Category Archives: Cooking

Lo Mein Recipes

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Last Thursday ( May 9th, 2024 ), I talked with my father about his first hole-in-one, which he had gotten that day after playing golf for 78 years since he was seven.

He’s 85 now.

At the end of the conversation, he mentioned wanting to know how to make Lo Mein sauce to save money from buying the dish instead of making it himself. He asked if I found out or knew how to tell him. 

Research of How to Make Lo Mein

So that Friday night, I started searching on YouTube for people I follow who have made Lo Mein.

I ended up with seven or eight videos to watch and one or two more recommended by the other videos. I made sure to take notes to send to him, which is what most of this blog post is from.

In the process, I learned the big difference between Lo Mein (saucy) and Chow Mein (drier and crispy noodles).

In the e-mail I sent him were notes to the e-mail that he should watch all the videos and take notes to see what he liked about one version and the next.

Here are are those YouTube videos on how to make Lo Mein and Chow Mein, which are similar, but Lo Mein is saucier than Chow Mein.

NOTE – The recipes are tend to be in the video description, or you might need to open them on their website.

Notes about the Videos/Recipes that Follow

  • There might be some upfront costs to purchase some of the sauces, oil, vinegar, etc., but you should have them for a while. You can likely pick these up at places like Wegmans or your typical grocery store nowadays, but you could find them cheaper at an Asian grocery store.
  • The Asian-style noodles they recommend have more chew for most of them than spaghetti noodles.
  • There are two sauces most of them use besides soy sauce: Oyster sauce and/or Hoisin sauce.
  • Watch all of the videos to see what each one offers and to get an idea of what you might want to do or tweak the recipes, which are primarily in grams.

Reminder

  • Some of the videos might be geared toward an audience of 20- and 30-year-olds, but not all.
  • The humor, sound effects, and music might be loud but not too bad.

Videos

The Cheapest Noodle Dish Ever (Chicken Chow Mein) | But Cheaper – Joshua Weissman (6:32)

 

Do me a FLAVOUR and try this tasty Lo Mein Noodles recipe – Yeung Man Cooking (8:36)

REMINDER – He’s a vegan cook, but you can substitute whatever you want.

Classic Takeout Lo Mein In 15 Minutes! – Aaron and Clare (10:35)

J. Kenji López-Alt

Cantonese Soy Sauce Chow Mein (Easy Pan-Fried Noodles) – Kenji’s Cooking Show (16:39)

Vegetable Lo Mein – Kenji’s Cooking Show (18:17)

NOTE

  • He shoots his videos with a GoPro camera on his head.
  • In case you’re wondering why the kitchens differ, he moved from the second videos house to the first one.

How to Make Lo Mein with Jet Tila | Ready Jet Cook With Jet Tila | Food Network -Jet Tila (11:35)

NOTE

  • Kenji takes a bit more time to explain how to prepare the vegetables, etc., so you can prepare them more easily than the others.

The Woks of Life

How to Cook Lo Mein Noodles (Raw vs. Pre-cooked Lo Mein Noodles) – The Woks of Life (11:53)

REMINDER – This video explains the difference and how to cook lo mein noodles. I found it very useful.

Chow Mein – Setting the record straight! – The Woks of Life (12:01)

 

NOTE – He takes a bit more time to explain the difference between fresh and dry noodles and how to prepare Chow Mein noodles, which are drier and crispier.

Further ARTICLES – The Woks of Life

Conclusion

Hope this was helpful and if you have any other foods You need to know more about maybe I can help figure it out for you or with you.

2022 Reading List for the Most Part

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2022 started well, reading-wise until I was notified mid-March that I would need to move because the landlord’s children were selling the house after their parents passed away. So with the need to quickly move after 19.5 years in my place, I had to stop reading for a month and a half or two.

That’s a whole other story for a different blog post about the need to move.

My book list is missing a few books I read before the move since I hadn’t written them down. I had placed the books in a separate pile but have yet to find them since they are likely still in a box I have not unpacked.

Total Books Read

I finished the year strong in December and managed to read 21 books.

The list includes a few digital JavaScript books I read with my remote JavaScript book club.

My Yearly Plan

Each year I typically hope to read a book a week and tend to get close by finishing the year strong, starting around Thanksgiving. So again, this year, the plan is to read a book every week as in previous years, but it will likely be a book every two weeks on average.

NOTE – I’m typically reading a half dozen or more books at any one time. Sometimes I get what I need out of a book after only reading the first part, or I realize the book’s not for me, so I stop, or there is another book I’m more interested to read/finishing at the time.

Reading more than a book at a time allows me to switch around depending on my mood, if I need some light reading, or if I have time to read through something a bit denser that needs more of my attention.

My List of Books for 2022

  • Stay Curious – How We Created a World Class Event in a Cowshed – The Do Lectures the First 10 Years – Do Lectures
  • Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom? – Scott Rieckens
  • The Side Project Report – Observation and Enquiry – Do Lectures
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do (A No F*cks Given Guide) – Sarah Knight
  • This Book Will Teach You How to Write Better – This Book is: Short, Effective, and Sort of Offensive. but You Will Write Better after Reading It. – Neville Medhora
  • Omnivore’s Dilemma – A Natural History of Four Meals – Michael Pollan
  • A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – How I Learned to Live a Better Story – Donald Miller
  • Let’s Make Ramen! – A Comic Book Cookbook – Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan
  • Let’s Make Dumplings! – A Comic Book Cookbook – Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan
  • Cook Korean – A Comic Book with Recipes – Robin Ha
  • The Creative Habit – Learn It and Use It for Life – Twyla Tharp
  • A Year in Tokyo – an Illustrated Guide and Memoir of 13 Magical Months Spent Exploring the City of Ginkgo Leaves – Christy Anne Jones
  • In Defense of Food – An Eater’s Manifesto – Michael Pollan
  • What Did You Get Me? Puzzling out a Present on a Walk through the Park – Matthew Oliphant
  • The Independent Farmstead – Growing Soil, Biodiversity, and Nutrient-Dense Food with Grassfed Animals and Intensive Pasture Management – Shawn and Beth Dougherty
  • The Richest Man in Babylon – George S. Clason
  • Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

Homesteading/Farming Book Club

  • The Rooted Life: Cultivating Health and Wholeness Through Growing Your Own Food – Justin Rhodes
  •  Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale – Joel Salatin

Remote JavaScript Book Club

  • Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd Edition: A Modern Introduction to Programming – Marijn Haverbeke
  • Mostly Adequate Guide to Functional Guide

NOTE – I had planned to put them in the order I read them, but with the move, I’m still missing a few.

I’m Learning More Through YouTube

I continued watching more YouTube to learn about cooking, starting a small farm, shooting videos, storytelling, starting a YouTube channel, etc.

More Reading in 2023

Here to more reading in 2023 than in 2022.

Please comment if you read any of these books and what you thought of them, along with any suggestions.

My Curry Coconut Goat Stew

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Last weekend I realized I had some goat in my freezer from over a year ago.

So figured I should get it out and thaw. While seeing if there was any freezer burn, which there was some. So once it was thawed, I cut any of it away and made it into small pieces.

When you have a frozen goat or lamb leg, cut it into smaller pieces for stew. Make sure you have them cut it into one-inch square pieces. Otherwise, they will make them like two inches or bigger. Which makes the stewing/cooking process more manageable, along with eating afterward.
White bowl with spoon in it along with small pieces of goat, heirloom large white Lima beans from Rancho Gordo, garlic, onions, carrots, celery, half a chopped up squash, curry, Spanish Smoked Paprika, Cayenne, Ancho chili powder, farro, salt, pepper

Asked Rancho Gordo for Bean Recommendation

The day before, I asked Rancho Gordo on Twitter ( @RanchoGordo ) which of their beans I should use. I have many Rancho Gordo beans with being part of the Bean club. I wanted to know which he thought would work best with a coconut milk goat curry. Steve’s (owner) response was to go with one of their white beans. Because of all the other strong curry and goat flavors.

After going through my stockpile of Rancho Gordo beans. I found I had two one-pound bags of their “Large White Lima Bean.” So that’s the one I chose.

I soaked a pound of those in a pot with water with a good pinch of salt and a tablespoon of curry powder for two or three hours. At this point, I have forgotten how long I soaked them. I think that helped make the dish by letting the salt and the curry powder work its way into the beans.

While eating the Lima beans, I noticed that the yellow color of the curry had penetrated the flesh of the beans.

Toward the end of the bean soaking while preparing the vegetables, etc. I put the beans on the stove to start cooking by getting the water to a rolling boil for about ten minutes. Once there, I turned them down to a low simmer.

Vegetable Preparation

Then I diced up three small onions because it was all I had.

Next, I chopped up a head of garlic. It wasn’t the extra flavorful farmers’ market garlic. But store-bought garlic, so I used the whole head to add the right amount of flavor. You can add more or else, depending on how you like it.

Once the onion and garlic were chopped. I added them to my cast iron pan to soften up a bit with some Spanish olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then I added them to the pot of Large White Lima beans that I had simmering on the back of the stove.

After the garlic and onions were added to the simmering beans. I chopped up three small carrots and two stalks of celery. They were cut up into nice uniform pieces, so they cooked at the same rate. I then added them to the pot next.

I then moved on to taking the skin of a small squash. I used only half of it because the one I chose had more skin than squash flesh. I found it was becoming more work than I thought to get a little squash to add to the stew.

Adding Meat and Spices

Once the pot of beans, veggies were at a nice simmer. I added the goat meat pieces into my cast iron pan with more Spanish Olive oil. I did this to give it a good sear and caramelize the outside. Once done added that to the pot next.

NOTE – If you don’t eat meat, you can substitute tofu. If you wanted a milder meat, you could add chicken, beef, pork, and even fish. Or you could skip the meat altogether, and it still would be an excellent meal.

The next thing I needed to do was add the following spices.

  • Curry powder (2 Tbsp)
  • Cayenne chili powder (1 Tbsp)
  • Smoked Spanish Paprika (1 Tbsp)
  • Ancho chili powered (1 Tbsp)

Then some salt and fresh ground pepper. I also added a tablespoon or two of dried basil, oregano, and thyme.

Time to Let Simmer

Finally, I sat back and let it simmer for a few hours. Doing so, let the beans cook and soften along with the meat to more tender.

Of course, about every 20 or 30 minutes, I would get up and check it to make sure it wasn’t bubbling away too much. Added more water when needed, so everything was covered. I tend to leave the lid to my pot off open a bit to let the water evaporate.

Towards the end, I checked the spice and flavor levels to make sure they were where I wanted them. Knowing that as the sauce reduce down, it would get spicier.

Yes, you could use a veggie, chicken, etc., stock instead of water to add more flavor if you wanted. But I didn’t have any at the time.

Adding in Coconut Milk and Farro

Towards the end, I added a 13.5 oz can of coconut milk to let it blend in with everything. Once that was done, I then added 8 oz. of farro to help soak up some of the liquid to become a thicker, more stew-like consistency.

Once it was all done, I ladled some into a small bowl and had the perfect dinner. The only thing missing was a nice slice or two of toasted sourdough to crunch and dip into it.

Ingredients

Below is a general outline of the amounts of all the ingredients I used. Some might have been a bit more, and others a bit less. I tend not to measure and go by taste.

Vegetables

  • 1 head of garlic – finely chopped
  • 3 small onions – chopped
  • 3 small carrots – chopped in small pieces
  • 2 stalks of celery – chopped finely small pieces
  • Half a small squash – chopped, small pieces
  • 1 lb. – Rancho Gordo Large white Lima beans

Meat or other Protein

  • Goat cut into bite-size pieces

Spices, Etc.

  • 3 Tbsp – Curry powder
  • 1 Tbsp – Cayenne chili powder
  • 1 Tbsp – Smoked Spanish Paprika
  • 1 Tbsp – Ancho chili powered
  • 1 Tbps -Salt (more to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp -Pepper – fresh ground
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp – Dried Basil
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp – Dried Oregano
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp – Dried Thyme

Miscellaneous

  • 1 13.5 oz can – Coconut milk
  • 8 oz – Farro

Conclusion

Hope all this was helpful.

If you make it please tell me what you think in the comments. Or even leave me suggestions for other dishes to make or you have made.

Here’s to more home cooking.

Blogged Daily in January

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In mid-December, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could write a blog post every day in January.

After looking at my blog, I noticed it had been almost two years since I last posted (late January 2019). Before that, I wrote one post in July 2018 and nothing in 2017.

Posting Daily

Posting every day allowed me to write a bunch at first about things from 2020 and the pandemic. Along with some things I wanted to say and others that came up.

Part of the issue was I tended to write longer posts with example code. Which needed to be coded semantically and accessibly, of course. So it took a long time to write them and then post them if I ever did. So I stopped for the most part.

Shorter Blog Posts

So I decided the posts would be short. In my mind, that meant 500 to 1,000 words. It seems most of the blog posts in January 2021 ended up being between 300 and 600 words on average.

The longest post was the first one on January 1st at 926 words. The shortest one was 197 words about a week ago.

What Were the Numbers

I went back and wrote down the number of words for each post in January. The total words I wrote were 14,789 for an average of 477 and some change per day.

NOTE – I only had to add all the words per day up three times to get totals to match twice.

It’s Tough Blogging Daily

After writing a post every day for a month now, I’m not sure how Austin Kleon and others find the time to post daily. Or have ideas most days. Occasion they skip a day or so. Either way, I have found it to be hard to do every day. It’s a lot of work to do it more than a few times a week.

Posting Weekly

After posting every day for a month, I found it took about an hour to two hours daily for each post. Some days three hours if I was working on more than one psst.

Meaning I would come up with an idea or two, outline them, maybe even write the first draft. Or the next day, finish the post and edit it. Then post it or if I was writing on the weekends or had the time started one for a few days in advance.

I think spending four or five hours a week writing a post or two would be good.

Doing so would give me eight or ten hours back. That I had been using to write, edit, and post for other things like time to read and learn to improve my skills. Say in JavaScript, CSS Grid, etc. Or maybe cooking, coding, relaxing, etc.

Or even spending time thinking about what I want to be when I group.

Snowy Sunday

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With knowing it was going to be a snowy Sunday and nowhere to be. Besides my remote JavaScript Book Club at 5:00 PM, I didn’t set my alarm this morning or most Sundays.

Start of My Morning

I woke up at about 7:56 AM. laid in bed, and read until after 9:30 AM. Then I got out of bed to watch some cooking and farming videos on YouTube. I figured I could spend my lazy morning learning something.

Not Ready to Learn

I knew I wasn’t ready to learn JavaScript by watching my Wes Bos “JavaScript for Beginners’ videos. Maybe later this afternoon or this evening.

After watching videos, I cooked up a dozen breakfast sausages I had thawed out the last night. They had been in the freezer since the summer. I figure they would be getting a little freezer burn, etc., and they were.

Cooked Breakfast

While the sausages were cooking on medium-low heat, I washed dishes. Then I chopped the sausages into smaller bite-size pieces to make sure they’re cooked thoroughly. I then could use them in salads later, and with the four eggs, I was getting ready to scramble and cook for breakfast.

I toasted up some Wegman’s sliced garlic bread. Then I added strawberry preserves to one slice and apricot to the other. Once all that was done, I ate it while watching one more video.

Snow Shoveling

Then I got dressed to go out and shovel the sidewalk, walkways to each of the doors, and the back porch. With not having a car anymore, my shoveling is way down by many hours, depending on how much snow we get. I only had to make a path in the driveway.

Today was easy because we only got an inch and a half, maybe two inches at most.

Off for a Walk

After shoveling was done, I went for a 45-minute to an hour walk of over two and a half miles. I took my time to wander the neighborhood and see what was going on.

Home from Walk

Once I was back home, I cleaned up a few spots on the sidewalk and then went into the house. With being cold and a bit achy after shoveling I took a long hot shower. I know TMI.

Then I laid on my bed to read a bit on Twitter and see if I was ready for a nap, and I wasn’t.

Writing this Post

So I started writing this blog post after making a large bowl of popcorn on my stove with some oil and a little bacon fat. The bacon fat made for some tasty popcorn. I got myself a GT’s Gingerberry Kambucha and some water.

The next thing I do before a possible nap and book club is edit and post this blog post.

Then it’s outline/write a draft post about writing blog posts every day of January.

Possible Dinner Plans

Thinking dinner will be leftover curried coconut milk shrimp with elbow noodles, farro, corn, greens beans, and roasted Hatch Chili’s. Most likely, it will be a salad with greens that look to have seen better days.

More Lazy Weekends

So here’s to having more lazy Sundays or even weekends with not much to do but relax, read, nap, etc.