mitsene's food blog

a nice salad

2011-03-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

ok, so actually it's a salad nicoise. whatever. but it's from nice, france.

This salad is - how I made it -
-big red fresh ripe-ass organic red tomatoes, 3, medium sized
-5 or 6 thinly sliced radishes
-3-4 tsp capers
-small jar of artichoke hearts, with juice
-bunch of green onions
-small green pepper
-3 hard boiled eggs, diced
-can of tuna
-can of smoked sardines
-herbs de provence
-2-3 tsp lemon juice
-dash of olive oil

voila. a weird food salad. capers and sardines, you never fail me. the original recipe calls for olives, but i dislike olives, and i love capers. so there.
This is, as you can imagine, very filling - tons of fiber and protein. Don't add extra thyme. It'll make it taste dirty here and there. [or maybe my thyme-ing just sucks. haha.. oh.. ok sorry..]. I also regret using old smoked sardines that my dad gave me that is who knows how old. I don't know if it was the brand or the age or the smoked- ness but I didn't much like the sardines, too dry. I'd probably go for more of an italian-cooking type of sardine next time. Or those anchovies wrapped in capers. That would be perfect.

been a while!

2011-03-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

I admit. I got the flu a week after the last entry and was too sick or busy to really expirment with cooking up until lately. The other day I made my usual vegetable curry, this time with daikon radish - added too many root veggies but it's still good. Daikon is surprisingly sweet in the curry. Tons of white rice and curry in my fridge right now.

I've also been experimenting with making some new variations of mac and cheese. Right now it's more like mac and tuna tri-cheese.
-mac and cheese, regular box kind, cheaper the better it seems!
-frozen peas, and corn kernels too, if desired - boiled in with the pasta
-can of tuna, i prefer solid chunk light as opposed to the mushy kind
-2 tbsp butter
-dash of milk
-cheese packet
-grated parmesan cheese
-dollop of blue cheese dressing [yeah i went there]
-mix in shredded cheddar cheese while it's still hot
-possibly add a tablespoon of red spicy pasta sauce [arrabiata?] to top if desired.

this is relatively quick and easy and inexpensive. none of the above are fancy gourmet ingredients - we shop at aldi.

havent been cooking much lately.

2011-02-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

I have been eating more dairy than i was the weeks before. i had some leftover fish yesterday, and my stomach hurt. same just before lunch today.
this morning i made apples and cinnamon oatmeal - plain oatmeal from a big container, then sauteed some apples in butter and added cinnamon and brown sugar. heat up some hot water while it's cooking, then pour it over the oatmeal, let it sit for a minute. when the brown sugar is melted on the apples I remove from heat and pour over the oatmeal. Sometimes i will mix it up and add some extra brown sugar or maple syrup. it's really delicous and appley. the apples are nice and soft and cinnamony.

food

2011-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

lately:
-vegetarian [pescatarian? it had scallops] shepherd's pie
-some really crappy chili
-strawberry pancakes for dinner

the shepherd's pie was:
-wheat pancake batter in the bottom of a pan
-sauteed squash and zucchini over that
-sauteed carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, scallops over that
-layer of canned corn
-layer of mashed potatoes
-layer of cheese
-bake
-eat
-needs gravy.

Wheat berries, man.

2011-01-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

Mmm. One of my new favorite grains.
Soaked some wheat berries in a crock pot 2 days ago so i've been putting it in dishes here and there. Finally got to make some simple salad with it.
1/2 tomato
1/2 cucumber
big handful of baby spinach leaves
2/3 cup hard red spring wheat berries, soaked, refrigerated
balsamic vinaigrette, to taste

The wheat berries ended up creating a lot of starch/gluten/something when soaked, which settled when refrigerated, and made them stick together a lot. To separate I put them in a mesh strainer/colander, and ran lukewarm water over them as I tossed the strainer back and forth.

I wish my bf would eat some of this food that I've been making lately :C I have so many leftovers and all he wants to eat are egg sandwiches. WTF. I cook too much and eat too little, I guess.

Oh, I did want to mention that I haven't had a cigarette in over a week. I am still hocking hairballs [phlegm]. I can't really explain it except for secondhand smoke and a dry winter environment. I've also been eating relatively more vegan-style meals. Not all the time, because sometimes financially I just don't have the option [ran out of soymilk, only breakfast food is cereal, have to use milk on cereal or have a hard boiled egg]. I try to at least eat whole foods. Whole grains and vegetables first - oats, wheat berries, rice. Then fruits/pastas/breads. Then fish, eggs, dairy, but only if I need to.
Weirdly enough I think in my whole vegetarian spiel since 8th grade, I keep concentrating on making sure I have enough protein replacement, that I just forget to eat fruit. I had some orange juice recently, and an apple - first fruit stuff in a while - and goddamn they tasted delicious. Like, way sweeter. I don't know if it's because I've been eating less sugary things lately or if I need more of them vitamins.

Sauteed chickpeas

2011-01-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot about beans/indian/vegan food lately so i've been on a bit of a bean kick. Bought dried beans a while ago, had some issues rehydrating, so gave up on them. reading about them lately encouraged me to give them another try.
Last night's dinner was simply spanish rice and chickpeas. here's the recipe for the sauteed garlic chickpeas with corn:
-rehydrate chickpeas. i used little under a half a pound bag in a crockpot with 3-4 cups water. put it in at 10am, turned on low, left til 5pmish. they were still a bit firm when i took them out, so if you like softer, leave in for a couple hours longer.
-remove from water, add to large skillet pan.
-dice up 1/2 onion, maybe a little more, into small pieces. i used white inca onion. add to pan.
-add 1/2 cup frozen [or canned] corn kernels. turn on heat to start melting corn.
-dollop 1-2 tsp minced garlic on top. lots of garlic.
-drizzle 1-2 tbsp veg oil on top, to coat.
-as pan heats up, add spices
--1tsp whole coriander
--2 tsp lemon pepper salt [i put a little too much in, reducing this probably wouldn't hurt]
--dash of thyme
--dash of cumin
--dash of dill

Sautee for about 10 minutes, until corn softens, chickpeas start to darken on some sides, onion and coriander gets soft/opens. Serve with rice [flavored, spanish, white, brown, wild, i don't care, it needs it to be a complete protein].

This is actually a very filling meal. Usually I have to eat a side of rice/pasta, side of green vegetables, and a fish fillet to feel as full as one bowl of this. Chickpeas rock.

curry recipe

2011-01-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

I made a vegetarian curry from this recipe over a year ago, and have made it every now and then since then. each time something else is adjusted, so now there's not much left in common with it except coconut milk and curry paste. The recipe I made today is below:

3 red potatoes
1/2 yellow pepper
1/4 white onion [inca onion?]
1/4 chinese cabbage
1 can straw mushrooms
1 can baby corn
1 sm can water chestnuts
1 can seitan chunks [asian market thing]
1 can coconut milk
3 tsp red curry paste
tbsp hoisin sauce
dash soy sauce
squirt sriracha
stick of cinnamon
2 half stars of star anise
tbsp turmeric
2-3 tsp ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
tsp cardamom
tbsp vegetable oil

dice up the red potatoes into small chunks and microwave 3-4 minutes, til soft. put in crock pot at bottom. dice up cabbage, onion and pepper; put on top of potatoes. put canned food on top of that - baby corn, mushrooms, seitan, coconut milk, chestnuts, along with curry paste. add garlic. i accidentally grabbed the wrong can of coconut milk off the shelf so it was super thick and chunky like coconut paste with a layer of coconut water on top of it. because of this chunkyness i left the water in with the chestnuts but drained everything else. after this i put in all the dry spices, sauces, oil etc, sticking the whole cinnamon and star anise along the sides. i am impatiently waiting for it to cook. the coconut milk kind of looks like sour cream on top of chile... i hope it all mixes together well. D:

death muffin

2011-01-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

I was feeling fine since last saturday. had some frozen fish, lots of rice and beans, kale, skimpy on the dairy, no sugar or cigarettes since before the weekend, and it's tuesday now.

then i had a muffin for breakfast. a sweet, big, sugary, buttered muffin. ow. tummy. hurt. LOTS.

wine before liquor, never been sicker

2011-01-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

last night we got snowed in and had a snowstorm slumber party. i had some leftover chili [2 cans beans, water, tomato paste, diced tomatoes with green chiles, corn, back beans, jalapenos, mushroom, pepper and potatoes, slathered in cumin] for dinner, finished coloring giant disney princess pictures, and had a glass of wine. everything was fine up until someone broke out the majorska.

why :(
i dont feel like i drank all that much, but my stomach says otherwise. threw up, went to bed, woke up at 8 and barfed every 30-45 mins til 2-3pm. there is something about wine that my stomach doesnt like mixed with large amounts of hard liquor, apparently -- the only time i puke in succession like this is when wine is involved.

i got up at about 6 pm, after finally being able to hold down some water and breadcrusts. danny helped me make a big soup, but it didnt end up being too soupy. i wanted to put a little rice in, but he suggested a whole cup, so it ended up being more of a watery pilaf than anything else. it was still good, though. red potatoes, black eyed peas, canned mushrooms, vegetable broth, and lots of seasoning from tarragon to pepper to sage and savory, rosemary and thyme. lots of spices i dont usually use, but they were soft on my stomach. oh, and a crapton of white rice. we are not experienced in making soup - he hates them, and i am more of a stew person. i like big chunks of things in my soup or stew - rarely do i like just flat, pasty soup. unless its tomato. with a grilled cheese. mm.

anyway. today sucked and i dont want to repeat that anymore. done with vodka. done with shots. done with hangovers and getting hammered and wasted and puking and having terrible photos taken of me and my fat chin. this is part of the reason why i want to move a little farther away come fall, should i get into school... i love my friends around here, but they are younger than me, more partytastic, and love the everloving shit out of hard alcohol and weed. i had a good post-college 2 years... easy job, just go home and doodle and pay the bills and go out to bars with bands and drink. i dont know how long it typically takes other people to get to this point, but my body seems to say to me, just fucking stop.

interesting

2011-01-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

So aunt flo is visiting, and suddenly most of my stomach issues are gone. Though I do get a bit nauseous here and there.

I wanted to share my recipe for super mushroom'd stew. I try to make at least one crock pot recipe a week so I have something to fall back on food-wise, should I ever get lazy during the week. So here it goes:
1/2 to 1 package white button mushrooms - I doubt i used the whole package, but you can if you want.
1 7oz can of mushrooms - no particular kind - drained
1 c dehydrated random mushrooms - usually porcini/baby bella, shiitake, etc - the savory, chewy kind - can replace with 1/2 pack baby bella and 1/2 pack shiitake/whatever kind you like
1.5 c water [lessen by .75 c if not using rehydrated shrooms]
1/2 c veg broth
1 14 oz can beans - pinto, black, whatever - mostly drained
.75 c frozen corn [or use a small can, mostly drained]
large dollop of oyster sauce
large dollop of hoisin sauce
large dollop of worcestershire, jerky or other dark, savory sauce
add more savory sauces if necessary
tbsp veg oil
dash of soy sauce
spices to taste [i used tarragon, some cumin]
1-2 tbsp minced garlic
cayenne pepper
big squirt of sriracha [use less if you don't like super spicy]

the point of this is to have it be as savory as possible, but NOT salty or watery. i may have added adobo to this later on, if it seemed bland, so add salt to taste. use as little water as possible at first, then add more if it doesn't seem to be working out. rehydrated mushrooms need more water to hydrate properly. set on high for an hour or two then change to low once it gets to boiling. will be done once the shrooms are hydrated and the white button mushrooms turn almost black because of absorbing all the dark, savory sauces you put in. the more chewy mushrooms you put in, the better.

new year's

2011-01-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

This new year's wasn't so bad in the nausea department - I did drink, of course, but not nearly as much as I might have in the past, and certainly not as much as most of the people I was hanging out with.
I was out the entire weekend, though, and so didn't get to cook. Well, we did help to make cannolis - which I've never made before, and don't seem TOO hard, I suppose. I did eat a lot of cheese, and didn't have as much of an upset stomach as I thought I would.
I actually had a crapton of heartburn, starting the first night and lasting pretty much until this morning- 3 or 4 days? Burning, painful, waking you up from your sleep kind. Burned through to my back. Constant bubble feeling in my lower throat. Rolaids, milk and bread only helped temporarily.
I am starting to think that my pinched neck nerves cause headaches, which make me take a lot of ibuprofen/aspirin, which causes ulcers, and i guess heartburn and nausea?
I have plans for a new vegetarian chili - I found some actual chili beans at the store! so it'll be black beans, chili beans, black eyed peas? some corn, peppers/jalapenos, tomato paste, and maybe some other stuff. Actually this would be considered vegan chili, since I don't put any egg or pepper in, it's just a crapton of beans, vegetables, tomato paste, oils and spices.

Post-Holiday update

2010-12-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

This was not a good holiday stomach-wise. We visited my dad/stepmom on christmas eve, and ate a lot of bread fish stuff, vegetables, fruits and butter/cheeses - maybe too much. And beer/wine. My stomach did not like that at all -- very painful later that night and up until the next day. And then ate too much on christmas, too. I am still not feeling right, and not eating right. But i don't know why! I had mushroom stew, no cream, butter, meat, wheat, even rice - just mushrooms, potatoes, corn, beans and some spices - and it hurt my stomach. [though i'm sure the bits of cookies and chocolate here and there didn't help either.]

and more

2010-12-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

Made cookies the other night! Some gingersnaps.. that turned out more like mildly chewy brown sugar cookies with some ginger. But they were still good. I have to get rid of this one pan that is so old it's pretty much blackened on the bottom, and totally ruined any of the cookies in it (about 5 or 6) by burning the crap out of the bottom of them. I didn't eat too many of the good ones.
Last night made spanish rice, spinach and mahi mahi. Felt pretty good stomach-wise. Had it for lunch too, but also 2 pieces of cheese pizza. Not such a good idea. I feel too full, very thirsty and I get the occasional stomach pains.
Oh, had some effing delicous clams & shrimp cocktail at uss chowder pot III - seafood place in guilford, ct. Ate at the bar - the clams were $5 for a dozen [usually $10] on monday night. I could taste them 30 hours afterward. Perfect. Fresh. Nomtastic. Devoured along with 2.5 glasses of blue moon. (yep, just seafood and fancy beer for dinner...) A glass of beer or wine always makes food taste better somehow, but too much, not so much.

wtf weekend

2010-12-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

so this was the first weekend in a long time that i didn't get like, totally hammered or at least drunk beyond buzzed and stumble up the stairs and spend saturday useless and hungover. i had 2-3 glasses of wine on friday night at a friends' house, and went to a bar but i just wasn't feeling it. when i don't drink, i don't smoke as much. also don't get as hungry. so saturday was actually useful - went downtown and visited the asian market, got a red bean bun, checked out this cheese shop i've been eyeing and the vintage store next to it, wanted to try and find a gallery but apparently the exhibit was closed so no dice. walked around trying to find another gallery to no avail. not really a busy 4pm saturday down there, though i did find harney and sons peach & ginger tea at a coffee shop, and reeeeally should have bought some. or the gunpowder tea. mmm. i really, really want to try some of that cheese, though, even though none of it is below $14/lb. yeah. but it looks paris-worthy.
stomach has been off and on. I had cheese for breakfast [in homemade hashbrowns/potatoes] and lunch [along with crappy seafood salad, tried to improve it with dill and swiss, still sucked] on saturday and that did not turn out too hot. Black tea, too, made an unsettling feeling. I ended up having salad with a homemade dressing for dinner - oil, red wine vinegar infused with garlic, garlic powder, ginger powder, a drizzle of hoisin and a squirt of sriracha. was quite tasty. salad had cubes of baked tofu in it so it went well with the dressing.
That was lunch for the next day too - sunday's breakfast was eggs and rice, this time with a dab of hoisin. just a little bit of the sweet sauce really helped the plainness of the egg/rice mix - it was good before, when i needed something simple, but really should have had something else. i decided against ketchup because.. well, cmon, ketchup and rice? blah!
Dinner sunday was whole wheat spaghetti with canned oysters in a pseudo cream sauce - vanilla soymilk/lite mayo reduction, garlic, basil, oregano, tarragon and some other spices - served on the pasta with the white oyster sauce on one side and a regular red pasta sauce on the other. The vanilla soymilk really added a strange sweet flavor to the oyster sauce, and the mayo is good for thickening it up and adding a nice tang.

Lunch today was ordered out - got a salad and sammich from liquid lunch. Which is, quite possibly, the most delicious soup/sammich/salad restaurant i have ever eaten at, period, this includes paris, france, so yeah. If you are ever in the southern CT/new haven-ish area, make sure you go to Shelton or Milford for these sammiches, they are a-maz-ing. Anyway, I had a garden salad [with homemade poppy seed croutons, fresh peppers, baby spinach and red lettuce, tomatoes and swiss, with honey mustard dressing] and a portobello sandwich - panini, more like, with melted mozzarella, pesto, baby spinach and the most deliciously marinated roasted portobello I've ever had. it's how portobello SHOULD taste. So delicous. I don't know what they do in this place but seriously, never, ever, ever disappointed in the food.

day 4

2010-12-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

oh god why did i eat those wasabi peas before bed last night euhghhh

I think it was the beers. Yes i had beers. Not too many. Not enough to make me feel ookly. Also had some clams and a salad with [too vinegar-y] italian dressing. Feeling a'ight, not amazing, but okay. The wasabi peas before bed, not such a good idea. Tasty, but burny, and unsettling.
Attempted to make polenta for breakfast, failed miserably. It was not corn grits, it was corn flour, and it came out like some terribly made overwatered.. batter.. crap. Had some unfrozen berries, and a grapefruit later on. The grapefruit felt good. Really.

Lunch was leftovers mashed together into tortillas. Salmon, salsa and egg fried rice. It smelled a lot worse than it sounds in the microwave, like rotten crotch. I am glad the salmon [stinkiest part] was smothered in something uber spicy, or else I don't think it would have made it down my throat. Oh, don't get me wrong, the whole thing together was great. It was just the salmon.. alone.. mushy... crotch-smelling... something felt wrong with eating it plain like that. Yeuck.

day 3

2010-12-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

Fried tofu yesterday wasn't TOO bad. Had it with white rice and didn't eat all of it - stopped myself from eating too much before it was too late. Also had some more ginger tea and ginger with green tea.
Stopped by the store, picked up some tortillas and wasabi peas -- ate a handful or two of the peas at a friends' house, plus a sip of coke and some cigarette - tummy did not like that. Not much of either but still not happy. Settled down a little later and had mini salmon salsa tacos - mixed that salmon from the day before with the salsa from the day before that. Wasn't bad, was a pretty light/small dinner, but I didn't feel too hungry. Kind of felt a little full/bloated/gross but not as bad as if, say, i'd eaten three of them and smothered them with cheese and whatnot.

Been drinking a lot of vanilla soymilk lately. I dunno.. it cancels out the heartburn without causing indigestion or that weird taste in your mouth like milk does. I usually don't like to drink it plain but it's so tasty... Anyway, this morning had the eggs and rice again, but sprinkled some garlic powder over, patted down some sliced up baked tofu with sausage seasoning, and fried them together. Had a cup of vanilla chai with soymilk. Feeling quite full, though I made a smaller plate than I did yesterday.

day 2

2010-12-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

Last night I ended up having a black bean burger and a knish at a friends' house for dinner, with a little ketchup. I felt OK eating it and the nausea had gone away a couple hours before - it was about 7pm when I ate. Also had some weird omega3 juice. However most of the night after that I did not feel very good at all, a full and unsettled and throw up-y kind of feeling. I think the knish was too processed and/or both had cheese - a small amount, to be sure, but dairy nonetheless. Therefore knishes=not good.

This morning I had a glass of vanilla soymilk with some white rice and two eggs fried together. My stomach feels fine so far. I think before this I would have been able to eat the whole pan, but couldn't finish the bowl today. The portions I consume now are smaller - even if it's been only a day. I am thirstier more though. I had some ginger tea last night [yogi digestive ease something or other, i find yogi tea to be delicious and quite fresh/effective herbally] so maybe that helped through the night, who knows.

I unfortunately had the offer of free lunch, so I got general tso's tofu and white rice - haven't even eaten it yet. Let's see how long til the tummyache happens. (I know I shouldn't have, but I love fried tofu sooooo much!!)

Resurrection!!

2010-12-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

So I want to keep a journal about my food exploits. I cook a lot, but I also get a lot of tummy aches. I also don't want to make -another- journal on blogspot, so i'll just resurrect this old one I haven't touched in a while.

Today I am 'fasting'. I have been feeling sick since last saturday, with the most recent hangover. Four days of nausea is too much. Though i hate the idea of not drinking, as it's the only time i can really talk to people without feeling awkward, constantly feeling sick is taking its toll. Plus maybe i'll learn to be social without using drinking as a crutch. (or not. i hate people haha.)

On Sunday, used the crock pot and made a delicious pseudo 'mexican curry' - giant can of pinto beans, black beans, lots of pickled jalepenos, potato chunks, mushrooms, pineapple, cumin, southwest seasoning, turmeric, and some savory sauces [jerk, oyster, gravy master]. It was very tasty but very spicy, strongly sweet and acidic and kept giving me heartburn and making my tummy hurt. I still have some left over, i wish i could put it on a tortilla over some veg 'beef' crumbles, as a kind of salsa.

Yesterday I was starving around dinner time, and didn't have time to make something fresh, so i dumped a can of pink salmon in with some peas, lite mayo and a can of diced tomato. Added some lemon pepper, lemon juice and some other seasonings. It's not terribly bad, but it's incredibly heavy and makes me sick just thinking about it. I feel bad, like it's a waste, but hopefully i'll be able to bread crumb them and put them in our panini press and maybe make some salmon burger things.

It's about noon now, usually I have some cereal for breakfast - didn't today, just had some black tea with dairy-free creamer - and eat lunch in half an hour, so my tummy's grumblin'. I actually didn't feel too terribly hungry up until now, and I'm thinking it's just a body habit - I almost always eat around 12:30 every day. I feel really hungry, but not starving.

Just want to point out that this is not a detox, as I don't believe in detox diets - there has been no scientific evidence to show that detox diets do a damn thing. On the other hand I still believe in herbal remedies since there -has- been studies done to show that certain plants do have effects. So I will continue to drink my herbal tea and wish I had some ginger powder to put in it. I think once the nausea goes away i will start eating maybe some soup and lighter food [rice and eggs, ramen, peas, fruit] and then slowly introduce foods that I suspect might make the nausea worse - wheat, milk, sugars, caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol [if i can].

Pierogies and what??

2008-11-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

Ramen: the anything noodle.
This dish is pierogies and tomatoes, sauteed in butter with a little bit of garlic sauce, with some melted american cheese on top of a bowl of ramen. I know, the concept of mixing ramen with cheese is kind of.. eh. But if you don't mix in the spices, the noodles can be a satisfying way to cheaply put some kind of pasta into your meal.

That's all for now, unless I make something wierder for dinner...

Noodly!

2008-11-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

Good evening! This blog is for my food blogging tendencies. I love to cook and eat delicious food. A lot of the stuff I eat ends up being noodles or pasta-- spaghetti, ramen, maifun, you name it. Thus the title. However, noodles aren't the only thing I eat, so there'll be other stuff that I eat in here as well.

So, what did I have for dinner tonight? At the grocery store I recently picked up some maifun noodles, which I had in some microwave Thai meal a couple weeks ago. They were cheap and hopefully would be as tasty as when I first had them. Tonight I cooked up my first batch -- soaked them in warm water before frying in about a centimeter deep of oil, adding some [previously frozen but now not-so-frozen after microwaving] broccoli and a bit of egg. I actually put in some of this hoisin sauce and some teriyaki into the oil before putting in the maifun. I'm not sure if it worked out -- the maifun seemed to absorb most of the sauce. I also ended up putting an egg in, which stuck curiously to the broccoli almost like it was deep fried. Spices added were just mostly some leftover ramen packet spicing, and this generic oriental five spice. It was interesting but a bit heavy -- too much oil, I think. Also, I'm really thirsty now, too, so it was probably really salty. Blaming that on the ramen spicing. I need more spices.
The maifun recipe on the bag called for putting the maifun in 2 inches deep of oil. I'm not sure whether it was supposed to be soaked beforehand. If I had more vegetable oil/a deeper pan I'd put unsoaked maifun into it and test it out.
I notice I use a lot of teriyaki and hoisin sauces in my noodle cooking. I'd love to try out some different stuff -- maybe different oils, spices or chopped/dried leafs/vegetables (like chives, etc). Thai food especially. The whole spicy peanut thing is very attractive to my pallette.
One of these days I'd also like to make vietnamese spring rolls -- though more kind of like how I had them while I was in Paris this summer: shrimp, rice wrappers, cold maifun in the middle, some basil/mint/cilantro leaves and green onion/chives. Also with the dipping sauce as well; still need to get a recipe for that.

Well, as for introductions, right now I'm living at school in a townhouse-style dorm. I have my own kitchen pretty much, but shopping is sometimes a bother because I don't have my own car and the grocery store's relatively far without one (as is the asian market, sadly). So a lot of my food for now will be limited.. but it's still a challenge, to see what kind of things I can come up with, with inexpensive materials and whatever is laying around in the fridge or cabinets. I'm sure we've all had this situation before. I am not a cook, nor do I have much background in cooking for anyone but myself and possibly a guest, but I feel food preparation is important for everyone. It's a way to get in contact and be connected to the food you eat; what you put inside you came from somewhere outside of you, in a garden, from the earth, from the ocean. And much of what we do -- work, shopping, etc -- revolves around being able to provide food for ourselves as well. So it's a shame to see people putting healthy food or cooking on the backburner of their lives (no pun intended) when it's a main factor in their existence and survival.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more nummy noodle stuff next time!