Bibimbap

I have been wanting to make bibimbap for awhile.  Back in college, the fellowship I was a part of often had dinner/movie nights with Asian themes.  So we'd serve potstickers & curry and watch a Chinese movie or have bibimbap and watch My Sassy Girl.  The staff worker that led our fellowship was Korean, so bibimbap was a natural go-to recipe for him. 

Finally tried my hand at it this past weekend with the help of the Korean internet lady of course (http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bibimbap).  It's actually a pretty healthy dish with lots of veggies: bean sprouts, spinach, carrots, cucumber (I used this instead of zucchini), mushrooms, and whatever else you think would be good.  The prep work does take a little while, but you sure do get a lot of meals from it. 

Here are some pictures before the fried egg and red pepper paste went on top. :)

Grilled Fish

After watching the documentary Food, Inc. I thought about becoming a pescetarian.  Edwin laughs at this term because he thinks it's basically a pseudo-vegetarian trying to take the easy way out.  I'm neutral.  I say, if you want to be a pork-atarian and only eat pork, go for it! 

So anyway I've been trying to incorporate more fish into our diet because it's much healthier than other meats and there are probably less cruel things you can do to seafood (although I'm sure there are plenty of inhumane ways to treat fish as well).

I have been on a Steamy Kitchen cookbook kick.  I found a fish recipe in there: Grilled Fish with Kabayaki Sauce.  The Kabayaki sauce is made of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.  I didn't have mirin so used sherry instead.  I got some catfish fillets and browned those, then brushed the warmed sauce over both sides of the fish.  It's served over rice and doused with some shredded, toasted seaweed.  If you like sweet dishes, this is a winner!

Ramen Ramen Ramen

If you remember why this blog was originally started, you will know that ramen is a dish that is close to our hearts.  It was the scrumptious meal (well, technically saimin I supposed) we shared on our honeymoon multiple times.  We still talk about it and try to relive it by eating ramen in every city that offers a decent bowl.  

During our January trip to NYC, we had ramen at Momofuku.  It really wasn't all it was hyped up to be.  Don't get me wrong, the food there was pretty tasty (esp the porkbelly buns!), but the ramen itself didn't wow me so much.  I think I remember the noodles being too chewy.  I had Santa Ramen in San Mateo, CA last May.  Now that was a memorable experience.  The only downfall to that was the delicious slow roasted pork you order on the side came in the bowl and really just made the soup oilier and saltier as you ate.  I felt a lot of pressure to eat fast.  Then last July after our road trip from LA to San Francisco, I was eager to introduce Santa Ramen to Edwin.  Unfortunately they were closed on the only day we were there.  Boo!  But alas we found another ramen shop at the suggestion of a good friend.  We already had plans to meet friends for lunch at the Ferry Building, but that did not stop us.  Oh no.  After lunch, we quickly walked several blocks to Katana-Ya where Edwin satsfied his ramen craving at last.  For some reason I got a picture of him happily awaiting his ramen, but I forgot to take one when it actually came.  I guess he slurped it down too fast.

  





 This was the ramen at Momofuku.  Excuse the silly face.

Santa Ramen!

 

  



 
Katana-Ya










Not sure how this post turned into our ramen experiences.  I really did make ramen and want to share pictures.  So the ramen I tried this time was Miso Ramen from the Steamy Kitchen cookbook.  I love the flavor of miso so was eager to try putting that in the soup base.  I topped it with bamboo shoots, corn, napa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, chicken and hard-boiled eggs.  Basically everything that was in our fridge.  Obviously not as good as the restaurants, but it's a work in progress.  We've entertained thoughts of opening some sort of Food Truck (it's the new craze everywhere!) and have considered selling ramen.  Well either that or hot dogs :)  If you have any suggestions, throw them my way!

 
I love thick noodles, so I used udon in mine.

Edwin opted for the thinner wonton noodles.  He is Cantonese.

Peanut Sesame Noodles

After a summer of cooking lots of American food, I decided I wanted to make more Asian dishes.  So I looked up a recipe to make peanut sesame noodles.  My friend Corinna would often make this in college, and bring around a humongous pot to feed everyone on our dorm floor.  It’s a pretty cost-efficient dish if you have to feed a lot of mouths I guess!

Surprisingly, a recipe on yahoo caught my eye: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/recipe-for-a-late-summer-potluck-sesame-noodles-2363652/
I got all the ingredients together and was planning to make it one Saturday afternoon.  I was headed out the door that morning and told Edwin my plans to make the noodles later in the day.  He said he wanted to try his hand at it, and insisted on making it while I was gone.  No complaints here!

I think he tweaked the recipe a bit (maybe didn’t add quite so much peanut butter to allow the sesame flavor to come out?).  The results: I think it was better than I could have done!   The perfect cool and refreshing meal to round out a summer day.