Pushing 50 and it's time to try a few (maybe... 365?) new things.
This blog is not about reinventing oneself or one's life, but about how much fun one can have while going out on a limb and branching out.
Kicking anxiety's butt one day at a time, yeah!
About four years ago I heard a great interview on the radio. The most energetic and interesting guy was being interviewed about his newly published book concerning his memories as a Vatican City Swiss Guard. Everyone involved with the interview was enjoying themselves so much and the questions and answers were so interesting that I had to buy the book.
Widmer shares his memories of John Paul II and the examples of leadership he learned during his time serving the pope many already refer to as “John Paul The Great.”
Here’s a good recommendation: want some Japanese noodles that can stand sitting in your freezer and still taste great? Try this bag if you have a Japanese market nearby- we usually go to our nearby Mitsuwa Japanese market Anyone here read Japanese? Looks like the brand name is “Myojo,” and there is a rooster up near the top, too… just under one pound for the two packets each of noodles and sauce in this bag. I think I might have spent $5 on this? I love noodles with sauce from anywhere in the world and these were great.
1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of peanut oil, let the noodles steam and defrost. Stir in sauce packets and lunch is ready.
I pulled these out of the freezer where they have sat for at least four months, heated them in a skillet with a little oil and water, added the sauce packet they came with and in the same amount of time it took to boil my edamame and slice up a peach, lunch was made. It served two of us with enough left over for The Husband’s lunch tomorrow.
Even better when topped with toasted sesame seeds, yum. I added chopped chicken and a little teriyaki sauce to the leftovers to make them into a more substantial lunch for the man.
Click to link for purchasing info for Okami Chinese Chicken Salad Kit
A couple stores around here sell a chicken salad kit by Okami with all you need for a delicious meal in one box, minus the lettuce. The sliced almonds, two kinds of crispy noodles, cooked chicken strips, (there used to be orange segments, too), and the best part- a really good salad dressing with Asian flavors. One store sells a double package that we can never finish (Costco) and the other store is out of my way.
But I love this salad…
The only solution: make my own. I figured I could do a better job on the chicken, too, and reduce some of the unnecessary junk found in the dressing, too. Lucky me, The Food Network came through with a dressing that after a few tweaks, was really close to the Okami kit. The special ingredient is tahini- the sesame paste you put in your hummus. The original recipe that inspired some of the ingredients and amount can be found here, on FoodNetwork.com, my changes included the soy sauce and honey, and using a combination of toasted sesame oil and peanut oil- all sesame would be quite overpowering, if it is a toasted oil.
Asian Salad Dressing
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon tahini paste
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup peanut oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
Whisk all ingredients together, that’s it! Drizzle about two tablespoons over 3 cups of salad greens. Suggested salad should include chopped chicken, Mandarin orange segments, toasted sliced almonds, and fried chow mein noodles or won ton strips.
And yes, the chicken was a lot better than the salad kit. I just took boneless breasts, sprinkled them with onion and garlic powders, salt and pepper, and grilled them for about four minutes per side. May take three minutes per side, don’t overcook.
KEY STEP: let the chicken rest for 15 minutes, and you will end up with the juiciest and most tender boneless white meat you’ve ever cooked.
Go make this, save money, get more real foods into your happy mouth and enjoy this soon.
My mom has been having fun with community theater for decades. If she isn’t acting in a play, she is ushering or attending productions, often with her friends on stage… which isn’t a rare occurrence since after all these years, she seems to be familiar the entire California theater community.
Last month she saw a production of Mel Brooks’s “The Producers” that she enjoyed so much, she told people about it for days afterward and set my family up with reserved seats as soon as we could nail down a date to attend. Of course, at least one of her friends was in this show. I’m so glad we reserved the seats, because there was a full house and we all laughed our heads off. The local actors killed this show, they really nailed the jokes and timing. The Inland Empire has some great talent- well done, everyone!
It is too late to see The Rialto Community Players production but if you have access to iTunes, you can rent the 2005 movie version of the musical version that we saw today- it’s available on iTunes to rent for $2.99. Next up the local company will be performing another comedy, “Run for Your Wife” for three weekends in September. Some of the same cast will be in this show, and we are already looking at dates we can attend.
Get out and support your local theater, everyone, and enjoy a great show!
Ever notice how some of the most scrumptious little food spots are tucked away in some obscure spot? The best food always is.
We have been hitting this spot known simply as “The Grill” for years. Brothers Henry and Edwin Bautista and their crew do a fabulous job at packing the parking lot of a tiny strip mall behind the Sorrento Valley Coaster station. Good luck trying to get to it and our favorite coffee shop, Zumbar. And you know what? It pleases me to no end that the difficulty of successfully navigating your arrival to this place is directly proportional to the deliciousness of these two joints. That’s how The Universe of Great Food works. I figure that only really interested people will try to find their way here… consider it equivalent to buried truffle that only the most persistent dogs and pigs can locate.
Albondigas from The Grill…
On Wednesdays, The Grill serves a home made Albondigas Soup- Mexican Meatball Soup. They make a mean bowl of Albondigas and if I’m eating lunch with The Husband on a Wednesday, this is our spot. I love soup.
Mushroom Ravioli with Almond Pesto
But I’m also the knucklehead who, back in January, announced that I would be doing something new every day in 2015. So, instead of my favorite soup I tried a different dish off the specials board- “Forest Mushroom Ravioli with Homemade Pesto.” The pasta was great, not blown out with over cooking. The ravioli’s stuffing is just right for the amount of pasta and full of a really lovely minced portobello mushroom. Homemade pesto took the stage, however, and I’ve enjoyed enough good pesto over the years that I could tell that they weren’t using pine nuts, but for the life of me, couldn’t tell what they used instead. Henry is nice- he didn’t torture me by withholding the info- he shared the almond secret. It would have driven me nuts trying to figure it out (ha- nuts… see what I did? LOL!)
Really, I can’t say how glad I am that I’m sticking to trying new things. I can’t tell if it has been more rewarding or more delicious… maybe both? There is still a lot more to 2015. Here’s to rut-busting!
About four years ago I heard a great interview on the radio. The most energetic and interesting guy was being interviewed about his newly published book concerning his memories as a Vatican City Swiss Guard. Everyone involved with the interview was enjoying themselves so much and the questions and answers were so interesting that I had to buy the book.
branching out... on a limb 