Weekend photos in review, old school style. Contex Weekend photos in review, old school style. Context: 1) saying goodbye until Easter, 2) sending him back with good bagels, 3) sunlight charging station, 4) the sun was out all day yesterday and it was glorious, 5) hitting the farmers market for my favorite garlic butter, 6) make a wish, 7) sun patterns, and 8) my sous chef
I don’t eat French fries often, but when I do, I I don’t eat French fries often, but when I do, I’m going to make it count. Doo Wop Eats opened a few months ago in downtown Denville and their fries are LEGIT. They are hand cut and taste the way fries should … like potatoes! I add a sprinkle of salt and dunk them in a side of their special sauce and they are pure perfection. You can order a small bucket or a large one (better for sharing!), or as a side item with one of their other delicious menu items like their cheeseburgers, fried chicken sandwiches or cheesesteak. I do believe they’re the best fries in town. I said what I said. Doo Wop’s menu celebrates all your favorite Jersey shore boardwalk treats, including Fried Oreos, clam strips and milk shakes and has a fun vibe for kids and families. 😍
The Grinder Salad, a recipe I found on tiktok that The Grinder Salad, a recipe I found on tiktok that takes all of your favorite ingredients from a grinder (or sub) sandwich and makes it into a delicious chopped salad. It’s as easy as putting everything in a bowl and chopping it up. Perfect for busy days and lazy nights, light meals and warm weather choices. Ingredient list below. Enjoy!

One bag or arugula
One container of cherry tomatoes 
Quarter pound of hard salami
8 Oz of fresh mozzarella
One small red onion
1/3 cup banana peppers 
Handful of fresh basil
Half cup Italian salad dressing
3 T Kewpie mayo
2 T red wine vinegar 
Sea salt and black pepper

Chop it all up, add a half box of ditalini pasta, cooked. Mix to combine.

Recipe from GrilledCheeseSocial.
We had a fun little board party this week and the We had a fun little board party this week and the delicious whipped Brie I shared earlier was front and center. If you haven’t heard of board parties, it’s when every guest makes a different type of food board and brings it - so much fun noshing ensues! With toasted baguette slices, cornichons and local honey, this was mostly a French-inspired board. So simple to pull together and totally my kind of meal.
Lunch date with one of my favorite people. 😍 We Lunch date with one of my favorite people. 😍 We popped into Cafe Crevier downtown and I finally got to try one of their burgers. It was thick and juicy and cooked to perfection. Love that the lettuce was shredded, and that the bun was toasted and slightly crispy. If you’re local, pop in and give them a try - don’t miss the fries!
I haven’t had a snow pic on my feed all winter b I haven’t had a snow pic on my feed all winter because, well, it’s been a weird one. Despite living in the Northeast, our Winter has had hardly any snow. Not to worry though, we’re going to be having snow in the Spring at this point. 😂 End of the week has a high of 50 degrees, today we lived in a snow globe with awful wind. I don’t even care what freaking season it is, just PICK ONE. And for the love of all things holy, I desperately need sunshine.
Grey days, perpetual rain, delayed opening tomorro Grey days, perpetual rain, delayed opening tomorrow … all the perfect setting for a cozy night at home and #candleoclock.
Weekend Photos in Review, old school. ✨ Weekend Photos in Review, old school. ✨
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Food and Life

Celebrating Chinese New Year

February 8, 2009 · Narrative

BambooWow, this weekend totally flew by.  Let’s see … a meeting at Nick’s school, a cub scout event, a trip to the movies to see Bride Wars (complete with a fire alarm and complete 10-theater evacuation), a decorating class at Pottery Barn, dinner out to celebrate my stepdaughter’s good report card and capping off the weekend with celebrating the Chinese New Year.  Phew!  I need to get back to work just so I can sit still for a few minutes.

Chinese New Year, and the Year of the Ox, officially kicked off on January 26th, but because we were away, we didn’t get a chance to celebrate it until today.  Luckily Chinese New Year celebrations last for a full fifteen days, so we’re covered.  Because the weekend was so busy, I was closerthanthis to calling for Chinese take-out to make it easier, but in the end, I decided to go with my original plan.

The menu?  Garlic Noodles, General Tso’s Chicken and Happy Shrimp.  How can you not love something called Happy Shrimp?

Table by NickAnd now to deconstruct.  I saw the Garlic Scallion Noodles recipe on Jaden’s wonderful Steamy Kitchen website awhile back and made a mental note to print it out.  Both Madeline and I (and sometimes Nick) like Cold Sesame Noodles, so I thought this would be a nice alternative to try.  And when it comes to Chinese New Year, eating noodles is a good thing – noodles are usually served at Chinese New Year’s celebrations to represent a lengthy life (and who doesn’t want that?!) and tradition says that the longer the noodle, the more good luck you’ll have.  We all searched our plates to see who held the longest noodle.   The recipe itself?  A real winner.  The Husband isn’t a fan of Chinese noodles in any form, and went back for seconds on this one.  Incredibly easy to make and packed with simple flavors, it was a hit all around.

TableNext up is the General Tso’s Chicken.  This is a tried-and-true recipe that I made a few years back, and it comes from Tyler Florence.  My original write-up on it is here, and that post also includes a few pictures of Nick when he was three.  I can’t believe he was ever that small – gosh it goes so fast!  Although the recipe has a few steps to make the sauce, it’s still very simple and always a crowd pleaser.

And lastly the Happy Shrimp.  Another recipe from Jaden’s site, I found this one today when I went to go see what suggestions she had for Chinese New Year menus.  Loved, loved, loved this one.  It suggests serving the shrimp over shredded lettuce, but since I had already come back from the store before finding the recipe, I ended up serving it over white rice.  To make my rice a little stickier to keep it more in line with Chinese-style rice, I used a little less water when cooking it.  Chinese-style rice is perfect for Madeline – nice and easy for her to pick up, since clumps stick together.

Table SettingTo say tonight was a good eatin’ night would be an understatement.  Nick kept coming into the kitchen to see what I was making, wrinkling his nose after I told him each recipe, but when it came down to feasting on the final results, there was not one speck of leftovers to be had.  Everyone went back for seconds, at the very least, and ahem, one even for thirds.  Everything was absolutely perfect.

Happy ShrimpFor table decorations, when I was at the Chinese grocery store today, I grabbed some of their free newspapers on my way out the door and used them to line the table.  A lucky bamboo with information on the Year of the Ox sat in the center.  Tradition holds that each child gets a lucky red envelope with an even amount of money in it as a small gift, so red envelopes were at the ready.  I used white dinner plates and red napkins, since red is a very powerful color in Chinese culture.

Happy ShrimpEver since I got a new camera, Nick has become more interested in taking pictures.  I’ll catch him using the zoom and taking pictures at all sorts of different angles, and checking each picture on the screen until he is happy with what he shot.  Normally I’d just include one picture of each dish here, but he took so many good ones that I included a few extra.  He took every picture in this post himself except the last two.  We just might have a budding photographer on our hands.

Garlic NoodlesRecipes:

Garlic Scallion Noodles
Happy Shrimp
General Tso’s Chicken

Happy Chinese New Year!

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Posted In: Narrative

Comments

  1. mijia282000 says

    February 9, 2009 at 3:56 am

    very good !

    Reply
  2. Sara says

    February 9, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    I love the idea of the Chinese newspapers for a tablecloth/placemat, and you sure can’t beat the price.

    Reply
  3. Jaden, Steamy Kitchen says

    February 9, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    Gong Hay Fat Choy!!!!

    Kisses!

    Reply

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Weekend photos in review, old school style. Contex Weekend photos in review, old school style. Context: 1) saying goodbye until Easter, 2) sending him back with good bagels, 3) sunlight charging station, 4) the sun was out all day yesterday and it was glorious, 5) hitting the farmers market for my favorite garlic butter, 6) make a wish, 7) sun patterns, and 8) my sous chef
I don’t eat French fries often, but when I do, I I don’t eat French fries often, but when I do, I’m going to make it count. Doo Wop Eats opened a few months ago in downtown Denville and their fries are LEGIT. They are hand cut and taste the way fries should … like potatoes! I add a sprinkle of salt and dunk them in a side of their special sauce and they are pure perfection. You can order a small bucket or a large one (better for sharing!), or as a side item with one of their other delicious menu items like their cheeseburgers, fried chicken sandwiches or cheesesteak. I do believe they’re the best fries in town. I said what I said. Doo Wop’s menu celebrates all your favorite Jersey shore boardwalk treats, including Fried Oreos, clam strips and milk shakes and has a fun vibe for kids and families. 😍
The Grinder Salad, a recipe I found on tiktok that The Grinder Salad, a recipe I found on tiktok that takes all of your favorite ingredients from a grinder (or sub) sandwich and makes it into a delicious chopped salad. It’s as easy as putting everything in a bowl and chopping it up. Perfect for busy days and lazy nights, light meals and warm weather choices. Ingredient list below. Enjoy!

One bag or arugula
One container of cherry tomatoes 
Quarter pound of hard salami
8 Oz of fresh mozzarella
One small red onion
1/3 cup banana peppers 
Handful of fresh basil
Half cup Italian salad dressing
3 T Kewpie mayo
2 T red wine vinegar 
Sea salt and black pepper

Chop it all up, add a half box of ditalini pasta, cooked. Mix to combine.

Recipe from GrilledCheeseSocial.
We had a fun little board party this week and the We had a fun little board party this week and the delicious whipped Brie I shared earlier was front and center. If you haven’t heard of board parties, it’s when every guest makes a different type of food board and brings it - so much fun noshing ensues! With toasted baguette slices, cornichons and local honey, this was mostly a French-inspired board. So simple to pull together and totally my kind of meal.

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Weekend photos in review, old school style. Contex Weekend photos in review, old school style. Context: 1) saying goodbye until Easter, 2) sending him back with good bagels, 3) sunlight charging station, 4) the sun was out all day yesterday and it was glorious, 5) hitting the farmers market for my favorite garlic butter, 6) make a wish, 7) sun patterns, and 8) my sous chef
I don’t eat French fries often, but when I do, I I don’t eat French fries often, but when I do, I’m going to make it count. Doo Wop Eats opened a few months ago in downtown Denville and their fries are LEGIT. They are hand cut and taste the way fries should … like potatoes! I add a sprinkle of salt and dunk them in a side of their special sauce and they are pure perfection. You can order a small bucket or a large one (better for sharing!), or as a side item with one of their other delicious menu items like their cheeseburgers, fried chicken sandwiches or cheesesteak. I do believe they’re the best fries in town. I said what I said. Doo Wop’s menu celebrates all your favorite Jersey shore boardwalk treats, including Fried Oreos, clam strips and milk shakes and has a fun vibe for kids and families. 😍
The Grinder Salad, a recipe I found on tiktok that The Grinder Salad, a recipe I found on tiktok that takes all of your favorite ingredients from a grinder (or sub) sandwich and makes it into a delicious chopped salad. It’s as easy as putting everything in a bowl and chopping it up. Perfect for busy days and lazy nights, light meals and warm weather choices. Ingredient list below. Enjoy!

One bag or arugula
One container of cherry tomatoes 
Quarter pound of hard salami
8 Oz of fresh mozzarella
One small red onion
1/3 cup banana peppers 
Handful of fresh basil
Half cup Italian salad dressing
3 T Kewpie mayo
2 T red wine vinegar 
Sea salt and black pepper

Chop it all up, add a half box of ditalini pasta, cooked. Mix to combine.

Recipe from GrilledCheeseSocial.
We had a fun little board party this week and the We had a fun little board party this week and the delicious whipped Brie I shared earlier was front and center. If you haven’t heard of board parties, it’s when every guest makes a different type of food board and brings it - so much fun noshing ensues! With toasted baguette slices, cornichons and local honey, this was mostly a French-inspired board. So simple to pull together and totally my kind of meal.
Lunch date with one of my favorite people. 😍 We Lunch date with one of my favorite people. 😍 We popped into Cafe Crevier downtown and I finally got to try one of their burgers. It was thick and juicy and cooked to perfection. Love that the lettuce was shredded, and that the bun was toasted and slightly crispy. If you’re local, pop in and give them a try - don’t miss the fries!
I haven’t had a snow pic on my feed all winter b I haven’t had a snow pic on my feed all winter because, well, it’s been a weird one. Despite living in the Northeast, our Winter has had hardly any snow. Not to worry though, we’re going to be having snow in the Spring at this point. 😂 End of the week has a high of 50 degrees, today we lived in a snow globe with awful wind. I don’t even care what freaking season it is, just PICK ONE. And for the love of all things holy, I desperately need sunshine.
Grey days, perpetual rain, delayed opening tomorro Grey days, perpetual rain, delayed opening tomorrow … all the perfect setting for a cozy night at home and #candleoclock.
Weekend Photos in Review, old school. ✨ Weekend Photos in Review, old school. ✨

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