Qapla'! How star trek led me to corndogs

the trees are turning, the air is crisp, and it's almost my birthday. that means it's nearly fall! that also means that the summertime foods are soon to be a memory.

i found myself at the thinkgeek website oogling the kitchen goodies (it is almost my birthday, after all)--more specifically, the star trek cookie cutters--and i stumbled upon the corndog factory. the mister happened to walk into the room right when i said, "ooooOOOooocoooorrrrrndoooooog" ... and he had no idea what i was talking about. lo! I had to show him the video.

this is the face he made


shock! horror! disbelief! "you EAT those?!" well, yes. i mean, i have not in a long time, but yes, i enjoyed corndogs in my youth. i explained how they were fried and didnt involve bacon. i got mine at the local A&W. (true fact: A&W rootbeer came from lodi, where i went to high school. true fact: i made the swiss mister try a root beer float when we were visiting california but it was waaaay tooooo rich for him. the swiss guy. who has chocolate and cheese pumping through his veins.)

still in shock, he skulked away, probably to cleanse his palate with fancy cheese. he was not going to be home for dinner, so i decided to give myself a little treat: corndogs! and what goes with corndogs? beans!! and what else? coleslaw! i decided to give myself one last summertime cookout dinner. except for i cooked in. and baked the corndogs.

i plundered the local market and got some veggie dogs. then i gathered the following and mixed them together:
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

i also amassed the liquid ingredients:
3/4 cup/180 ml milk
1 egg
1 tbsp greek yogurt

the two were combined, and the batter was born!

they were to be baked at 400°/205° for around 15 minutes-ish.  sadly, the first batch was way runny.  fear not! i simply added more flour and tried again.  Qapla'!

these turned out tastily delicious! but what made dinner super awesome was not the corndogs alone, but the combination of corndogs and side dishes.

and cookies. but we'll get to that.

first! the beans.  i used my trusty bbq bean recipe


next up? slaw!
i used:
1/2 head cabbage (chou)
a few carrots
1 apple
a little lemon juice
2 healthy splashes of white vinegar
1.5 containers honey greek yogurt

i gingerly coaxed the cabbage into the slicing and dicing machine. then i shredded the carrot and apple, dropped in some raisins, and mixed the whole lot together.

the dressing was a combination of the juice, vinegar, and yogurt. the bonus honey was just perfect.

i mixed the dressing together and drizzled it over the veggies and gave it a stir. then i stuck it in the fridge to chill while the corndogs were corndogging.

the corndogs might look a little wonky, but boy howdy, did they hit the spot.

and then i thought, you know what? it's been a long time since i made cookies. i should make cookies. i used to make chocolate chip cookies in china sometimes, to share. see, it's cultural.

inspired by a post i read, i went ahead and made some holycannoli delicious cookies.

i used:

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup browned butter
a little less than 1 cup raw sugar
2 large eggs
1 heaping tablespoon honey greek yogurt
chopped up chocolate (the chocolate "chips" here are square. and weird.)

these tasty treats were baked at 175°/350° for 10 minutes and then sprinkled with alp salt, the swiss version of sea salt.


the mister came home late from work to a divine smelling house.

it had been way too long since i made chocolate chip cookies.  way too long.  i do not think i'll wait so long again.

cabbage noodles

i was hot to trot to make this for myself when... what's this? a christian? home? for dinner?

HURRAY.

here he is nomming.  nom nom nom.  a friend of mine once joked that i should make a webpage totally devoted to christian's food consumption, entitled what's-christian-eating-dot-com.  i just happen to have an amazing photo collection of christian eating.  poor chap.  but before christian sat down on our balcony to sink his chopsticks into his bowl of noodles, i had to make them.  here's that story:

along with the chard and rhubarb and cherries we got from christian's parents were two heads of napa cabbage.  im sure the mister had visions of kimchi dancing in his head, but that's a project for him.  i try and eat the stuff but i just cant handle it.  i do enjoy cabbage though, in general.  i do like slaw and i ate a great deal of cabbage in china (oh, 辣炝莲白, you are missed! i would often order that dish with 西红柿炒蛋 from the teacher's cafeteria for lunch... both are very much homestyle chinese cooking).

i was talking with my mom about what to do with the cabbage and she said to grate an apple and grate the cabbage.  that got the ol' wheels spinning.  i started thinking of the afore mentioned chinese cabbage dish and how easy it is to stir fry the vegetable... and then i thought about noodles and how we love to eat them. especially soba or udon.  and before i knew it, a dish was born.

we have boringly named the dish cabbage noodles.  but it does not taste boring.

i prepped some tofu--ive read about folks using a plate and a paper towel to squeeze the water out, but i prefer to just use my hand and a towel.   after slicing the tofu, i lay it on a towel on a flat surface.  then i roll the tofu up and press with my hand.  the water goes out and the flavour can come in.

for a marinade, i picked, in order of appearance (and quantity), mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce, and honey.  i swished around the mixture and added more of the first three ingredients.  i put the tofu in and prepped everything else while it could soak up the goodness.

i washed and chopped the cabbage, grated the apple, boiled the noodles, chopped some garlic, and was lucky enough to find just a bit of ginger in the fridge.  i love ginger.  love it.  if you have a sore throat? slice up some ginger root and throw it in a pot with some boiling cola.  no, really.  especially during the winter months. it's just the bestest thing. 

i warmed up some cooking oil in our skillet. next, i took each piece of tofu and liiiiiiightly coated it in a little cornstarch. once the oil said it was ready, i added the tofu to the hot pan and cooked each side until it was golden.

 once all the pieces were cooked, i transfered them onto a plate and added the ginger and garlic to the pan. i gave them a good swirl and added the apple. then i added the cabbage and stir fried until the leaves were just wilting. then i poured in the rest of the marinade, gave that a good swish, and added the noodles. i removed the pan from the heat and continued to mix everything together.

And that's all there is (there isn't any more).

bon appétit <3