"Wagyu" Beef with Bok Choy and Rice

Okay, so the original recipe is here, and it's really quite different from what I'm able to get out here in the sticks, so I kind of just loosely based dinner off of it, really. There's no way in heck we would be able to afford real wagyu beef, so I got some steaks that were on "we have to sell or use these quick!" sale. Mizuna is unheard of in these here hills, so I punted with bok choy. See previous for the mugi, so it was just plain rice. Many many substitutions, but still a delicious outcome! This one is heartily endorsed by the boys, who even eat the greens without squealing. (Much.)

The sauce is uber tasty, btw.






I made a cranberry-pineapple fruit salad to go with it. Pretty much it's a can-salad, although there are supposed to be pecans in it. Kelz is allergic to some nuts, and rather than risk anaphylaxis, I decided to forgo them.



These are the beautiful chopsticks my brother- and sister-in-law got me. They also got the beautiful bowl that the rice and bok choy are presented in. Cool, eh?


I've been worried about the food shortages, specifically the rice shortage. From what I've heard from CNBC's financial chick in the morning, and what I can glean off the 'net, it's one third investors trying to cash in on grains, one third paranoia, and one third actual problem. The reason why CostCo and Sams are limiting people to 4 20 lb bags of rice per day is that restaurants were buying a year's worth at a time, wiping out the store's supply entirely, to avoid the rising prices. Still, I went out and got a bag, just one, and some tinned products.

My good friends had some very thoughtful and insightful things to say about hunger, humbleness, conservation, and living consciously aware of your actions and the ripples that come from them. Both of them mentioned the wonderful things they're doing to care for the world and the people in it, by living gently. I live less gently, although I try and emulate them, but even I can help in my own small way. With hunger reaching the 100 million more people than ever before, if I can afford a diet coke, I can afford to donate to the UN World Food Programme. They've got an online donations page that you can use credit or paypal to pick which program you want your money to go to. Right now, the programs you can select are:

• Where most needed (Preferred fund)
• Fill the Cup Campaign
• Child Hunger
• Kenya Crisis
• Southern Africa
• Darfur

So I did. If you'd like, I'll invite you to donate to the service via email. The referral service makes us into a 'network', and will show how much we've raised as friends. If not, that's okay, too. :)