Bahmi meatballs and sesame noodles recipe

ingredients:

thin spaghetti pasta (or your thin noodle / pasta of choice)

meatballs: ground turkey, five spice, fish sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper (note for future: consider adding some panko)

noodle sauce: ginger garlic paste, peanut butter, water, sambal oelek, lemon juice, honey. (consider sesame oil or maybe a bit more water next time)

veggie sides: 

arugula or baby spinach

generous amount of cilantro

carrot/radish/cucumber/jalapeño cut into thin sticks.

cooking directions:

form and make the meatballs - 400F around 30min (check for temp by opening one up)

wash, cut, and make the veggie sides. toss carrot/radish/jalapeño/cucumber and marinate with salt/pepper/honey/rice vinegar. set aside

make the sauce

cook the pasta/noodle per directions.

once everything is done, mix sauce in with noodles and meatballs. serve with veggie sides and arugula/cilantro.

inspired by Bahmi burger recipe:

The Banh Mi Burger Recipe | Allrecipes

Egg Toast for Long Weekend

I have been putting off my Japan travel notes but maybe I will finally get a chance to work on it this weekend (given it's a long weekend in the USA). Let's warm up with a quick recipe.

eggs in a nest oven style

Stuff you need (for 2 people)

• 4 slices of bread
• 4 eggs
• shredded cheddar
• scallion (optional, separately chop up white part and green part)
• olive oil or butter (whatever you like to grease up your bread)
• oven pan
• large spoon (to make indent in the bread for toast)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F (some recipes also call for 400F)
2. Spread out foil, sprinkle some olive oil or oil spray
3. Assemble bread on pan, use spoon to make small indent in the middle. (some recipes make a hole with cookie cutter, which is kind of wasteful and unnecessary). Sprinkle on a bit of olive oil. 
4. Add eggs to the middle of bread slices. I crack eggs one at a time into a small bowl and gently slide them onto the bread
5. Add chopped white parts of scallion, shredded cheese, sprinkle salt and pepper
6. Put pan into oven when preheated. Watch how the egg whites are set (with oven lights on) after 7min and add more time as needed. I think I may have ended up needing 12-15min (will have to repeat recipe and adjust)
7. Once egg whites are more solid, you can take out the pan and sprinkle more cheese after you plate
8. Sprinkle more scallion green parts on top.
9. Eat with your bare hands! Egg yolk should still be somewhat runny. 

Best part of this recipe is how easily you can scale this for a larger group by having more pans in the oven. and no frying pan to clean up.

Happy Labor Day long weekend!

Notes: there are many ways to make this recipe and a bunch of youtube videos, including frying pan method that I haven't mastered. I find the oven one easier to manage but try them out and see what you like!

2018 Winter adventure day in NYC

On the final day of 2018, I took my cousins on a full day adventure in NYC. Below is a recap for future reference. I was surprised we managed to fit so much into one day!

stop0: jersey city

We started our day by taking a leisure stroll to Jersey City waterfront. The sun was out so we managed to enjoy the view of lower Manhattan skyline and the ferries. After some sightseeing, we took the Path train from Exchange Place to World Trade Center. Don't forget to load up on subway cards (can be used for both PATH train and NY subway trains).  Info on path: https://www.panynj.gov/path/maps-schedules.html and subway https://new.mta.info/

stop1: downtown

We walked through Brookfield winter garden to see the LED lights. It was relaxing and fun! C. wanted to see the Ground Zero memorial fountains so we skipped the inside of the Oculus hub. At Fulton Center C. introduced me to a bubble tea chain called Gong Cha. I've never been a huge fan of bubble tea but decided to try white pearl (it's interesting). After the fountains we walked to City hall and took some pics of the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge. Surprisingly busy on a cold day.

stop2: chinatown

We took a MTA bus from City hall to Chinatown. This was a request by cousins as I don't typically walk around Chinatown unless I'm meeting friends for food. We didn't get any food and it was getting close to lunch time so made our way to St. Marks for lunch.

stop 3: lunch

Given it's lunch time, St. Marks was kind of dead. No yakitori place was open. Some of the other places I had in mind didn't work out given they didn't have non-gluten options. We ended up getting lunch specials at a place (forgot the name) which was okay. Hopefully in the future we can try
okonomiyaki at Otarfuku and/or udon west.

Stop 4: midtown

We took the subway to Grand Central to browse Kinokuniya bookstore. Sadly didn't have time for NYC library or exhibition, but we were sort of in a hurry to head to karaoke before it got too late.

Stop 5: karaoke

Karaoke duet near 35th st, opens at 2pm https://www.karaokeduet.com/
We made it to karaoke and managed to sing for an hour before heading home to NJ on the 33rd St Path train.

Post NYC

After our multi-stop NYC tour we relaxed with some anime.
My pick: Tsurune (show about archery club, very well animated and very relaxing for a sports genre)
D's pick: Zombieland Saga (zombie idol show with a very wacky cast)

New Year's eve dinner can be pretty packed depending on the place and time. It was raining pretty hard and still relatively early, so we took my aunt/uncle and cousins to a local beer garden called Zepplin Hall.

It's always fun having visitors who want to explore NYC so I look forward to our future adventures too.