A couple of weeks ago, I awoke to a rare sound in Southern California that had me confused about where I was for a moment... pouring rain. I don't mind a rainy day here and there - especially when the area is in a serious drought that has caused the water company to restrict the days that I can water my plants - and I find it especially nice to wake up to the sound of rain. I didn't want to get out of bed, but my mind was immediately awakened to thoughts of food (surprise, surprise!), more specifically the idea of soup. The rain stopped about 10 minutes later and the sun was shining the rest of the day, but I had made up my mind that I was in the mood for soup for dinner. Around 11 hours later, I was in the kitchen chopping broccoli and folding wonton wraps with a very attentive ... [Read More]
Asian food
Pan Fried Sesame Chinese Noodles with Veggies
Happy hump day! My morning flew by, and now I'm taking a break from work to eat some lunch (breakfast for lunch today: protein pancakes with strawberries & honey) and share this dish with you: Sometimes I like a bit of burntness or crunch to my food - not just the usual crunchy pretzels or chips, but I intentionally do things like burn my sweet potato fries a bit. So when I nabbed soft Chinese noodles at the grocery store recently, I had the idea to pan fry them instead of just cooking them as directed. After cooking the noodles, I used just enough sesame oil to fry them until lightly browned, and then combined the pasta with sauteed portobello mushroom, red bell pepper, broccoli, yellow onion, garlic and sesame seeds. It added just the right amount of crunch to these normally very ... [Read More]
Drunken Noodle Soup
Happy Friday everyone! I don't know about you all, but I'm super excited for the weekend. Got some fun things planned! In blog news, I updated the recipe page today. Go check it out! You may also notice that some new fonts and colors are making an appearance on my site. I'm fooling around with things to try to find a new look that I like. It might just take me 27 hours to figure out, but I'm learning and experimenting with it! Yesterday morning I had the second part of my root canal done. I'm not going to lie, I hated every minute of it, but I'm glad that it's over with. I noticed after the first part was done a few weeks ago that I'm now able to eat on the left side of my mouth without shooting pain, so it seems to be successful. WOO! As expected, my mouth was really sore ... [Read More]
In Heaven at NJ’s Veggie Heaven
....and in hell in this NJ heat! Okay, perhaps that's a little bit melodramatic, but seriously, 100 degrees with awful humidity? Not my cup of tea. I've always gotten overheated easily, and living in San Diego has made me very SPOILED! Basically I'm melting right now, but moving on to my heavenly dinner last night... In college, I became hooked on Veggie Heaven, an all-vegetarian Asian restaurant with a few locations. When I first saw it, I thought it didn't look like anything special on the outside. I actually was reluctant to try it at all. What a perfect example this is of not judging a book by its cover, because this spot is awesome. I'm a person who hardly ever orders take-out, but this place became a restaurant I picked up food from on a weekly basis. It's that damn good. ... [Read More]
Asian Inspired Brown Rice Bowl
Harley had a blast today digging in some holes and running around like a lunatic during our dog park trip earlier. 20 minutes of acting like the happiest puppy on earth and she was passed out by my feet for the rest of the afternoon. Yes! Speaking of dogs, I've reached the conclusion that I'm an animal magnet. Yesterday as I was walking to the gym, a really sweet Pomeranian ran up to me. Under all his fluff, I found a collar - which read "Nacho - I lick a lot" - HA! When the owner didn't answer her phone and Nacho darted across the street, I knew he would have to come with me to the gym until I found his mama. When I scooped him up he was like a little doll, not moving at all and with a huge smile painted on his little face. At my leasing center, we got in contact with his owner, who ... [Read More]