Monday, October 12, 2015

Thanksgiving, Bowling, Exercise Class,


Today is Thanksgiving, so to all my Canadian friends, I hope you have a happy one. As many of you know, we celebrated on Saturday. Inviting a friend to join us. As a nod to everyone's expectation of having pumpkin pie, which, sorry, we don't like, I served home made Pumpkin Soup as a starter. It was then followed by the turkey breast with Bread Sauce, the Spanish stuffing I mentioned the other day, Brussels Sprouts (I decided to boil them as I usually do) French cut flat or runner beans, mushroom gravy and English roast potatoes. As dessert, I cheated and bought a Tira Misu from the
local grocery store. It was pretty good. No liquor in it, but as our guest was driving, a glass of wine is all she allowed herself. It was an enjoyable evening. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it, but I always use a cooking bag (oven bag) for my turkey breasts. A 4 lb breast took 1 1/2 hrs at 350°F. and no messy roasting pan.

The only problem, for me, is that after I have been in the kitchen for a while, my back starts to kill me and I have to keep taking breaks. Oh the joys of aging. I wanted a picture for this section and came across the above with an article giving some tips on reducing such pain.

Being a Monday today we are bowling in our league, and our team just has to do something about getting off the bottom rung of the ladder. Although, as it was pointed out to me, amassing points is difficult when not all the team is there, or not all bowling as Matt wasn't last Monday. We are not doing frantically well anyway I'm afraid.

I went to our exercise class on Friday for the first time in a while, partly because of all the construction and partly because of Matt's operation. He, by the way, is doing fine and his leg would is healing up beautifully. His head wound you can hardly see any more. Anyway, I was expecting to find it difficult after not doing exercises for so long and my legs were aching a few times. However, unexpectedly, I didn't feel it the next day so I guess I was fitter than I thought.

I love noodles so this is right up my street. Of course, I don't eat them as often as I would like to, my waist line would suffer.

Spicy Pan-Fried Noodles

  • Yield 2 servings

Garlicky, gingery and as spicy as you dare to make it, this Asian-influenced pan-fried noodle dish comes together in minutes. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples, which means you can make it whenever you need a comforting noodle dish that comes with a bite. If you can’t find the Chinese egg noodles (also called Hong Kong-stylenoodles), you can make this with rice noodles or soba. The key is to only boil them until they are halfway done. (They should be pliable but still firm in the center.) They will finish cooking when you pan-fry them.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup thinly sliced scallions (about a bunch; use both whites and greens)
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce, more to taste
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 2 teaspoons rice wine or sherry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
  • 6 ounces Chinese (also called Hong Kong) egg noodles, soba noodles or rice noodles
  • 2 ½ tablespoons peanut, grapeseed, safflower or vegetable oil, more as needed
  • 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 large eggs, beaten with a fork
  • 2 cups washed baby spinach or 1/2 cup thawed edamame (optional)
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons sriracha or other hot sauce, or to taste
  • Juice of 1/2 lime, or to taste
  • 1 cup cilantro leaves
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds or chopped roasted peanuts, optional

Preparation

  1. In a small bowl, combine the scallions, soy sauce, ginger, rice wine or vinegar, sesame oil and salt. Let stand while you prepare the noodles.
  2. In a large pot of boiling water, cook noodles until they are halfway done according to package instructions. (They should still be quite firm.) Drain well and toss with 1/2 tablespoon of the peanut oil to keep them from sticking, and spread them out on a plate or baking sheet.
  3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons of peanut oil. Add the garlic and cook until crisp and golden around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes. Add half the scallion mixture and stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add noodles; stir-fry until noodles are hot and lightly coated with sauce, about 30 seconds. Add eggs, spinach or edamame if using, sriracha, and remaining scallion mixture and continue to stir-fry until the eggs are cooked, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice. Garnish with cilantro and sesame seeds or peanuts.

Have a great day
 

34 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - a good Thanksgiving dinner always sounds good. Glad you're bowling again ... and sadly someone has to be at the bottom of the ladder - but actually getting there and bowling is a success story. Also the main thing is the healing - so glad that's happening so well. Cheers Hilary

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    1. Yup, enjoyed it Hilary. I know someone has to be at the bottom of the ladder, I just don't want it to be us. Matt gets his leg stitches out this week which is a good thing.

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  2. My back does that too! But I still love to cook.
    Happy Thanksgiving! Yum, reminds me of the good things coming our way soon! :)

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    1. I do too, but it can be pretty painful Yolanda.

      I am glad our Thanksgiving is earlier - gives space before Christmas although we are having dinner out on Christmas Day.

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  3. That's fantastic, not only that Matt's getting along well, but that you're still in good shape and weren't sore. Nothing's worse than working out your legs too hard after a bit of inactivity, getting massively sore, and then waddling around the next day like a baby with a full diaper.

    That potato with gruyere recipe was wonderful, by the way. Made it over the weekend and everyone loved it.

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    1. Thanks for the laugh Bryan, the picture of the baby with a full diaper cracked me up.

      I am so glad to know that recipe was good and you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know.

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  4. Sounds like I would have loved being at that dinner. I have never had pumpkin soup, it sounds interesting.

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    1. I make it a lot Brandon. I have posted the recipe before now.

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  5. Never had pumpkin souo but it sounds delicious, like all of the other dishes in you meal.

    Betty

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    1. Thanks Betty. It is a good soup. Very warming. I have posted the recipe here.

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  6. I should start celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving along with our U.S. November festivity. Since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, all the better to have two celebration days each year.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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    1. A good idea Lee. However, three big celebratory meals might be a bit much of my weight I'm thinking.

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving and glad you enjoyed your feast this past weekend. Pass on the sprouts though.

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    1. Thanks Alex. Funny that, the cosmic knight loves them.

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  8. Happy Thanksgiving. I love noodles too but like you, I don't have them very often. I usually use an oven bag when I do turkey in the oven but sometimes I use my dutch oven and it makes the turkey perfect.

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    1. Thanks Susan. I thought about having them today actually and then looked at the calorie count. Bearing in mind what I ate this weekend, I changed my mind. Never tried doing it in a Dutch oven.

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  9. Your menu sounds beautiful. I don't like pumpkin pie either. It's a vegetable for goodness sake. Give me tiramisu any day. Happy Thanksgiving. Does the turkey skin crisp up when you use oven bags?

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    1. I like tiramisu too. No the skin doesn't crisp but that's just as well as there a loads of calories in the skin and I would be tempted. Not Matt, just me.

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  10. Happy Harvest. Nothing like a great harvest menu. I do these kinds of meals at least once per week. Love it.

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    1. Me too, but wouldn't dare eat that much once a week Ivy.

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    2. We do a Sunday roast once per week, with trimmings. Sometimes without, but the star of the show is the locally organic chicken (I don't fancy solution-injected turkeys).

      But heck yeah, real meals every night and a killer Harvest Table on Sundays. Life is too short to wait around for holidays. But also, to be fair, I was raised by cooks. And so for me this is normal to make. What you might think of as holiday meal, we just call it supper.

      Yum, yum, yum, yum.

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    3. In the UK we always had a Sunday roast at home. Beef, pork, chicken, you name it we had it. Matt and I always have a special meal on a Saturday night with a bottle of wine. Sometimes we have a dessert but rarely a starter when we are on our own. We do have real meals every night, we also sit at a dining table to eat which many people don't do any more.

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    4. Oh, I hear ya' about the sitting down at the table. I was raised by my Hungarian Mamam (Grandma), in the kitchen. We ate proper meals and sat at the table. Unless we were watching a scary movie at night, then we would eat pizza in front of the TV. Or sat and shelled nuts.

      She didn't make (or celebrate) Thanksgivings, she just cooked and baked all the time, which I enjoyed.

      Love that you and Matt have special meals on Saturday. Very, very cool.

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    5. In Europe we don't celebrate Harvest other than in church services when the churches are decorated with produce of the season. So until we came to Canada we never had "Thanksgiving". In the UK we never differentiated between cooking and baking. It is all cooking whatever it is you are producing.

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    6. Big, big difference, even Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry (from the UK), will tell you that baking and cooking are two different beasts. But they are experts where home-people might mesh the two, technically, the two are not the same animal.

      No, Mamam didn't celebrate either. She came over on the boat so we weren't raised with Thanksgivings, but we were raised with good foods, sitting at the table and not wasting ANYTHING in the kitchen.

      Love it, and love her for the lessons.

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    7. Well I left the UK 40 years ago Ivy, and I assure you we didn't differentiate in those days whatever they may do today.

      Very good examples she set you.

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  11. I'm looking forward to our Thanksgiving. But opposite of you, I don't like squash or pumpkin soups of any kind but I love pumpkin pie. The recipe sounds great, but I'm going to eliminate the hot sauce as I don't like spicy.

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    1. It's not very spicy JoJo, not noticeably so. I have tried pumpkin pie a couple of times and could not enjoy it. As someone above said, it's a vegetable for goodness sake which is kind of my reaction too.

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  12. Hi Jo. Glad Matt is healing nicely. I adore pumpkin pie, but ages since I've made/tasted it. Pumpkin scones are wildly popular in Queensland. There's a quick recipe using lemonade, flour and something else. And cold mashed pumpkin of course.

    On my birthday lunch I shared a side of baked brussels sprouts and we all agreed next time that's all we'll order. My gosh, they were fabulous. Baked with lamb belly and mustard and honey sauce. I'm salivating just remembering.

    Happy cooking, bowling and celebrating!

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    1. I wouldn't mind trying pumpkin muffins but just cannot get to like the pie Denise. I don't think of anyone in Oz eating the pie either, such a North American thing to me. That sounds an interesting way of cooking Brussels Sprouts. Lamb belly? Never heard of that either.

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  13. Glad to hear your hubby is healing well...and fast! Your Thanksgiving dinner sounds great (except not a lover of brussel sprouts). Thankfully, we went to my hubby's sister for dinner. Today I just made goulash. Glad you went swimming and found little discomfort the next day

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    1. Thanks Birgit. It was good. I went off Brussels Sprouts recently but decided it was the softened water. This time I cooked them in distilled water and they tasted great. Always nice when someone else cooks. I love goulash. I have often made that with venison. Not swimming Birgit, just exercise class.

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