Hi! (with udon)

I haven't been posting for a while. I was getting sick of blogging about food. I thought about changing my blog's focus to "things that piss Insomniac off", but I thought no, that's not a good idea.

So back to food. And assorted other things...

Last night I made a psuedo-vegetarian udon. I say pseudo because I used chicken dashi as a broth.

I went with my coworker to the Asian market her dad works at. She was useful to help translate things. And then we went to Beard Papas and I had my first object filled with cream. Usually I bypass objects with cream after one bite as they are often cloyingly sweet (or I separate the cream from the pastery), but the Beard Papas cream puff was surprisingly good.

I purchased the following for $20 at the market:

• Enoki Mushrooms
• Baby Bok Choy
• Shitake Mushrooms
• Radish Sprouts
• Green Onions
• Miso paste
• Tofu
• Chicken soup stock
• A large pack of frozen udon
• Package of dried seaweed
  
• And a large can of lychees (not for udon, but for martini making)

The frozen udon were pretty neat. They looked like this. All you have to do is drop them in boiling water and you're good to go.



Here was my homemade recipe:

1. Fill pot with water. Set to boil
2. Throw in chopped up baby bok choy. I added a leek I had leftover from a previous recipe
3. Season water with chicken dashi
4. Chop up mushrooms, throw in pot.
5. Throw udon in pot.
6. Chop up tofu, throw in pot.
7. Check seasonings - add salt and pepper if needed
8. What else is left? Seaweed, radish sprouts? Throw that in the pot too.
9. Let simmer.
10. Pour in bowl, eat with spoon and chopstocks (fork, in my case) to trap wayward udon.

My coworker was so impressed with my results, she has decided that I should get some sort of Japanese name. I suggested something that can be loosely translated as "maker of fine udon".