Himay's Journal

04/25/2010 22:02 #51453

On a roll...
Category: food

Can you tell I'm enjoying myself today?

QlinArt
These Vietnamese imperial rolls need a little work. I cheaped out and used typical egg rolls wrappers in lieu of the rice wrappers, which I don't mind too much. However, they definitely need some zing, pizazz, something! I think round 2 will involve introduction of some garlic or oyster sauce, and some chilis.

Between the two dishes today, I have leftovers for virtually the entire week. At least for all my lunches this week!

Man, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to squeeze in some tater tot casserole at this rate before making Scotch eggs this weekend.

janelle - 04/26/10 22:35
Thanks for the link! I love Vietnamese food and her blog with recipes looks great!

paul - 04/26/10 11:56
Wow, that looks awesome.

04/25/2010 16:13 #51449

Lentil flair
Category: food

GENTLEMEN! BEHOLD!!!

I BRING YOU...

SOUP!!!

Lentil & pasta soup, actually!
(Passions to pastry)
Very delicious. This was my second run making this recipe. I was intending to swap half of the orzo in it for barley, but I realized at the last second that I no longer possessed any barley. However, I've been exchanging the lemon juice (which I do not have presently) for lime juice (which I do), and it has tasted just fine as such.

I've recently gained a striking interest in lentils, having tried them for the first time at Amy's Place a couple weeks ago. I cannot believe I haven't tried them before, for as tasty as they are. Regardless, I've lined up a slew of recipes with which to eat them, so I'm hoping they will all be delicious!

P.S. Here's the reference to my introduction (if you didn't already catch it).

janelle - 04/26/10 10:50
Red lentils are different from the lentils you probably made. They start out looking pink/red, but cook down into this soft orange mush. I was completely shocked the first time I cooked them and had to check to see if I had done it right. And they have a different flavor than other lentils.

himay - 04/25/10 21:58
Re: (e:janelle) - I can't say that I have. This is my first time really taking a stab at anything "lentils." Is there a pretty distinct difference between some of them?

Re: (e:tinypliny) - I've yet to make it over there, despite my friend's recommendation to check it out. However, I'm quite impressed by the Lexington Co-op's big bulk-pouring containers of them1. I never really checked it out much before, but lentils were one of the items I was not expecting to see!

janelle - 04/25/10 21:27
Have you tried red lentils, yet? I cook up a batch of red lentils and then eat with a dollop of yogurt and some caramelized onions.

libertad - 04/25/10 17:04
That looks good. I think I will try it.

tinypliny - 04/25/10 16:53
You tried lentils for the FIRST TIME a couple weeks back?!! You are not really from this planet, are you?

(hehehe... Check out spice market/super bazaar someday. They have a minimum of 25 different kinds of lentils and dried legumes.

04/04/2010 12:41 #51326

All things blueberry (again)!
Category: blueberries

Anyone ever tried this wine before? I picked it up at Gates Circle as they were out of the blueberry wine from Niagara Landing. Thinking about popping it open tonight for dessert to finally just try it out.

jenks - 04/05/10 17:10
non-alcoholic, but on the blueberry note- I just saw an ad on TV for an Ocean Spray blueberry juice. Not cran-blueberry or anything, just straight blueberry. I can't wait to try it.

dragonlady7 - 04/04/10 20:07
Along with most of Pleasant Valley's line (which includes a delicious, if slightly overpowering, vanilla sherry), it's at Premier in the sherry/cordial/port aisle.
Meads are tasty but not always sweet, though most of the ones you can get in stores are because that's what people expect. Just because it's made of honey doesn't mean it'll be sweet-- but people want it to be, so they make it that way. I've had some wonderful dry meads; generally rather harsh on the first taste, they improve as you drink more, not because they breathe I don't think but more because your mouth gets used to them. Mmm.
I have no blueberry recs but would love to drink more blueberry things, myself!! Mmmm.

himay - 04/04/10 19:08
Let me rephrase that. My fingers auto-corrected "many" from "any" in my head. I haven't tried any ports. I'm all for it, however.

himay - 04/04/10 19:03
Any idea where I might find that locally in Buffalo? I haven't tried many ports, but I'm all about anything with blueberry in it!

zobar - 04/04/10 13:32
It's probably quite good but, being about half mead, it's going to be a bit different than a full blueberry wine. I've had their 'traditional mead' before and as I recall it was quite good and, naturally, quite sweet.

If you're a blueberry person and a port person but not a stodgy port traditionalist, I might recommend Pleasant Valley Keuka Blue. It's a port made completely from blueberries, and I like it a lot.

- Z

03/22/2010 23:38 #51248

Peekaboo

My fridge is loaded with leftovers to feed me through this weekend (and then some, likely).

I really want to make some veggie fried rice, as I don't want my peppers and garlic to go bad!

I never thought I'd get too overzealous on the cooking, but sometimes I forget I'm only feeding one. Ack!

Currently stocked:
Crockpot's worth of beef stroganoff and egg noodles
1.5 casserole dish's worth of homemade mac'n'cheese (I overestimated with the bechamel and ended up having to make a small second dish's worth)
A quart or two of spaghetti sauce (I ought to freeze it), since I finally finished over the leftover spaghetti this morning.

Sorry I haven't stopped around much. As (e:tinypliny) put it, I've got a blog elsewhere. I sort of frequent that more. Oops. *blush*

tinypliny - 03/23/10 00:31
heh.. Sorry for being terrible on the music front. I have been intending to listen to your new stuff for a complete month now but never got Armstrong out of my head.

I guess there is not too much point apologizing when so much water is about the bridge - and the bridge has sort of dissolved and sharks have gnawed through the girders.

I too have a steamy affair elsewhere. ;-) :::link:::

01/12/2010 12:02 #50802

Bachelorhood (or not)
Category: food

Walking around with a shopping cart in Aldi, it was filled with twelve boxes of hot-pocket wannabes and eight pot pies.

I can only imagine how it screamed "lazy non-cooker." However, for $26, I now have 32 lunches stocked in my freezer at work! They're really only backups for those days I forget to bring in some leftovers or a prepared lunch. I think I'm done with the "crap, forgot lunch so I'm going out to eat" mentality. The budgetary reassignment necessary for that is insane when I do the math. Blargh!

Thank goodness I only have to do this 2-3 times a year.

tinypliny - 01/13/10 20:45
Interesting back-up plan. What I'd be more interested in hearing (after this month is out) is:

Was there a statistically significant difference in the number of times you forgot your lunch now that you KNOW that these packed frozen thingies are waiting for you in the dept. freezer?!

metalpeter - 01/13/10 18:06
Wow That is so Me, except I don't post my recipts. I go with the banquet Pies yes swanson makes them but they aren't my taste. I think they are about .50 at price rite. I prefer tops and wegs cause they have more variety. Also when they are on sale Michellines yes there are two other brands that are all the same company makes A nice little meal for lunch. That is what lunch is supposed to be it doesn't need to be a footlong sub or a tripple sacker king size meal. Yes eating a lot is good and gives lots of energy but it is also way more then anyone needs. I'm guessing a week's lunch that way is about the same price as one trip out to fast food. I used to go out all the time myself also. I On the other hand never cook. It is just me. Plus I suck at cooking anyways so.........