Recipe – Cheeky Attitude

Link Love: Knitterly projects, Disneyland, and Remembering an Old Friend

For Link Love this week Diane at Crafty Pod has tasked us with going through our archives and finding our popular posts.

1.

Wee pumpkin pattern – Harvest and Halloween fun in a simple little pattern. And a peek for things to come. I plan to go all out on Halloween this year.

2.

Cheater’s Posole Recipe – Comfort food in our house can be easy. This one didn’t get a lot of comments, but it got a ton of views thanks to its acceptance to the foodgawker website.

3.

The details inside the Happiest Place on Earth – This was my nephew’s first trip. He’s an old pro now and I’m feeling the urge to visit Disneyland again.

4.

Knitters were thrilled that we were ahead of the game with the popular cowl patterns. Now we’re doubling and tripling them up and calling them “infinity scarves.”

5.

I started to cry when I saw that this was one of my popular posts. I’m so grateful to have this picture of me and my wonderful friend’s dog “Boo.”Â She was my introduction to Australian Cattle Dogs and wicked smart. Although blind, she would gently herd us when we went for a walk. Always keeping count of her people. Boo has since passed away and will always have a special place in my heart.

Simple Recipe: Squash blossom quesadillas

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Squash blossoms have been a surprise hit with us this summer. I’ve made them stuffed with goat cheese and sautÃ©d as a side dish. But this has been by far the easiest, tastiest treatment. Just spread goat cheese on tortillas, fan out the squash blossoms, sprinkle some cheddar and jack then top it all with another tortilla. I just put them in a pan to melt the cheeses together and they were perfect. Grilling would probably work wonderfully.

Noodles Chill Out: Japanese Version of ‘Pasta Salad’

Our recent “Cook-Up” club had the theme of “food memories.” I have so many memories around food, mostly heavy, comforting holiday foods. But we were in the middle of a heat wave and I didn’t want to go near any of those. My mind kept wandering back to the heat of Summer in Japan when I ate cold noodles for the first time.

In my memory was a small shop in the mountains where there was a cold running stream that would carry the noodles to us. We would catch the noodles with our chopsticks and put them in the chilled dipping sauce.

When I told Mario about it, he expressed his doubts. So I started to think a little harder. He mentioned that it would be really difficult to catch slippery traveling noodles with chopsticks. And I agreed my memory must have been wrong. We must have used a scooping basket of some sort to grab the noodles. It was almost 30 years ago and I have been mis-remembering things lately. And he wasn’t questioning the noodle catching, just the “with our chopsticks” part.

The memory was so vivid: coming in out of the pressing heat and humidity to a cool cave-like restaurant and the sound of a running stream. And then to find the stream carried the noodles. I wanted to relive that delightful experience, so I searched around.

It turns out “nagashi somen” is somewhat of a “tradition” not just a restaurant gimick. And I found video! (I love the internet)

Take a look:

nagashi somen from kitsune-kun on Vimeo.

And they do use chopsticks! Makes me miss Japan.

Here’s the recipe (bamboo river is optional)

Chilled Somen: Light, flavorful and perfect for a warm day.

5 bundles of dried somen noodles (about 1 per person)

Sauce/Dressing
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1/2 cup Japanese soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Mix all dressing ingredients together and chill. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add somen noodles and stir. Bring the water back to a rapid boil and decrease heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain somen and rinse under cold water.

You can add the dressing or serve it along side a bowl of noodles as a dipping sauce. Serve it over ice to keep it cold and refreshing.