Homemade Ramen

My friend told me about this homemade chicken ramen her friend cooked when she was visiting back home. My friend tried the same recipe but the soup came out quite differently. We still don't know what was wrong beside she used leek instead of scallion. Anyhow, I tried myself and it turned out to be one of my favorite recipe! It's so easy and all ingredients are available here.

Boiled Chicken - Ramen Style
（Below makes 4 cups of broth）
Water・・・2 litter
Chicken Thigh with Bones・・1 lb
Rice Wine/Sake・・・5 tsp
Scallion（green part）・・・3 or 4 stalks
Ginger・・・5-7 slices
Salt・・・2 tsp
Black Pepper・・・for seasoning

Cooking the Chicken
Boil water in a pot and add chicken, sake, scallion and ginger. Cook in high heat.
When it starts to boil again, skim the scum on surface and bring it to medium heat*. Cook for 20 minutes without a lit.
*High heat may cause unclear broth.
Skim after 20 minutes and add salt and black pepper. Remove scallion and ginger.
(You can use chicken for many other dishes and stay good for a few days in the refrigerator or 2 weeks in freezer. )

Making Ramen
Boil water in a pot. Cook ramen noodle (chinese egg noodles) and cook for a few minutes.
Season the chicken broth with more salt and pepper to taste.
Serve chicken, noodle and soup in a bowl.
Add any toppings you like. (boiled spinach, argula, sauteed ceroly, bean-sprout, bok choy etc)

Brunch at Home

When we go back home in Minnesota over holidays, mom makes really nice breakfast. I don't have much repertoire so I mimicked what she cooked. Spinach and goat cheese frittata. Really eash and healthy, I think. Saute spinach, shallot and garlic. Add egg with cream. Bake in the oven. Voila!

Catsitting

Just for a day, I got a cat. Mr. Mooki. He showed up at 8AM in a shivering weather carried by his owner. He prudently investigated around the house for an hour. Then I hear Mateo gasped. As he reached out to get his underwear in the closet, a black creature jumped out on him. Yes, Mooki sneaked into the closet and was sitting on M's sweaters, hidden among M's mostly black attires.

Mooki was following me everywhere I go. He sat right in front of the monitor when I was using my computer. He lied and slept under my arm. I am a dog person but Mooki is one of the cutest, nice cat.

New Year Feast - Japanese Style

New Year is one of the most traditional and celebrated holidays in Japan. For the first three days, we eat special meal called Osechi. Wives cook Osechi (most ingredients stay good for a week) by the end of a year so they can rest and enjoy the new year without cooking. Nowadays, less people cook Osechi at home since it takes time and younger generations don't enjoy the dishes. It is also due to the decrease of large-size families. When I was a kid, family and relatives gathered in one house and celebrated the new year. But today, many family is formed by a few members. Osechi requires a labor intensive cooking and it makes no sense to cook a small portion. Most people chose a easier way and buy from stores.

Meanwhile, many people still make and eat Ozoni (rice cake in clear soup), another traditional New Year dish. I had my friends over and shared this Japanese tradition. Mochi (rice cake) is one of the few things not appreciated by Western people, along with natto (fermented soy beans). So I prepared udon noodle to replace Mochi for our Western guests. A few tried Mochi, and they didn't seem to LOVE it.

Pic: In the soup is Mochi, kamaboko (fish cake), snap bean, daikon radish, carrot, chicken.

From the left: Daikon radish pickles with Uzu citrus flavor; Arugula (normally spinach) and Shitake mushroom; Daikon radish and carrot pickles; Root veggie stew.

Here are some of the dishes/foods included in Osechi and their meanings:

Shrimp: Wish for longevity, to live long until our back bend like shrimp.
Herring roe: For having many kids and prosperity through the family.
Sweet chestnuts: The character in the dish name "kin-ton" means gold; wish for prosperous business and life.
Black beans: Beans sounds "mame" in Japanese; word play that wishes for hardworking and healthy life; black is considered protecting from evil.
Fish cake: Red and white is a color of celebration in Japan; whte fish used to be luxurious food.
Konbu Seaweed: It plays with the sound "kobu" with "yoro-kobu," which means happiness and joy.
Lotus root: Wish for a year with good foresight as the vegetable has holes.
Caramelized dried sardine: Wish for a good harvest; small sardines were used as fertilizer for fields.

Snowed in MSP

Here's our 'Groundhog Day' experience. Right on time at the airport. We finished our drink and headed to the gate. Something was wrong. Delay. It turned out the air craft needed a technical repair. More drinks at the bar by the gate. 2 hours later, they cancelled our flight. 100 people lined at the counter. Another 1 hour of waiting. No flight today. Great. Back to home. Next day, again at the airport on time. Another delay due to a traffic at Newark. Patience and a bar is a virtue. Annoyed by the bartender who kept selling a shot for $3 with a pint, I looked outside: suddenly a blizzard. Disfunctioning NY airport + midwest snow = major delay. When we finally got on board, another 1-hour wait. Thankfully, they released us off the craft. Back to a surf bar. As nice as she was, the waitress kept 5-dollar change as a tip for just 2 drinks. It didn't matter at this point but it sucked. After 3 hours of delay and major contribution to the MSP airport bars, we finally, finally took off the ground.

Midwest Xmas

Another Christmas in M's hometown Minnesota with his family. This year, we happily volunteered to cook for both eve and Xmas nights. A traditional meal would be super easy but somewhat mundane and not suitable for this group. Us: A food loving couple who also eat a lot. Sister: A very dedicated hardcore vegetarian but no raw onion for her. Father: A seafood-allergic meat affectionado and no onion as well. Grandma: A tiny appetite holder whose palette is used to a simple, classic American meal. Mother and Aunt: No special dietary restriction—wonderful.

In my book, it's too risky to try a new recipe when you are cooking for guests. So we squeezed our vegetarian options we could do right for sure.

Christmas Eve—"Tricolor Table: Basil Genovese Pasta with Grilled Chicken (no chicken for Sister), Tomato and Mozzarella Caprese Salad" It was a good pasta except we could have added some crunch to Sister's pasta.

Christmas Night—"Heavily Happy: Swedish Meatball with Gravy, Mac & Cheese (trying to mimic our favorite DuMac&Cheese from Dumont Burger in W'burg Brooklyn), Mushroom Ragu, Baked Asparagus, Roasted Beets Salad with Blue Cheese and Mustard Dressing, Green Salad with Shredded Carrots"

It didn't really have a concept at all, but everyone had something to eat. The only vegetarian-unfriendly dish was the meatball. Maybe next year, we shall not serve two pasta dishes in a row...


M's mom is super talented in decorating the house. She cut a tree from the yard and sprayed in gold. Voila! A lovely, original Christmas tree. It gives more space for gifts and fits nicely in the den after the Christmas days.


Santa is coming this year! His parents got me a sock, too. It hung among the family's traditional socks.


One of my favorite things to do in MN is shopping. But I'm not talking about Mall of America. I love shopping at super markets, specifically Byerly's. They always have a nice variety and plenty of stuff. It's never too crowded. Stores are very clean. And staff is very nice: They don't seem pissed or reluctant as many NY store clarks. They got a live music band, too!