Posts Tagged ‘noodles’

Stuff I secretly love: part 2

Instant foods. The kind you just add water to, or pour out of a can and heat up. Although they’re not a staple in my diet, there are a few things that I like to keep in the cupboard, just in case. They fall into four categories:

Firstly, Beanfeast.

beanfeast

Mmm Beanfeast. So easy, so nice. And, if you can’t be bothered to cook rice separately, or wash up another saucepan, you can always try doing them both in together. You have to watch to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom, but when you get it right, oh, it’s right!

Next, noodles.

Noodles can be subdivided into instant noodles, and pot noodles.
Pot noodles are not a regular occurrence in my diet these days by any stretch, but life without the occasional pot noodle would be bleak.

My all-time favourite is the bombay bad boy but really is there a bad pot noodle flavour? They’re not known for their health benefits but the guy that invented the pot noodle, Momofuko Ando, lived to 96. Not bad eh?

But as I said I don’t have pot noodles too often, I’m far more likely to have your average instant noodles.

I’ve featured my noodle stash before:

In terms of instant noodles, featured includes rich hot flavour sutah ramen (i get them from Mattas, and even keep some packets stored at Lee’s incase he doesn’t have any food in that I fancy), tesco value (they currently cost 7p!) and Lidl’s brand of noodles. Quick, easy, satisfying, cheap. Everything a good instant snack should be.

Third: Soup.

I am a big fan of canned soup. Yes it is SO good when I make a nice big batch of fresh soup, but sometimes I come in a bit late and I’m cold and I need to eat but I’m tired so I just heat up some soup and toast some bread and its like a hug in my cram cream soup mug. I always have a stash of tins of soup in the cupboard.

Fourth: baked beans.

Normal beans. But also beans and veggie sausages, chilli beans, all kinds of beans. They’re all good. On toast. In a spud. With instant mash. Chips. Whatever.

So there we go. All my guilty instant pleasures. Mmm.

Sushi and cinema

Yesterday Lee and I made sushi. Below are the rolls uncut, and then a selection of cut pieces:

uncut rolls

selection of cut rolls

For fillings we used cucumber, red pepper, blanched asparagus, sesame seeds, seasoned omelette and wasabi in varying combinations. We also rolled some thin omelette up with nori, which was very popular with Lee. I forgot to take the rice moulds to Lees, so we were limited to rolls. Oh and I’d got an avocado too, but it was far from ripe.

Sushi takes hours to make. It’s not so much the fiddliness of rolling it or preparing the vegetables but the rice that takes time. It has to be washed and drained and allowed to stand and all sorts. It takes hours from start to finish, but it’s worth the effort because it’s so important to get it right. That also means getting a good sushi rice, you really can’t use just any old rice if you want it to hold together.

After our adventures in sushi making Lee and I went to the cinema to see the x files film. My conclusions are:

1. David Duchovny should not have a beard. It was a little too curly… pube-esque. Once he has shaved though, he has a certain je ne c’est phwoar.

2. X-files should really involve aliens. Or unexplained phenomenon. Psychic’s don’t count- too predictable.

3. Peadophile priests do not an original storyline make.

4. Should Mulder and Scully be a couple? Needs some thought. I think the writers agreed, because despite scenes of the two of them in bed together, and suggestions that they live together, they keep the situation mostly ambiguous. It’s almost like they kept on changing their minds whilst writing the script.

5. Just not as clever or as it good as it could, and should, have been.

So yeah I’m a bit disappointed. It was great to see Mulder and Scully back together again, but there should have been so much more to it. Still, it has made me want to watch the original ones again, they were so so good.

Today I left Lee’s, and the pigs behind, and went home via town. I picked up my sunglasses which had been in to be repaired, and went up to Mattas and got some olives for my mum (I’m hoping she will share!) and a Clives Pie for me! I love Clives Pies! Oh but I was starving so I got a subway and donuts! Woo!

I got a delivery of books whilst at Lees, all cookery this time:

Cooking around the world: Japanese, by Masaki Ko
Chinese food made easy, by Ching-He Huang
Japanese women wont get old or fat, by Naomi Moriyama

So when I got home I sat on the floor with my grub, macbook, books, and put on a DVD Lee leant me and had me some Rosie time
rosie time

I have sofas and comfy chairs, but sitting on the floor seems so much more comfortable?!

Second subway this week! I’m going to be massive soon! My subway preferences are italian herbs and cheese bread, all the salads, all the pickles and olives and chilli (OH YEAH!) and southwest sauce, please. Mmm. Perfect.

I was talking to Kenjuggle earlier. You probably know Ken, he is king of the internet. Everyone knows Ken, or knows someone that knows Ken. Anyway as usual our discussion turned to noodles, and Ken doubted I had any in, so I collected all the noodles from all corners of the kitchen and brought them all together for a photo

oodles of noodles

I think it’s safe to say I have noodles. Noodles pictured include:

Soba
Rice
Bean thread vermicelli
Ramen
amoy straight to wok
tesco value
lidl
egg

That’s some noodling.