discovery of using gelatine to purify used frying oil. i mixed a bit of gelatine powder with hot water, before adding it to the cooking oil. i was going to dump the oil anyway, but if this works, i'll save the oil for some future frying adventures (maybe some tempura).