ramen.

Last week was forecast to rain all week, but it's LA, so it only rained for two days. Two days straight, so that's basically the same thing to most Angelenos. I even bought rain boots which I now realize is the opposite of washing your car. You wash your car, it rains. You buy rain boots, it doesn't rain. Cool. 

When John and I were living in Venice (California), we would treat ourselves to ramen whenever it rained. We had a few options close to where we lived. Santouka inside Mitsuwa was down the street, Ramen Yamadaya opened within the last year we were living there, and Sawtelle Japantown was a short drive with a lot of noodle options. In Berlin, we only went to Cocolo. Luckily Cocolo was legit, and it was a short train ride away. Unfortunately we would forget they weren't open for lunch on Sundays a few times.

So now that we're back in Los Angeles, we are only a 20 minute drive from Torrance where we have good selection of ramen, a further drive we have Little Tokyo in downtown LA, and Sawtelle Japantown. I need to make a checklist or take some recommendations! I need to do this for all foods actually.

Ramen from Daikokuya. 

The broth was fattier which made it really thick. I haven't formed a solid opinion yet if I like it or not. 

Ramen from Hakata Ikkoushi. 

Simple menu, and they give you an order sheet to check off what you want.

This will probably be one of MANY posts about ramen. You can also expect lots of posts on a variety of noodles because I am always craving noodles! And you should write about what you love right? 

cheers,
Wendy

baked chicken tenders.

This is easy. You got this. 

I love this recipe. The original recipe calls for cheese crackers, but I make it with Snyder's Pretzel Pieces. They have a variety of flavors, but I usually get salt & pepper or cheddar cheese. The pretzels stays crunchy while in the oven, so you're never left with one side soggy. Having wax paper helps too. 

pretzel chicken tenders -1 breast per person 

• 1 lb chicken breasts cut into equal chicken tender pieces. 
• Ziploc bag with flour
• 2 eggs 
• 1-2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 cups of flavored pretzels crushed (use a food processor or a food chopper)
• Wax paper & baking sheet
• 2 shallow bowls

-Preheat oven to 475 F with rack at the lowest tier.

-Place chicken pieces in Ziploc bag and add enough flour to cover. 

-First shallow bowl mix eggs with dijon mustard. 

-Second shallow bowl fill with pretzels.

-Remove chicken from bag and shake off excess flour, coat the chicken in the egg mixture, and transfer to the pretzels. 

If you have tongs or chopsticks, use them! I have one set for dry ingredients, and another for the egg mixture. I hate having gooey fingers transferring the chicken from the flour, to the eggs, and then to the pretzels. 

-Place the chicken pieces on waxed baking sheet and cook 10 minutes. Flip each piece of chicken and place back in the oven for another 8-10 minutes. 

-Serve them with your favorite vegetables and your favorite dipping sauce. I like to serve mine with steamed green beans (steam for only 3-5 minutes so they're still crunchy). For the sauce I always make a Sriracha mayo. 

• 1/4 cup of mayo
• 1 tbsp Sriracha
• 1 tsp ketchup 
• 1/4 tsp dijon mustard ...that looks about right. I will add a heaping spoon of mayo, a big squeeze of Sriracha, a tiny squeeze of ketchup, and a smidge of dijon mustard. Taste & adjust. 

I had leftover chicken tenders, so the next day I made a salad and used it for protein and for crunch. 

cheers,
Wendy

good morning.

I love bread. It's so simple, yet so versatile. 

In the morning when I don't have time to eat, or if I'm too lazy to prepare a full breakfast for just me when John has gone to work, I’ll grab a slice of bread. Sometimes I add peanut butter and a little bit of honey. We did that a lot the first two weeks when we didn't have a refrigerator! 

Another favorite is avocado toast. I mash avocado with a little bit of mayo, some salt & pepper, and Sriracha. Spread it over toast and you're set! 

When I'm even lazier or just want a little snack, my go to is cheese. This sounds like a weird combo, but toast with butter, jam, and cheese brings me back to mornings in Bisserup, Denmark. I would go with my Danish best friend to visit her parents. There would be fresh baked bread we would slice and toast, homemade strawberry rhubarb jam, and some kind of stinky cheese that was delivered to the house by the cheese man who arrives in a little delivery truck full of cheese and a few bottles of wine. 

This combination hasn't made its way to America that I know of. I was with my American best friend having an English muffin with some butter and jam at her mom's house. I asked them if they had any cheese to go with my toast, and they both made a face at me. I settled for mozzarella string cheese, but it made me miss living in Berlin when I would take the train to my best friends' house for breakfast where there was always toast and an abundance of cheese! 

Australian best friend introduced me to Vegemite and I like it! It goes well with cheese because it balances the saltiness from the Vegemite. In Berlin, where we all lived, we would eat our toast with Emmentaler cheese. 

Unfortunately I have not found the equivalent of Emmentaler cheese in any American grocery store. Although it's a Swiss cheese, the ones from the stores are not from Emmental. I definitely do need more cheese in my life though! I have a large deli drawer ready to be dedicated to cheeses! 

This is just a small slice (hehehe) of things that I like to eat with bread! So many wonderful things I love about bread and one day I will tackle my fear of baking my own loaves. 

cheers,

Wendy 

finding my way.

...in a new kitchen.

New kitchens are like new dance partners. It takes time to find your rhythm. Not that I'm a dancer, but I've watched some dance shows. It's awkward at first.

So right now things are awkward between me and kitchen. We just aren't connecting yet. My belongings are all stored in cupboards, but are they in their right place? Maybe they are, but I'm not used to it yet. Every time I've finished cooking, it looks like a tornado has gone through the kitchen. I'm scrambling to grab a strainer I've misplaced as my timer is going off to let me know my pasta should be al dente. It's very chaotic at the moment.

It's hard taking photos in the midsts of all the chaos that is me cooking. Without photos how am I supposed to show you what I'm making? People need visuals. I need visuals! Luckily my husband is a peach and remembered to grab the camera to snap some photos.

Last night's menu was salmon, garlic noodles with asparagus, and a premade kale & brussels sprouts salad I lazily purchased at Sprouts. I was cooking for my cousin and her husband as a big thank you for giving us their king sized bed. My cousin is starting to cook more, so I was happy to make something easy for her to make in the future.

As I was prepping, my cousin asked me about an aioli recipe. I was making salmon, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to show her how to make it. 

in a bowl:

one garlic clove chopped

squeeze of one lemon wedge

2 tbsp of mayo

black pepper to taste

adjust mayo and lemon to taste. 

I wanted to show her that you don't need to measure when making aioli. I love garlic, so I'll take one large clove and chop it. I will squeeze enough lemon to cover the garlic and add mayo to taste starting with one large heaping spoonful. 

I'm so glad I made the aioli! I accidentally overcooked the salmon. Still trying to get used to the oven. The knob is old and the temperature dial has faded. I rely on the oven thermometer I purchased, but I'm still trying to figure out where the dial needs to be at to get my oven at 400F. So what do I do when I have overcooked fish? I dip it in aioli. Almost all of my recipes have a sauce I make to go with it, but you'll see that once you get to know me better. 

Salmon is one of the quickest and easiest dish to make. All you need is two pieces of foil for each fish, lemon, butter, and salt & pepper.

directions:

place salmon on foil

place 1/2 tbsp of butter on top

add lemon wheel (1 or 2 depending on size)

season with salt & pepper

cover with foil and fold the ends to make a packet

cook 25 minutes at 400F (next time I'll check my salmon at 20 minutes)

So that's it for now! I will save the garlic noodles recipe for another day. As I'm getting used to cooking in a new kitchen, I'm also getting used to writing about my cooking. The more I cook, the more I'll want to write, and I promise you it will get better!

cheers,

Wendy

first post.

Oh boy...

You know that feeling when you have a great idea, and you have to see it to the end? That is the idea that is this food blog. I've been wanting to make one for awhile because everyone knows how much I love to talk about food, write about food, cook the food, and of course EAT THE FOOD.

So that's what this will be. A blog dedicated to food. Mainly I want to talk about recipes I've made from recipes I've found online, and write about any tips or advice I have to make the recipe easier to make. I know a lot of people who are beginner cooks, and I want to make this process fun and easy for everyone!

I just wish I didn't have this idea late in the evening...so excuse me if you've stumbled upon this from Instagram hoping for a well thought out blog filled with recipes and photos.

You can hop over to some recipes I've written about in my other blog dedicated to my married life here--> click me please.

Please be patient, and I promise I will have you cooking in the kitchen and impressing all your friends & family in no time!

cheers,
Wendy