Bread Boy + Brothy Miso Ginger Rice Bowls

Thursday

Arthur woke up pretty much at 7:00 on the dot on Thursday. After a susu breakfast, the whole family set off to the hospital so I could get my hemoglobin tested, to see if it could be related to the chest pain I felt the previous day.

Whenever I have a blood test at the hospital (and man, I feel like I’ve had a bunch in the past couple years since we’ve moved here), Miklós likes to treat me to a coffee afterwards. And the hospital does have a really nice café. While there, Arthur got to taste a new food: croissant! Miklós was willing to share some of his with his son, and unsurprisingly, Arthur was very enthusiastic about it.

The joy only a tennis ball can bring

Back at home, Arthur had a massive appetite for his third breakfast: yogurt mixed with canned strawberries. Now that was a winning combination for the little dude. I make a special fattening yogurt for Arthur, out of whole milk that I press in a cheese cloth so it’s basically the consistency of cream cheese. And you can’t go wrong with strawberries and cream! It’s funny, now he’s associated head nodding with requesting new food, so he kept doing his weird head bobbing thing (his version of nodding) to let me know he wanted more.

It was bath day, which I think may have contributed to Arthur’s napping on me when I nursed him at 11:00. I’m sure hearing his father’s voice coming from the room next door didn’t hurt either. Either way, I was pretty happy about it!

Arthur napped for just under an hour, and woke up in a pretty content mood. He also was up just in time for us to accept a delivery of Cheerios! When he saw the box, Arthur pointed and asked, as usual, “Dat?” And upon my answering, “Cheerios,” he started making his hungry grunts. The boy is understanding more and more! Similarly, when we passed Miklós’s office, he smiled and said “Papa.” I really feel like this past month has stood out in terms of Arthur’s brain, or at least language, development. I’ll need to start being more careful about what I say in front of him!

Arthur slept again when Miklós took him for a walk around 4:30, napping for another full sleep cycle or so. When he woke up, he was pretty worked up and fussy. Sometimes he’s like that right after waking up from a nap. I can relate; I also feel out of sorts on those once-in-a-blue-moon occasions I nap. His mood went up and down as the evening wore on, with fussy spurts, cheerful bits, getting giddy with excitement at the various games he was playing, and rare moments of calm. At least, however, he went to bed fairly easily, despite the two naps!

Friday

Arthur's Friday began at 6:40. It was a bit of an early start to the day, but the little bug was in a good mood throughout the morning. This was probably aided a bit by the banana-filled breakfast his pops fed him. Arthur's getting pickier and pickier with food, and fruit (especially bananas and kiwis) are something he will almost always eat. So Miklós caved when the little guy refused to eat his eggs. When I fed him his third breakfast, however, he was fine with the eggs. So maybe his body was ready for some protein by that point, or maybe he knows I'm a tougher nut to crack.

He also had a lot of bread, another favorite food of his. As Miklós said, he'll fit right in here - sugar and bread is as Dutch as it gets! He actually was able to point at the bread at the counter and say "Yeah," something he says now as kind of a catch-all word when he wants something.

The sweet smell of yogurt

Boobookins did not want to nap on me during his 11:00 nursing session. He was clearly exhausted and rubbing his eyes like crazy, but actually sleeping? I guess that was not in the cards. He did end up sleeping during his 12:00 walk with Miklós, but only for half an hour.

Arthur didn't nap again during his afternoon walk with Miklós either, despite it being an especially long one. And while he was cheerful enough at home, when we set off for our biweekly family restaurant night, he was not exactly in the best mood. He got really worked up when Miklós changed his diaper right before setting off, and spent the first few minutes in the stroller screaming.

Luckily, he settled down by the time we arrived to Bim & Bap, and was pretty sweet throughout the dinner. He was fascinated by his surroundings, and had fun banging his sippy cup on the table and devouring a peanut butter sandwich I had made him. The boy really does love his bread! By the time we got home, though, he was exhausted, so it was a very quick susu session before we sent him off to bed!

So, on Friday I obviously wasn't doing any cooking. On Thursday, however, I tried a recipe I'd been drooling over for a while, but hadn't gotten around to making. I pretty much just followed this Instagram post, just using a bit more rice and tofu. And oh my goodness, it was as good as it looked - I was in heaven. This is definitely going on the roster. The only thing I might change is to halve the broth recipe; our plates weren't nearly big enough for all of it, though it was very nice. So depending on the size of your plates and how brothy you want it, that's something to consider. Oh, and I would classify it as taking close to an hour, not 20 minutes. But anyways, here's how I made it:

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Brothy Honey Tofu Rice Bowls with Crispy Ginger (serves 2 hungry people)

Ingredients

• Rice

  • 1 cup dry white rice, rinsed

  • 2 cups water

  • ½ tbsp salt

• Broth (I might halve this next time)

  • 800ml vegetable broth (I used 1 ½ mushroom bouillon cubes + 800ml water)

  • 1 ½ tbsp miso paste

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

  • 2 tsp sugar or equivalent (I used ½ tsp powdered sucralose)

  • 2 tsp rice vinegar

  • a good dash of MSG

• Ginger + Tofu

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • ~6cm (more or less) chunk of ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks

  • 325 firm tofu, crumbled by hand

  • good sprinkle of salt

  • 2 tbsp honey (I was bougie and used manuka)

  • 2 tsp soy sauce

• Topping

  • 1-2 green onions, thinly sliced

  • 1-2 handfuls broccoli/bean sprouts/edamame/spinach/other veggies of choice (I used 125g bean sprouts and it worked great here)

Instructions

1. Cook your rice with the water and salt in a rice cooker if you have one. Otherwise, bring water and salt to a boil in a pot, add the rice, reduce to a simmer, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.

2. Combine all the broth ingredients in a pot on the stove, bring to a simmer, and cook while stirring until miso is disolved. Set aside.

3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the ginger and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until ginger is golden brown and crispy.

4. Remove the ginger and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan.

5. Increase the heat of the pan to medium-high. Add the tofu and a good dash of salt.

6. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until tofu is golden.

7. Add in the honey and soy sauce, reduce heat to medium-low, and stir for another few minutes until thick and glossy. Set aside.

8. Bring the saucepan of broth back to the stove and bring to a simmer.

9. Add any veggies you want to use to the broth, and cook until tender.

10. Portion the rice into two large soup bowls. Pour the broth over the rice.

11. Top with the tofu, then the ginger.

12. Add green onions as a final garnish.

13. Enjoy warm! Yum yum!