As someone growing up in northern China, eating (raw) garlic was one of the common experience. Garlic was also used as an indispensable flavoring agent in the kitchen. My grandma was a huge fan of garlic because it’s believed to help reduce one’s cholesterol and balance blood pressure. I didn’t realize that eating raw garlic was special until I saw people’s twisted face as I was describing how tasty it was to eat a few cloves of garlic with dumplings and noodles. As much as the Northerners love garlic, one would avoid them on a date or before seeing a client. Garlic breath kills all the romance and professionalism in one second, and people have invented techniques such as chewing tea leaves or coriander to remove the smell. Eating garlic is also considered by many as vulgar. In the days of Shakespeare, if a man’s breath smelled of garlic or onions, it means he was lower class—garlic was peasant food and a symbol for one’s identity. A noble chewing a clove of garlic with all elegance must be unimaginable. Of course, not only northern Chinese like garlic. Do you know that many athletes of the ancient Olympic Games chewed a clove of garlic before participating in the competition as a natural performance-enhancing agent? 🧄 #lovegarlic #northernchina #蒜 #chineseculture #sliceoflife #tinyeyescomics https://www.instagram.com/p/CBQWLv4ivVH/?igshid=su2ztfkf2pts
Received a special delivery a few weeks ago from the garlic gnome (cousin of the flower fairy & jolly greens giant): red toch softneck & red janice hardneck garlic! 🥳 . And they’re already sprouting!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 . Gophers ain’t getting any this year cause I planted them in raised beds & bigass pots ✊🏻 . Looks like I might get the last garlic-breath laugh 😛 . #SproutSproutLetItAllOut #Sprouts #LoveGarlic #LoveGarlicGnome #Garlic #RedToch #RedJanice #ニンニク #Ail #WinterGardening #ContainerGardening #RaisedBedGardening #RaisedGardenBeds #BecauseFUGophers #NorCal #Zone9bGardening #Zone9b #Permaculture https://www.instagram.com/p/CZBigm6Lr2_/?utm_medium=tumblr
The basis for many of my favorite dishes starts with garlic! #pizzatherapy #garlic #mincedgarlic #usegarlic #lovegarlic #garliclovers (at Honolulu, Hawaii) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDzk715lQDJ/?igshid=1usdhrmvs8hx1
in a sorta of lazy, but not really, sort of real, questionable way - mine.
Now, the ultimate lazy way to make ramen is of course instant ramen, but I find sometimes I don't want the overly soggy noodles (for this reason I undercook mine, but it's still not quite right) and a sodium-laden packet of seasoning.
In my quest to come somewhere close to real Japanese ramen, I cobbled together several different recipes I found on internet, making two different kinds of broth from scratch, getting organic noodles (dried, still, but a far cry from what you find in instant packets. They amuse me because they are square, 7ish? inches of thin, square noodles. Yes, my friends, I am easily amused.), making my own marinated boiled eggs, and bamboo shoots (menma). It took me two days to make and was not entirely liked.
I really just want something between the two in terms of time it takes to make, so I got lazy. Concentrated beef stock (you know those gelled oval containers), seasoned roast beef from the deli, already sliced, plain hard boiled eggs (I actually aim for barely hard boiled, the yolk is just set, still looks a bit wet? and is still a deep yellow) (also, I do plain because I didn't like the marinated eggs), I skip the menma, didn't like it either, and add in thin sliced bell peppers (usually red, but yellow or orange are good too), sliced, sautéed mushrooms, and blanched spinach. The noodles are usually those organic square noodles, but I haven't been able to find them recently, am still reticent to visit the local Asian markets, and so tonight, went with some general grocery store Chinese noodles that were square, longer, and a tad bit thicker. I think I over cooked them, but other than that, they worked pretty well.
I told you this was done my way. I do not like seafood (which is ironic, since I was born in Maine - famous for lobster, and live in (and have since I was 8) Washington - famous for salmon and crab). I've even tried making beef and pepper (bell) sushi, thinking I wouldn't mind the nori. I remember liking it fine in elementary school when one of our Japanese student's dad brought some for a cultural day. I was able to eat some, but it didn't actually take long for it to start overpowering everything else and tasting bad. I've heard dashi doesn't have a noticeable fish taste, but I haven't summoned the courage to go buy some (not to mention, if I don't like it, I don't want to have a jar of it sitting around for eternity), so I go with beef. My second stock the first time was a mushroom stalk, but it had mirin in it and I'm finding mirin and sake in food to be a taste I'm slowly acquiring. Easier at this point to just go with one stock. Tonight I even added in some fresh grated garlic (too much, although there is no such thing) and it was great.
