We have been writing newsletter every single week (yes, even on our vacation) and this is our 100th newsletter! 4 more weeks and we will complete 2 full years! Thank you for those of you who sent us comments or gave us encouragement at the markets. We will continue to write about down-to-earth topics from our farm and bakery.

Here is a recent photo of our volunteer tomato plant that we just let it grow by itself. It is now a big bush!!

Our Japanese eggplants “Shinkansen” have been producing lots of fruits.

Eggplants in summer are delicious but fall harvest is the best for eggplants, or so they say. I hope we can keep harvesting so that we can see if it is true.

In Japan, there is a saying “ Don’t feed autumn eggplants to your daughter-in-law”. I used to think that it means “because autumn eggplants are too delicious, don’t feed to your daughter-in-law”, and I thought it was really mean. Then I heard another theory, “because autumn eggplants chill your body, eating too many of them is not good for you, and they were trying to protect the daughter-in-law.”

While I was researching for this newsletter, I came across the third theory. The saying came from a poem in 12th century, “Autumn eggplants, mix and stir in fresh sake lees, don’t let “Yome” eat them, and place high on the shelf”.  “Yome” means “daughter-in-law” in modern Japanese. However, in old days, it was used to indicate “mice”. People were supposed to avoid certain words as bad omens especially during festive seasons, and nezumi (mice) was one of them, because mice was believed to cause house fire. In order to avoid the word “nezumi”, they used “夜目” which means “night eyes” because mice seemed to see at night, and it was pronounced as “Yome”, which is the same as “daughter-in-law”.

Well, as a person who did not even know “mice” was a taboo word at all, eggplants are what I cook and enjoy.  Here is what we cooked for dinner after Saturday market, “Seared and quick-marinated eggplants and shishito peppers.”

One of Japanese cooking methods is called “Nibitashi”, which is to sear or deep-fry vegetables and then marinate them in a sauce.  

Here is the recipe: Cut eggplants lengthwise, with slits on skin side. Sear them in a pan on skin side down with 2 tbsp of sesame oil until deep purple skin is slightly browned.  Drizzle some sesame oil on white meat side, turn them over and cook until white side turn to slightly brown, remove them from the pan and set aside.  Add some sesame oil and sear shishito peppers until the surface become slightly brown, and remove from the pan. Pour a mixture of 1 cup of water, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of mirin and 1 tbsp of sugar into the pan.  When it is boiled, add cooked eggplants and shishito peppers back to the boiling sauce, cook a few minutes.  Remove from heat. You can eat them while still warm or you can wait until it is cooled down. Both eggplants and shishito peppers cook well with sesame oil and combined with the sauce, they are delicious!

Our market schedule is as follows:

• Island Roots Farmers’ Market: Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, 3 – 6pm on Wednesday
• AGI Market: AGI Hall, Gabriola, 10am – 2pm on Saturday

Thank you for reading our weekly newsletter. Have a wonderful week!