Monsoon Rains

It’s monsoon season again.  

I always find it hard to really describe what a monsoon means to me.  I think there’s a special feeling for these violent rainstorms that desert dwellers have.  What it does - the destructive erosion and crazy winds and everything – that’s easy to describe, or show to people.  But what all that rain means is something else.  How it feels, what it IS.

That Ramen Salad Thing (Oriental Chicken and Ramen Noodle Salad)

Hey!  It's been a couple of days, I know.  I've been searching for important paperwork (which I never did find.  GREAT.)

But a friend of mine mentioned she was craving a salad I made a couple times when she was living here.  She called it "that toasted ramen salad with the peanut butter flavoring in it."  I call it "That Ramen Salad Thing" but probably a nicer name is "Oriental Chicken Salad" or something.

It's simple to make, and it's not peanut butter, it's sesame seed oil.  Sesame seeds taste a lot like peanut butter to our American palettes. You can omit the chicken and/or add some cooked tofu or pork or whatever - but I can't guarantee that tastes good.  It does taste fine without the chicken.  You can buy pre-cooked chicken for salads, that makes less work for lazy chefs (like me, when I'm alone.) Make sure to use rice vinegar and sesame seed oil, don't substitute. Sesame seeds, toasted sesame seed oil and rice vinegar can all be found with the oriental foods at your grocery.

That Ramen Salad Thing

You will Need:
A medium pan
A large bowl
Measuring spoons and cups and stuff
1 package instant ramen noodles (oriental flavor works best.)
2 tablespoons oil or butter
1 bag coleslaw mix cabbage (fine shred.)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar (or a substitute like Splenda or Truvia.)
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil (add 1/4 cup of canola if this is not enough oil for you)
1/2 cup sliced almonds (you could also use peanuts.)
2-3 green onions, sliced into cute little rounds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2  boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1) Heat your pan, add oil or butter.  Remove the noodles and flavoring packet from their package.  Sprinkle the seasoning in the oil, mixing it well.  Crumble up the noodles into chunks (How fine you break them up is kind of personal preference.)  Fry them in the pan until they start to brown a bit. make sure they get the oil and seasoning on them.
2) Into the bowl, add  rice vinegar, and sugar. Mix.  Most of the sugar should dissolve a bit.  Then add the oil, and mix again.
3) Into the large bowl, empty the bag of coleslaw. Start tossing it with the dressing, adding the almonds, onions, sesame seeds, fried up noodles, and chicken as you toss.
4) Put the salad in your mouth, and eat it. (Not all at once, you!  Slowly, like a LADY.)

Alternatively, you could add the chicken and ramen on top of the salad as you serve it.  It will keep the noodles crunchier.  If you are serving people at like, a pot luck, I would mix the salad dressing in a separate container until it's nearly time to serve it.  The salad will keep, but not too long, the noodles get soggy, and the coleslaw mix gets limp.

Hope you enjoy it!

Introductions

So, I went and started this blog.

Technically, it isn't my first.  Back when LiveJournal was a thing, I remember posting there about weird dreams and annoying people - but I found it to be a little more drama-y than I wanted, so I let it go - plus MySpace was where all my friends were migrating at the time.  Oh, beginnings of big social media. 

At any rate, I wanted to give myself some space to write again.  I've been depressed and lonely and out of work, sometimes bored when I'm not playing Skyrim.  I have a lot to do around here, but try mostly to structure that overwhelming task into 20 minute increments (sometimes I fail.  I'm only human.)

I'm a SWF, and I live alone, but keep pets.  I have three cats, a dog, a parrot, and seven chickens.  I also have a few fish.  I like to cook, but find it obnoxious to cook for one, I like to read and write, and enjoy drawing.  I like video games, mostly fantasy RPGs and the like.  I also like casual post-and-journal based Role Play online with friends.  I enjoy Asian dramas (Korean ones are the best,) I know too much about things that aren't really useful, and I enjoy research and proofreading, so I decided a career as a teacher wouldn't be so bad - I'm currently in school for an education degree.

And that's my intro.  I'm only starting with it because I think it might be useful to know - I don't intend my blog to be horribly specific.  Writing about one topic, constantly, bores me a bit, and I have far more than one hobby.  I imagine there will be recipes and crafts, and whatever else pops into my mind.  Currently, I've got a dollhouse in the works, and antique books to look through.  I may even post coloring pages I made when I worked as a child care clerk.  That might be fun.  I've been trying to draw more - I fell out of the habit a couple years ago, when I was taking care of my grandparents before they passed away (and I'll probably post about that too, a lot.)

Thanks for reading - and as for the name of the blog - well, ya got me.  My brother spent most of an evening trying to tell my sister and I that a stoneware jar full of rose-scented hand balm was a bomb, and he would sell it to us for 2 gold pieces.  I failed to haggle any lower.  Plus Rose Bombs sound pretty cool (I imagine they blow up, but leave a pleasant scent wafting above the carnage,) even if 2GP is way too much to charge for them.