Nengmyun (Cold Buckwheat Soup)

Nengmyun is a cold Korean noodle soup.
Now, it might be slightly weird sounding when I say cold soup
especially a cold noodle soup but this broth literally gets ice in it.

Nengmyun is especially good to eat on a hot summer day.
It's not too difficult to make as well.

The noodles are often made of buckwheat but can be found in potato and
arrow root these days as well as seaweed and even green tea flavor.
They are very wire-like and extremely stiff before cooking.

Once you boil them they will get waaay more pliable and soft.
They are very chewy but that's the fun and number 1 characteristic of Nengmyun. 
The long and chewiness of the noodles. Traditionally,
the noodles were eaten long and not cut to symbolize good health and long life.
These days people often cut the noodles with kitchen food scissors. 
(Please don't use the scissors in your garage!)

After boiling the noodles, you can taste a noodle or 2 and once they are soft, they are done.
Nengmyun noodles are often wrapped around your hand to make bunches that stay as
clever bunches because of the starch. 

The broth is a beef broth.  You can get any kind of beef chuck
and typically because chuck has a little more fat in it 
so the juices of the beef really make this broth tasty.
I like to add a drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil. (about 1 TBSP)

                             

Once the broth has been vigorously boiling for a minimum of 30+ minutes ---

You can take that beef chuck and slice it into long strips or flat pieces 

and drizzle a little soy sauce, and some hot pepper flake/powder. 

You can add some chives or scallions also if you'd like.

As far as the broth, take it off the stove, put it into a large bowl and 

add a dozen ice cubes to chill it.

You also want some type of pickled veggie. Typically, a pickled cucumber and 

radish go into Nengmyun. They are usually separate but I decided to julienne the 

2 and combine them. I used a mandoline for the cucumber and radish.  

I then added a drizzle of rice vinegar and more hot pepper flakes and a sprinkle 

of salt and a teaspoon of sugar)

Closeup it even looks better. Doesn't it? Hello... anyone there?

Nengmyun is also always topped with a hard boiled egg.

Add your mound of noodles, top with the cucumber/radish, add the beef, 

hard boiled egg and then ladle in your chilled broth. 

This chilled noodle dish is quite refreshing on a hot summer day

but it's actually really good all year round. 

ENJOY your Nengmyun with chopsticks!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Croissants

Did you know that strawberries help lower sugar?
Strawberries also help our immune systems grow stronger,
it aids in the kidney and urinary tracts and they also work as
anti-inflammatory agents as well.

Hmm, what else might be interesting about the strawberry?
WELL, the strawberry is the only fruit to have the seeds on the outside
and an average strawberry is known to have about 200 seeds.
They are also the first fruit to ripen EVERY. SINGLE. Spring.

Strawberries are grown in every single state of the USA but California
grows the most... so many that they say if you lay them berry to berry
it would wrap around the earth 15 times...
I always wonder who estimates these silly facts.

Even though there are soooooooooo many ways to enjoy the favorite berry--
here's another quick way to enjoy strawberries.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Croissants

Take a handful of strawberries, wash them, cut them up and.... throw them into a sauce pan on
medium heat and let them sweeten up and breakdown a little bit from the heat of the pan.

After about 15 minutes on the stove- it will start to have a jam consistency.
Turn the stove off and after 5 minutes of cooling down in a bowl, add a dollup
of cream cheese. Take out some already made crescent rolls that you can easily
purchase from the refrigerator section of the supermarket and ----

 

fill, roll and lay them on a tray/sheet/pan. I like to use the non stick foil because there

is no washing or scrubbing required afterwards. You simply take the croissants off 

and throw away the foil.

 After about 20-25 minutes on 325-350 degrees ----------- they will come out golden brown.

These would probably be best for a brunch on....... a yacht, in a sundress with a huge,
wide-brimmed hat and a spritzer.... I mean 
they are good as a snack anytime or place!

Eat a Flip Flop

Summer time calls for summer LOOKIN things right?
We all enjoy a great BBQ but how about eating a flip flop?
Eww, not the gross ones your sweaty feet were on but 
change it up a little and make a flip flop sandwich.

One of my favorites is the threesome of tomato, basil and mozzarella.
I started with the three and a piece of bell pepper as well.

This is my messy kitchen counter with a pot of basil.
(The basil's home is on the balcony but I figured basil pot could make a guest appearance)

Take some bread, don't judge, any kind of bread will be great!

and trim the edges so it's sort of  in the shape of an oval.

Add your sandwich meat, veggies etc...

Take your bell peppers and after cutting strips, use a toothpick to insert into
your sandwich to represent a flipplin flop... I mean flip flop.

The extra bread pieces you cut off, can be dried and pulsed to make bread crumbs
or you can just simply snack on them. (don't throw them away though!!)

Hip City Veg

HipCityVeg is located on 127 S. 18th Street in Philly.

Green Lemonade.................. and Groothie  (Green Smoothie).
The green smoothie was made of blended apple and kale. 
It was quite tasty and might be added to my summer smoothie rotation!

The classic vegetable burger had lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and Dijon mustard.

The burger itself was good but the bun was a little dry which made the whole burger 

a little on the dry side. It was a very good veggie burger! Yum!

The Fajita Wrap consisted of  "blackened chicken", sauteed onions and peppers,
pico de gallo, avocado and a chipotle creme almost like a mayo. 
The blackened "chicken" is NOT actually chicken, it's made from soy and grains.
You will be fooled because not only does it taste like chicken but it TOTALLY looks
like chicken breast as well. SERIOUSLY.
There was so much stuff jammed into that fajita that the flavors were extremely tasty.
In your bite, you taste a spiciness from the chipotle creme, 
a creaminess from the avocados, a sweet bite from  the sauteed peppers and onions, 
topped off with a toasty grilled texture and taste of the  blackened chicken. 
It was a great fajita, burrito, wrap---     whatever you want to call it.  
On HipCityVeg's menu it is called the  "Fajita Wrap".

If you work in the city or are roaming the city of brotherly love one day...

you should check out HipCityVeg. They have very limited seating and there is a line

most of the day so be prepared for that!  Their hours are 10am-10pm every day.

What's also cool is that all of their packaging is compostable. 

Their food is all plant based foods that are locally grown and give that extra 

great flavor from the freshness.

You feel healthy eating the food because IT IS healthy! 

Nicole Marquis's HipCityVeg is definitely worth checking out if you are in 

the Rittenhouse area of Philly!  It truly is healthy, fast food. 

You really feel that you get a value because it is really healthy which in the 

long run will be good to our bodies and the service is great also.

They don't have a bathroom that you can use so it's disappointing to know

after walking through the city- that you can't wash your hands before you eat.

They do have a huge container of hand sanitizer right next to the register

but it's a little hard to get to with other people ordering at the counter.

I didn't get a chance to try the sweet potato fries but they come with cilantro 

black bean dip which sounds pretty interesting and good!  It has cilantro in it...

It must be good!   Yes, I enjoy a cilantro leaf or two or an entire bunch.

I'll have to try the sweet potato fries on my next visit!

Black and White Cupcakes

Have you ever seen the black and white cookies?
Better yet, have you ever eaten black and white cookies?

They are often found in bakeries in New York and Northern Jersey.
Sometimes the cookie is also known as a half and half cookie or even half moons.
They are a lemony shortbread cookie with half and half vanilla and chocolate icing.
Hence half & half or black and white cookie.

I decided I wanted to make a black an white cupcake.
I usually have a reason or occasion to make something
especially when it is something baked...
but I made these cupcakes for no special reason.

Sounds like I have nothing to do huh...
I've got so much to do I don't know if I'm coming or going actually
BUT... this is how I de-stress----- being in the kitchen.

This is the way I made them but you can just use vanilla cake and
chocolate cake. Here are the pictures below. It's pretty self-explanatory.

 

Cucumber Carrot thing...

So, sometimes you need that little extra side dish to go with the main entree
without it being something heavy in carbs or a regular salad.

You can whip this cucumber carrot thing together in a matter of minutes.
It's kind of a slaw, kind of a salad but basically one the easiest side dishes
you can make from scratch and pretty healthy as well.

Take a carrot and a cucumber
(one of each for the picture below-enough for 2-3 people)
and cut it, slice it, dice it, make cool shapes,
whatever and however you want the pieces to look.

Throw it into a bowl, add drizzle of rice vinegar (about 2 TBSP)
and grate in half an apple.

When it comes to flavors, you often want something tart/bitter/sour
to be paired with something sweet to counter balance each other.
In this case, the grated apple works really well with the rice vinegar.
Granted, you can add some sugar instead but let's be healthier and
grate in an apple- you can grate a pear instead if you'd like also.

That's all there is to it.

It always tastes better when you use fresh and whole ingredients and as you can see,
you can actually see the grated apple pieces as you eat your simple slaw as a side dish.