8 March 2013

Today is a very special day.

It’s twelve minutes past two in the morning, and I just made supper. It’s not just any supper. It’s something that I’ve now decided to name, the Inari Europa – a proud creation of a very successful scavenging hunt in the kitchen.

Moments earlier…

1.30am

With my crazy out-of-bed hair, I stepped into the kitchen with a mission- “Find food, make food, eat food”. Why will I even have crazy out-of-bed hair? It’s because I just woke up from a five hour sleep and a lot might’ve happened unknowingly during my sleep.  It’s not that it’s important for you to know, but still, the hair’s crazy. Also, you may be curious about my weird sleeping behavior, but then again you may not. So I will just leave it there and continue with the story.

1.35am

Target sighted at 11 o’clock on the first shelf of my fridge- a glorious half packet of Knorr’s Milanese risotto. Satisfied with my find, I proceeded to scavenge for other possible accompaniment.

1.40am

The tedious process of risotto cooking commenced. Unknowingly, I have already stirred in bits of porcini mushrooms, slices of jamon iberico, a few sprinkles of parmesan and a few shakes of another kind of cheese (romano).

1.48am

While waiting for the risotto to slowly cook, I unintentionally stirred in more stuff like splashes of Riesling and a few more splashes of another kind of white wine into the mix. It’s bubbling nicely now, but still, nowhere near ready.

1.50am

Fellow housemate stepped into the kitchen. In that instant, he was stunned, he was dumfounded, he stuttered. He then regained his composure and sang the song of praises as his soul was enraptured by the glorious aroma emitting from the humble frying pan of mine. I felt embarrased to be caught cooking something so sinful in the middle of the night. But then again, my body clock resides on a different timezone than the one that I am physically on. So I guess, I shouldn’t be embarrassed at all. I’m a poor little jet-lagged lady. I am.

1.55am

In the freezer, I found some deep fried tofu pouch (aburage), the ones that you can make inarizushi with.

Coincidentally, I happen to have some nutmeg sprinkles, onion sprinkles and parsley sprinkles on hand. “More doesn’t necessarily mean better!” as my hubs, the ever level-headed one, would say. But the mad scientist in me hollered, “To hell with it!!”

So, to hell with it! This is my dafuqin Inari Europa, the midnight snack of Gods.

Thank you for reading. It was a pleasure to have you scrolling through this post but hopefully you’re not drooling on your keyboard.

—

Some kinda etymology:

Inari Europa: An inarizushi variation with ingredients mainly sourced from the European continent. Through multiple levels of complex associations with the Shinto god, Inari and the very atas Phoenician woman named Europa from the Greek mythology, Inari Europa has came to be known as the midnight snack of gods, not just because of its nice aroma, good looks and great taste.