It’s been a while.

Hi friends. It’s been a while.

You can tell when I haven’t been cooking when my blog is barren. I haven’t written a post in almost 3 weeks!!! Way too long and I’m so sorry! I was away in San Francisco for a weekend and the rest of the time I haven’t cooked. I hadn’t grocery shopped, my fridge and cupboards are barren… WHO AM I!??

Well, the wait is over and I’m back! Up on the menu today? Moroccan vegetable stew.

Ketchup spaghetti!!!

Man, it feels like I haven’t cooked a lot of Japanese-inspired recipes. Japanese cuisine is my absolute favourite — I could eat Japanese food every single day — breakfast, lunch, and dinner — and not ever get tired of it. True story.

Soba salad + keeping yourself within budget.

Okay, I remember complaining last week that it didn’t feel like spring, but now I think it totally does! The sun peeks out a bit every here and there and oh, RAIN. Yes, I’m talking about a Vancouver spring. Seems like it’s been such a drab week – grey skies and rainfall. But honestly speaking, we have been getting some great sunny days randomly — not complaining one bit. Atleast the temperatures have been increasing and we’re (almost) consistently in double digit weather, hurrah!

The BEST Vietnamese salad roll, ever.

I absolutely LOVE Vietnamese salad rolls. Whether it is the traditional one with shrimp, minced pork, Vietnamese ham, or whatever, they are one of my favourite ways to eat a salad because who has the time to sit down and eat nowadays?! They are great for an on-the-go lunch or snack and are even more delicious with a few dabs of Sriracha and hoisin sauce. Mm….

Lately I have been finding myself skipping the rice noodles traditionally found encased inside the roll as a lighter and healthier way to eat my rolls. I usually throw more lettuce or greens in there but sometimes, I do miss those carb-y noodles. I hadn’t ever found a suitable substitute those noodles…UNTIL NOW.

Introducing to you, my raw enoki mushroom and avocado salad rolls.

Killer lettuce wraps.

Looking for an innovative and refreshing way to eat your food? Skip the tortilla wraps and use some leafy greens instead! I present to you my avocado, shrimp and egg lettuce wraps.

Tofu “cheese”cake?

A long time ago, I made a delicious tofu “cheese”cake that was “almost vegan”. I hated explaining that it was “almost vegan” because it had contained chocolate. I think that recipe isn’t even posted on here at all — it was way before Umami & Me’s time! But ever since then, I have been on a mission to make a completely vegan tofu cheesecake and I think I have finally created it. And not to mention this one is not only vegan, but it is also gluten-free AND (for the most part) sugar-free as well! Oh. My. God.

I would like to introduce to you my banana coconut tofu “cheese”cake.

Cheese in…Asian cuisine?

I’m all about weird, unsuspecting food pairings. The more bizarre the combination, the better. In this case, it would be a spicy miso cheese udon.

Pancakes for dinner.

Breakfast for dinner? Well, yes and no. I don’t really consider pancakes strictly a breakfast food. I mean, it went from being a sweet breakfast food a savoury breakfast food (thanks Red Wagon for your delicious pulled pork pancakes) and now, I would say it can safely move into the dinner category. No guiltiness or shame required.

And then again, I am talking about Asian-style pancakes. First of all, I have never ever considered them a breakfast food, more like a snack to go with bubble tea or something. And second, they are all savoury! Yum.

With rotting cilantro in my fridge, I decided to create a cilantro and pork floss pancake roll for dinner.

Forever a noodle queen.

If there is one thing I can eat every single day, it would be noodles — specifically, Asian noodles. Whether it is pho, ramen, udon, jap chae, bibimguksu, soba, mee goreng, pad thai, or even instant noodles, it really doesn’t matter to me. I love it all. I seriously think I can live off it forever, not even kidding.

Something that I haven’t had in ages would be yakisoba. And since I had a bunch of leftover frozen vegetables and noodles, this was the perfect option for a quick, weeknight dinner.

Move over, Cactus Club.

If you know me, you would know that I hate chain restauurants with a passion. Places like Cactus Club, Earls, Joey’s, Browns Social House, etc. Just very unimaginative food. Consistent, yes, but the food has never been outstanding (atleast since my highschool days). Cactus Club is probably the best out of the bunch, in my opinion, and yes, I do get trapped into going there sometimes out of convenience, friends’ choice, and its senstivity-free menu.

Now, if there is one dish that I have to choose out of the entire menu at Cactus that is the bomb dot com, it would be their teriyaki rice bowl. The good news is that I never have to go to a Cactus Club ever again because I just made that shit right in the comfort of my own home.