My Asian Memories

Me and my dad at the American Club baby pool in Indonesia.

I spent a great deal of my early childhood living in Asia.  We lived at different times in Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.  My few memories of Indonesia center around my governess, Sister, our animals (we had various birds, monkeys and a lamb during our time there) and the baby pool at the American Club. 

Our big house, sailing with my dad and our friends Manfred and Ernst, and the dreadful International Playschool are my takeaways from Thailand.  I hated going to that school so much I threw a crying, screaming fit every morning when the bus came.  After a week, my mom just gave up and let me stay home.  I remember it had something to do with them wanting to make me take a nap on the floor and I wasn’t having it.  What can I say? I was a diva at age four.

My memories of Japan are the clearest to me.  We lived near the beach and down the street from a busy Ginza (shopping district).  My sister and I took the school bus to the base in Yokosuka every day.  In the afternoons after we got off the bus, we would go to the little grocery in the Ginza and get ramens or candy and Cokes.  My parents had an account there so we would just tell them to add it to our bill.  Once a month when they came to our house to collect their payment, my dad would take a look at the bill and hit the ceiling!  We quickly learned to make ourselves scarce if we saw the grocery guy coming.

The Dai Butsu was around the corner from our house in Kamakura.  It has been
there since the 13th century.

Japan is where I have clear food memories too.  We would go out to eat at the Officer’s Club on base or occasionally to one of the local restaurants.  At the O Club I would always get roast beef and salad with Roquefort dressing.  Dessert was one scoop of orange sherbet with two wafer cookies - the height of sophistication in 1967.  But my favorite was when we would go to a local restaurant and Mom would order me yakisoba.  Yakisoba translates to fried noodles, so you can certainly understand how delicious this could be.  I also loved gyoza, which are Japanese pot stickers.

My favorite market is Assi with Super H coming in a close second.

The proliferation of Asian supermarkets in Duluth in recent years means that I can now get these foods in abundance.    I can now get real ramens!  (Sorry y’all, but "Oodles of Noodles" is not a real ramen.)  There are dozens of kinds of dumplings in the frozen aisle and best of all, fresh noodles for yakisoba.  Now I can share my childhood favorites with Tom. 

Pork Yakisoba

Wok full of porky, noodly goodness!

1 lb. pork tenderloin

Soy sauce

2 tbsp. oil

½ large onion, thinly sliced
3 cups sliced cabbage
1 cup matchstick carrots
1 package Yakisoba noodles
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin (rice wine)
1 ½ tbsp. sugar




1 tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped
Chopped green onions

I used baby Napa cabbage.  Use your favorite.

Thinly slice the pork tenderloin into bite size pieces.  Marinate in soy sauce in a bowl for about 30 minutes.   Combine the 1/3 cup soy sauce, mirin, sugar, ginger and garlic in a bowl and set aside.  Heat oil in wok over high heat.  Drain the pork and add to the wok.  Stir fry the pork until well seared and cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes.   Remove the pork from the wok and set aside.  Add more oil if necessary.  Throw the cabbage, onions and carrots into the wok and stir fry until crisp tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.  Remove vegetables from the wok and set aside.  Add noodles to the wok with a few tablespoons of water.  Stir to loosen up the noodles, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Return the pork and the veggies back to the wok with the reserved soy mixture, stir to combine and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes to heat through and allow the flavors to marry.  Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

This package comes in individual servings.  I used all three for this recipe.

The yakisoba noodles come with a powdered sauce mix similar to that which is included with a ramen.  One of the first ingredients is MSG so I prefer making the sauce.  It is simple and tastes so much better anyway.  You could modify this recipe with chicken, shrimp, beef or even tofu for a vegetarian dish. 

Gyoza!

I served this with gyoza and a salad with ginger dressing.  It is so delicious and easy enough for a weeknight.  Do yourself a favor and head to the Asian market and pick up these yummy treats!