No skins and no garlic? What?

I'm sorry to spoil the drama of such a well-written post, but no skins and no garlic? I just don't know. I have long known that leaving my skins on was bad form, but no garlic? At times, I've forgotten to add it and have felt something lacking. So, I just don't know. But cook eat FRET speaketh the truth...

It's really time for me to get out my pasta rollers again. I spend my weekends cleaning my house instead of engaging in more satisfying domestic activities. I must remedy that.

A preview of NYC and Asian noodles

Husband and I spent the week before Labor Day in New York City. There is so much to see and eat (oops! I mean "do") there, that I actually created a spreadsheet in order to get as much of it done as possible. So when I get the energy, I'll tell you all about the wonderful food we had. I think I will divide the posts into these categories:
1. Sweet stuff & bagels
2. Pizza
3. Fine dining
4. All the rest

But in the meantime, I'm recovering from the flu and from taking Tamiflu. The Tamiflu was worse--dry mouth does not even begin to describe this feeling. I feel like I swallowed a hive of Africanized bees. Also, awful headaches, hallucinations/nightmares and awful stomach pains. Really, the flu was much more pleasant.

I don't think I picked it up in NYC; it's much more widespread here in the south and my symptoms didn't show up until about 36 hours after getting off the plane. I think it happened somewhere en route. Anyway, so after a week of indulgence, we come back here and eat takeout for nearly another week.

But I finally found the energy to make it to work on Friday. I'm still tired and can barely speak, but I needed to catch up. I did leave a few minutes early to beat traffic. No dice. Five mile back-up on the way home (I am hating the "stimulus package" and the ensuing construction that now f's up my commute), so I made a detour and drove past a local market, The Produce Place in hopes of being inspired to actually make something for dinner.

Oh, worth mentioning here is that a couple of weeks ago, I watched an episode of "Hoarders" and completely cleaned out the refrigerator and pantry, so not only do I know everything I have, it ain't much.

I did recall finding Lo Mein noodles I'd forgotten about (still good!) and some teriyaki flavored baked tofu (good, too!).* So I wandered the aisles with those in mind and picked up some fresh shiitake mushrooms and some carrots and headed home.

Then, I just started cooking. Husband got home and I put him to work on the carrots. Sliced up and sauteed the mushrooms in sesame oil. Boiled and cooled the noodles. Then had him grate some ginger from the freezer (still good!) and cut up the tofu. Then, in the saute pan, I poured in more sesame oil (after removing the mushrooms), a little garlic, about a tablespoon of grated ginger, some sugar, a little sriracha, soy sauce and rice vinegar. When the sugar and ginger were dissolved, Husband dumped in the noodles, mushrooms and tofu into the pan. After everything was nice and warm, it all went into a bowl with the shredded carrots and some gomasio (still good! and because I have yet to make it to the international grocery for more sesame seeds).

And it was good. But I can't really tell you how to replicate it exactly, but it's not hard. The most important thing to remember is to heat the oil/sugar/ginger/garlic/soy sauce/vinegar mixture on LOW heat so that the ginger and garlic infuse the mixture and do not burn. Very, very important.

I was really proud of myself for throwing this together. And proud of the husband for helping out so much.

*If you've seen the show "Hoarders," you'll understand all these "it's still good!" references.