The Yum Yum Factor

  I have been taxed with the task of making our food more heart healthy and although I have always assumed that we already eat very well, thank you very much, I have been shocked by how much sodium we consume. SHOCKED, I say. One of our favourite things to eat is ramen and when I did some digging, I realized that each bowl of delicious spicy miso ramen had over 3000mg of sodium and that isn't even accounting for some of the add ins. This will not do. I have spent weeks working on my favourite recipe and I have managed to get it down to under 700mg of sodium per bowl, which is still a bit high but nothing close to what we were used to. There is also some disagreement about how we process the sodium in miso and although it is significant, a traditional Japanese diet which is high is miso and soy sauce does not result in any sort of widespread heart disease and, in fact, may actually be considered part of a heart healthy diet. I am trying to cut the difference and not worry too much a...

Last week I went to Momofuku with my friend, Alice,  for ramen at long last. I have been putting this visit off since it opened because it seemed like it was nearly impossible to get a seat at lunch but we happened to be working at the Shangri La Hotel all day so I couldn't not go. More or less living up to the hype, the soup was pretty damned fabulous but the thing I couldn't stop thinking about afterwards was the poached egg they add to it. We get a soft cooked egg in our ramen all the time but it just comes to the table with the egg already in there and I have always just assumed that they poach them the same way I poach them. I bring a pot of water to a simmer, stir the middle to make a vortex - DAMN YOU WINTER VORTEX- and gently slide in an egg that I have cracked into a small bowl. I simmer that for about 3 minutes and gently remove with a slotted spoon and then drain on another paper towel lined slotted spoon. It's not brain surgery but it requires your full att...

It was so hot today that you couldn't even sit still outside without melting into a disgusting pile of sweat soup. Of course, I made the mistake of thinking it would be nice to walk down to the beach and do a bit of grocery shopping this morning. Walking down to the beach also means you have to walk back UP FROM the beach, which I did, carrying two heavy bags of food. By the time I arrived back home I knew a couple things for sure. I was NOT going to turn on my oven, boil water for pasta or go for another walk back down to the beach.  When it gets this hot and humid I always crave a bowl of vietnamese bun. Bun noodles are typically the very thin rice vermicelli noodles that you can find in any asian grocery store. Room temperature noodles, lots of fresh herbs, sweet/sour nuoc cham, raw veggies and a bit of fish - it doesn't get better than this. I am not sure if using salmon in this version of bun is very authentic but it delicious so I don't really care. We o...

This is what dinner often looks like around here when it's just The Kid and I. Shack is off working and doing manly things so there is no need to butcher and roast a beast and mash potatoes and all that Shack stuff.  He needs a good, solid dinner after a long day of work because he spends his entire day climbing and pulling and jumping off things while he hauls grown ass adults up into the air and that makes a guy hungry. The Kid and I , on the other hand, do nothing more strenuous than operate a mouse and try to remember to sit up straight and take a computer break every half an hour. Since we are not busy doing manly things, we are always happy with anything involving noodles, tofu, a few veggies and the salty goodness of asian condiments. I have been opening the fridge for days just to look at the package of deep fried tofu that has been sitting in there. One of my favourite things to do to deep fried tofu is a spicy stir fry like my green beans, tofu and mushrooms in black b...

Gong Hey Fat Choy! It's day two of Chinese New Year and I am good to go with our friend, the snake. I cleaned the crap out of my kitchen on Friday and on Sunday, I didn't clean, I didn't wash my hair, I didn't sweep. To be safe, I spent the entire day in pjs and lounged around reading, I watched a movie on my iPad and then I reclined on my couch watching the Grammy Awards. The snake is going to be good to me. One of the traditional things to eat during Chinese New Year are noodles. Noodles represent longevity so if you want a long life, make sure you don't cut them while preparing them or eating them. You have my permission to slurp up entire mouthfuls of noodles - NO BITING MID STRAND IF YOU WANT TO LIVE A LONG, PROSPEROUS LIFE. If you choose to bite down, it's not on me. I warned you. Growing up, I thought Chinese food was nothing but sweet and sour chicken balls, sticky, neon red sauce and chicken fried rice. I moved to Toronto and wa...

Soup. Today is one of those days where I really want someone to make ME soup. I don't feel all that great and I don't want to get dressed or go out or cook one bit but I do need a couple of things so I guess I am going to have to do it anyway. I made salmon last night so I could make Little Shack salmon sushi rolls to take in his lunch today so I have leftover salmon AND leftover sushi rice and that means sushi pizza for supper! fresh japanese wheat noodle