gyoza dumplings + salad + rice

I just read this book Japanese Women Don't Get Old Or Fat. It was an entertaining read and totally got me in the mood for Japanese food. I tried out two of the recipes. First we had the author's gyoza dumplings which basically consist of ground beef and a ton of garlic chives and scallions. I used bison (first time I've tried it, pretty tasty) and some weird, not garlic, chives I found at the Asian market.

The salad was also from the book. It was very Japanese, which you can tell by the name: Tokyo Salad. It consisted of baby mixed greens, celery, red pepper and asparagus with a sesame/soy sauce/rice vinegar dressing. And of course one must include rice with a Japanese meal. We sprinkled some furikake on ours and there you go! Three course meal! It was danged tasty, too.

One last thought: apparently there is a Japanese philosophy called Hara Hachi Bunme meaning "Eat until you are only 80% full." I tried that tonight. I stopped eating when I thought I had hit that point. Then I noticed that there were three leftover gyoza. Hara Hacha Bunme didn't have a chance.