Long-Promised Chinese Cold Noodles

In my first entry I had stated that one of these days I will attempt to make Lian-Mien aka Cold Noodles with my mom's simple recipe. Although I did this many many weeks ago, today is the day I will post the recipe (::crowd cheering::).

Lian Mien (Cold Noodles)

Ingredients (not all pictured)
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce
- 1-2 large cloves of garlic
- 1-2 TBSP of rice vinegar (adjust to taste)
- 1/4 cup of water + 1 TBSP of sugar
- 4 TBSP sesame sauce + water + pinch of salt (amount of water adjusted to thickness of sauce)
- 1 shredded chicken breast
- 2-3 shredded japanese cucumbers
- chili oil (adjust to taste)
- 1 TBSP of sesame oil
- Noodles (enough for 2 servings) - I use Quon Yick (very common) but use any medium-sized noodles for this dish. Thin noodles, such as egg noodles, would not taste very well.

Serves two.

Steps

1. Noodles - boil the noodles to "al dente" and immediately dump the noodles into a colander to let cool. Rinse the noodles with cold water for ~ 30 seconds. After most of the water have been shaken off, move the noodles to a bowl and add 1 TBSP of sesame oil. Mix well. Let it sit to cool off some more.























2. Chicken - cook the chicken breast in hot boiling water for ~20 minutes. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through before taking it off the stove. Let the chicken breast sit for a few minutes and start the shredding by hand. Yes, one by one is the way to go! I usually will assign this task to someone else (my husband is the lucky one in this case!).

3. Japanese cucumbers - I highly recommond using Japanese cucumbers because they're so crisp and delicious. You can find this in Japanese or Chinese supermarkets. Shred them using your food slicer/shredder.

4. Soy sauce + garlic - place the specified amount of soy sauce and diced garlic into a small bowl. Depending on if you're a garlic lover or not, you can add more garlic and make the portion 1 to 1. You will just have really garlicky breath after the meal.

5. Sugar water - Melt the sugar in semi-hot water in a small bowl (I do the microwave way - it's so much easier!) The sugar water should not be syrup-y or too sweet. The sugar water will help balance out the vinegar and soy sauce.

6. Vinegar - there is no preperation for this ingredient. Just bring the tablespoon to the table and add about 1 - 2 tablespoons to your noodles... adjust to taste!

7. Sesame sauce - last but not least, the most important ingredient of this meal is the sesame sauce. This is pure sesame paste that can be found at the Chinese supermarket. Place the sesame sauce in a small bowl and add about 1 TBSP of water to the sauce, stir, and add more water until the paste turns into a thick sauce-like consistency. Don't worry - if you add too much water, you can always add a bit more paste to get the thick consistency back. Add a pinch of salt for flavor.













To eat:
You prepare the cold noodles for eating by mixing EVERYTHING together! First scoop the amount of noodles you want to eat. Start off with adding 2 TBSP of sesame sauce, 1 TBSP of sugar water, 1 TBSP vinegar, 1 TBSP of soy sauce/garlic combo, some chicken and japanese cucumbers. Add a few drops of chili oil if you like your noodles with a kick. The noodles should have a light coat of sesame sauce to every inch, it should be salty enough for you, and overall have a flavorful and garlicky taste! Add more of any of the ingredients to accomodate your taste buds. I hope this turns out good for you - enjoy!

Food in Vegas

Oh man I've been really bad about blogging!! It's been kind of crazy since I got assigned a new project at work, so I've been working my butt off and neglecting this blog. Although it's still quite busy... I need a freakin' break (besides, it's Friday... can you blame me?!).

I am still eating... more and more. I went to Vegas a few weeks back and would like to display the foods I ate... you gotta have something to eat while downing your alcoholic drink, right? ^_^

One of my "must-hit" places in Vegas is this little stand inside of Paris Las Vegas called La Creperie. It's completely informal - you stand in line, order what you want, find a table next to the stand which is kind of the hotel's "outside" area although it is still indoors, and eat eat eat! I love it because these famous big hotels don't always have bargain meals, so this is one of the rare places.

Dessert crepe - Napoleon (lemon curd with berries)

Savory crepe - Bayonne (prosciutto, béchamel sauce, mozzarella and basil)

Only 8.99 per crepe, either savory or dessert!!

And it totally fills you up!!



Dinner the first night was at Caesars Palace's Cypress Street Marketplace. This marketplace contains a handful of food vendors, from Chinese to Mexican to seafood, salads, sandwiches, and BBQ. It's a great place to come if you want cheap food, informal dining (you see a theme with me?), and if you have a big group of opinionated eaters. This place will satisfy all cravings.

I opted for the fish tacos that night. It was about $13 with a small drink. Deeelicious!

After a semi-hardcore partying night, I really wanted some comfort food to help me "feel better"... so I got noodle soup!! We found the restaurant Noodle Asia inside The Venetian hotel. Knowing that good 'ol fashion Asian food is hard to come by in Vegas, we settled for whatever we can find.

I don't have too much complaint about my Wonton Noodle Soup but the price was just completely ridiculous. $10.95 for this bowl of noodles... and it wasn't even a reasonable portion! I also tried their Hai Gow (shrimp dumpling) and Shui Mai (meat dumpling), each order costing at $5.99 for 6 pieces... that wasn't worth it either. With tax and tip, I ended up spending $20 for this lunch. Oh well, you gotta love Vegas for that!

After lunch, we walked around in search for gelato. We somehow roamed into a new hotel called Palazzo and found it at Espressamente Illy. This shop was bright, clean, and most importantly, lots of different gelato flavors!

From top clockwise - amaretto, mango (mine), watermelon, and hazelnut. I believe you can never go wrong with gelato... :)

The second night we decided to go for a nice meal. When in Vegas, one should try to eat well at least once! We picked Todd English's Olives at The Bellagio Hotel. We had picked this restaurant in hopes to sit at out on the patio and enjoy the Bellagio watershow. Unfortunately, they never guarantee you a table outside with a reservation, so it was either eat at the time we reserved, or 2 hours later. It was so lame seeing water splashing from the window inside the restaurant...

Pictured is the sirloin (I think?) with a generous mountain of fried green beans. Very very tender and the fresh green beans were super.

Halibut special of the night. The fish was also very fresh and tender.







Being a "great" picker of meals (can you sense the sarcasm?), I chose the ricotta ravioli that came with apple sausages. Everything was drenched in this salty tomato sauce, so I didn't like my dish as much.





We then walked around Bellagio and visited the Conservatorium to see the fall decorations. My friend also told me about the World's Largest Chocolate Fountain, so we had to stop by! It was protected by glass, so although there was a crack between the glass walls, using my nose to try smelling the chocolate through the crack was a failed move. So I didn't try my next plan - using my finger.



The chocolate fountain was located at Palio Cafe, which housed Chef Jean-Philippe Maury's pastries. I was too full to get anything, but my friend got the vanilla flan (not pictured). I'm not sure if it was just me or what, but I didn't think the flan was anything superb. Too bad we didn't try anything else... it's OK, there's always next time. Until then Vegas!