Tuna Two Ways

Browsing through my recent posts I realize that the vast majority are cookbook recipes, as though I don't cook anything of mine - at least, nothing worth sharing with you. And that's not true, it just happens that when I make something off the cuff I don't pay much attention to what I am doing and so when requests come from my husband or friends to remake a certain dish I attempt to retrace my steps and, more often than not, am left with a blank. I am sure I am not the only one! But for the past couple weeks I have been watching MasterChef America and MasterChef Australia (which, by the way, I think is much better than the American version) and decided that, damn, I need to cook my own recipes more often and earn my keep.

And then the Sultan Center had fresh Saudi tuna on display so I decided I would also tackle my fear of cooking fish. Never a recipe for disaster, right? I am not uncomfortable with all seafood: I love shellfish and find preparing them fairly easy, except for maybe scallops and lobster. Fish, on the other hand, just seems tricky and temperamental. Maybe it will come out dry, maybe raw, maybe with hidden little bones - and what's this poaching in oil thing I've heard about? Fascinating.

Pork Noodle Soup

Oof, the internet is slow today. Anyway, when I was a kid (well, up to my teens) the only fast food we ate was Chinese. Okay, maybe once every few months we'd order a pizza or some subs, but at least once every two weeks (or more) we'd order from China Taste or China #1 or something like that. I suppose the main reason is that there  no other foreign fast food restaurants in Upper Marlboro, no Thai or Vietnamese or Ethiopian - I am pretty sure there still aren't and may never be - but also because we loved Chinese food. I've tried to make some dishes in my day but they also seem like they're missing something - probably MSG.