Soy Sauce Marinated Pork Chops

Andy and Me in Maui, Hawaii- July 11, 2012

Andy's and my first official "pick the girl up from her house" date was to Sushi Axiom on West 7th Street.  I preface it that way because our real first date was a night we met up at Yucatan Taco Stand in between two of my night graduate school classes.  We'd met through our friend, Michael, and hit it off at a Wade Bowen concert you can read about here.  Our quick bite to eat at Yucatan had gone well and soonafter he asked me on a real ("pick the girl up from her house") date.  So he picked me up on May 6, 2010, met my yippy little pup, Abbie, and off we went.

Andy & Me at Ryan & Ashley McCollum's Wedding- April 14, 2012

 Unbeknownst to Andy, I didn't touch sushi until the summer of 2008.  In college, when girls would go to sushi restaurants for dinner or sake bombing, I was willing to go, but I stuck with the chicken teryaki plates.  (Which still went great with the sake bombs).  When I returned home from college, a friend of my parents asked me to meet her at Sushi Axiom on Hulen Street to talk to her goddaughter about rush.  Great, here I was suppose to be telling her how great Delta Gamma is and all I could think about was "What in the world am I going to eat?!"  I called up a friend who is an avid sushi lover, and he told me a few things on the menu I could try that he assured me I wouldn't try to spit into my napkin.  Sure enough, I tried them that night, and I loved them!  A few rolls have an acquired taste, that's for certain, but who doesn't love something that's fried on the outside with cream cheese in the middle and jalapenos on top?

Andy & Me at the lake in April, 2012

My sushi pallet has refined itself now.  I also now eat sashimi (just the raw fish by itself- no rice or fixings) and am always up to try any roll on any menu.  I don't eat the cream cheese rolls or the fried rolls anymore because I've realized that, while also quite unhealthy, all of that takes away considerably from the taste of the fish.

Andy & Me at the Santa Pub Crawl, December 2011

So anyway, back to May of 2010 when Andy and I are on our date.  Trying not to be a scaredy cat (but also only having eaten sushi for 2 years), I told Andy I was game to try anything on the menu that he wanted to order.  I love edamame so we quickly agreed on that, and then it was time to put my money where my mouth was.  Or my mouth where my words were.  Or something like that.

Andy, me, and Abbie at my 4th Annual Holiday Cocktail Party, December 2011

I don't remember what rolls we got or what bottle of sake we ordered, but I do remember trying to figure out the difference in the two soy sauces.  The waitress informed us that the one with the green lid was low-sodium, and that solved that.  To this day, at sushi restaurants, Andy still asks me which soy sauce is what and I giggle because I think of how nervous we both were on that first night.  Obviously our nervousness wasn't too awkward, because here we are, two and a half years later, still eating sushi and, sometimes, trying new soy sauce recipes like the one below.

Soy Sauce Marinated Pork Chops

All Recipes

Servings: 2

Soy Sauce Marinated Porkchops and Baked Potato

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 3/8 garlic clove, minced
• 2 (1 inch thick) pork chops

1. Combine the first 10 ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container
2. Add pork and turn to coat
3. Seal bag or cover container
4. Refrigerate overnight
5. Drain and discard marinade
6. Grill, covered, over medium heat, turning occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until juices run clear.

Keep on cookin'!
-Katherine