Food Friday- Aiya Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl

I came across a Minecraft cake recipe on Pinterest and thought it was just too cute.  I clicked on the link and it took me to Gourmet Gaming.  This has to be one of the best food blogs ever.  She takes foods from video games and makes real recipes for them.  Although I'm sure I'll be making a lot of things from her site, the first one I tried was the Aiya Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl  from Persona 4.  Now, I haven't played any of the Persona games, but my husband has and loves them.  This is a special meal in the game that you can literally only get on days that it rains.  You have to have a lot of courage and stamina to eat this in the game (and real life too...it's a lot of food!!!).  Here's a link to a scene from the actual game.

I decided to give it a try and it is pretty darn tasty.  I kept all the ingredients basically the same, but used shitake mushrooms instead of chestnut mushrooms, enoki mushrooms instead of bean sprouts, and Shaghai Bockey instead of Pak Choi.  The great thing about this dish is that you can substitute for whatever you have on hand or can find.  The Chinese Five Spice gives it a very strong and unique flavor and I might cut back on it a little next time (it actually made it pretty spicy!).  All in all it was a wonderful meal that was welcome change from the norm.  And we even ate it on a rainy day!  I can see why it's specifically for "rainy days" because it is somewhat a comfort food.