Llama

 I can't help but chuckle when I look at llama photos.

Fried Saimin

I made this last month.  I kinda followed the recipe on the Foodland site.  I didn't use as much oil as the recipe called for, but still came out ono. 

This is the noodles that I used.

 

Ingredients

2 packages

fresh saimin noodles (cooked and drained)

4 tablespoons

oil

2 saimin dashi pack

6 ounces

spam (thinly sliced)

1 cup

cabbage (shredded)

1⁄2 cup

carrots (julienne)

1⁄2 onion (thinly sliced)

6 ounces

kamaboko (sliced)

3 ounces

char siu pork (sliced)

1⁄2 cup

green onions (sliced )

2 tablespoons

shoyu (soy sauce)

Instructions

1. In a frying pan over medium high heat; add oil then add the spam and char siu.  Stir fry for a few minutes.
2. When Spam and char siu is lightly browned, add cabbage, carrots, kamaboko, ½ of the green onion and onions.  Continue to stir fry for a few minutes until browned.
3. Add the cooked egg, saimin noodles and dashi packs. After stir frying add the shoyu.
4. Stir fry until shoyu is incorporated then transfer to a serving plate.

Note: garnish the dish with the rest of the green onion after plating.

Liliha Drive Inn Again

Liliha Drive Inn has become a favorite place to pick up food lately.  Everything so far has been ono.  I must mention that we don't really care for the mac salad which is usually included so we've been opting for "all rice" instead.

Beef Stew and Chicken Katsu Curry ($??)

Mini Garlic Chicken (sauce on the side) ($8.95)

BBQ Cheeseburger ($3.95) and French Fries ($3.75)

Garlic Shrimp ($12.45)

Mini Teriyaki Steak ($8.75)

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins

I baked these the other day to make use of some of the humongous blueberries that my brother got for me (thank you, Cy).

The recipe is from Olga in the Kitchen site.  I lessened the amount of blueberries to 1 cup because I added 1/2 cup of chopped nuts and some tiny chocolate chips.  I didn't use a mixer (too lazy to dig it out) and my baking time was 35 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tsp for rolling berries
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 large eggs – room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries – rinsed and dried 

Instructions

1. Line a 12-count standard muffin tin with cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to a 375°F.

    

2. In a large bowl, beat together 2 eggs, 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon fine salt with an electric mixer on high speed for 4-5 minutes. Eggs should be light in color.

   
   

3. Add 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.

   
   

4. In a medium bowl, combine and whisk the dry ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda. Add the flour mixture to wet ingredients 1/3 at a time, beating on low speed with each addition just until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX or muffins will turn out dense. You can also use handheld whisk to mix in the flour.

   
   

5. In a small bowl, toss to coat 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries with 1 tsp all-purpose flour. Add the blueberries to batter and use a spatula to gently fold in blueberries just until combined.

   
   

6. Spoon muffin batter equally into muffin pan filling muffin cups 3/4 to the top (or until all of the batter is used up). Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes, or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center, comes out clean. *If using frozen berries, increase baking time to 30-35 mins.

   
   

7. Let baked muffins cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes and then transfer onto a cooling rack until room temperature before enjoying. 

Lagoon Chinese Restaurant

 Who goes to a Chinese restaurant and gets a cheeseburger?  My brother, that's who.

Doesn't it look so good?!  But I wonder why the french fries cost double the cheeseburger.

Magazine Project

 Instead of tossing that magazine that you're done looking at . . .

tear out the pages . . . 

fold each into strips . . .

and weave them like so.  

Finally, assemble with packing tape to make a . . . . dunno what to call it . . . box? . . . . bin? . . . receptacle? . . . 

Fried Ginger Tofu

We had two tubs of just-expired tofu so I used Geri's Fried Ginger Chicken recipe and made this.  I liked it so much that I might've eaten a whole tub's worth by myself.

Pasta at Ross

There was choke made in Italy pasta the other day at Ross.  They were $2.99 each except for the first one which was $3.99.

Dd's Beer Braised Pot Roast

This looks so yummy! 

 

BEER BRAISED POT ROAST

 

1 ½ # chuck roast*

salt, freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ TB olive oil

4 cloves garlic, smashed

1 small onion, chopped

8 cipollini onions, peeled

6 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, large size, stemmed, quartered

2 sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

1 TB tomato paste

2 TB apple cider vinegar

1 TB flour

1 ½ c. beef stock

12 oz. brown ale

Remove beef from refrigerator and let rest for 1 hour to come up to room temperature. Pat beef dry; generously season on both sides with salt and pepper. 

In a large saucepan over medium high heat sear beef in oil until well browned, about 4 minutes. 

Carefully flip and sear on reverse side another 4 minutes. Remove to a plate. 

To the pot add garlic, chopped onions, thyme and bay leaf. Saute until golden, about 4-6 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook 2 minutes.  Stir in flour until well combined. Add vinegar, stock and beer, and bring to a simmer, scrapping up any browned bits. Return beef into pan. Cover; cook 45 minutes. Flip roast over. Add cipollini onions and mushrooms; continue cooking 45-60 minutes, until fork tender. 

Let rest 15 minutes before slicing. 

*Optional to cut chuck into stew sized pieces. Cook for 40-60 minutes until tender.   Serves 3-4.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I made these about a month ago for Wendell and a couple of his softball buddies.

They came out good . . . you kinda can't go wrong with peanut butter cookies.

I found an easy recipe at the Allrecipe site.  I cut the recipe in half because half was 'nuff.

Fried Ginger Chicken

Wendell saw my comment saying "maybe I might try to make it" on Geri's Fried Ginger Chicken blog post, and he bought a HUGE bag of frozen chicken thighs.

After a bit of a delay because I kept putting it off, I finally made it.

Not to brag (actually I AM bragging), but it came out sooooo ono.  You should try to make it even if you might not be a good cook (like me).  Your family will be impressed.

Motor City Pizza from Costco

 I usually prefer thin-crust pizzas, but this deep-dish pizza from Costco was really good.  

It was $14 something for a 2-pack.  The pizza came out just like the picture on the box.

Yummy!!  Worth the extra carbs.

Humongous Blueberries

 My brother bought these blueberries from Sam's Club recently.

Same Thing?

I sprinkle this furikake on top of my popcorn just before adding in the kakimochi.  It's my favorite snack of late.

I got the smaller bottle on the left from Times.  The larger container on the right is from Costco.  They both have the three-man pyramid logo next to the name "mishima" on them.  They both say "Nori Komi Furikake".  They seem to be the same thing except for one difference . . . 

The one on the left as proudly stated in big bold letters is a PRODUCT OF JAPAN, while the one on the right as seen in not so big letters is a Product of China. 

On Da Desk

Sometimes I end up erasing the whole page.  ☹️

Dd's Rainbow Drive Inn Shoyu Chicken

 

RAINBOW DRIVE INN’S SHOYU CHICKEN

 

2 ½ #s chicken thighs

1 slice ginger, smashed

¾ tsp. garlic, minced

½ c. soy sauce

¼ c + 2 TB sugar

1 TB + 1 ½ tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 TB + 1 ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp. black pepper

Optional: slurry: 3 TB flour + 3 TB water

Garnish: sliced green onion

 

In a medium saucepot cover chicken pieces with sauce ingredients.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 35-40 minutes. Stir flour slurry 

into sauce, stirring until thickened. Garnish with green onion. 

Serves 3-4.