What is this? Another post?! Le gasp! Yes, we are going to hopefully start posting again….Posting on a regular basis that is. I’ll make sure of it because I refuse to let this die! >:T At the time that we had eaten this soup, our dad was in London.

So, in this post my sister and I alone had a taste of a fox’s favorite soup; Kitsune Udon. Like most udon dishes, this udon is of Japanese cuisine and it literally translates into “Fox Udon”. It was given this name because of the deep fried and seasoned tofu packet which resides on top of the noodles. The tofu is known as “aburaage” and it is apparently a favorite food of Japanese foxes.

Oops! I just noticed this picture left out the brand name which would be on the top left hand side. It's a Korean brand, nothing new though. These "Kitsune Udon" noodles are produced by the Korean company of Wang. Japanese noodles...being produced by a Korean company. Hmm, I wonder if Japanese companies produce Korean noodles?

The contents of the package were fairly simple. 1. Noodles, 2. Sauce, and 3. The Aburaage.

The noodles, the sauce, and the aburaage poured into the bowl. The sauce smelled exactly like the same sauce that was used for an earlier udon post we had on this blog. I suppose most udons use the same soup base. I was quite surprised to see an actual...packet of aburaage in the bag. I was expecting some small, crumbled pieces to come out but instead we got the whole thing! I was very excited to taste it. (Oops before I forget! Similar to other big-bowled noodles, this was a double boiler container in which we pour hot water into the bowl and then microwave it for 3 minutes!)

Ahhh~ The wonderful aroma of udon is simply...wonderful! Out of any noodle's broth I've drank, udon soup is absolutely my favorite! This is a picture just when we took it out of the microwave. Surprisingly, the aburaage was quite solid. Picking it up with the chopsticks did nothing but make it flop over the lower stick! I thought it was going to be flimsy and break at the slightest touch...but somehow they made it so that the subtance would be chewy...

YES! FIRST BITE GET! After about 5 minutes of trying to rip a piece of the aburaage off with chopsticks, I managed to get a bite with both the aburaage and the noodles. Honestly...it tasted like plain udon, which by no means is bad at all! I was however, expecting a different taste since it's apparently different enough from regular udon to bare a different name.

I took two pictures of Aisha slurping noodles and apparently this is the less "serious" one. Ahaha, a serious noodle slurper will always be serious. She also thought they tasted normal too.

I am far to lazy too brush my hair to eat noodles...unless brushing my hair makes the noodles taste better, which I doubt it. Despite being in the soup for so long, the aburaage maintained its form. It was very, very chewy and quite yummy actually. It gave off this sort of sour, yet sweet flavor. Aisha and I couldn't exactly pinpoint the exact flavor since it soaked up the broth like a sponge.

Aisha ripping off a piece of the aburaage with her teeth. It really was hard to bite a piece off. The soup had made it not only hot, but a lot thicker. When we bit into it, soup gushed out on both ends of the tofu. I believe this was Aisha's last bite as I remember finishing the rest off. After eating the rest of it, I figured out it tasted similar to the packets used for inari sushi. Not to mention, it also had the same texture just...chewier.

Hmm…what to say as the final words. Honestly, there isn’t much detail to add to this post for anyone who has already eaten udon before. However… if you, yes you, the reader, have not eaten udon before then…udon are basically thick noodles that are eaten with a slightly sweetened broth. (Which I’m sure has a proper name…) If you’re curious, go ahead and try them. I highly recommend it.

Our rating is: 3.25 with ratings of 3.5 and 3 respectively. Might have been better if it had a different flavoring than regular udon.

Here I present an interesting miso soup with butternut squash, spinach and soba noodles. It had been a while since I made a Japanese dish, as I was sidetracked with buttermilk, pumpkin and cranberries, but I was craving a soup. I liked how the sweet butternut squash mixed with salty miso.  This soup was adapted from a recipe in Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas. I have learned that Asian recipes may not be the best from non-Asian sources, but this was pretty good although certainly not authentic Japanese. It attests to the beauty of soups and how hard it is to mess them up.

The hardest part of the soup was prepping the squash. I found it easy to microwave the squash first, let it cool slightly, then peel and cut the squash for the soup.  Alternatively, you could cut and peel before you microwave it. Roasting it would be easy as well, but takes longer and you are more likely to get soft (roasted) squash.

This is my submission for this month’s Monthly Mingle which is featuring Soups, hosted by Tongue Ticklers.

Miso-Butternut Squash Soup with Soba Noodles and Spinach

1 small butternut squash, about 1 pound (I had around 5 cups)
5 cups vegetarian dashi
3-4 ounces soba noodles (one portion)
1/2-1 tsp grated fresh ginger, to taste
5-6 ounces fresh baby spinach
2-3 tbsp white miso

1. Place the squash in a microwave-safe container. Microwave for 8 minutes, or until it can be easily pierced with a knife but is still firm. Or, if you are using the oven for baking other foods, you can bake the squash in the oven.  Cut it in half, wrap in foil, and bake at 375 or 400 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes, or until tender. Either way, this step can be done ahead of time. Let the squash cool until it can be easily handled. Split it in half, remove the seeds and fibers, and scoop the flesh away from the skin. Cut into large dice and set aside until needed.

2. Bring the dashi to a simmer in a soup pot. Add the soba and ginger and cook until the noodles are al dente.

3. Add the spinach and diced squash. Cook just until the spinach is wilted but still bright green and everything is well heated through.

4. Dissolve the miso in 1/3 cup warm water and stir into the soup, then taste. If you’d like to add more miso, dissolve a small amount in a little warm water before adding. Season with pepper and serve at once.

Serves 6

I stopped by at Pun Chun Noodle House yesterday for their delicious bowl of Wan Ton mee. For those who doesn’t know, Pun Chun originated from Bidor Perak since the 1940’s and has since grown to be a crowd favourite for its signature Duck Wan Ton noodle.

Thankfully, food lovers do not need to drive all the way to the northern region to enjoy their mouth watering dishes since they have opened a branch at Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam.

The restaurant was already jam-packed with customers as early as 9:00 a.m. I had a chance to grab a seat and ordered their dried Wan Ton noodle. Their noodles are home made using family secret recipe.

It has a ’springy’ taste when chewed inside the mouth. Besides that their roast pork are marinated overnight and barbecued daily to ensure freshness.

Sliced green chillies with soya sauce go well with the dish.

Apart from that their Wan Ton is really big. According to them, the Wan Ton is also home made with fresh shrimps.

Yummy big Wan Ton…

Overall, I am really happy with the meal which costs RM 6.

Pun Chun Noodle House
10, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla AC 31/AC,
Kota Kemuning,
40460, Shah Alam
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia

Tel: 016-3807812 / 019-3206773
Operating hours: 6am to 4pm, daily

The harrowing effects of a particular potent night out on the curry….

Quarks thoughts: 4/5 (ain’t bad….)

Let me pre-face this review by saying that yes, I was one of the old, long time, followers of Shpongle that DID NOT think much of Nothing Lasts.. But Nothing is Lost (2006). Stellar as it was in its genre bending, world music influenced organic instrumented wholeness; however in all honestly it just didn’t spice my chai.  I felt distanced from the duo whom I had grown so close to, left behind and quietly brushed over – there was something key that was missing.

Had Simon and Raja forgotten the die hard, synapticly burnt out fans of yore to whom they owed their fame?!  Did they think all this noodly, symphonic ‘Cirqu du Soleil’ sound alike was really going to impress us?  Did they realise just how much therapy I was going to have to dish out for, in order to get over this album?  The short answer is probably not, and given their amazing rise to a gnats testicle shy of mainstream fame since, they probably don’t give a toss.  I wouldn’t if I was smoking Cubans in a swimming pool stuffed full of crispy euros whilst sniffing top notch Charlie off my ‘publicists’ (Yanika, third one this month – she’s Swiss) rear end.  Of course I’m kidding, everyone knows there is no money in Psybient World Noodle these days and if you believe that you probably also think Israel’s the long lost home of Psytrance and making albums is all about peace, global unity and love… and stuff.

Go On! - Give us a hug!

A further preface to this little rant (and completely off topic, but Im going to say it anyway… because I can) is that for the Shiva given life of me I can not stand people that jump onto forums and post a song by song description of said reviewed album.  So, you are not going to find that here.  All that “The first song is like a ray of sunshine, glinting off a butterfly’s gonads in the very early morning whilst dancing in the middle of some huge doof in the forests of Borneo. It reminds me of the colour purple…. and the honeyed porridge my mother cooked for me when I was but a wee lad.  She used to salt it mildly as well, a contradiction I know very much like this song” I mean honestly….piss off already!  No, what you will find here is something a tad broader which will allow you to fill in the blanks at a later date (when you have actually listened to the album for yourself…)

Nang Ram (am...am...am...am...)

Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleand is going to be praised in the wider media, there’s no doubt about it.  It has Simon’s trademark almost godlike, crystalline, OCD production smeared all over it like a never ending supply of alcoholic hand cleanser.  Everything you expect from them is there, Raja’s ‘epic flute’, various world music diva’s ooohing and ahhing through the mix and of course a huge nod to psyber-delic-pop-hindu-mysto-consumerism (™) and yes, noodling, bucket loads of spangly noodling.  It’s probably not a surprise (given its Nuevo Pink Floyd designed floating guru near a rope album cover) that its Shpongles most deeply Indian influenced album ever and that’s not an altogether bad thing, in fact, it’s a fucking awesome thing. The title track is an orgasmic homage to a set of memories that spring back into darkest history (1995), culminating on a now polluted beach in the south of the continent, wide eyed and tingling.

Raja and his Technicolor Dream Coat.

Ineffable is also a stunning return to a style that was altogether dropped from Nothing lasts…. Seeming to have rediscovered a techno love of the repeated loop, Simon has brought together something really special here that will pull back a lot of the fans that felt disconnected from the overall feel of his last album.  Ineffable feels more akin to Are You Shpongled? than anything since and yet there are still a couple big surprises to please the newcomers as well.  ‘Nothing is Something Worth Doing’ is inevitably going to be remixed a few hundred times by a bunch of wannabe’s and I can tell you now, none of them are going to touch the goofy gentleness that Shpongle has set free in this deceptively simple little number.

Another stunning masterpiece from Shpongles crack PR team.....

As with all their albums there’s no escaping the touch of filler that helps move things along a bit (Shpongolese Spoken Here is particularly autistic and unsure) but on the whole what you have is a solid album that should please a lot of the die hards and make the young ones feel all warm inside when they share the album at their next pyjama party, giggling with delight at how new and wonderful it all sounds (yes, I hate them in a loving way too….prats).   Nothing new to see here, but what is here is a solid album that is a culmination of over a decade of Shpongly goodness.

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Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving dinner with your family and loved ones.

This is the first Thanksgiving that I spent alone. It was just another full-working mode day for me: woke up at 4.30AM , worked 9 hours , an hour of yoga to unwind and finished with my beloved bowl of kabocha! Do I feel miserable? Not really. Last year’s experience taught me that Thanksgiving is meant to be with your family or your closed friends, otherwise, being alone and thinking about them is better than surrounded by strangers.

I had to intention to be host again this year, offering food and joy to my friends like I did 2 years ago.

But I really need to work. Timeline is approaching to the end and I have to finish the work before I reunite with my best friend in Germany (<2 weeks) and my family in China (<3 weeks) Expecting to see them  gave me the strength!

———————————————————————————————————————-

Breakfast: I had the other serving of waffle, just needed to make a sauce. I used aduki beans, silken tofu and coconut oil

Da da!!! aduki coconut mousse!!!

I needed another coffee to start to work. The first one was served at 5AM

I’ve been snacking these small walnuts and tea

Lunch: I made my family’s traditional bok choy noodle

opsss sorry for the messy work station

here it is! The most delicious noodle, with taste of Mom’s cooking!

it has bok choy, shitake and dry shrimps.

Dessert: chocolate ricotta

I made popcorns for afternoon snacking

Dinner: Wonton AGAIN because I wanted to feel closer to my family

And the indispensable KABOCHA! :lol

Q: What meal makes you feel closer to your family?

this dawn..when i was trying to get myself up for sahur, i found my dad was so up and…cook? what is he cook up? noodle, yup the noodle thing my dad bought 2 days ago from his office mate, the noodle which is only me who can cooked it well..and the last thing i know, that noodle was bought as a complement of my new product “The Teriyaki-Chic Noodle”, which…i am proud of because the texture of the noodle that I’ve acknowledge so much so it won’t be over-cooked or become soggy when eaten…

it was 3.32 am
and i’m trying to get myself up and find something to eat, i found my dad on the kitchen, and i can see that he cooked the noodle wrong, he mixed the spices wrong, and he don’t even fried the chicken-fillet yet, and hadn’t re-heat the teriyaki sauce..and everything went sooooo sloooow.

gosh, so little time!!!! and i feel like my product was poorly cooked, so i take over everything and said ” dad, i think you better wait at the table, let me prepare this for you” . so, i do the noodle, the chicken fillet and re-heat the sauce in a quick time, since we hadn’t have much time to cook, and the tech of boiling the noodle was wrong, the noodle-based on my knowledge- can’t be boiled together at a time, it has to be boiled one by one, using a big and wide boiling pot. but my dad already put two rolled-up noodles and he boiled it on a small pan ( yes, it’s pan everybody). so, there’s nothing i can do about the noodle..

saya cuma bisa misuh-misuh, soalnya why can’t he just ask me? kenapa ga bangunin saya aja, kenapa ga bilang dari tadi malam kalo mau sahur pake mie-ayam, saya bisa bangun lebih pagi buat prepare buat beliau. so jadilah saya, masak dengan misuh-misuh sambil motong-motong ayam fillet dan masukin potongan-potongan itu ke minyak panas.. yang dimana disaat bersamaan saya harus pay attention sama mie yg masih direbus di small pan tadi. dan yang salah dari proses pemasakan mienya adalah, mie yang satu lagi jd ga well-cooked, karena masih berupa gulungan, dan they just stick out to each other, because the external side already soggy, but the inside still frosting.

aaaargh, when i’m so busy to to make everything well, saya baru sadar..papa saya is trying so hard to make the food also for mama,dan beliau berusaha sebisa mungkin masak dengan baik, walopun yaaa..saya juga yang turun tangan, but i feel so touch dengan papa,lalu waktu saya mau ngangkat fillet ayamnya, beliau udah take over itu dan bilang “hebat deh, de. papa bisa nggoreng ayam tanpa api..hehehe”. ooowh, lihat wajah beliau yang seneng dan takjub banget sm minyak yang masih boiling setelah  diangkat dr api, saya jadi malah merasa terharu. saya cuma bisa terkekeh, keselnya saya ilang gitu aja. “ya udah, papa tunggu aja ini biar aku yang beresin ya”.

3.52 am
selesai deh urusan masak-masak mienya, dua porsi mie ayam teriyaki udah jadi, yg satu well-cooked, yang satunya agak soggy, dan yang agak soggy saya paksa adik laki-laki saya untuk nghabisin hehehe, sorry ya de.

i just know that my dad just can do no cook, he’s not used to it, not the tech nor the speed..and i found that there’s a research from the UK that said :

One in 25 men have absolutely zero cooking skills – they can’t even boil water or an egg, cook pasta or fry bacon, according to a study conducted by Allrecipes.co.uk, a brand new social networking site where everyday UK cooks share cooking experiences.

Even more men refuse to cook.  One in 14 men never cooks and 20 per cent of men say they might cook for themselves but won’t cook for other people, ever.

By comparison, only around 300,000 UK adult women claim to be unable to cook and just one in 50 women refuses to cook.

Saya rasa papa saya  mungkin salah satunya…the only thing he had done for the noodle was boiling the meatballs..ahahahaaaha
thank you,daddy, you’ve a helped a bit.

but, i cannot choose my parent’s can I? i love my dad, amongst other thing he’s the greatest dad, I’m proud being a great, beautiful, smart, cook skilled daughter of him

Rice with seasonings

Yakisoba

Egg Omelet with Asparagus

Pork sausage

Stir fry beef with green beans

Zucchini

Yakisoba : cut vegetables(carrot, cabbage, green onion), fry that with sesame oil, add Yakisoba noodles and Yakisoba sauce, salt and pepper

Stir fry beef with green beans : fry thin beef and green beans, add Japanese soy sauce and sugar, sake

Egg omelet : beat eggs and pour into skillet, while it is cooking, add boiled asparagus across the middle of the eggs, then roll it up

This is Today’s Obento!

1 pack of Harusame (100g dried vermicelli)

1/2 lb carrot and celery kinpira

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp Japanese soy sauce

1/2 lb thin sliced pork

3-5 mushrooms

boil Harusame

when it is cooked, wash and cut long as 1 inch

heat the skillet and put sesame oil into it

stir pork

add boiled harusame

add mushrooms, carrot and celery kinpira

add fish sauce and Japanese soy sauce

serve it on the plate

I hope you enjoy!

click please

Put a large frying pan on a high heat, add vegetable oil, and cook pork for 2-3 minutes , add onion and salt, cook for 5 minutes or until almost tranlucent. Cook shrimp for a minute. Add cabbage, saute for another 1 or 2 minutes, jja jang goes in, stir well to mix with vegetables.Then add water and sugar, let boil and add starch mixture, stir quikly or it will lump up.

Serve over cooked noodle or rice.

Tips!
* I recommend Korean fresh noodle from Korean market, you can find in the refrigerator section.but if you’re not near Asian market, you can use regular spaghetti, pasta or any choice of your noodle. Enjoy~ ^^
**There are two kinds of jja jang. One is plain(raw) bean paste and the other is sauteed version. You can buy plain one and cook with some vegetable oil. The reason to fry the paste is that raw bean paste has slightly bitter and sour taste.

if you don’t like the smell of pork, add some cheong ju(rice wine, sake) or white wine before you put veges in.
You can add shrimp, squid, and sea cucumber etc…^^

I just realised that whenever I went out, I would prefer noodles..

Wonton noodle

wonton with very tasty filling

durian with ice shavings

creamy durian flesh

went to this place in Jakarta, forgot where was it. But the noodle is okay but the wontons are good. and they have this durian ice.. nyummy.. they dont put sugar in, it is just durian (flesh and seeds, yup you can see the seeds peekin under those flesh), ice shavings and sweetened condensed milk. so it is not that sweet as the durian itself is already very creamy..

next stop is..

Mangkok cap Ayam

went to this noodle stall in bogor, near Jembatan Merah. if i am not mistaken it is called A1 or something. will check it later. ordered meatball n wonton chicken noodle and es campur (mixed ice :p it has grassjelly bits, agar cubes, tapai, red beans, kolang kaling and topped with ice shavings, red syrup and sweetened condensed milk). i dont prefer the noodle here as the meat topping tasted a bit off, maybe they reheat it over and over again, the meatballs were the standard ones that you can get for idr600 in the wet market, and the wonton is just too starchy. they didnt put enough meat inside it. the one thing that caught my eyes is this bowl. They still use the Chicken brand bowl. Haha, the last time i saw this bowl was quite some time ago.. haha.. well, just a trivia about that place. I would not go back to that place again though..

the most recent one

beef ribs ramen

fried potatoes n garlic >.<

vanilla ice cream with red beans

smooth vanilla ice cream and frozen caramel streaks

went to rice bowl *alone, hiks* and ordered the beef ribs ramen and the vanilla ice cream with red bean.. the noodle was thin and clumpy (it took the shape of the bottom of the bowl) and the soup was  oily. then i was thrilled with the idea of having the fried potatoes there, it seemed as if this tastes like opor (beef and potato stew). however, i was shocked to find fried garlic in the concoction. gosh, the first garlic was easy to swallow, second hmm, feels a bit weird and i could not take it anymore.. yikes.. most probably they put the garlic in to compensate for the oiliness.. fiuhh, this dish is just too far fetched for me. Luckily I asked for the chicken rice’s chili sauce which helped me to keep everything inside.

the ice cream is nice though. love the ice cream even though it is too sweet. and i love the caramel sauce which was frozen because of the ice cream. Nice diversion from that garlicky main dish.

shin mushroom ramyun

i managed to get this Shin Mushroom Ramyun in local Food Mart (the one in Ekalokasari), tried to find the one with kimchi, but was disappointed.

the soup base does not look spicy right?

well, at least i got the enoki mushroom.. love the texture of enoki, chewy but it does not absorb all the flavour from the gravy..

here is the ramyun that i like but i could not find it in bogor..

kimchi ramyun.. nyumm..

this one has enough flavour.. spicy n korean-ish :p keke, but it’s hard to find. was addicted to this back then in sing..

anyone knows where to find it?

Lee’s Pho is one of the shops in the Food Court of Assi Supermercado in Duluth, and one easily overlooked in the wash of Chinese noodle shops and bulgogi on a bun. But I had a reader note that banh mi could be found in Assi, and that was enough to make me want to try the sandwich at this shop.

The sandwich I chose goes by the letter-number designation of “S3″, though that seemed to confuse the staff. “Pork sandwich” worked much better. On the take out menu it’s called a charbroiled pork sandwich and is decently sized when it arrived. They’re reasonably cheap, $3 each, and the sixth one is free if you order 5. To feed a family of six two sandwiches each would cost just $30.00.

I got my sandwich late enough I wasn’t expecting excellence. The bread seemed a little sweet and was good, but wasn’t the perfection you get when the bread comes right out of the oven. The pork was cold but tasty. There was a bit of a yellow condiment (probably mustard), pork, a white vegetable and plenty of jalapeño slices. Yes, not the perfection of a banh mi straight out of the oven on Buford Highway, but a lot of balance and plenty good. And it’s close to where I live, less than 15 minutes away by car. And if I want to bring lunch to work, this is an easy stop along the way.

Lee’s Pho
1630 Pleasant Hill Road, #A1
Duluth, GA 30096
(770) 931-8868

Ingredients

Beef Bulgogi – 1 lb
Bean Threads(Mung Bean Noodle) – 5.29 oz or 150g
Sweet Soy Sauce – 2~3 tbsp
Sesame Oil – 2 tsp

Method

1. Make beef bulgogi or use left over.
2. Prepare bean threads(mung bean noodle) as package directed and season with sweet soy sauce.
3. Place, sesame oil, beef bulgogi, seasoned noodle in a skillet and stir fry for about 4~5 minutes over medium heat.
4. Enjoy!

* Serves 4~6 people *
* Search Beef Bulgogi recipe on this blog *
* You can use egg noodle or spaghetti noodle instead of bean threads *
* My mother in law’s favorite noodle dish and she’s a picky eater :) *

For the first time ever in my life, I lost my voice last week. It was unbelievably frustrating to have suddenly been rendered speechless permanently for a few days. Even more unbelievable was the crazy seizure-like hacking cough I had developed after I regained my voice. It was awful. And sadly, I wasn’t the only one afflicted with this terrible bug that’s going around.

When my friend B. Yi heard me die halfway through speaking, he recommended getting some hot and spicy soup at Koreana, a small Korean family-run restaurant at the back of Chili’s near Penn’s campus. Apparently traditional Korea remedy says that drinking extremely spicy soup is throat-healing. Well, at this rate, I was ready to give anything a try. Plus, even if it doesn’t work, this would be a perfect excuse to eat Korean food, which I miss and love.

It was a bit difficult to find Koreana since it was hidden around the back of Chili’s and appeared sort of shady at night (a bit like a run-down supermarket stand in Chinatown). However, when my roomie and I went inside, it was packed! Nearly all the customers there were Asian college students, but that’s pretty understandable considering it was Friday night, near Penn’s campus, and had nice prices.

Koreana restaurant

Food was ordered up front where we picked up a number and put at our table. My roomie and I lucked out as two people just left when we went to sit down. The wait was a bit long, but it was fun chatting and enjoying the bustling environment.

I got the Samsun Jan Bong, as recommended by B. Yi for my cough. This was basically a large bowl of savory spicy noodle soup, probably made with red chili paste base. The broth was great, except after several spoonfuls, I would feel my spice-levels rising, and had to chew on some noodles. The noodles were on the soft side, a bit boring since there was no elasticity whatsoever. I liked the octopus bits inside the soup as they were chewy and seafood-y. I picked out most of the onions, although I must say they added good flavor to the soup. (I just dislike eating them.)

Samsun Jan Bong, oozing with spicy yumminess!

Overall, I really liked the soup. It had a soothing comfort food effect and had the same nice spiciness as the Indian takeout we ordered two weeks ago, really tummy-warming, and heart-warming as well!

My roomie really enjoyed her Samsun Udon soup too. (I didn’t get a picture of this, but I did get a taste. It wasn’t spicy but still warm and savory.)

After our meal, we went on a little adventure on Penn’s campus (or more like walked around in the cold), so we froze up a bit again. Thus, we decided to pay a visit to The Naked Chocolate to defrost with some hot chocolate. Mmmm…

So the thing is, two of my other friends who had Naked Chocolate’s hot chocolate, hated it. They thought there was nothing special about it to be priced at $3.75. However, the more they had said it was bad, the more I wanted to try it and see for myself.

My roomie got the Classic Hot Chocolate European Style, and I got the Hawaiian Hot Chocolate European Style. It was served in a cute dish with a glob of whipped cream drizzled in caramel sauce and a wafer cookie. Very classy. I approved.

The perfect decadent drink on a cold autumn night~

There was a little spoon for me to drink the hot chocolate with. One sip, and it sent me flying to chocolate heaven. I loved the rich thick chocolate that was so similar to ganache. It was only somewhat lighter and less viscous than ganache, but it had the same decadence. The Hawaiian chocolate was savory because it contained some salt, which I actually thought added some pizazz to the drink. However, after drinking the chocolate by itself for a while, it became too salty. The proper way to enjoy the Hawaiian was to spoon some whipped cream and caramel into the chocolate. The sweetness of the caramel and lightness of the cream balanced out the salt. That was pure bliss.

This is the way to eat the wafer: dipped in some chocolate, whipped cream, and caramel. Mmmm...

My roomie loved her Classic as well. It was very similar to the Hawaiian except there was no salt or caramel. However, the deep chocolate is still pretty awesome by itself. We both contended that we would order their hot chocolate again, and theorized that our friends must either have no tongue for exquisiteness or ordered American style (which perhaps tastes more generic).

It was a wonderful night!

Grade: Koreana B+/A-, Naked Chocolate hot chocolate gets an A, for amazing!

Conclusion: Yummy warm fluids are the perfect medicine for a recovering cough and a cold day!

Locations:

Koreana

3801 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

The Naked Chocolate

(215) 222-3710

Other Opinions:

Koreana (Yelp, Urbanspoon)

The Naked Chocolate (check previous post)

This dish is great on a cold day. All of the ingredients for this dish was purchased at Seafood City (an Asian supermarket)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

For the broth:
12 cups of water
2lbs of shrimp (deshelled but save the shells)
7 oz package of fried tofu
8 oz of fried shrimp ball
1/4 cup of curry powder (more if you like it spicy)
1 tbsp of chicken flavor bouillon
Salt (as desired)
1/2 of a medium size yellow onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch of ginger
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

2 package of 16 oz Chinese fresh noodles (the yellow noodles)

Garnishments:
4 cups of hot water (to blanched the sprouts, bakchoy and noodles)
2 cups of bean sprouts
2 cups of baby bakchoy (chopped)
Thai chillis (chopped, as much or as little; depending on how spicy you like it)
5 eggs (hard boiled, chopped)

How to prepare:

Boil the 4 cups of water.

For the broth:
Heat the oil and sauteed the onion, ginger and garlic until soft. Add the shrimp shells and curry powder. Mix well and add the 12 cups of water. Add the bouillon and salt to taste. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the shells and add the shrimp, shrimp ball and tofu and cook for another 5 minutes. Do not overcook the shrimp.

Cook the bean sprouts and the bakchoy (separately) in the boiled water until soft or to your liking.

Drop the noodles in the same hot water for 2 minutes to warm the noodles up.

To ensemble:
Put the noodles in a bowl, top with bean sprouts, bakchoy, Thai chillis and eggs. Pour the shrimp, shrimp ball and tofu broth over everything. Enjoy!

My husband and I just spent the past week and a half battling the “swine” flu, and we won! But it was rough! Sadly, now one of our best friends up here has it. So now that I feel well enough to actually cook, I’m making him some get-well-soon chicken noodle soup. I took a lot of recipes and common sense and smooshed them together to get this healthy, heart-warming soup. Get well, Josh!

Ingredients:

• 1 can Swanson chicken broth
• 2 cup water
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes (note, if you have a second can of chicken broth, use that, 1 cup of water and no bouillon cubes)
• 1 chicken breast (about 1/2 a pound), cut up
• 1 stalk of celery, sliced
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 1/4 an onion (if I were making this for me, I would use more onion)
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• apx 1/2 cup spaghetti (egg noodles work  just as well if not better. I just didn’t have any)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a skillet, put some oil, and then your cubed chicken. You can season it if you like. I used some onion powder and garlic powder. 3 slices of fresh ginger in here would add an awesome kick to your chicken. But be sure not to add the slices to your soup. It would be too strong I think. Anyhow, cook it until the chicken is white all the way through.
• In a pot, combine the broth, water, cubes, chicken, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Turn on the heat and bring it all to a boil.
• Stir in the noodles. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are done.

Ta da! Now, make some hot tea, wrap up in a blanket, drink lots of water and feel better!