honeyed black-vinegar salmon

No photo. In the middle of packing and cleaning. Moving from Seattle to Orlando tomorrow.

But I had to share: I made the easiest and most delicious baked salmon the other evening.

You'll need:

• salmon
• Chinese black vinegar
• honey
• rice bran oil

Do this:

Plop the fish in a glass baking dish. Drizzle over the oil, vinegar, and honey, then bake a few minutes till flaky.

That's it. Dig in and hear your Beans rave. Not to mention your own happy tummy.

chinese mustard powder: my secret weapon

Do you have an international market nearby? If so, get thyself there this instant and buy yourself some of this heavenly blast-your-nose spicy mustard powder. (Hubby declares it's similar to British-style mustard.)

I use it in so many instances:

• salmon burgers
• chorizo meatballs
• mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower
• and my own homemade BBQ sauce for pulled pork with lettuce wraps: ketchup, this amazing mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, minced pickled heirloom Beaver Dam peppers, garlic powder

I can imagine it'd also be great in salad dressing...excuse me while I go do some more mustard dreaming...

wasabi-lime dressing

miso burgers, roasted kabocha, and avocado salad with wasabi-lime dressing

Let me tell you a little story...

Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess with lustrous brown wavy hair, wondrous dark chocolate-colored eyes, and a palate that was die-hard crazy about wasabi.

She and her prince lived in Japan for eight years, where this obsession was cultivated to within an inch of its life.

And then a big move...across the deep salty waters...to the West. A shop called Chocolati in the serfdom of Greenwood, Seattle, created an amazing, uber-wow truffle called Ichi. It had wasabi and ginger enrobed in a royal garment of dark chocolate, crowned with wee sesame seeds. The princess once again indulged in her pale-green infatuation.

Fortunately a local international shop sold wasabi paste in a tubular device, which the princess ordered her butler to purchase and her live-in cook to use in an astringent, perky salad dressing. It was dubbed Wasabi-Lime Dressing, and a British serf named Nigella apparently conjured it.

The live-in Seattle cook made a pronouncement and declared that this is what you need:

• 3 T. fresh lime juice
• 1/4 c. peanut oil (this cook used rice-bran oil instead)
• 1 T. wasabi paste
• 1/2 t. kosher salt or 1/4 t. table salt 

Then she said you must do this:

Shake in a jar or stir briskly with a whiskly.

It was best served on a salad with creamy avocados, and a side of miso burgers and roasted kabocha.

The princess lived happily ever after, her Bean-Offspring and Bean-Prince at her side, and a goblet of the Dressing in the cellar to use whenever her little heart desired.