Posted by johngl

A few weeks ago, most glorious spousal unit and I had visited Nanami Sushi Bar, a neighborhood place that serves up some really great gyoza (among many other delectable items).

A few days ago, I was poking around in the fridge and noticed another one of those pork sirloins just sitting there wanting to be eaten.

While these two happenings occurred weeks apart, they sparked an idea that became a meal. Combined with my desire to delve deeper into foods with an Asian flair, I went for it. I was short on time and didn’t want to make a grocery run, so I’d just have to wing it.

What the heck would I need to make gyoza besides the pork?

I had pork, ginger, sesame oil, fresh garlic, soy sauce, and shallots on hand, so that was a good start, but I needed some greens (like Napa Cabbage or Bok Choy) and wonton wrappers. The wrappers I could make, but the greens were another matter. I haven’t perfected greens that grow on demand as yet.

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Posted by johngl

There I was, perusing the latest acquisition to my cookbook collection, Jacques Pépin’s Essential Pepin, when I stumbled upon a little blurb called simply “Homemade Orange Liqueur.”

Since it is literally orange season here in Texas (yes, even with the drought, the hard-working folks in the Rio Grande valley managed to eke out some orbs), I just happened to have some juice oranges on hand.

Yes, these oranges look a little, shall we say rustic. They also have seeds! Yes, despite what Sunkist tells you, oranges are meant to have seeds (actually called pips)! Even sporting their rustic outwear, they produce some of the sweetest orange juice around.

Given that, why waste the peel?

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