Regensblog

This looked like a yummy offering to accompany grilled goodies (which we never have - no grill) during the summer (which we’re not experiencing - no heat). We gave it a whirl and were very pleased! I found it on the wonderful food blog Serious Eats and made a few adjustments. As tempting as it is, don’t eat it until it’s chilled for several hours, preferably overnight. The flavors need time to mingle and develop. By the way, this recipe is totally vegetarian - possibly vegan if you’re careful about your peanut butter. I don’t know - I’m not a big label reader.

5 tablespoons sesame seeds
5 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Tabasco
1/2 cup hot water
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles (see above)
8 scallions, sliced thin
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced thin

Toast sesame seeds in a medium, dry skillet over medium heat until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes. In a blender or food processor, combine sesame, soy sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, sugar, ginger, garlic and Tabasco and pulse until ingredients begin to blend. While blender is on low, add hot water in a slow stream until dressing has consistency of heavy cream (you might not need all the water). Set dressing aside.

Cook noodles with salt according to package directions. After cooking, drain noodles and rinse with cold water until completely cooled. Shake water out of noodles thoroughly. In a large bowl, toss noodles, scallion, carrot and bell pepper with dressing until well distributed. Chill.

When we lived in the U.S., we never used to go to ethnic groceries of any sort. We weren’t opposed to it, per se; we didn’t cook very much and when we did, it was rarely from scratch. And if we wanted Chinese/Mexican/Lebanese/Cajun, we went to a restaurant. As our recipe archive demonstrates, things have changed. I’m at the China Laden (Asian market) at least once a week picking up things you just can’t find in the supermarket - soft brown sugar, cilantro, good curry pastes, soy sauce, etc. This past weekend, Cliff came with me and, while looking at the noodle wall, we balked at the price of a package of ramen - 0,80€!! That’s about $1.20! Considering that legions of broke college students lived off the stuff at one time or another, that seems like highway robbery. And makes it very attractive. All of a sudden, ramen sounds delicious.

There are things that we miss every so often that are kind of cheapo, pre-fab…well, just crap really. And right now that thing is ramen noodles. With a little inspiration from a pal, some creativity and an assist from the noodle wall (package of 5 blocks of ramen noodles, sans flavor packets=1,20€), we managed to sate the craving. About half a liter of boiling water with about 1 heaping tablespoon of powdered vegetable broth, a pinch of ground ginger and half a teaspoon of dark soy added plus one block of noodles cooked for about 3 minutes is nearly a dead-ringer for Top Ramen Oriental flavor soup.

It’s considerably more expensive than the pre-packaged stuff, but it doesn’t taste like it. Which is fine with us.

Sorry to all those who eagerly awaited photos of my altered skin tone. I can still see some yellowness in my eyes, but just a little and my face looks a lot less yellow to me now — especially when compared to my shoulders and arms and chest. Those areas are still kind of yellow, but I expect the jaundice will fade from the top down, just like it arrived. My doctor* and I are guessing that there was a small stone (like in the 1mm ballpark) in a bile duct somewhere which was impeding outbound bile traffic. I visited him yesterday for the first time and we drew some blood and I’m expecting results back today; I am hopeful they’ll (help) confirm that my gall bladder removal surgery scheduled for Monday the 12th doesn’t need to be expedited, and that it’ll be a simple laparoscopic procedure.

This is not the only clue I have had that things are working (more) properly again; last night my team members from Iasi, Romania, who are in town visiting, and Sarah and I visited the Fürstliches Brauhaus for dinner. I was actually hungry and ate well. There are some other indications I would be happy to describe at length with you, but I suspect the pleasure of such an description would be all mine. Trust me.

Where are Camelia and Orhan?

Originally uploaded by cliff1976.

Got back yesterday from a three-day trip to Romania — this time with my boss (guess which one he is). It was a good trip, but a short one.

I think the next time I go — and I will be going regularly, apparently — I’d like it to be for at least a couple days. That helps justify the time lost in transit.

• an hour on the way down to the airport
• an hour spent getting checked in and frisked and waiting to board the plane
• At least an hour and a quarter in transit to the first layover (Timisoara, Bucharest, or Vienna in that order of preference)
• the layover
• Figure an extra hour waiting in line with other screaming P.O.’d passengers at the baggage office in Iasi if you fly Austrian Arrows
• and of course all the same time spent traveling in the reverse direction

Some might think that I could be working during all the downtime, but honestly — at least up until now — all my work stuff is entirely dependent on a network connection, and the company wouldn’t spring for a cellular modem for me. But maybe now that my guys in Iasi are making it possible to do work that’s more offline in nature (writing application specs, having meetings, choosing programmers, and I see a helluva lotta PowerPoint in future, at which I am really terrible), a bi-monthly trip might not be so bad (especially if I get that company mobile phone we’ve been talking about, and I can telco it up on my layovers).

It was quite nice to be able to take these people out to dinner for an evening of levity after having imposed on them four times since November 2005 for 2-5 days at a stretch (thanks, boss).

But I’m glad to be back home in Regensburg.

Welcome to Lo Mein 2.0! The first incarnation of this was a Rachael Ray recipe (as evidenced by the former, cutesy title, ‘No pain lo mein’). I was kind of desperate for something approximating my Chinese take-out order and the recipe I found was okay, but not RIGHT and certainly nothing special. So I kept tweaking to make it less salty (not so much soy!) and more spicy (mmm, chilies.) and I think I finally got it to where I’ve wanted it all along. Move over, Rachael!

3 T sesame oil
2/3 lb boneless chicken breasts, sliced thin (about 1/3 inch)
1 t salt
1 t ground white pepper
1 1/2 t ground ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 t dark soy sauce
1 T Hoisin sauce
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 head of broccoli, florets only
1 can baby corn, drained
1-2 red Thai chilies, chopped (discard seeds for less heat)
1/2 mushrooms, sliced
4-6 oz bean sprouts
1 lb lo mein noodles, cooked and tossed with a little sesame oil

Heat 1 T oil in a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Toss chicken with 1/2 t each of salt, white pepper and ginger until just coated, then add to skillet with onion and garlic. Stir fry until chicken is well browned. Remove to chicken mixture to a bowl and stir in 1 t soy and 1/2 T Hoisin. Set aside.

Heat another T of oil to medium high in skillet then add pepper, broccoli, baby corn and chilies. Stir well to coat with oil, then add remaining salt, white pepper and ginger to vegetables. Stirring frequently, cook until broccoli is just tender-crisp. Add remaining oil to heat then add mushrooms and sprouts. Cook all vegetables, stirring often, until sprouts become translucent. Add remaining soy and Hoisin, then stir in chicken mixture and heat for 1-2 minutes. Turn off heat and add noodles. Toss until well coated and serve immedately.