Soba Noodles with Shitake Mushrooms (adapted from Mark Bittman)

Ingredients:

8 inch dried kombu seaweed
one baggy of dried fish (bonito) flakes
4-5 shitake mushrooms
1/3 cup of Soy sauce
1/3 cup of Rice wine
1 Tbspn of sugar
1 Quart or a liter of water
a bunch of spinach, kale, collard greens or other green you like
1 lb of soba noodles

Dashi

Start by preparing a Dashi. Dashi is a simple broth made of kombu (dried seaweed) and bonito flakes.
Place the water in big pot over low fire. Cook the kombu in the water until tender. Be careful not to let the water boil. When the seaweed is tender, remove and discard. Turn off the stove and add the fish flakes and let sit for a few minutes. Drain the broth and discard the flakes.

Noodles

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. While the soba noodles are cooking add the soy sauce, the rice wine and the sugar to the Dashi. When the noodles are done rinse them and add them to the broth. Reheat and add your greens and the previously hydrated Shitake mushrooms (chopped and with any hard parts removed).

To hydrate the mushrooms place them in warm water as if they were teabags. You can add the water used to rehydrate the mushrooms to the noodle soup.

Guacamole (my way)

There are a few things that are so quick and easy to make and so rewarding. The hardest part: Find a ripe avocado when you want it. Guacamole goes well with almost anything. Any type of meat, quesadillas, tortilla chips, nachos, tacos or with any other Mexican "garnacha" (Mexican word for fast food. Including: Huaraches, tostadas, tlacoyos, sopes, etc..)

The ingredients are: 1 medium to big avocado, about 1/2 cup of finely chopped white onion. 1/4 cup of finely chopped cilantro (or parsley), 1 tomato, the juice of one lime, about 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
1. In a deep bowl place the chopped onion and the lime juice. Do this while you chop the tomato and the cilantro to allow the lime acid to "acid cook" the onion.
2. Peel the avocado and cut in chunks and place in the bowl.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Using a fork, start mixing and mashing the avocado until you get a creamy texture .
4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: you can make spicy guacamole by adding a pinch of the chile of your choice. My favorite is habanero...I highly recommend to roast any kind in of chile you use to add a n extra smokey flavour.