What is KD? I did a quick Google search and the results were anything but appetising.

I never tried googling KD before... Yeah, don't want to eat Kevin Durant. Anyway, KD stands for Kraft Dinner. Basically a local "instant" Mac and cheese. Not the healthiest thing, but I keep a few boxes on hand in case I can't get out. It's not gourmet but it'll fill you up and is a bit nostalgic for me. Next time, I might try jazzing it up further.

Sushi mambo, Calistoga ca

agedashi tofu (shared)

chicken curry with rice

assd sushi

fried green tea ice cream


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My having zhuzhed up what is essentially a packet of noodles and a sachet of sauce to make hiyashi chuka is pretty much the same approach. Sometimes I make my own dressing but this was a decent brand with a variant I hadn’t tried before.

I find it fascinating that meals and ingredients I am so familiar with can look so… exotic.

The Fukujinzuke pickles with the curry look interesting, that’s the part I would have been keenest to try out (especially as they don’t quite seem to be fukujinzuke pickles but kind of do, now I’m REALLY curious about them!)

Needed a second take to read the word “assorted” 😁

most Japanese places I love serve a pickle that’s deeper red. I wasn’t accustomed to this color. Still tasted like the pickle :-)
it was a good curry. In Sf I get some nicer thicker and richer and spicier Japanese curries. I expect to return here in July so I’ll get another entree or just eat sushi rolls. The curry was definitely much cheaper than getting 5-6 rolls to share.

eta - one of my dining companions was lamenting the lack of Asian bakeries this north of San Francisco. I asked her what she liked and she mentioned milk bread so I’m going to send her the Maanchi link that LapLap taught me during 2020 brutal pandemic. I’m thankful for my baking that I did and I don’t desire to do much baking right now.

Last night at Easy Bistro & Bar in Chattanooga, I forgot to take a picture of a fabulous scallop dish, with broccoli, arugula and pickled garlic scape persillade, fortunately, we were seated at the chef's counter and he allowed me to take a picture of him holding another customer's order of the same dish.

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Interestingly enough, I don't eat cold noodles often (most of the time the noodles have become too soft which often spoils the experience for me). I think the closest is zha jiang mian (or the korean variant). Or maybe soba. Both can be zhuzhed up easily enough. I just need to remember to make it "insta-worthy" and take photos now. With food costs going up, I expect a lot of people aren't going to be eating out as much as they would have so we're likely to see a lot of home cooks again.

Getting the right noodles is key, I agree. I wouldn’t use the standard flash fried noodles used in instant ramen but there’s a huge range of noodles that keep their toothy, springy texture after you boil them, drain and rinse thoroughly in cold water. I end up taking quite a few packets of tried and trusted variants (including soba) to Spain with me as I can count on my kid eating them along with a pile of vegetables throughout the heat of August.

Chinese noodles have been experiencing a side-effect of the rising food costs here. Restaurants/Food stalls have been ordering flat rice noodles in larger quantities here and then storing them in the fridge. Unfortunately when you take them out, the texture and other properties will have changed (they harden and become brittle). So now we're experiencing a lot of noodle "chips" rather than long rice noodles. Egg noodles are more forgiving, but everyone seems to be cooking at a lower temperature too (my guess to keep fuel costs low) so they soak up oil and are no longer the crispy they usually are. FWP to be sure, There are a few restaurants who realise this and have gotten creative (replacing rice noodles with spaghetti for example).

That said, always looking to experiment and try new flavours. Some of the food manufacturers are introducing new things (at least for the Ontario market)... but some at the price of neglecting basics.

So, grabbed some dinner on the way home including some sort of omelette consisting of egg, "bush beans", "vegetables" (not sure if it was actually tossed in or if they included more beans) and some ground/minced pork (on rice). Wasn't too bad and inspired me to come up with my own variant (if I have time in the next few days).

Chicken bacon burger on a pretzel bun with tomato, pickle,, red onion and arugula. Ketchup & mayo of course.

TJ's caesar salad from a bag with TJ's grilled chicken strips. It was still 90 degrees in Berkeley at 8pm, the land of no AC (after a high of about 95, 20 degrees hotter than a typical summer day). I did heat up the rolls in the toaster oven.

Homemade carnitas tacos, topped with onion, cilantro, guacamole, and hot salsa.

I had a big Thai luncheon and am wasted so light 10p supper

susie cakes carrot cake - gift from Sunday that I couldn’t eat until now. Too much dessert at bao on Sunday and an all-day in st Helena yesterday so… eating it Tuesday
eventual ramekin of mixed nuts
possible toast - omg cheese bread toast from model bakery. Maybe I’ll actually eat it before the carrot cake.


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recipe please. Omg