I'm really excited about this week's food. In fact, one dish is already completely eaten as of the publishing of this blog. I feel like this week's dishes have a special place in my heart. Maybe I'm just weird like that, but I get excited when there's special meaning to items. Fun fact: we visited Princeton right before my brother was in high school and ate lunch in their cafeteria. I saved the toothpick from my sandwich for YEARS after that. Because it came from Princeton University. Don't worry, it's trashed now.
- Bok choy: $11.99
- Stir Fry Mushrooms, Green Bean, and Pork: $18.99
- Mapo Tofu: $15.99
- Pork Belly: $25.99
- Ketchup Shrimp (14 pcs): $22.99
- Egg Fried Rice: $12.99
Take Out Total: $108.94
Tax: $8.99
Grand Total: $117.93
Bok Choy (bottom center)
Believe it or not these greens were purchased a week ago and sat in my refrigerator. Due to the wonders of technological innovations, leafy vegetables can stay fresh in the crisper bin for a week. Also, if you soak the vegetables in water before cooking, they rehydrate and are basically as fresh as straight from the store. Simple stir fry with garlic, salt, and sugar. Can't go wrong.
Stir Fry Mushrooms, Green Bean, and Pork (top right)
I combined two dishes together to make this one. I've done a green bean and pork stir fry before. This was part of our menu during week 1. I've also used oyster mushrooms before. This time, I decided to julienne the oyster mushrooms and add into the stir fry with the green beans and pork. The sauce I used to season was a mix of oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine, sugar, and salt.
Mapo Tofu (top left)
Confession: my mapo tofu is not the same as what they make in the restaurants. It's not authentic at all. I just call it mapo tofu because that is where this dish evolved from. Originally, I started with a recipe. I made it a few times, but honestly, I wasn't in love with the way it tasted. Maybe I just don't like actual mapo tofu when I make it at home. However, once I mixed my own flavor profile for sauce, I really loved this dish. My seasoning blend is a mix of black pepper sauce and sweet bean sauce. I discovered this blend because the black pepper sauce by itself wasn't sweet enough for my liking. The sweet bean sauce by itself didn't have the umami kick. So I mix the two. This is the same sauce I use when I make beef and broccoli. Hoping that will make the rounds at some point this year, but beef flank is pricey and we don't eat it often. I do still thicken the sauce with corn starch slurry like the original recipe, but my seasonings are just different. I love cooking without a recipe though because I can do it so much faster. So although recipes are wonderful to get started, my preference is still to ad lib or do it by memory.
Pork Belly (bottom left)
I have to watch how much pork belly I eat because this is what trigged a very long GI/digestive issue/health problems for me for much of 2023. I still remember exactly what dish it was I cooked and I don't think I've made it in nearly two years because I'm traumatized. If you're curious, it's Thai basil pork belly. I absolutely loved the flavor of Thai basil pork belly and it was one of my favorites, but I haven't been able to make it in years. This pork belly dish I cooked is just marinated in brown sugar, soy sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil, and pan fried. I do have to cook a lot of the fat out of it so it's not as moist as it could be, but I'd like not to feel sick for multiple months again. This is definitely still a rich dish, but it's very delicious, and as long as my body doesn't revolt on me, it will be in the rotation periodically. Some day I may try making Thai basil pork belly again. Maybe later this year if I'm brave.
Ketchup Shrimp (bottom right)
This was size 9-14 head-on shrimp. I love the big shrimp. My aunt who lives in the northeast would buy the jumbo sized shrimp (almost the size of a 40 oz Stanley water bottle lid) and cook it for us when we visited during the summer. My shrimp are not as big as those but as big as I can get for a reasonable amount of money locally. I honestly can't remember if I grew up eating this dish. My guess is I did. But over the years, I forgot about it. After my son was born, it was Covid. One of my auntie friends, whom I consider almost like a second mother, helped cook some dishes for us each week for four weeks and would drop it off on our porch. One week, she made ketchup shrimp. Eating it again brought me back to my childhood somehow, as if I'd tasted this flavor before. I absolutely loved it and told myself I would learn how to make this dish. And I did. I follow the recipe by Woks of Life. When I received my cookbook, this was the first recipe I looked for. I was very sad it wasn't included, but I realize 80% of the people who buy their cookbook probably wouldn't be looking for this recipe. So I'm glad it's on their website. My kids love ketchup shrimp. My daughter asks me to peel hers for her, and when I'm patient, I'll hold it out for her to suck the sauce off first.
Egg Fried Rice (top middle)
I wasn't planning on making a fried rice on my cooking day. Normally, this becomes a filler dish I cook mid-week when we start running out of food. But when I realized I forgot to use the last cube of garlic I'd thawed, I figured I'd make some fried rice and throw the garlic in there so it wouldn't go to waste. My friend came over during high school (or was it a summer of a college year?) and taught me how to make fried rice. I had no idea you had to put the eggs in last. Silly me. I don't think the fried rice I make would be Uncle Roger approved, but it feeds my kids without complaint so I'll take it. I really hope egg prices come back down soon.
I find a lot of joy in cooking for my family every week. Delicious food is a great plus, but I also love the stories that these dishes hold. I hope my kids will keep my stories and also have their own stories with our food and pass it down in years to come.
Total time elapsed: 3.5 hours.
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