long live the packet mixes!!!

Saturday - lunch at sushi-ro with the PIL. My first sushi in over a month (bar the "attempted" sushi roll I made at home for AFL grand final day, that when I said to J I was making roll sushi he LAUGHED at me - I realised while making it why he had laughed, lol!!)
- dinner was okonomiyaki (the only other Japanese meal I made at home, since my family always seem to like it. Next time I must remember to take the okonomiyaki mix from Japan tho, as it was a bit tasteless making it from scratch, even following the recipe...)

Sunday - ブリの照り焼き　（thanks J)

Monday - (start of inernational week part 2)
- Pad Thai, an old favourite ;) Had been to costco during the day to pick up the packet, and some frozen prawns

Tuesday - Indian Hyberdad chicken curry (packet from home) and ready-to-eat paneer curry from a packet, served with naan bread (packet mix that had been sitting in the cupboard for years), and rice, and rati(is that what it is called, the yoghurt and cucumber side dish that I had to pour into the curries to "cool" them down!!)

Wednesday - Ni hau! Chinese cream of corn soup and 中華丼; maybe some (frozen) gyoza since J is always partial to them.

Thursday and Friday - I have miles of fresh and frozen ingredients that really need to be thoughtfully used, so I am gonna have to think about those dinners. Also we will be camping over the weekend so I want to use up as much as possible to avoid a "mottainai" moment. All I know is I have half a bunch of nira and about 2 doz eggs so I can see a nira-tama comin' on. ;)

International food week begins

Sun: JAPAN >edamame tofu, somen, squid (sashimi style and with olive oil/s&p). we had lunch at sushi-ro, just to keep with the theme ;-)
Mon: THAILAND > Pad Thai

lets see if I really can go a different country each night this week, lol.

Sat 27-Wed 31 Mar dinners

Trying to keep standing in the kitchen time down low with meals that require close to zero prep:

Sat - easter picnic (store bought bento lunch), dinner was

Sun - lunch K and J had noodles, while I was out to it with a headache. Dinner was yummy 肉じゃが, rice, pickles, thanks to J.

Mon - 肉じゃが leftovers, rice, HUGEなめこ and tofu in miso soup, salad, salmon and ひじき煮物

Tues - Pork 西京焼き steaks, 冷奴、nameko-miso soup again, grilled asparagus spears, salad,ひじき煮物, and にら玉 with あんかけ

Wed - and tonight we are having Pad Thai.

My parents get in from late tonight (after dinner) so will see how our menu changes ;-)

failed thai

I thought I would try out a new recipe to go with our Pad Thai, but searching the net for Thai recipes, they all needed lots of ingredients that we DON'T have. So I figured if I bought some fish sauce, which is pretty easy to get here, and some fish (got たら）then I could attempt some Thai Fish Cakes.

My gosh, what a disaster. I was gonna follow this recipe, (it has cornstarch as an ingredient) but it didnt have any comments about mashed potato, so I went with this recipe instead. I also wanted to crumb them, but couldn't find the bread crumbs....

Anyway, they didn't hold together or form well. And that is after I added mashed potato to them. Before they were a liquid in a bowl!! And I *may* have mistaken my salt for my sugar and overloaded them with　しおっぱさ Oops. Overall a disaster. I didn't have the kaffir limes or chili paste to add to them, but I don't think it would have amde any difference, not with that amount of salt, yuech!

The Pad Thai was as normal. Althought I couldn't finish my serve, I think my tummy is getting fuller faster, which is good as I need to slow down on the weight-gain.

tie me up

When my friends and I were young and carefree and went to discotheques* (hehe,) we used to love to dance to the song "try me out" but for some reason we thought she sang "tie me up". It was always a bit of fun.

What ahs that got to do with anything? well, tonight was Thai night!

pad thai
using up the prawns and pork from costcos in the freezer, and eggs in the fridge. Had to buy some nira, moyashi and 厚揚げ which we did when killing two birds with one stone one our morning walk with R.

tapioca in coconut milk.
which we didn't actually have, as it was still cooling in fridge. We had ice cream for dessert instead.

*Speaking of discotheques, I remember when I was in Mongolia (2002) this is actually what they used to call the clubs. So very 70s. I also went to a Boney M concert in Mongolia. And drank lots of vodka. And ate lots of lamb. And "dried milk products" like aaruul. Ah, 懐かしい。