On Top of the Food Chain

I went to get dim sum with Lewis and Vivian today in New Rowland Heights at the New Capitol Seafood Restaurant.  Super cheap dim sum if anyone is interested in going!  We had like 12 dishes and paid $36.  It was a lot of food for the 3 of us.  Today I had my first pair (seriously) of chicken feet.  Lewis and my dad love this stuff.  I had to try it before I could knock it— it wasn’t that bad.  We ordered two types: the boiled feet with a garlic and vinegar sauce and the sweet and spicy one.  Verdict?  The sweet and spicy one was a lot more flavorful and easier to eat.  There’s not much meat on them though.  After all I was nibbling off phalanges from a chicken.  Definitely something new I tried today.  Might not crave for them the next time though.  They’re so cumbersome to eat!

It wasn’t an alright type of pasta.  It looked and tasted like actual gravy with egg noodles.  Gravy’s just the stuff you make from stock, milk, flour.

Tonight I attempted to make beef (meatball) stroganoff from a recipe posted on Budget Bytes.  Beth is an awesome cook that posts recipes that can feed up to 4 for less than $10 a meal.  Since I usually cook for two, this was a perfect site to follow!  I won’t post a picture because the pasta still looked like pasta, next time I’ll try a more authentic recipe that requires sour cream (not sure if I’ll like the sauce though).

Lessons learned:

• No matter what you do to it, beef/chicken stock + milk + flour + heat = gravy.  Actual stroganoff requires sour cream, which is the main ingredient in most Russian dishes.  Did anyone else know that stroganoff is Russian?  I had no idea.
• Pearl onions may look pretty on a plate but prepping for it takes ages.  Those tiny flaky skins are hard to peel and they really test your patience.  You get a sweet, caramel addition to the dish if you cook it right though.
• Homemade meatballs are probably going to be better than the frozen ones from Trader Joe’s.  That’ll be another project, meats!

When I was younger, I used to love watching the food channel.  This was after my obsession with the home and garden network.  I have been a fan of Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, and Iron Chef (the original).  Yesterday I actually took time to sit in front of the TV and watch a new show, “5 Ingredient Fix”.  Claire Robinson came up with an awesome recipe for tomato bread soup.  That just made my mouth water.  I love tomato soup!  That should be my next project: soup.

I forgot how fun the shows are on Food Network.  I can also understand why we have a TV in the kitchen at home.  I just had a flashback about the era when my parents went crazy over learning how to fully utilize our new stove and oven.  Thank you Thanksgiving for giving us that extra push.

Never trust the instructions in the back or bottom of a food package that tells you to “Pour all the contents into the mix” or “You must use this whole bag!”  That’s just asking for it.  If any of you are fans of Trader Joe’s and have waltzed through every aisle and noticed an innocent bag of frozen garlic fries, beware!

Though the amount of fries was small and the packet of garlic sauce looked harmless, the concoction of potatoes and garlic made my taste buds beg for mercy.  I’ve always loved garlic in slices, minced, crushed, or dried, it always complimented the meal.  Today’s experience was a definite turnoff.  You can taste the garlic before eating it because the sauce in the packet was so strong.  The instructions said to use everything at once and not leave leftovers.  How was I supposed to know that my tongue would have the sensation of a first to second degree burn?  Brushing your teeth won’t help, neither will a slice of lime, and I didn’t even want to try Listerine.  After trying everything (twice), I should just give up and wait it out.

Pepsi or dark soda might help though…

Today it decided to rain and upset the skies above.  The winds today took out every umbrella that was opened.  I wanted to feel like Mary Poppins and float away, but we know how that could end badly.  So yes, today was that type of rain.  The walks to and from campus weren’t as pleasant and when the clock hit 5, I was already thinking that it was a noodle soup type of night, my day ended and it was time to cook.

My usual approach for noodles soups is to buy canned broth.  It’s not as healthy as homemade, but it’s hellavuh easy way to cut back an hour in prepping and cooking time.  I’ll throw in whatever meats from the freezer into the boiling pot, add nuoc mam (you know I can’t resist!), vegetables, and my secret ingredient, which I won’t tell.  I suppose this so-called noodle soup also resembles a lazy version of hot pot.

My setback to this technique is that the soup tastes different every time!  I never measure out the proportions of broth to solid companion ratio, but it somehow always tastes fine.

Wonder if I’ll ever make time to just experiment different measurements and see which soup base tastes best.  I’ve only managed to “master” pho and mi, or egg noodle soup.  I haven’t ventured out to try and make homemade ramen or any other type of noodles yet.  I would consider a new noodle recipe this weekend but I’m already deciding between chicken pot pie or beef stroganoff.