Spiced Tofu Katsu

This past weekend my friend Missy flew down from San Francisco to visit me.  Missy and I have been friends since the very first minute of the very first day of high school, and though our friendship has ebbed and flowed over the years, it always remains a constant undercurrent in my life.  If I am feeling down or just need a good laugh, her smile is infectious and she has vast stores of hilarious comments at the ready.  (She knows I love to hear, "Petrie do not feel sad.  Many things do not fly...Rocks, trees, sticks, Spike...")  We also share all our happy moments with each other and she is my most loyal friend, and such a huge part of my past and my present.  No matter what we are doing, there will always be laughter and fun...and often cheese (of course with wine).  Time with her always recharges my happy batteries.

When she was here this past weekend, we had a long laundry list of things we wanted to do, and naturally, we only got around to about a fourth of them.  Eh, it happens.  Of course, food and eating featured predominantly on the list, but we also managed to sneak in a trip to beautiful Torrey Pines Beach.  Before I tell you about the awesome Spiced Tofu Katsu that we made, I thought I would share a few photos.           

Late afternoon Torrey Pines sun.

Footsteps in the sand.

Basking in the glow of the sun, and watching the pelicans overhead.

Pork Char Siu Men

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find ethnic cooking daunting.  To be precise, I am referring to recipes for traditional Asian or Indian foods.  You know, the ones where the ingredient list is a mile long and usually features exotic spices, special sauces and possibly strange creatures?  I really love these foods though, so when I see one of these recipes, my tummy starts rumbling, I can feel myself salivating... and then I am usually stopped dead in my tracks when I look at the ingredients and the preparation.  This seems to be what goes through my head:  "Lets see, do I have any of these ingredients in my pantry?  Hmm, negative.  Oh wow, it looks like it might take a whole week and/or all the dishes in my kitchen to prepare this!  Ah, but I want it so bad!!!  I better call one of my friends and see if she wants to meet me at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant."