8th Day

After my last successful meal yesterday, I regained my confidence. I invited few friends over including my boyfriend so I had to serve four dishes. In spite of final exams, I was eager to serve dinner; to show my improvement. Besides, I was the only one who had exams coming up among the four. My friend is same age as me but she graduated early and currently working. My boyfriend and the other one are older than me and they are also both working. Anyway, I invited them to have dinner and I'm writing this piece after the guests left.

Today I made Gyudon.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 cups steamed Japanese rice
• 1 lb thinly sliced beef loin, cut into 2 inch lengths
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 1/3 cup dashi soup
• 5 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp mirin
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp sake
• benishoga (pickled red ginger) for topping *optional

Preparation:

Put dashi, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and sake in a large pan and bring to a boil on medium heat. Add onion slices and simmer for a few minutes or until softened. Add beef in the pan and simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot steamed rice into individual deep rice bowls. Put simmered beef on top of the rice. Top with some benishoga if you would like.

I was a little bit nervous at first because I wasn't sure if I could pull this off. However, at the end I was satisfied. I think today was my best accomplishment for this challenge. They all enjoyed the meal and my boyfriend even asked if I had more. Considering that they are very straightforward people, I think they weren't just being polite. If they thought it was no good, thy would have told me(they always do). With the guests, I didn't get the chance to take a picture. It is a pity because I really would like to keep the memory of today(how proud I was of myself).