Ingredients
(amounts are mostly approximations)

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• an onion
• 1/4 teaspoon red hot pepper flakes
• a sweet red pepper chopped as you like it
• one package (300g) soba noodles
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon demerara sugar
• the juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

If the sesame seeds aren’t toasted already, toast them.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Meanwhile. . . .

In a small bowl, mix the tahini, soy sauce, and sugar, and set aside. In a heavy bottomed pot, fry the onion and hot pepper flakes in sunflower oil until the onion is clear. Throw in the sweet red pepper and the sesame seeds for a couple minutes at the end. Finally, add the sauce mixture and bring to a low boil. With any luck, this will be the point at which the noodles are cooked and drained. Add the noodles to the pot, toss with the sauce, then finally add lemon juice and toss some more. Serves 4-6 (depending on whether you have anything else to eat).

Thanks to Jodi for the photo!

• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• food colouring (optional)
• cooking oil

tools

• heavy pot with lid
• pie pans
• candy thermometre

Boil the water, add the sugar and syrup (and food colouring, if desired), and return to a boil. Cover for two minutes. Remove cover and boil without stirring until the mixture reaches 310°F (hard crack)*. Remove from the heat immediately and pour a thin layer into a lightly oiled pan. Let cool, at least 90 minutes.

* – To test for hard crack without a thermometre, drop a drop of the mixture into a glass of cold water. The sugar should make long threads that crack.

(adapted from a “Beakman and Jax” comic that ran in the London Free Press in 1998)

Now that that’s done, off to the gym!

ingredients

• 1 lb fresh chow mein noodles
• 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 5.5oz cans tomato paste
• oregano
• basil
• black pepper
• cayenne pepper
• onion
• garlic
• olive oil
• 2 eggs
• cottage cheese
• mozzarella cheese
• 2 T parmesan cheese

Fry the onion and garlic with the black pepper and cayenne pepper in olive oil until onions are clear. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, and oregano and bring to a (thick!) boil. Meanwhile, mix the two eggs vigourously into the cottage cheese.

When the sauce is ready, mix half of it with half of the chow mein noodles and dump this in a casserole dish as the bottom layer. Add half the cottage cheese and egg mixture, sprinkle on a thin layer of grated mozzarella cheese. Then mix the remaining chow mein noodles with the remaining sauce and add it to the casserole, followed by the remaining cottage cheese mixture, and a thick layer of mozzarella. Finish by sprinkling the parmesan cheese over the top, and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Let stand for five minutes and serve.

Chop sticks are counterindicated.

Today, Claire and I made ramen. More accurately, we made something like ramen. Having never made ramen before, we realize that what we made was pretty rudimentary and probably not anything really like what the Japanese call ramen, but it turned out pretty well anyway. One challenge, here, is that most ramen recipes I could find involve pork of some kind. Since I don’t eat pork, this recipe is based on chicken. Note that the various stages of this recipe will overlap.

broth

• chicken bones
• ginger
• chinese cabbage
• bok choy
• green onions
• chinese broccoli
• onion
• garlic
• water
• salt

Quantities aren’t all that important, just don’t overdo it on the salt. Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for at least two hours. Strain out broth and return to pot.

base

• 2 T sesame oil
• dark-fried onion
• minced garlic
• 1/4 c miso paste
• 2 T soy sauce
• dried red chili peppers

Fry onion and garlic in sesame oil until onion is a dark brown colour. This should be done slowly so as not to burn the onion. Add remaining ingredients and cook slowly for a few minutes. Then combine base and soup stock and bring to a boil. As far as timing is concerned, everything else should be ready once the finished soup is boiling.

toppings

• chinese broccoli
• celery
• sprouts
• shiitake mushrooms
• green onions
• hard-boiled egg
• baked oriental chicken

The chicken can be prepared while the stock is simmering. In a small casserole, mix 1/3 cup soya sauce with 1 1/2 T honey and 1 T sesame oil. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for at least an hour, turning occasionally. Bake at 325°F until chicken is cooked through. Slice chicken and keep warm—timing this thing is a nightmare!

The eggs can be boiled while everything else is going on, and can then be cooled to room temperature. The other toppings will be added fresh. I quartered the chinese broccoli and sliced the celery in longish spears.

putting it all together

Depending on what noodles are used, they may need to be prepared in advance too. We were too lazy to make noodles from scratch, and decided to use some fresh chow mein noodles we found at Wingli Farm market (see pictures, below). Once the soup was boiling, we served out our desired quantities of noodles into bowls. The bowls should be heated in the oven to prevent the ramen from cooling too quickly.

We then ladled our desired portions of soup over the noodles and added the toppings. Wait about two minutes to allow noodles to cook, and eat. Itadikimasu!

photos

Because of the huge number of photos I’m about to show you, I’ve used a smaller size than I’d normally like. If you’d care for a better look, I’ve created an Adventu-ramen flickr set which also includes a few photos not shown here, believe it!

sakura fashion zone

Our adventure began with a bit of a side trip. Despite this store’s exciting name, we didn’t find much inside to excite Claire. I was blown away by the huge number of crazy multi-coloured running shoes, but since I knew we weren’t buying, I didn’t take pictures.

three from Wingli Farm

Wingli Farm was the first of three grocery stores Claire and I visited while shopping for this meal.

I’m not sure chow mein counts as ramen, and I realize the noodles are in fact what makes ramen ramen, but chow mein are a basic egg noodle, so I figured close enough for a first effort.

We also bought sencha: Japanese green tea. The package says “Keep in a cool and dark place and be careful of the lingering scent.” Not exactly the product poetry I was hoping for, but the tea was loverly.

four from International Market

International Market is up the street from Wingli Farm. Windsor’s diversity has always impressed me. Here, Claire waits patiently while I dick around with the camera.

Bowls!

Chinese greens: we only bought the chinese broccoli.

I was starting to fret a little for the entire project, but at last we found miso paste hiding in a cooler.

and two from Zehrs

I took this one from my car in the parking lot. Can’t say Zehrs is particularly exciting.

Here’s our stuff at the check out counter. Some of this did end up in the ramen.

food prep

Frozen chicken bones in a stock pot: they probably should have been cleaner. Pretty much all the pictures of food prep were taken by Claire.

This is me, chopping chinese cabbage. I only used about half the head: it has a nifty flavour fresh, so I saved some to go in a salad later this week.

Two more vegetables eager to meet their doom.

The chicken bones are buried under vegetable ingredients, and it’s time to cover with water.

Making the marinade for the chicken, very yummy. I accidentally had to lick some off my fingers.

Boiling eggs: this dish has so many elements!

These next four all show the soup base in various stages. First the onions frying.

Then the onions, garlic, and pepper fried to perfection.

Here I am, adding the miso paste.

And finally the soy sauce.

The chicken was baked for about half an hour, I kind of lost track. How artful that you can see the soup base and the stock chugging away in the background.

The toppings are ready and it’s time to finish the soup.

My hand is a blur as my mad ninja skillz stir the soup base into the stock.

I heated the bowls in the oven, and then started building the dish. Here’s most of the ingredients waiting for the soup.

And here’s the finished ramen on the stove. . .

. . . and on the table. I love that this piece of broccoli was in flower. The shiitake mushrooms are also just beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, the arrangement of this bowl was a little haphazard. The image at top, taken by Claire (but cropped by me) shows a much better finish.

Did we like it? See for yourself.

This was Claire’s first ever use of chopsticks. She did quite well.

In all the excitement, we almost forgot to make tea.

I read on worldramen.net than “Eating ramen is unresistable craving.” They also say that “Cooking Ramen is the state of art. It is NEVER easy enough to be mastered without years-long practical training.” And you know, I believe it. There’s a huge number of variables in terms of how this stuff goes together, and I doubt I could make exactly the same ramen tomorrow that I made today (partially that’s because I never measure). But I have to say, what we ended up with today was really, really, really good. There’s a link to worldramen.net below, as well as some other sources I used for ideas.

sources

Bob & Angie. “Shoyu Ramen.” http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/ref/ramen/ramen.html

BON. “World Ramen.net” http://www.worldramen.net/

Fischer, Matthew. “The Official Ramen Homepage.” http://mattfischer.com/ramen/

Murdey, Richard. “Richard’s Ramen Recipe.” http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9151/ramen.html

Naruto Fever. “Ramen Recipes.” http://narutofever.com/information/ramen-recipe.php

Recipe Zaar. “Chinese Roasted Chicken Recipe.” http://www.recipezaar.com/135753

2 T butter
1/4 t each black pepper, paprika
pinch salt
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1 onion
1 c water
2 c frozen corn
3/4 c frozen peas
1 red pepper
1 potato
2 T flour
2 c milk
2 c shredded old cheddar cheese

Chop the onion, carrot, and celery. Fry these in the butter with salt, pepper, and paprika, until the onions are clear. Add water, corn, peas, red pepper (chopped), and potato (also chopped). Simmer until potato is tender.

Place 1/2 cup milk in a jar with tight fitting lid. Add flour and shake vigorously. Add gradually to cooked vegetables and add remaining milk. Add cheese once the soup starts to simmer. Continue to simmer over low heat (but do not boil) until everything seems integrated and yummy.

unabashedly adapted from NIH and cooks.com.

A g-search for akamaru ramen recipe brings back scads of stuff from Naruto fan sites, but I was lucky enough to find near the top this review of a Tokyo restaurant called Ippudo. According to the review, akamaru ramen is a “newer recipe”, made with red seasoning oil. My 12-year-old daughter Claire, the anime nut who has the whole family watching Naruto, tells me that “aka” is Japanese for “red”, and “maru” is a suffix that denotes a masculine name. Is this ramen named after Kiba’s puppy? Hard to say, but I’d like to think so.

• 600g macaroni noodles (about 2/3 of a standard bag)
• 2 cans tuna
• 2-3 dill pickles, chopped
• 1-2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 of a medium sweet onion, chopped
• 2c Kraft Miracle Whip
• 2T Worcestershire sauce
• 1T freshly ground black pepper

Boil the noodles until cooked, then drain and soak in cold water to cool and to rinse off excess starch. Drain the tuna in a strainer, but don’t squeeze it out. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Ta da! This makes quite a lot, and is great for lunches.

Please note that the quantities are all approximations. With the exception of the noodles and tuna, the rest can be adjusted to taste. As for the tuna, I use one can of light tuna packed in oil and one can of white tuna packed in oil and vegetable broth. The oil adds flavour and texture to the dressing. It also helps seal in the Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.

Finally, my apologies for shilling a brand name item, but I’ve always like MW better than other mayonnaises, and I can’t imagine this salad any other way. Feel free to experiment with other brands (as if you wouldn’t).

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, quartered
• 1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper

As the onion is frying, chop and add. . .

• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery

Continue frying these veggies until the onions are clear and perhaps even a little brown. Then add. . .

• 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 14oz can tomato sauce
• 19oz can black beans
• 19oz can red kidney beans
• 19oz can romano beans
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 c frozen corn
• 1/2 c beer
• pinch sea salt
• 1 t oregano
• 4 T chili powder

Important: drain and rinse the beans before adding them!

Bring these ingredients to a boil over medium heat, turn down the heat a bit and simmer until done (about 30 minutes). To make it thicker, just cook longer. The sauce should be a nice, thick, rich brown. This makes a fair amount, and is great left-over. Eat with rice or buttered toast.

A couple notes: the spice ingredients (black pepper, cayenne, garlic) can be adjusted to suit varying taste and heat preferences. The choice of beer is also important. A dark ale is preferable: I use Upper Canada Dark, but for those geographically deprived something like Newcastle or Heineken Special Dark will do quite nicely. Guinness is wrong, however. In a pinch, any beer that has beer flavour (in other words, any beer that’s not American; or Blue, or Canadian, or OV—do they still make OV?) will be fine.