I'm On a Roll

I cooked again tonight! I know, someone should give me an award. :) Today I tried the Bangkok Street Cart Noodles from the latest issue of VegNews (April 2012). I made some substitutions -- I couldn't find rice noodles at Giant Eagle, and didn't have time to go to an Asian grocery store, so just used some udon noodles in the pantry. I also totally forgot to buy peanuts. 

It was still very good. Next time I'll try it with the rice noodles. You can't see them very well, but there are snap peas and cilantro mixed in with the red bell pepper. 

I think we're having leftovers for the rest of the week. I have to do a crazy midnight shift Friday morning, so I'm not going to be in the mood to cook.


So is anyone else excited about The Hunger Games? I love the books (with some reservation about the third), and can't wait to see the movie in IMAX!

I Finally Cook Something!

So it's something I've featured on this blog before, but that doesn't mean it's not exciting! It's Polish Neighborhood (Cabbage and Potato) Soup from Ripe from Around Here. 

 

With Tofurky beer brats! I love cabbage and potatoes, and the beer brats just tip the scales into soup bliss. 

I also made some stir-fried veggies tonight with the leftover cabbage and some mushrooms, but it wasn't exciting enough to warrant a picture. They tasted good, though.

And now, on to a non-food related topic. Super Best Friends Forever recently premiered on Cartoon Network. I believe this is the first of several shorts involving the adventures of Supergirl, Batgirl, and Wonder Girl. The hope is that if this project does well enough, SBFF will be made into a regular cartoon. I really think it will succeed. The 90-second short is lively and fun, and the superheroines even have diverse body types. Yay for that!

Sorry, Still No Cooking

There was some junk food this week, however. Exhibit A: excellent pizza.

Nothing fancy, just vegan cheese and fake pepperoni from Spak Brothers, the only Pittsburgh pizzeria with a vegan pizza option. They also have vegan hoagies and seitan wings, which I'd like to try.

Exhibit B: A great piece of pecan pie from East End Co-op. Please note that I split this with J!

 Despite the crazy, unhealthy eating going on the past three weeks, I've managed to lose ten pounds. Which is great, but kind of confusing. Maybe it's because I'm sometimes too busy to eat a proper meal. Also, nothing but oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter and a teensy amount of agave nectar for breakfasts. Who knows?

But I had a dream last night about cooking, so feel that I will return to the kitchen very soon. Maybe for some late Irish cooking. More on that later.

No Cooking

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been incredibly busy lately, which means I haven't had a lot of time for cooking. I made an uninspired pasta, and J cooked a humongous pot of veggie chili that is going to take forever to eat. Uncharacteristically, I tried to convince him it was a good idea to have take-out every day this past week.

That didn't happen. But we did have a couple of good meals. The first was at Station Street. Well, more accurately, it came from Station Street. J brought a couple of vegan hot dogs home for dinner one night. He's far from a vegan, but it was Friday, so he couldn't eat meat. 

I made a traditional choice with a House Dog, with ketchup, mustard, relish, onions, and the welcome addition of sriracha. This was very good. Next time, however, I'm going to try something else. Maybe the Hawaiian Dog, minus the bacon, of course. 

Next time we'll eat in. I have heard that the decor is very kitschy, and I'm big into kitsch.

We also went to China Palace in Shadyside. We went to this restaurant once before, almost a year ago, and for some reason never made it back. I don't know why. There are a hundred vegetarian options on the menu, so many I was almost overwhelmed. 

We started with the fried sweet yam. This was basically like a vegetable tempura. The batter was not quite as light as I'd like to, but it was still a satisfying appetizer.

  J ordered the Stir-Fried Spinach Lo Mein. 

And I had the Soy Protein with Kung Pao Sauce.

This was amazing! By far the best Kung Pao dish I've had in a long time. We're definitely going back to the China Palace.

I'm sure that there'll be more take-out and restaurant posts in the future. Life is very hectic right now -- I haven't knit a thing in days, or read any comic books. But hey, I still have to eat, right? :)