One of the best things to eat when it’s cold or rainy or you’re feeling miserable is congee. Our family calls it juk / jook but congee works too.
I’ve eaten a bit of restaurant congee which is always lovely but I haven’t made any in a while. So tonight, it is time for a very thick rice porridge with LOTS of ginger. With tofu, fresh shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots… of course green onion.
It does hit the spot.
You’d think with as how much I talk about the Potato that he’s a very interactive dog. He really isn’t. He’s an old man who likes to eat, sleep, and roll around in the grass, preferably if the grass has fish emulsion or something stinky like possum poop on it. But he is a delight and in the past couple of years, has really enjoyed having people visit him. To the point where he is upset the UPS and FedEx guys don’t come in and pet him or when someone who is visiting leaves.
And in the spirit of the Year of the Tiger, he also got a spa day which he badly needed following the skin infection he’d gotten, which kind of left him with odd patches and we had to shave spots down so they could be addressed.
Our last dog groomer ghosted us because we TOLD her to not take off the muzzle if he was outside and she decided that no, she could. That did not go well. As all of you know, that’s imperative for Gus to feel safe and secure.
But we DID find an ANGEL of a groomer named Charity who owns and runs Raise the Wuff Mobile Grooming and had an opening immediately because she was in the area. Woman literally has a towable mobile salon attached to the hitch of her truck and we were given an iPad with a camera feed so we could watch him. If you’re in San Diego and need a dog groomer, Charity is awesome.
Because as soon as she came in, the Potato was in love. And when he came back, he was so sorry to see her go. But that said, look at the results! One Clean Potato. And his cat.
I’ve been working on editing something to put back out and I’d forgotten how time consuming editing is. Reading things over, making sure the words are right. Discovering I apparently biffed spelling satisfaction in such a way Word didn’t even know what language I was in. Such is the way of the writer.
San Diego’s been getting warmer this week. We always have odd winters. Next week it’ll be cold again. I’m hoping for rain. Rain is always welcome.
I’d been scheduled for an outpatient procedure at the end of January and after a consultation on that day, the procedure was called off and instead, I get to go into surgery in the hopes that it will help fix things quicker. Not a major thing. In and out. One day only. Like a drive thru oil change.
I do have to remember to tell my mother about it. I’ve not yet. Just slipped my brain. But it’s not till the end of March so, not too bad.
Cooking more which has been fun. Tonight is stew. Since Andi my roommate is currently forgoing meat, I’ve been doing dual meals… sometimes I’ll do the vegetarian route and we have one dish or I make two of the same dish. Tonight I made Irish beef stew for me and Japanese curry stew for them. Well sort of a Japanese curry stew. I kind of went roasted veggies when making it, much to the chagrin of my ancestors but hopefully it’s got a good curry punch. *grins*
The vegetarian curry stew is made with Gardein beef tips. We’ll see how they do. They held up well for the browning. You’re supposed to add them into your dish last but I let it sit in the curry after browning so hopefully it would pick up some of the curry flavour.
I’ll have more info on the novella that’s being released again in a bit. My brain is very much overloaded with words right now. And the dog is snoring. Everyone stay safe and don’t forget to take care of one another.
The Potato Gus had to go to the vet because his skin infection came back. He loves the vets’ office. He loves his vets and the techs. Not so much love for the construction workers across the street. Borking ensued. Andi took him because not only was I stressed to hell and gone, I had a conference call and this was a pop up appointment they had come up right when I called. So off the Gus went and… he got all his boosters, a shot for the infection, two types of meds, and a bottle of shampoo which he will be scrubbed with every other day for a couple of weeks. They also cut his back nails because they were too long… because I can’t cut them and our mobile groomer rage quit on us after they left off Gus’ muzzle and a strange dog walked by when they took him out of the grooming van so he went Cujo with borking rage. No one was hurt but she was definitely… grumbly. And of course I said… we TOLD you he had to be muzzled if out in the open. I didn’t hold it against her but we never saw her again.
They said he might not be hungry and will be a bit stiff. He’s definitely stiff from the shots. He always is. BUT he is NOT off his feed.
Dinner last night was a hacked mac-and-cheese. This is the first time I’ve made “homemade” macaroni and cheese and well, I was all… fuck the recipes. Too many opinions on it and I knew the flavours I wanted to bring to the dish. It came out well. Very tasty and very much on point with the profile I wanted it to have. Seasoned to hell but that’s what I wanted.
Lastly, I wanted to leave you this, a gorgeous animation / artistic short with dinosaurs done from a naturalist POV. Can’t give enough credit to Julian Johnson-mortimer. The sheer artistry!
Not going to give you a long drawn out story about how my grandmother used to make this after working a long day in the cane fields because first, my maternal grandmother was Portuguese and secondly, she never made shoyu noodles in her life. But it’s a favourite of mine and can be found in a lot of Chinese restaurants in Hawai’i.
Ingredients
You’re going to need a bowl to put the cooked veggies in while you cook the noodles so.. head’s up.
Directions
Cook the noodles per instructions if they need boiling. If using the precooked yakisoba noodles, simply run them under hot water until they separate. If not yakisoba, then once the noodles are cooked, dry them well and then add a little bit of oil to the noodles and toss lightly. Let them cool.
In a wok or a large skillet, put a little bit of oil and brown the meat with the sliced onion / shallots. When browned, add the greens, the white part of the green onions, garlic and ginger. Salt and pepper to taste. A few shakes will be good. Once this is all browned and cooked down, put them into that bowl I warned you that you’d need.
Next, brown the oiled noodles in the hot pan. They’re not going to get very brown but if you can get a bit of char on them, good.
Once they are a bit more golden, add the soy sauces, oyster sauce, and sugar. Mix well.
Add bowl of meat and veggies, mix well and then add the bean sprouts and rest of the green onions. Once the bean sprouts are a little wilted, it is ready to serve. Can top with toasted sesame seeds if you like.
Rhys Ford 