What I Made for Dinner :: Spaghetti and Baked Turkey Meatballs

In usual fashion, my cooking repertoire expands during the summer when I have more time to cook. Pinterest also helps since I find a lot of recipes while I'm mindless pinning away.

I adapted the Baked Chicken Meatballs recipe from Dandy Dishes; apparently, she adapted it from the Smitten Kitchen. The obvious difference between my dish and the originals is that I used ground turkey instead of ground chicken. I find that both meats are pretty bland so I like to make sure the meatballs are seasoned really well.

What We Ate for Dinner :: Ren's Ramen

Ramen is probably my favorite food in the world; I'm sure I've mentioned it on my other blog before. Having lived in LA, with its large Japanese and Asian population, decent ramen was easy to come by. And having lived in Japan on-and-off throughout my life, I've had some delicious ramen that I still dream about.

When we were deciding where to move to -- San Mateo, CA or the DC area -- I honestly took into account easy accessibility to Asian food and markets. When we ultimately chose DC, it was with full knowledge that we weren't going to be able to eat Japanese food and buy Japanese groceries like we used to. (Korean and Vietnamese restaurants and markets are pretty abundant here, but we're having a hard time finding a decent Japanese food selection.) Luckily, ramen is catching on here and there are a few places in the DC area that are supposedly worth checking out.

The closest ramen place to our new house is Ren's Ramen, which specializes in Sapporo-style ramen. Sapporo is the capital city of Hokkaido, the northern-most Japanese island. Sapporo ramen soup is miso-based, and the toppings include many regional products like butter, corn, and seafood as well as minced garlic, chopped pork, and bean sprouts. The point is for the ramen to be filling and warming during the cold Hokkaido winter.

I haven't eaten a lot of Hokkaido-style ramen, mostly because it's not so common in the LA area. But we need to find a ramen place to call our own and that means methodically trying each and every ramen place in the area. When we arrived around 6:30 on a Saturday evening we were immediately seated, but it started to get busy 15 minutes later, and there was a wait by the time we left.

Maya and I ordered the Sapporo-style miso ramen to share, and Rupert and Ian each got the Sapporo-style tonshio ramen. We also ordered a side of gyoza. Only after we ordered did we look up and discover a bunch of other ramens and toppings listed on the wall. Ah well, next time.

I enjoyed my miso ramen and preferred it over the boys' tonshio ramen, which is unusual because I'm a huge fan of tonkotsu-based soups. I found the tonshio soup to be too sweet, but I couldn't put my finger on what made it seem that way. The noodles were good, and they better be since they import their supply directly from Sapporo. The gyoza were incredibly underwhelming and totally not worth the $5.50 for five pieces. Now I know to skip the gyoza and order some extra toppings instead.

The ramen at Ren's is OK and will suffice until we get back to LA (or go on another Japanese vacation). I foresee this being our go-to place because of its proximity, but we'll have to see how the other ramen places stack up.

[updated November 2013: The service was kinda terrible today, and I'm gonna blame the "chef" who was sticking his nose into the front of house's business. I get that you have rules, but don't be a rude jerk about it. Your food's not that great that you can get away with that kind of attitude and customer service.]

Ren's Ramen
11403 Amherst Avenue
Wheaton, MD 20902
(301) 693-0806 no reservations but you can call for take-out

Lunch: 11:30am to 3:00pm    Dinner: 5:00pm to 10:00pm
(except Sunday we close 9:30pm)
Closed: Every 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of the month - See more at: http://www.rens-ramen.com/location/#sthash.CjKQTYf0.dpuf

 Lunch: 11:30am ~ 3:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm ~ 10:00pm (Sunday: closes at 9:30pm)
Closed: 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of the month
Cash only
Street parking (there are a couple of spots in the tiny parking lot; do NOT park in the lot for the stores next door)

11403 Amherst Ave.
Wheaton, MD 20902
301-693-0806

< Business Hours >
Monday to Sunday     
Lunch: 11:30am to 3:00pm    Dinner: 5:00pm to 10:00pm
(except Sunday we close 9:30pm)
Closed: Every 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of the month
- See more at: http://www.rens-ramen.com/location/#sthash.CjKQTYf0.dpuf

11403 Amherst Ave.
Wheaton, MD 20902
301-693-0806

< Business Hours >
Monday to Sunday     
Lunch: 11:30am to 3:00pm    Dinner: 5:00pm to 10:00pm
(except Sunday we close 9:30pm)
Closed: Every 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of the month
- See more at: http://www.rens-ramen.com/location/#sthash.CjKQTYf0.dpuf

 

What I Ate for Dinner :: Okumura Sushi (Encino)

What I Made for Dinner :: Vegetarian Udon

OK, it's not the most beautifully plated bowl of udon, but it's full of vegetarian (but not vegan) goodness. I included blanched spinach, wakame (seaweed), sliced abura-age (fried tofu), and a poached egg (which I made properly today for the first time). A little sprinkling of shichimi-togarashi and tonight's dinner was complete (and remarkably filling)!

Notes:

• Timing is everything, which is a basic tenet of cooking, but especially so with noodles, in my opinion. It's best to undercook the noodles in case the toppings take longer to cook than you anticipate.
• I used all four burners on my stove to get the stuff ready: a big pot of water to cook the udon (and the soba for Ian) and to blanch the spinach, a kettle to boil water to rehydrate the wakame and to rinse the abura-age, a shallow pan to poach the eggs, and a medium pot to make the dashi.
• The order of cooking each component of the dish is important so that most (if not all) of the toppings are cooked before the noodles finish cooking: 1) put the water on to boil (in the kettle, big pot, and the shallow pan) while you make the dashi (combine water, soy sauce, mirin, and hondashi powder); 2) place a colander in a bowl and rehydrate the dry wakame for a couple of minutes with boiling water; 3) poach the eggs; 4) put the rehydrated wakame into the bowl and use the colander to rinse the abura-age with boiling water; 5) cook the noodles; 6) begin plating the dish: some dashi in a deep soup bowl (or proper udon bowl), the noodles, a poached egg, wakame, and abura-age; 7) blanch the spinach in the same pot you cooked the noodles in, and it's going to be hot, but squeeze out as much water as possible and cut the spinach into bite-size pieces (discarding the tip of the step holding the bunch together) before adding it to the bowl (alternatively, you can blanch the spinach beforehand and squeeze out the water after it's cooled; in the same vein, do not cook the spinach first in the same water as the noodles because the water will turn acrid). 
• If you like your food a bit spicy, use shichimi-togarashi (or even ichimi). You can also garnish with green onions or tenkasu.

What I Made for Dinner :: Vegetable Lasagna

I can't deny it: Rupert and I are getting old(er) and leading a much more sedentary life than we used to. No doubt that's causing health issues we can see (the "pooch" around our middle getting bigger) and can't see (higher cholesterol, vitamin & calcium deficiencies, etc.). We certainly need to eat healthier food so I've been thinking about incorporating more vegetables (and less meat) into our diet.

My intentions have been slow-going in the action department mostly because Ian is a meat & potatoes kind of kid. Yes, he eats more vegetables than most of his friends but he'd prefer being a carnivore over an herbivore any day. The only action I've taken has been to slowly collect vegetarian recipes on Pinterest; I haven't gotten around to actually cooking anything yet.

But things are starting to change. At Maya's request Thursday night's dinner was going to be lasagna. It figures she would head to my in-laws' so she wouldn't get a chance to eat what she wanted. It also worked against Ian because at the last minute I decided to make it vegetarian. Instead of the ground meat I usually add to the sauce, I used eggplant. To give it some extra texture I added chopped kale (I usually use spinach but it's good to mix it up sometimes). And, of course, the usual diced veggies: onion, garlic, carrots, and celery.

I gotta say, it was really good! Probably better than my usual meaty lasagna, which I like a lot. It did not, however truly pass muster with the boy: "It's good, Mom," says Ian, so I inform him there's no meat in it, and not 30 seconds later he says, "I'm full" and stops eating! Well, at least he tried it!

 

[I had it for dinner on Thursday and Friday, and for lunch on Saturday!]

Yet another blog ...

I don't really need another blog, but I decided to create this one because 1) I want one, and 2) I rather like the idea of having a blog that reflects my life's motto: eat, sleep, read. Besides my family, I love those three actions. I would happily do nothing but those three things. So, from now on, you'll find my cooking & eating adventures, reading exploits, and the pauses in between (when I'm sleeping) at this blog. If you're looking to read about my family's goings-on and my never-ending battle with clutter, please visit my original blog, good enough.

Happy eating, sleeping, and reading!
y