foods that freeze well

sadly this blog has been neglected because i have been so busy with work. alas, my cooking has become minimal as well as i heat up fish fingers (fish fingers here in the UK) or store bought breaded chicken.

the other week i was out with a friend at a local pub, and we both ordered lasagna. then i realized that lasagna is an easy dish to make (as long as you have enough time for the prep and baking which is usually 1 1/2 hours) that freezes really well! so last weekend, i made a meat lasagna that i divided up into six parts. four parts i froze, and the rest i will eat this week.

buying the ingredients for lasagna was a bit tricky. i spent about 10 minutes in the cheese aisle looking for ricotta cheese. i scanned each shelf carefully, but i eventually found it next to the marscapone cheese. apparently, the brits don't use ricotta cheese too much. i guess it's considered a posh cheese. But what else would you put into your lasagna? to me lasagna isn't lasagna without ricotta cheese. i did cheat a little as well, and i purchased the lasagna noodles that you don't have to pre-boil. anything you can do to save time.

one to thing to remember when you bake it in the oven, cover it for the first 30 minutes so that you don't overburn the top. i made that mistake with the first lasagna i made. uncover afterwards and continue to make to give the mozzarella a nice melted surface.

well, only a few more weeks until work calms down and life returns.

kimchi pressie

on my birthday, my dear friend gave me kimchi and tofu along with a few korean goodies. usually, i probably wouldn't be excited about receiving kimchi on my birthday, but when you live in a country where it's hard to get these items, it's a completely fantastic thoughtful birthday gift!

my friend, who is not korean, was near the korean grocery store by new malden. luckily she remembered what the kimchi looked like from a photo i had taken. however, she didn't know where to look so she asked someone where she could find kimchi. when she was directed to the refrigerated section, she was looking at jars with no english. but using her detective skills, she looked for a similar jar like the photo i posted, and she examined the label.

and somehow she picked my favorite tofu! this discovery was by accident! what made her choose that specific tofu? she liked the color of the packaging. (green is her favorite color).

thanks, friend, for making my birthday so special!

i heart ny

so excited to have my friend, juicy, visit me from nyc. she asked me what i wanted from nyc. i requested nyc bagels and a slice of ny pizza. she wasn't sure she could bring the pizza b/c of customs, but she did bring me two everything ny bagels!

i toasted it up and smeared on it a generous amount of philadelphia cream cheese. slightly crunchy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside. mmmm...

and she brought me a mug that looks like a diner coffee mug! whenever i use it, i'll think of juicy and nyc.

i love pho

i've been searching for good pho (vietnamese noodles) ever since i got here. i was mentioned to my friend, juicy, that i've been craving good pho. she told me that she had a great recipe for chicken pho, and that she would make it for me! oooh....

when i picked up juicy from the airport, she was still fighting a cold. so after we got to my place, i had her sleep. but before she slept, i asked her for the recipe to make the broth.

so here goes:

Makes about 3 servings.
ingredients
1 large chicken
5 star anise
5 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 onion, halved
2 inch piece of ginger
1 tsp coriander seeds (or coriander powder)
cilantro stems
sugar
fish sauce
rice noodles
bean sprouts.

1. Place the chicken in a large pot and cover completely with water. Add all spices. Bring to boil. As it boils, skim off any scum residue. Lower heat to a med low and let simmer.
2. Char the ginger and the onion in your broiler. after it's charred, removed the blackened parts.
3. Once ginger and onion is ready, add to the broth.
4. Once meat is all cooked, remove from the chicken, and put the bones back into the broth. break up bones as much as possible.
5. Simmer on low for about an hour.
6. Add 1 tsp of sugar. Add more if you want.
7. Add 1 tbsp of fish sauce. Keep adding until it's the right saltiness.
8. Strain broth through a cheese cloth or very fine strainer.
9. Once broth is done, boil rice noodles for about 5 minutes.
10. Place desired amount of rice noodles in bowl. Add broth and chicken. Add cilantro (coriander leaves) and bean sprouts. Squeeze fresh lime over broth. Enjoy with sriracha sauce!

mmm.... bacon good

chips here are associated to what in the US we would all french fries. crisps are what we would know as potato chips. my housemate introduced me to walkers smoky bacon flavored crisps. in this multi-pack, they have smoky bacon, steak and onions and roast chicken. i didn't really care for the roast chicken, but i did enjoy the smoky bacon and the steak and onions. it really reminded me of steak as i bit into this crunchy thin crisp.

what's interesting is that they don't sell it in one big bag. a large bag has 6 smaller packs in it. is that better for portion control? i don't know because i usually eat two bags in one sitting.

mccurry

every mcdonalds has something unique. here in the UK, they deep fry their apple pies. what else did i discover? they have a sweet curry dipping sauce. my british friends introduced me to it when we ordered some french fries.

it was a nice curry sauce to compliment the salty fries. a bit of sweet with the savory.

now, when i go to mcdonalds, i always ask for curry sauce. and i don't have to pay for my sauce.

the perfect omelette

i had a few girlfriends visiting me from the east coast. we're all definitely foodies, so it was a challenge to find a place in england that might really "wow" them. one of them had mentioned la duree, so i decided to book a table for lunch there.

this was definitely our one fancy meal, and it was worth it. i ordered the black truffle omelette. the waiter asked me, "how would you like your omelette cooked? runny, medium, firm?" i decided to go for medium. i've never had someone ask me how i want an omelette cooked. the dish itself may not look impressive, but the omelette was cooked perfect. it was perfectly medium. not too soft and definitely not overdone. no browning at all. how do they do that? probably b/c they're french.

with the first bite, i immediately tasted the deliciousness of the black truffles. how does this little piece of fungus give such an aromatic flavor? amazing. absolutely amazing.

maybe i'll be able to return there again one day.