Don’t forget the moment of silence today at 11:11am in memory of the fallen soliders, especially from World War II.
They died to preserve our way of life, so make the most of it folks!
And thats enough seriousness for today.
My favorite lunches are the ones I don’t have to make! They are even better when they are leftovers from New Hong Shing take away!
The top is General Tsao’s chicken with chicken fried rice. New Hong Shing makes really really good General Tsao’s - good breading, a bit crispy but not dry, and the sauce is sweet with good zing to it. But don’t eat the peppers!
The bottom is beef with chinese greens (baby bok choy) and more fried rice.
This is honestly one of my favorite lunches. Its one of the days I wish my lunch box was even bigger!
I had a great breakfast today, never mind lunch yet!
On the weekend I used some leftover stewed chicken, carrots, onions, and frozen peas along with a pack of instant noodles to make a really tasty noodle bowl. But I only got a couple bites out of it before I had to leave it. Since then it has been my breakfast twice now, and will be again tomorrow.
I scramble 2 eggs in a bowl and add soy sauce them. Take a portion of that noodle dish and heat it up in a fry pan until it smells good! If I had fresh green onions I’d add them at this point. Then pour the eggs over the noodle mix - there should be enough eggs to make sort of like a pancake in the pan. If not, next time use more eggs or a smaller pan. Then just let it cook until almost firm. Loosen the edges, and flip it in the pan to brown the top. If its good and firm, you can plate it, slice it, and add hoisin sauce (or other sweet sauce) and hot sauce to taste. Otherwise, it will be a bowl of stuff. Either way its very yummy!
This dish is very much like the one I cooked a while back using leftover fried rice - click here to view bento #28.
PS - anyone know the quote this article’s title is taken from?
For those of you who don’t cook that much here is a tip.
If you want things to cook faster, cut them into smaller bits. When you hear that it seems to make perfect sense, but many people don’t think about it. Potatoes, carrots, turnip, or any other hard food that you want to cook will take a long time and benefit from dicing before cooking.
And here’s a tip on presentation. If you are dicing one thing in the dish, say ham, it makes sense to dice it all. Unless you want something to stand out, uniform shape and size will make the dish better. Think about it - have you ever seen string beans in the same dish with cubed ham? If you did, you likely didn’t even notice the ham at first. And to go with the diced bits, rice fits perfectly since its about the same size.
Next time I’ll talk about matchstick recipe tips.
Have fun satisfying your choco-holic tonight! and tomorrow, and the next day and…
I’ll try to have something orange for Monday’s lunch.
Today was leftovers from supper, but they were really really good!
Last night I wanted to cook supper fast. I cubed 2 cm thick ham slices, diced 1/2 medium cooking onion, 1 large carrot, and 1 royal gala apple. I boiled the carrots, while cooking the rest together on high to brown. Then simmer on low, add some water, and after a while drain off the juice for sauce and add the carrots. I only used 1 onion, 1 apple, and 1 carrot but it was a really big carrot it seems. While that is simmering cook some small pasta - I used over a cup of gnochini. Use the juice to make a cream sauce - milk, butter, heat and stir on low, and add corn starch to thicken - you don’t need much sauce for this, just enough to coat things. Combine pasta, diced bits, and sauce in pan and toss. I decided to add some worchester sauce to the cream sauce and it added some zing to it.
Supper was a hit with the whole family, and with me again at lunch! Plus it pretty economical to boot.
Again sorry about no picture, but lunch went down fast today!
Today lunch is pretty ho-hum. Its left over spaghetti and meat sauce. The sauce has diced hamburger, celery, mushrooms, and onions. I threw in some apple slices on the side, and some cheese slices.
No picture because I was rushes, and its a boring lunch. 
I didn’t have time for a picture today, sorry folks! I was up late watching the election last night, so this morning was a bit rushed. In my area all the old MPs got in with almost the exact same votes as last time - that makes me a bit mad.
But enough about politics! Time for important things - like food!
Today I made fried rice to use up some leftovers. I sliced a cooked hamburger patty very thin. Then the same for the turkey and celery. I cooked the egg, onion, and some soy sauce broken up fine.
I cooked the rice up this morning so I had to re-cook it in the pan to get rid of excess water in it before frying it. Then toss in some oil, toss the rice, and toss in the goodies with some more tossing. Plus add a little soy sauce to flavor it.
I’m still working on portions - I ended up with my large 1 tier bento box (the blue one) full to the top, and enough leftover for my lovely wife to have for lunch as well.
For our international readers, Monday was the Thanksgiving holiday in Canada where its traditional to serve turkey for dinner. Its pretty much a harvest festival, but a number of explorers landed in Canada in the fall after long trips across the ocean from Europe. So there are a few things to celebrate.
I’m thankful I have a fridge with leftovers that I can enjoy this week!
Especially since I will be going out to vote for a new leader for our country after work tonight!
Yes, this is a request to share your sources or even advertise your own business if you like.
I am looking for cool, Japanese lunch boxes - traditional or modern styles are both good.
I own 3 currently, but I am looking to expand my collection and buy some for presents for friends and family.
My best source appears to be in New Jersey near NYC, but I have no trips planned in that direction any time soon.
So, please help if you can!