Sunday Stock # 1 - 3

Lotus Foods Jade Pearl Rice Ramen

The Blogger app on my new phone is a little glitchy, and my post... gone.

One of the things I'm missing most since going "gluten lite" are those instant ramen packs. Yeah, yeah, yeah I've heard how bad they are for you. But man, oh man... they cooked up quick and hit the spot. And of course before deciding to lay off the gluten I bought a bunch of ramen. Well thankfully I have a cousin living nearby and I'm sure she will appreciate the donation.

I was shopping in Honest Weight a few days ago when I spotted a new item. Gluten free ramen from Lotus Foods. They had three varieties to choose from - Forbidden Rice, Millet & Brown Rice, and Jade Pearl. The Jade Pearl noodles that I cooked up are as the package states "infused with chlorophyll-rich wild-crafted bamboo extract," and has a "delicious light vanilla taste." Hmm. 

Anticipating the miso soup would be on the bland side, I cut back on the water hoping for more flavor. Nope. Pretty bland. A dash of soy made it better but you're better off just buying the noodles separately and using your own better broth. The noodles were okay. Didn't catch that vanilla taste, but they cooked up fine and didn't clump (which I've found happens to rice noodles from time to time). I may tinker around with them and try using it for pancit or palabok. 

 

Vegetarian Pho

 

 

It's official - M and I are both sick. It's been making the rounds at work and for the most part I've been able to avoid it, but Sunday and Monday were pretty tough. Exhausted, sinus pressure, nausea, everything. The only thing that could make it all better was a big bowl of hot slurpy noodles.

 

I used a recipe from The Kitchn this time round, and it was pretty good. I didn't add star anise (it's lost somewhere in the house), but the Thai basil made up for that. At first I just chopped up the mushrooms and choy and added it to the bowls raw, but it was a little too raw for my liking, so I dumped the rest into the broth. Sure it ended up disclolored and overcooked, but it seemed more like a soup vegetable that way.

 

I did better on frying the tofu, although the centers were still a little soft. Should have done a better job on pressing the water out. I came across this piece on Herbivoracious which says soaking the tofu in hot salty water will create an even crispier slice of tofu. How, I have no idea... does it draw more water out? Does it mix with the tofu surface and make some coating that fries better? Well, I guess I'll just have to try that next time.

An Eggy, Wonton Thing

Is it normal to mix two soups together? Regardless, it was bright yellow and I’m guessing it was pretty good. I’m pretty congested and everything tastes weird.

Perks of the Job

The place where I work is an island of sorts – I can’t leave to get something to eat, which is fine since there aren’t places in walking distance. Sure, there is stuff a few blocks away on the main road, but I only get thirty minutes. I have been known to kill at least half of that in the cafeteria waiting for my food or just circling the cafeteria to find something worth eating.

So yes, I am jealous of places somewhat similar to where I work that have shops right outside their doors – Starbucks, restaurants, and ahhhhhh… Panera! Free wi-fi and bottomless cups of coffee and all the hilarious conversations that go on there.

I had to drop M off in Albany for some work training Sunday, and hit up Panera for lunch before going to my volunteer gig. It’s the first time I’ve been to the one over by Albany Med, and it’s nice. The place wasn’t too busy for a late Sunday morning. There was a spattering of law/med students, with the random hospital employee picking up a meal before heading back across the street. I’m pretty sure this place is crazy during the week.




I kept seeing all these signs for their “power” meals, which may be stuff from their hidden menu that is no longer hidden? Who knows… but they seemed to all have meat so I passed on that. Ended up going YP2, with a Mediterranean salad with Salmon and French Onion soup. I can’t remember if I’ve had it before, but it was actually pretty good. Lightly dressed, if dressed at all. Didn’t really taste the mandarin orange, the olives dominated the flavor outside of the salmon. Stilled liked it, though.





The FOS had tons of onion (which I love), and just the right amount of cheese. Their soup was thicker than other places I’ve been to… which is surprising, because I thought most of their stuff was made elsewhere and then shipped to the stores. Which would make you think they would all be uniform. Maybe they just didn’t add more liquid?

And then there was the coffee. Black gold, half & half, sugar in the raw. Can’t even tell you how many cups I downed.

Spiffy Ramen

I went to Mitsuwa and didn’t order any ramen from the food court. Obviously because of the no meat thing, but also because I went there during one of their crowd packing festivals, and the line for the ramen was out the door. And I didn’t have cash on me. But they had instant ramen on sale in the market – 5 packs for $2.99! Almost unheard of this brand, which of course I can’t tell you because it’s in Japanese and my Japanese is pretty rusty.

I should have bought more… bah! Anyways, I made M and myself a nice vegetarian version. Used the miso flavored packs and boiled some eggs while I picked over what vegetables were left in the fridge. I settled on pea shoots from my weekly vegetable share and chopped scallions. Simple. The ramen came with not only the soup base, but a topping as well. For the miso it’s the red pepper which I love. I added more to my soup from my own supply.

Ah… so good. Good enough for me to borrow from the library “Ramen to the Rescue.” Love e-books – will never have a late fee again.

This Meatless Lent: Misua

The Lenten season is up and running, and I am doing my best to keep with it. Mind you, I’m really not a practicing Catholic anymore, but I do follow certain practices. Such as giving up something for the forty days (although technically it’s forty-six) leading up to Easter. Looking back, I have been in the habit of choosing to give up things that are food related – I gave up eating out last year… which did not end well.

This year, I’m giving up meat.

Yeah.

No beef, no chicken, no pork. No goat, no ducks… basically anything that walks or flies. And what does that leave?

Seafood. The aquatics. I figured I’d give myself some leeway, and anyways when I tell people about M being vegetarian, the first question they usually ask is, “so, does he eat fish?” It's a meat... it isn't a meat. That discussion could go on and on. Whatevs. The leeway is there, and other than some dried shrimp, I’ve been living the veggie life. On Ash Wednesday, I made myself some misua and started the countdown to meaty delights.

Misua is a type of Chinese noodle that is found in a lot of Asian cooking. In the Philippines, it’s often used in soups. Growing up, my parents would cook up a big pot of misua with shrimp and a green vegetable that they called patola. I didn’t know what that was, but it looked like a cucumber. I wasn’t a fan of the stuff when I was younger, but I sure do like it now.

Patola also goes by the name luffa, Chinese okra, or silk gourd. I don’t know how it looks like okra, but let’s just go with it, shall we? You can buy it at the Asian market, just look for the really long green vegetable, slightly shriveled with prominent spines. If you go to the market on Colvin Avenue, it’s on the far end of the produce… middle shelf.

Misua with Shrimp and Patola

1 medium onion, small dice
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup dried shrimp (fresh can also be used, how much is up to you)
1/2 package misua
Patola, peeled and cut into half pieces, ~2 cups
~6 cups vegetable broth
fried garlic
fish sauce
salt, pepper

Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add the shrimp and cook a few minutes more. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and turn heat down to simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the sliced patola and cook for another five minutes. Season with salt or fish sauce and black pepper. Serve with plenty of fried garlic and fish sauce.

Veggies, Beans, and Greens... Oh My!

My vegetable intake has been on the low side lately. And there has been quite a bit of it in the fridge that has gone unused. Always these plans to make something, yet never following through on it. But this will change. Correction, this has changed, since I used up most of it to make this soup.

The tried and true quad of onions, garlic, carrots and celery cooked in a butter/olive oil mixture until soft. Bell peppers and short cut chopped cabbage follow in the cooking. Vegetable bouillon cubes and onion soup mix  were used for the broth component. A cup of a bean and grain mixture with enough water and allowed to simmer for over an hour. Bell peppers, baby spinach, parsley and dill thrown in at the end. 

Soup to the Rescue!

Hot Soup on a Hot Day

Beans, grains, and tomatoes. Yes, something cool would be good, but I had a craving for the hot. Cumin, chili powder... awesome.

Taiwan Noodle (Albany, NY)

Is it just me, or is Central Avenue trying to Asia-fy itself?

Shortcut Wonton Soup

With all the food we had last night, I'm surprised I wanted to consume more, let alone think about cooking.

Souped Up

Not too long ago I ordered some ramen and it cost me just over six dollars. What I got was not what I had expected and now I wonder if I'll go back to this place again (review in te works I swear).

Friday I made myself some ramrn. The cost of that? Two bucks... at most.

Top Ramen + stir fried bokchoy + scallion garnish = warm and satisfying meal

Macaroni Soup

posted from Bloggeroid

For the Rain

It’s cold and dreary, and the rain doesn’t look like it will let up any time soon. Time to make some soup.



Vegetarian arroz caldo. Normally the fried tofu is used for a topping, but I used it instead as the “meat” of this soup. I need to work on the frying part, as it was a bit too oily for my tastes. But overall, this was pretty good. M and I were fighting over the last of this.

Sautee garlic, onion, ginger. Add rice and cook for a minute or two before adding broth. Bring to a boil and then set heat to low and let simmer until rice is cooked. Add saffron and scallions.Season to taste.

On the Bandwagon

Yes, the cabbage soup diet. I’m on it.

I have some dresses I need to fit into.

Saigon Spring (Halfmoon, NY)

There’s a new Vietnamese restaurant in the Capital Region.

It’s about time.

AOA 3.0/ Van’s (Albany, NY)

Yeah, the party was weeks ago… but I figured I’d mention that I was there. For a quick second. I don’t do well being in a room of strangers, and I wasn’t in the mood to go up to random people and strike up conversation.

Besides, I really wanted some pho.

I know. I left a party with some tasty bites (and cupcakes!) to get more food.

What can I say… I’m an eater.

Something Warm

Leftover rotisserie chicken, diced up daikon radish, and kimchee in a chicken broth with udon noodles. It wasn’t hot enough for me, so I readily used chili garlic sauce.

This soup was even simpler – cubed tofu, sweet potato noodles, and kimchee in a chicken broth. And once again I used lots of chili garlic sauce.

Red Pack Tomatoes

When you can’t get fresh tomatoes, canned is the next best thing.