Friday, April 13, 2007

Classy eats

Hi all, guess I've been either very busy, lazy, or somewhere in between for the past few weeks. maybe i'm just grossed out that the stuff i grow e.coli and s.aureus (remember those antibacterial soap commercials? of which i don't really believe in, btw) on smells like beef bullion and chicken broth. yum. i also feel rather guilty at leaving this thing neglected, esp when i found that Yummy 4 My Tummy linked to me! wow! i guess i have to post some more then. got a lot of catching up to do.

had a big craving for hamburger and meaty goodness. hamburger mixed with garlic salt and other stuff can't remember, pattied, with a slice of mozzarella melted over the top. collard greens and linguine and some generic sauce.

20070319_0255

oatmeal, frozen broccoli (so darned convenient when there's nothing fresh) in chicken broth, and a stalk of celery with slightly diluted negi miso as a dip.

20070320_0258

broad rice noodles stir fried with cabbage and chili, oyster sauce, fried garlic, and fried shallots. i always keep a jar of fried shallots and garlic around now top use as topping on rice and other boring dishes when i really don't have time to cook anything. the chili is this jar of dried crushed chilies in hot oil... it's in chinese and there's a picture of a Very Stern Lady on the label. also, the noodles aren't very brown or colorful. i assure you it's only cosmetic.

20070406_0269

this a a rather horrendous and unappetizing picture. i steamed some pork short ribs with rice wine and pickled plums, and i over-steamed it b/c i was paranoid about the pork being thoroughly cooked. especially since there's bone involved. also didn't bother to cut it before tossing it in. looks like some sort of alien worm-like creatures swimming around in barf.

20070404_0268

a snack. canned pineapple slices from the "buy it now before we throw it out" rack in the back of ralphs. who can resist at 70 cents a can? was going to prepare some chinese big sausages with them, but forgot. instead, they've been rinsed of that horrible syrup and sprinkled with cayenne pepper. and what's left of a carrot.

20070312_0226

food is steadily getting worse. this was during finals week. the oatmeal is kind of dry, i have hunks of spam spooned straight from the can on it, and some leftover kabocha on its last days. i consider spam to belong to the "meat" food group. some ppl don't.

20070317_0250

pasta with basil and anchovies. truly a dish with conflicting flavors. herbal and salty. kind of like bamboosalt toothpaste. i bought so much basil that i made a salad with it....

20070313_0227

unagi with cucumbers. then spam when i still had lots of leftover sushi rice. you can see how pretty my handiwork is. i cut my hand earlier that day, so i was trying to make things mostly with one hand. i don't think i'll ever make this at home again. everything from start to finish took waaay too long and was a big mess. note the ugliest pillow-shaped onigiri ever in the back. it all goes into the biological blender anyways. i'll leave it to the pros. i'll just end up tossing stuff on top of rice next time.

20070314_0242

almost a month later for dinner tonight... and i did in fact toss it on top of rice. unagi no kabayaki on rice with a pickled plum and some pickled radish strips. of course the eel came prepared and frozen. this was what was left over from making sushi at home. and some miso soup with frozen broccoli in it. this was another one of those 5 min meals, not counting the rice.

20070411_0276

a kobocha and sharpening my knife before i attempt to hack it open. i don't have a whetstone or a fancy sharpener, so i use the bottoms of ceramic cups.

20070314_0234

lemon and soy simmered kobocha squash. from Washoku. i was in a cooking mood that night. this tasted really good. i used a whole lemon's juice instead of half as suggested.

20070314_0237

greasy stir fried chinese liver sausage and garlic chives.

20070313_0229

Orang3's collard greens with a few mods. i used some chicken broth instead of water, a pinch of sugar, and some chili peppers so it'd have a bit of kick. here it is with some dried noodles. what are they called? dried onion noodles? it's was whatever was sitting on the counter at my brother's place.

20070330_0264

another condiment fried rice. this time it's chili, fermented shrimp paste, and garlic.

20070322_0262

midnight snack tin for the delaying hunger in the library. they've allowed a new policy of snack foods being allowed inside the library after ppl brought them in anyways. most people go there to study anyways, and not read library books.

20070317_0252

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Nutty Nuggets Meatloaf

20070415_0280

we're packrats. well, kind of. my aptmates eat out at fast food a lot and usually bring back extra ketchup packets and the like. here's two containers full of sugar, ketchup, mustard, honey... pepper, parmesan... and more. i myself own no bottles of ketchup so i will be dipping from the reserves to use as a sauce for my meatloaf. i've had meatloaf topped with cheese or gravy, but what i like the most is a simple ketchup sauce.i've never made meatloaf before b/c i don't really like it and think it tastes boring and a waste of good hamburger meat.. but if it means a creative use for Nutty Nuggets, I'll give it a try. winged it on the recipe with whatever i had. i just know that at least an egg, an onion, and cup to lb breadcrumbs are supposed to be used. perhaps it's why the loaf crumbled when cut.

1 small zucchini blendered to veggie goo
1 large brown onion halfway between chopped and ground? pulverized?
1.5 cups nutty nuggets
1.5 lb 85% ground beef
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg
2 stalks green onions
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
15 ketchup packets

20070415_0282

i think i baked it at 350? 450? for either 45 mins or an hour. can't remember. the cut was me checking to make sure it was thoroughly cooked. note how exquisitely handcrafted and artisan the loaf is. should have made a snowman shape. the nutty nuggets made the loaf crunchy for the first day.

20070415_0279

this is it on its 5th day, i think, in pan-fried reheated form. it didn't keep shape very well. i think i'm in a spicy phase. i've been adding chili flakes or pepper to everything lately, and one comment i got from a taste-tester was that it was too spicy. gotta work on that. did however, elicit several comments that it "smells like meatloaf". not sure if that's a good thing.

Quick post

Promise i've got a better one coming along soon.

last night i had a can of chili and tossed in some Nutty Nuggets. yes, the same old Grapenuts-like cereal i tried to eat several months ago. apparently, they don't get stale. they start that way already. i'd been saving them for meatloaf (or a duck pond), and was reminded by Anonymous who commented. guess what i'm making this weekend.