S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 89

Let’s Make Japanese Curry! – Recipe #Vegan & #Vegetarian

I shared with you my recipe for Salmon Hot Pot a few weeks ago and now it’s time to share one of my favorite meals, Japanese curry. You probably don’t think of Japan with you hear the word “curry” but they have a curry all their own that’s very popular. I mentioned it in THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE when Yasahiro serves his signature Japanese curry to Mei during his haute cuisine challenge, and of course, I was drawing upon my own version of the dish to describe that meal.

If you want to learn more about the vast curry selections in Japan, you’ll want to check out this article on Wikipedia. But if you want to get to the recipe, I’ve got that right here.

One thing you may not know about me is that I’m a pescatarian, meaning I only eat seafood for meat. No land or sky meat. So when I wanted Japanese curry, I had to be creative since this is usually a meat-heavy dish. In this recipe, I use chicken-style seitan that I buy pre-made, but you can use whatever you like for your meat. If you’re vegetarian and don’t have access to seitan, you can also try other fake meats or just stick to vegetables.

This is also an Instant Pot recipe! It also works in a pressure cooker, and if you don’t have either of these, you will have to cook your curry long enough to cook the potatoes through, probably around 20 minutes. Test the potatoes intermittently with a fork to find out if they’re cooked properly.

Let’s get cooking!

Stephanie’s Vegan/Vegetarian Japanese Curry

1 large yellow onion, cut into large chunks

1 bell pepper, cut into long thin strips (optional)

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large daikon radish, peeled and cut into chunks

1 apple (pick a sweeter cooking apple), peeled and diced

(Optional) Another root vegetable like parsnips or turnips, also peeled and cut into chunks

1 package Westsoy Chicken-style seitan, drained and pulled apart into chunks

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp yellow curry powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 package (4 cubes) S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (Do not try to make your own)

3 1/2 cups water

3 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp of honey (or to taste) (sub a different natural sweetener if you don’t do honey and want this vegan)

Cut up all the vegetables and set aside. Turn on the Instapot to saute function (normal heat). Add 2 tbsp of oil to the pot, wait till it’s hot. Once it’s hot, add the garam masala, curry powder, and cumin, frying it in the oil to bring out the scents of the spices (this is called tempering). Add the onion and saute in the pot until soft (you may have to add some water to keep it from scorching, a splash or two will do). Add all the rest of the vegetables and the apple. Saute all together until the vegetables are coated with the spices. Add the seitan. Mix and saute.

Once everything is hot, add 2 cups of water (I usually heat it up prior), cover the Instapot, choose Manual, and 8 minutes. Let it cook and once the cycle is done, let it sit for natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then safely vent for a fast release.

(If you don’t have an Instapot, you will want to cook this in a dutch oven or something similar, sautéing, and then lower heat and simmer on medium-low until potatoes are cooked through.)

Open the Instapot once the pressure has been released safely, add 1 1/2 cups of water (I usually heat this up too beforehand), the package of 4 cubes of curry sauce cubes which you should cut down into quarters and quarters again. Turn on the sauté function to LOW. Stir. Let simmer for 8 more minutes. Add ketchup and honey/sweetener. Don’t skip this! For some reason, these two things really make the curry soar.

Serve hot with rice. I usually serve in a big bowl, rice on one side and curry on the other.

I hope you enjoy your curry! I actually think it’s even better as leftovers. Mmmmm. I’m hungry again.

Featuring EMERGENCE By Graeme Ing

Today, Graeme Ing is here to talk about his science-fiction action-adventure novel, EMERGENCE.

I asked Graeme, “Why did you write Emergence?”

He replied…

I’m a huge fan of books where things are not what they seem. As you read on, revelations are unveiled like layers of an onion. At each step, I like to guess my theory of the ending. I’m often wrong, but it’s exciting to see how each revelation or discovery reshapes my theory. That’s why I wrote this book – for readers who like to go, “I think THIS is happening… oh no, I bet it’s THIS… omg so THAT’s what is really happening.”

Funny that I also sometimes have no idea what will happen in my own books! So I love to be surprised by books I’m reading for fun as well.

Teaser Tuesday – Synchronicity

It’s the last Teaser Tuesday for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR!

Relationships can be pretty funny and nebulous things. Sometimes, you meet someone and you click right away with them. You just look at each other and know what the other is thinking. It’s kismet from the beginning. Other relationships take a lot longer to develop this rapport. You misread non-verbal signals sent from your partner. They do something out of character because you don’t know them well enough yet. Sigh. New relationships can be a minefield of doubts and worries.

So it’s a sweet accomplishment when a relationship finally reaches a level where both parties feel comfortable enough to read each other with confidence. When Mei looks across the table at Yasahiro and knows exactly what he’s going to do before he does it, she finally feels like their relationship has reached a significant milestone. I loved being able to give them this moment. They had such a rough time in OPENS A TEA SHOP. It was nice to get Mei and Yasahiro to this point, to their level of synchronicity. They certainly deserved it.

Want to purchase THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR?

This book is now availableon Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo, and Google Play! View the cover, blurb, read an excerpt, and purchase THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR via my website…

Check out THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR now!

I hope you enjoy this novel! Please remember to leave a review on Amazon when you’re finished reading. xo

The post Teaser Tuesday – Synchronicity appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Sunday Update – January 21, 2018

I am finally typing 2018 naturally! Lol. Only took about 20 days to get there.

Me vs Typhoon Mindulle – Inspiration For THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR

On my birthday in 2016, my husband promised to send me to Japan. To say I was both elated and skeptical is an understatement. Was I skeptical that he was being genuine? No. Was I skeptical I’d actually make it to Japan? Yes. Lol. It seemed such a far-off and nebulous concept that I wouldn’t believe it until I had landed on the ground in Japan. It had been over ten years since I was in Japan, and I ached to go back. But for some reason, I couldn’t convince myself it was actually going to happen.

In August later that year, I did, in fact, land on the ground in Japan. I had made many plans of places to go, things and people to see, and I was determined to do it all. When I reached passport control in Haneda airport, the customs officer asked me what the purpose of my visit was. I flat-out replied, “I’m here to sightsee and eat a lot of food.” Ha! What I did not realize at the time was that I had landed in Japan right in time for typhoon season.

OF COURSE I HAD.

Typhoon Neoguri in the East China Sea by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, on Flickr

Most of us in the U.S. are aware of hurricane season. Starting anywhere from early summer all the way through fall, hurricanes form in the warm waters of the Atlantic, swing through the Caribbean, and up the East Coast of the U.S. The same thing happens to Asia. Typhoons form in the warm equatorial waters somewhere to the west of Hawaii and north of Papua New Guinea and swing westward hitting Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, and China.

typhoon 18 11 by Bruce Osborn, on Flickr

This was something I was painfully unaware of as I booked my trip for Tokyo. But to be honest, Japan has, well, interesting weather all year round. Winter is cold and snowy unless you’re in Okinawa. Spring is cool, breezy, and mostly rainy. The summer is like soup, humid and hot, so much so that mushrooms can grow in your closet if you’re not careful. Fall is probably the best season they have, quite honestly. It can be crisp and beautiful with plenty of leaves changing color. My trip to Japan in August was the fault of several different factors. The tickets were cheap. My husband’s work situation was quiet, so he could stay home with the kids. And I wanted to be there when it was warm so I could sightsee. Priorities, I have them.

typhoon by Bruce Osborn, on Flickr

I remember the weather when I landed in Tokyo. I sat in the backseat of my friend’s tiny car as her husband wound his way along the Tokyo motorways and looked out the window at the storms over the Pacific Ocean. My friend Jen said, “It’s a good thing you got here today. The weather forecast for the next few days is calling for a lot of storms.”

Okay. No big deal, I thought. I’ll buy an umbrella and I’ll get wet. It’ll be fine. I wasn’t going to let some rain keep me from sightseeing, eating out, and soaking in Japan. If I soaked in some rain too, so be it.

The next day lulled me into a false sense of security. The weather was great, hot and humid, but totally doable. I went sightseeing in Shinjuku, took photos everywhere, and ate as much food as I could. Then when I returned to my hotel room and turned on the TV, this is what I saw.

Grrrreat. Typhoon Number Nine, also called Typhoon Mindulle, was on its way. The forecast called for heavy rains and high winds. I had plans to go to an owl cafe the next day that I just knew I wouldn’t make it to.

Instead, I spent the next day inside my hotel room and at the hotel restaurant eating lots of expensive sushi, knitting, and relaxing.

I could’ve done without the typhoon, but the experience turned out to be a good one. I saw what the typhoon did to the countryside in Saitama prefecture, where I set the whole Miso Cozy Mysteries series. Roads and rivers flooded. Mudslides took out train tracks. Manholes on the streets gushed with water. Local residents spent days pushing floodwaters out of their businesses. I wanted to travel out to Saitama and visit Kawagoe, an older Edo-period type town with a thriving tourist district, but I had to change my plans because the train service to the area was canceled.

Flooding at my station. The storm approaches. #typhoon# #Nara #japan by James Gochenouer, on Flickr

That night, after the rain ceased, I walked around the hotel neighborhood looking for food from the local convenience store, and it came to me. The next Daydreamer novel would have a typhoon and it would do significant damage to my little town of Chikata. As I paid for my convenience store soba, potato chips, and chu-hai, I formed the outline of the story and wrote it down as soon as I got back to my room.

THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR became the novel that I worked on almost all of 2017, and now it’s available for you to read. I hope you enjoy it!

Want to purchase THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR?

This book is now available! View the cover, blurb, read an excerpt, and purchase THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR via my website…

Check out THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR now!

This novel is available on Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo, and Google Play!

All images in this post not taken by me used in accordance with Creative Commons Licenses.

The post Me vs Typhoon Mindulle – Inspiration For THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR appeared first on S. J. Pajonas.

Featuring BROKEN WORLDS By Drew Avera

Today, Drew Avera is here to talk about his science-fiction novel, BROKEN WORLDS.

I asked Drew, “Why did you write The Alorian Wars Series?”

He replied…

I wrote The Alorian Wars series because I wanted to write something with spaceships. I was deployed in 2015/2016 on the Truman and just read the first four books in The Expanse. It was gritty and thrilling in ways I didn’t expect and after four months of not writing, I was itching to get back into it. All the stuff I experienced being away from home and stuck on the open seas went into the first book, Broken Worlds. It’s just beneath the skin of the story and it felt good getting it off my chest. I had no idea so many people were going to like it, but I’m glad they do.

I love The Expanse! That series is everything I love about futuristic science fiction. So glad you love it too! I’m sure your experiences come through in your writing.

THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR Is Now Available!

Woo hoo! It’s Release Day around here!! THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR, the fourth book in the Miso Cozy Mysteries Series, is now available. I really enjoyed writing this book even though it took me many months to get it all out and onto my computer. There were a lot of parts I truly struggled with and other parts of this novel just flew from my fingers. It was a labor of love to be sure.

I remember coming up with the premise for this novel sometime in 2016. I wanted to do something different with the cozy formula and focus on a missing persons case, since these cases are very prevalent in Japan. Many people in Japan just disappear, usually by their own design. Something happens to them like they lose a job or fail an exam or break up with a significant other, and the weight of shame is too much to handle, so they go away. This is something that I’m tackling in both this book and my Hikoboshi Series as well.

But in RETURNS A FAVOR, when a famous missing persons case comes up again in Chikata, Mei decides to help solve the mystery at the behest of a new friend. Writing this book, I struggled a lot with my own doubts of my mystery writing skills and straying from the typical cozy mystery formula. In the end, though, I was really happy with the way the mystery turned out, and the new landscape the final act of this book created for more stories to come in this world. I’m excited for you all to read it.

You can now purchase THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR and start reading this unique cozy mystery book today!

Learn more about and purchase
THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR

I hope you all enjoy it! Please don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or wherever you happen to purchase THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR.

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Teaser Tuesday – Doubts

It’s another Teaser Tuesday for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR!

One of the themes of this entire series, and especially this book, is the doubts that we all have about ourselves and our actions. Sometimes we make decisions and feel great about them. Other times, we immediately regret and question everything that we do. Mei wants to be strong and confident about what she does. She loves her tea shop and her relationship with Yasahiro, yet there’s always this feeling that she’s not doing enough or doing the right things by her mom or other people she loves and looks to for guidance. Doubts weigh heavily on her and threaten to destroy her.

In RETURNS A FAVOR, she has her biggest confidence crisis as of yet when her mom turns on her. But why did it happen? How did it come to this? Mei will have to figure out that mystery along with all the others in this novel.

CRASH LAND ON KURAI Now Available Everywhere!

My period of exclusivity is up on Amazon and CRASH LAND ON KURAI, the first book of the Hikooshi Series, is now available on iBooks, Nook, Kobo, and Google Play. I’ve been uploading and linking and updating all weekend to bring you this news. I hope my non-Amazon readers are happy to get ahold of this book now!

Did you know that this series is a spin-off of my Nogiku Series? You don’t need to read one to read the other, but they do take place in the same universe with a few shared characters. If you read my Nogiku Series, you should definitely give this series a chance too.

Prices on books in this series will increase to $4.99 at the end of the week, so if you want to save a dollar, now’s the time to do it.

Check out CRASH LAND ON KURAI!

FYI: The second book of the series, CHAOS IN KADOMA WARD, will be available on all vendors next month, and from here on out, all books in this series will be available right away on all vendors. Launching this series into Kindle Unlimited was an interesting experiment that didn’t work out.

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Sunday Update – January 14, 2018

A late and quick Sunday Update for this week because it’s been one hell of a week around here. My husband came down with the flu last Saturday (not yesterday but a week prior) and he was just so sick all week long. He barely left the bed or the couch, and he had a high fever for many days. It was quite scary and exhausting. But the good news is that he’s been almost normal all day today so I think the worst is behind us now. Still, ugh. It was over a week of fevers! Poor guy.

Otherwise I just tried to get through every day. I did the best I could, keeping us all fed and to our appointments on time. I’m bone-weary tired. My husband is really quite great and usually helps out around the house with little things, so I missed having his help all week.