Today I was riding my bicycle home from work thinking about how different this year has been. The first two years living here in Tokyo were slow-paced. Life seemed to drag by slowly. Slowly but sweetly. Oh yeah, and sometimes bitterly. Moving to a new country when you’ve lived within the same small radius for 20-some odd years is one of those things that conjures up a wealth of feelings. Feelings you didn’t know you had and that sneak up on you in the middle of the night. Yes, the first two years were a roller-coaster ride of confusion, shock, and excitement, but also calm, quiet, moseying-along type moments.

This year, on the other hand- the hand that isn’t even attached to the same body- has been nothing like that. It’s been a whooshing whirlwind of grey static. The kind you see on the TV that looks like a snow storm. It’s like so many things have been happening and changing that I forgot to adjust the antenna to make the picture clearer. The priorities I’ve had in place have been shattered like the martini glass I dropped on the floor the other night. (That was the last of 4 martini glasses, by the way. Not cool.)

Somehow in the rush of the past few months I have not allowed something very exciting  to sink in. I’ve also neglected to share this news with all of you. Tokyo Terrace has officially been published in a real live cookbook! It still feels unreal. I feel like I just typed something that is simply not true. It’s like a drop of water sitting on those pants from Dockers that are water repellent. It just won’t soak in!

It goes without saying that I have been stunned with pleasure and pride since receiving the book, flipping through its pages, and realizing what a tremendous honor it is to be included with so many talented food bloggers in a printed book. And guess what? Mr. Terrace has one of his own recipes in the book as well! Mr. and Mrs. Terrace in the same book: my Lotus Root Chips and his Tuna Sashimi Salad. (To buy the book, click here!)

This past weekend, we decided to try a couple recipes from the book. Brad already knew exactly which recipes he wanted to try first: Scotch Eggs from A Taste of Savoie and No Bake S’More Bars from Married to Chocolate. And so that’s just what we did. Well, he ate after I cooked.

Scotch eggs are kind of incredible. I had never tried them before, but the idea seemed iron-clad. Eggs? Good. Bread crumbs? Good. Fried food? Gooooood. The eggs are surprisingly easy to make…easier than I expected anyway…and taste like crispy, creamy perfection. The center literally tastes like cheese and has a similar consistency to melted cheddar. I used homemade bread crumbs which created a crispy crust on the outside of the soft egg. The herbs in the bread crumbs (I used basil and parsley) brought a welcome brightness to every fried bite. And I love how the eggs fit perfectly in these pine wood boats from restaurantware.com! And the mini bamboo spoon? Um, meant to be!

I placed the eggs on top of a salad (seen in the first picture of the post) and drizzled a simple balsamic vinaigrette over the top. The balsamic soaked into the bread crumbs but did not change the crispness of the crust. It was the perfect light dinner with a glass of wine.

You can find the recipe for Vegetarian Scotch Eggs here. And please make sure to check out Sarah’s blog, A Taste of Savoie!

*You can purchase eco-friendly products like catering supplies and plastic plates from restaurantware.com and receive 10% off by entering the coupon code: tokyoterrace