Food and drink

Camp Cooking: One Pan Yaki Udon June 13, 2016  •  6 comments     227 I have a thing for fried noodles. They are and always will be one of my favorite things to eat. In fact, I kinda sort of dream about going to Japan in the summertime just so I can eat  yakisoba  at a summer festival. I mean,  I’ve been to Japan  and I’ve had yakisoba there, but not at a summer festival, which is supposed to be one of the ultimate Japanese experiences. Mike totally wants to go to Japan in the summer as well, but I keep hearing about giant summer bugs and mega humidity, so I’m hesitant to visit. Since we’re not in Japan, I thought I’d bring a bit of Japan, via noodles, to camp. And speaking about Japan and camp, did you know that there’s a big Japanese camp culture? Apparently people in Japan camp just to go camping, not as a means to an end for other outdoor activities. They really go all out with their  set ups  and c...

Quick & Easy Chicken Dinner Pizza We’re taking a quick break from the camping, quite literally, right now. Both virtually with this chicken dinner pizza, and physically because we’re at a Starbucks, enjoying some caffeine and free wifi. Mike’s busy catching up on work that he’s been desperately needing to do and I’m just catching up on the internets. Camp life sure is good for unwinding and strengthening our relationship, but maybe not so much for making money/productivity? Speaking of productivity, if you’ve been too productive and have no idea what to make for dinner, maybe you’ll give this chicken dinner pizza a try? It’s awesome, especially if you actually had a chicken dinner the night before. I’m all about turning leftovers into bestovers and this pizza was pretty awesome. Mike and I have a mutual love affair with with roasted chickens. When we first started dating, but weren’t really serious, he took me on a birthday picnic on a mountain. There was...

Quick and Easy Bolognese Chinese Style (Zha Jian Mein) Noodles are life. Whenever I’m down, noodles are there for me. It could be an unassuming cup of instant ramen, or maybe a big bowl of spaghetti Bolognese – I’m not picky, just give me noodles and suddenly the future seems just a tiny bit brighter. As I was writing this post, Mike and I had the following conversation: Me: I don’t know what to write about noodles. I love noodles. Noodles are my friends. I want to hug noodles and put them in my mouth. Mike: I don’t think I want you to have any friends. That is all. Enjoy these meat sauce noodles. They taste basically like a slightly Asian spaghetti Bolognese except that it’s super simple and fast to make, unlike the classic Italian version. The best thing about it is that once you buy the bean pastes that are essential to the recipe, you can keep them in your fridge and make batches and batches of meat sauce. And yes, you will want ...

Canada Day Maple Rye Cedar Salmon Happy Canada Day friends! I love making flag foods but Canada’s flag isn’t the easiest to render in food. I wish I was a little more adept at it. I’ve been wanting to make Canada Day jello, much like this  American flag jello  I made a couple of years back, but maple leaves are hella hard to create in food (I really should just buy a maple leaf cookie cutter). I’ve done my share of strawberry shortcakes,  pavlovas , and the such, but this year I thought I’d bring a savory swing to things. I had to get Mike to show me how to cut out the maple leaf. He used a piece of shrimp cake and I was throughly impressed by his retention of how many points the Canadian flag has (11, in case you’re wondering). I was also impressed because he made a slightly modified version for me that would be more achievable with the flakiness of salmon. All in all, I think the flag came out great! I put it on a bed of mas...

Cold Noodle Summer Salad with Salmon July 11, 2016  •  3 comments     699 Give me all the noodles, even in the summer. I don’t mind sweating over a bowl of  ramen  or  pho , especially if it’s  homemade . But, if you’re not up for the noodle sweats, don’t worry, I’ve got your back with this summery noodle salad full of all the good stuff. Are you guys a fan of mung bean noodles? They are one of my faves – I mean, if I absolutely had to choose a favorite noodle, well, to be honest, I really wouldn’t be able to because true noodle folk don’t make other noodle folk choose between their babies. Mung bean noodles are slippery, chewy, and, made of mung beans. They kinda went around for a while with a claim that they were healthier than other noodles, but aside from being naturally gluten free, they are pretty much like all the other dried noodles out there, except they’re made from beans, not flour or rice.   I...

Sicilian Gnocchi with Sardines July 13, 2016  •  18 comments     125 People are always thinking that Mike and I eat pretty decently. And for the most part, it’s true. But, lots of times our meals (especially dinners) are leftovers hobbled together into some sort of strange smorgasbord that I enjoy immensely, but Mike ends up thinking is questionable. Is there really anything so wrong with eating a meal that consists entirely of side dish trials?! I think not, but then again, my food taste is kind of questionable. Mike is usually good humored about the whole blogging thing – he patiently waits for me to take photos and we often eat our food on the cold side, or microwaved. Actually, come to think of it, sometimes he’s too good about it. Sometimes he’s the one insisting on taking photos when I just want to shovel food into my mouth as quickly as possible while it’s still hot. Case in point – we were camping ( in an olive grove ! I ...