Cold comfort

The last couple of weeks I've been craving salads.  This week I've had a burst of starch craving, as well.  I've been making this 'corn salad' with leftover corn (frozen corn from a bag).  Just mix the corn with a spoonful of mayo and season with salt and pepper.  Simple and comforting.

My Tomioka no Obaachan used to make this for me.  She was my dad's mother (and lived in Tomioka, hence the moniker).  This obaachan (grandmother) had a prolific vegetable garden.  And I loved her sautéed Japanese eggplant as a young adult.  But as these things sometimes go, the vegetable I remember her most fondly for came from a can.  She'd pop open a can at the breakfast table, squirt in some mayo (Kewpie mayo for any of you in the Japanese know) and there it was: corn salad.

I loved her a lot.  She made a deep impression on me despite our spending most of our lives thousands of miles apart.  And I love this corn salad because it reminds me of her.