Where have I been?

Working for this amazing boss>> Chef Seng and her restaurants Thip Khao & Padaek.

I have also been eating a lot of delicious Lao and Mexican Food. When I’m home I continue to work on my Pie and Pancakes recipes and I’m also planning on taking back over my corn and Panamanian recipes. (I also play video games, board games, watch too much anime and horror movies so there’s that).

Now that you have a better idea of why I haven’t been sharing recipes or blogging in general, let’s talk about following cooking instructions…. when cooking with prepackaged food!

What kind of packaged food do you buy?

This includes anything, from cup of ramen noodles, to pasta, to oatmeal, to cereal, to teas and coffees, to Trader Joe’s Frozen Food.

I have some packaged foods quilty pleasures, noodles and pre-cut fruit (I know shame on me), but sometimes I’ve been disappointed when buying this amazing huge mango then when slicing it at home it’s not good, I avoid that by buying a packaged sliced mango.

Bananas and apples are different, they can’t hide, you see a lot of bruising and you know what you might get, but Mango? That’s one sneaky bastard. Don’t get me started with avocado, but now I found my solution, I always buy them green and let them mature at home, delicious-bruise-less avocado.

What packaged food instructions do you always ignore/follow?

It’s going to sound silly, but most of the time I ignore Tea package instructions. Some teas require stepping the bag in hot water for 15 mins… 15 MINUTES?! It’s not only about patience, but the water won’t be hot by then, more lukewarm, and how can a cup of tea be proper when it has been left alone for 15 minutes in this cold weather?!

Instant Noodles, I sort of follow their instructions, ok rarely, since I tend to doctor a lot of my instant noodles for more refreshing flavors, I like to add herbs and vegetables. The last time I made instant noodles I did follow the instructions verbatim because I was taking the “spicy noodle challenge”, however I didn’t follow the actual challenge instructions (you are supposed to use 3 sauce packets instead of 1 for one bag of noodles), I’ll pass thank you, it was already spicy as it was.

Canned Beans, even though it’s not really a prepared meal, it’s canned food and I try to cook as little as possible (I’m not a huge fan of canned beans because they’re usually too soft for me). I rinse the life out of them using a colander and cold water.  I make a sofrito in a small pot, maybe make a bit of sauce, I cook everything and the last thing I add are the canned beans.

Popcorn bags, I avoid the heck out of my microwave popcorn option, just check the pop, and seriously you’re never going to be able to pop all the kernels, so as soon as the popping slows down, I stop it. Better having halfway popped bag of popcorn than a burnt one (yes, I have burned popcorn, it sucks and it stinks).

Last thoughts:

I don’t think I’ve ever bought frozen pizza, I’d rather have a grilled cheese sandwich, but I’m open to trying it, which one is your favorite brand?

Pre-cut Fruits YES, canned fruit? NO, unless you’re a prepper and require to eat it before the expiration date, please eat your fruit as fresh as possible, it just tastes better!

Don’t get me started with canned meats, I’m waiting on a can of Tulip a friend is sending to me, I’ll cook some for friends who have a love for Spam, (upcoming post). It’s a late 80’s nostalgia, it’s great in fried rice and like I said, check upcoming post.

 ¡a comer!