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Meatless Monday Fifteen!

April 19, 2010

I made this “Make-Up” Meatless Monday last week with the kids while Dave was out of town. Somewhere along the way, I got a week behind. This one brought me back on track. It is Sunday night as I write this. We had THREE meatless mondays this week: Monday, Wednesday and tonight, since I will be gone at book club tomorrow.

Again, I didn’t really have a plan, except for a sort of vague asian noodle theme. My menu choices are mostly determined by what I don’t have, rather than what I have. I wonder how common that is? It certainly makes things more interesting. — though I find you get sidetracked when searching the web for inspiration. You know how it is, you aim for goodfood.co.uk, or something, and end up at learning new crochet stitches…. It happens. But I find that at least lacking ingredients narrows my choices down a little.

Anyway, I was flipping through The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook and was intrigued by:

Pho: had some cooked chicken and good broth. No bean sprouts, no cilantro: deal breakers.
Miso Ramen with all the Trimmings: had the hard boiled eggs (from Easter!). Had the Chinese noodles, broth… No Instant Dashi granules. Damn! I keep forgetting to look for those at the store…
Spicy Korean Tofu Stew: had the tofu, the broth… no fresh shitakes, only dried. Plus… Charlie might ax-murder me in my sleep if I made him eat tofu again. Since Dave was out of town that night, I decided not to chance it.
Quick Noodle Stir Fry: had the noodles, but not thick ones. Had chives, but not Chinese ones. Had Maggie Gin stir fry sauce, but not Maggi sauce (What is Maggi sauce, anyway?). Had sweetened Chinese rice wine, but not regular Chinese rice wine… I think I can make this work! I’m calling it:

Jen Jen Noodles*

Cook the chinese noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water and toss with about 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a bowl and set aside.

In a wok — here’s mine. I’ve had it since college and paid about $10 for it at Pier One. I should be embarrassed — it looks awful — but according to just about anyone who uses one, it looks just like it is supposed to — nasty!

Par-cook a handful of broccoli and one carrot (sliced) in boiling water (in the wok) until just barely, barely tender. Should still retain crunch! Then plunge into an ice bath and drain. Dry the wok and put back over high heat.

When it’s hot again, add about 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté a clove or two of minced garlic and a handful of chopped chives about a minute. Add the broccoli and carrot. Also add whatever you can dig up that sounds good. I threw in about 1 cup of shelled edamame and completely forgot to throw in the asparagus (from the garden, no less!). Toss around a bit.

Add 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons Maggie Gin stir fry sauce, 1 tablespoon sweetened rice wine, 2 teaspoons soy sauce and 2 teaspoons fish sauce. Add the noodles and toss like mad or they will clump. Once heated through, it’s done. Drizzle with about 1 teaspoon additional sesame oil if desired. Oh, I forgot: I also sprinkled toasted peanuts over the top (which, for some reason don’t appear in the photo) and sliced up a hard boiled egg that didn’t turn out to be very hard. The egg was sort of gross. The rest was great.

*get it? Like Dan Dan Noodles.

Macro Garden Delights

April 9, 2010

I screwed my Canon 52mm Close-Up Lens on to my camera (Canon T1i) today and went out to the garden. I’m too lazy to ever think about a tripod, so I don’t really go about macro photography the correct way. But then, I don’t really go about anything the ‘correct way.’ This is as close to a macro lens as I am likely to get for a long while. And I’m a total spaz with the auto-focus. I’ve still got a lot to learn, I know that.

But it was fun to lay on the ground and take these close up shots of my itty-bitty goings on in the garden. Nights have still been dipping into the 20’s here in my neck of Minnesota, so only the hardiest things are in yet.

YES, the shriveled red potatoes sprouted! Almost each little divot where the bulb planter did its work shows a little green tuft like this:

The next thing I planted were the peas. Not the sugar snaps (those are in now, too, but were planted about a week after the shelling peas). I neglected to soak the pea seeds (because I’m both lazy and impatient), so they took their sweet time sprouting. I think the snap peas are going to catch up to them. Aren’t they pretty?

This is that tenacious Johnny Jump-Up (violet) that was blooming the first time I did a garden walk through at the end of winter. I can’t help but wonder if it survived all the -30 nights and sub-zero days and was blooming under the snow? So cute, even if a little blurry.

The Black Seeded Simpson lettuce seeds have just sprouted. The red lettuce variety, not at all. And now, my very faded memory is remembering that none of my red lettuce sprouted last year. Why do I never throw away bad seeds? Only to continue to plant the damn things and waste my time?!

And these are the shallots that should have gone into the ground last fall. A few are up. Many are not. I suspect I will have many holes to fill and that this bed will irritate me all year…

And this… This is a… Maybe I should have contest and see if you can guess! Should I give away an iPad? No, that is so unoriginal. Everyone is giving away iPads. I will give away my love. — for that is a much rarer and precious gift. Just ask my family.

Bit the Bullet and Bought Canon T1i

June 27, 2009

I researched and obsessed, it’s true. After pulling the trigger, I have small amounts of buyer’s remorse, which is common for me with a high ticket item. Did I really NEED it? Will I really USE it? Is it as GOOD AS the Panasonic Lumix GH1 that I was set on? Time will tell. What it HASN’T done is get me off my fat ass and update my blog with tidbits of useful information and stunning photos. For that, I need to purchase an ASSISTANT (another high ticket item that I am NOT currently researching).

I think I knew this already, but buying a camera is a slippery slope comparable to what? Gambling? Drugs? By that, I don’t mean it’s addictive — tho I’m sure it can be — but EXPENSIVE. No sooner do you spend a cool thousand on a camera, than you want a new lens. And not just any lens, but a good one. A spendy one. Besides that, what do we learn makes a good photo? A tripod. But not just any tripod, but a CARBON FIBER tripod. Etc., etc. So far I have resisted most of these temptations. Well, that’s not entirely true. I DID buy Kelby’s book “The Digital Photography Book, v1” (where I learned about all the stuff I needed to buy) and I did buy a 50mm f2.8 lens for the whole blurry background thing, which is the reason I wanted a DSLR in the FIRST place. That’s not so bad, is it? Oh, wait. One more: NIK Software’s Color Efex Pro that I had been looking at for over a year now, but that was bought with birthday money, so it doesn’t count.

Anyway, like I said, I did it. I bought the camera and I’m trying to use it as much as I can. I’m in a blogging rut, having decided that nothing I have to say is really all that earth shattering or important, and therefore not worth the time it takes to do it. Surely this will shift and I will feel my worth again, regaling you all with blurbs of stunning alacrity and usefulness. However, until that time comes, here are some of my pretty pics from the new camera.

And for all you Lumix GH1 buyers, I don’t want to hear from you. I saved LOTS of money with the Canon, and even IT was still $899. It was a responsible decision that I am happy with.

I think…