Umeboshi Paste

I found this at the Japanese market the other day.

Umeboshi Paste

It’s umeboshi paste. What a great idea. I can put it on foods that do not lend themselves to the actual umeboshi (think eggs, hot dogs, hamburgers, sorry got a little carried away). I could seed the umeboshi to make a topping or filling but the paste seems so much easier.

Umeboshi Paste on Spam Musubi

I tested the paste on a spam musubi from one of my favorite Japanese restaurants. Very good. If you look closely, there are bits of umeboshi within the paste (it’s not just paste). A nice touch.

The possibilities are endless. I’ll be in research for a while. 🙂

Enjoy.

The Mouse

Read Full Post »

Jiao Zi aka Chinese Dumplings

From the previous post, I bought a dozen jiao zi (Chinese dumplings) from the Eagle Noodle Factory. Yesterday we ate them for dinner. The sign at the factory claimed they were fresh and homemade.

Fresh and Homemade

There are several ways to cook the dumplings, boil, steam or pan fry (potstickers). I decided to boil them (shui jiao or water dumplings).

Dropped into boiling water, a careful simmer, and a quick dunk into cold water (to stop the cooking process and to prevent the jiao zi from sticking to each other, and ready to eat.

Shui Jao

The dipping dish on the side is Chinese black vinegar. The Cat likes her jiao zi with vinegar (for jiao zi, she prefers the Chinese black vinegar over white and red).

The jiao zi was definitely homemade. To me, sometimes the filling of commercial variety jiao zi is kind of pasty (over processed). The filling of these jiao zi had some body to it.

Jiao Zi Filling

The Cat approved.

Usually, when we eat jiao zi, we have other small dishes (otherwise just eating jiao zi can get a little one dimensional). I bought up a small piece of miso butterfish and boiled Napa cabbage in shiitake dashi with a splash of toasted sesame oil on top to add decadence.

Butterfish

Boiled Napa Cabbage

The Whole Package

A little prepared food, a little pre-made food, a little home-cooked food, turns out, dinner becomes an impromptu teishoku meal. The Cat was happy. 🙂

The jiao zi was good enough for The Cat to approve future additional purchases.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

Read Full Post »

Eagle Noodle Factory

Growing up, e-mein noodles was a big deal. We usually ate them to celebrate birthdays. The brand I know is Eagle Noodle Factory. At one time, the noodles were sold all over the place. For a while now, it was difficult to locate the noodles in stores. There are other brands out there (not locally produced), but they’re just not the same. Yesterday during my wanderlost, I came upon the factory.

Sign

I was not looking for the factory nor was I prepared to stop. I had to stop and visit. I circled around the block to park.

The Temple of E-Mein Noodles

Just to the left of the woman in pink are the stacks of e-mein noodles (sorry, a little redundant; mein = noodles so e-mein noodles is e-noodles noodles).

Menu Board

More Selections

I had to restrain myself before I got carried away. I bought one cake of e-mein, one dozen buns, and one dozen dumplings. Don’t worry, we won’t eat them all at once (we’d be in a carbohydrate coma). 😉

The Cake

 

For dinner I used up the rest of the mushrooms (see cream of mushroom soup post), and added Napa cabbage to a shiitake dashi with the e-mein to make a noodle soup.

E-Mein Soup

The Cat was happily surprised. Slurp.

Glad to find the source. Will let you know about the dumplings in a future post.

I’m sending this post over to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sunday feature.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

Read Full Post »

The Pastele Shop

Some people might call it wanderlust, in my case think it was more wanderlost. I wanted to try a place in Kalihi for lunch today but they were closed for vacation. I ended up driving around for a bit and ended up here.

Sign

I’ve heard about pastele and this shop in particular for a while, just never had the chance.

I wanted to get a sampling of the pastele experience. I ordered the #2 plate, one pastele, gandule rice, and bacalao salad.

Gandule Rice and Pastele

Bacalao Salad

Confession time, this was my first time trying pastele (not to mention gandule rice and bacalao salad). I liked all of them. The pastele was something I’ve never experienced before. I think The Cat will like pastele (squishy, gooey, mushy). The gandule rice reminded me of the Spanish rice we used to get in the school cafeteria (a good thing). I had to look up what bacalao salad is (its salted cod). To me, anything with salted fish is a good thing.

All in all a good meal. I experienced something new today. A definite try again.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

Read Full Post »

Cream of Mushroom Soup

I found some nice mushrooms at reasonable prices at the market.

Bunashimeji and White Mushrooms

Added the mushrooms to a can of cream of  mushroom soup along with two rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, a little sugar and a splash of Shao Xing wine.

Cream of Mushroom Soup, The Mouse Version

Instead of adding water, milk, or cream to dilute the soup, I added the shiitake dashi from the rehydrated mushrooms.

The Cat liked it. 🙂

Enjoy.

The Mouse

Read Full Post »