Exploration 1: Not What I Wanted For Dinner, But Fuck....Bok Choy Stir Fry^

I believe I mentioned that for this cooking cycle, I tried to plan out my meals in advance so I bought what I needed when I needed it. This was out of consideration of storage space and in the interest of not letting produce go bad before I had the chance to utilize them. The two dishes up first Black Bean Chili and Thai Cabbage Soup. Both I was super excited for because my buddy who now lives in Oregon forwarded me the Chili recipe. He's someone I trust to recognize good food so the fact he passed it my way, it just has to be good. (Don't disappoint me, Doran.) The other...I think the name speaks for itself. I LOVE Asian food. I mean, why wouldn't I? I look Asian. I'm an HONORARY Asian so fuck me up with some Asian food. YUM! Acting as icing on the cake, it's Thai. Of all the Asian food, Thai is my favorite.

1. Thai
2. Vietnamese
3. Japanese
4. Chinese (Authentic, not American)
5. Indian.

There you go, my top five Asian dishes in order.

The night before I was slated to whip up the black bean goodness, my sister's boyfriend cooked the house regular chili with deer meat. I fucking couldn't bring myself to be an ass and cook supplemental chili right after he cooked for us because I was already an ass and didn't have any that night. I cooked my own dinner. So that got pushed to the side.

Then the other day, I was giddy with anticipation for the cabbage stew. I thought about it all day. Got home, started to set out my ingredients when to my abrupt dismay, I didn't have any cabbage! I swear I had some, but I stood corrected.

Normally, I cook dinner right after the gym, starting it around 7:30 p.m. My sister, who's notorious for starting anywhere between 5:30-7:00 p.m. (when she does cook) and somehow stretching even the simplest concoctions anywhere between three to five hours (I'm serious, one time we started cooking dinner at 6 p.m. and the finish product wasn't reached until 11:30 p.m. I ended up warming up a bowl of soup and calling it a night as I was hungry and tired. I had leftovers the next evening.)

Sorry, tangent....anyway, she already started cooking her bae dinner so I didn't want to go in and infringe upon her cooking space. I mean, I hate it when people do that to me. So first come, first serve I extended my office hours while she cooked. Finally at 9:30 p.m. my stomach started to growl and, as far as I was concerned, I gave her ample time to prepare her dinner. Time to start cooking.

That's when I realized NO FUCKING CABBAGE! Reminder, I live in the country in a small town here in central Georgia so I wasn't even going to attempt the grocery store. So I scrapped the beloved idea for something I was able to prepare, but not with nearly as much excitement.

Actually though, it was probably for the better because the bok choy I bought wasn't all that crisp and if it sat in the produce drawer as long as I intended to hold onto it for the planned night, it may have been past the "best when used by" date.

Bok Choy Stir-Fry.

I intended to take more photos. It wasn't until after everything

was said and done I realized in my pissed-offness

I didn't take any. lol #tysonissues

What I liked about it is that, like the previous stir fry (which, reminder, I've already made twice because it was that promising) was quick and easy. The longest part of it was waiting the 20 minutes for the rice to do its thing.

The ingredients were basically 2 tablespoons of everything in my Asian cubby: oyster sauce (which I did taste independently as it taste like very salty oyster goo. Now we know!)  fish sauce (again be careful because it gets ANYWHERE that you don't clean up afterward, your kitchen will smell...well, like fish) soy sauce, sweet chili paste and one more special ingredient brown sugar.

The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of brown sweetness. Being the sweet tooth that I am, I put in closer to 4.

In the simplicity of the recipe, however, liked the disappointment of the dish. As I ate my Asianfied bok choy (it smells and taste very Asian-ie) over a cloud of steamed rice, I found myself thinking that as an entrée, this sucks. As a side dish, it wouldn't be all that bad.

On the Tyson Nuggets Scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (good and yes I will start calling it the Tyson Nuggets Scale. BAHAHAHA!) I rate it a 3.5

I'm not throwing it out the window, I just need to find what it can accompany to make it part of a 5 out of 5 meal sometime in the future.

Want to try the recipe yourself? Feel free, Bok Choy Stir Fry.

On a separate, but related note, this afternoon when I sent my adopted mom a text message reminding her she's not allowed to watch the Netflix series "The Crown" without me. They just released Season 2 yesterday. We watched Season 1 together last year when I was in New Mexico for Thanksgiving and well, I'll be there again for Christmas so she HAS TO WAIT.

Wow! You all know I'm headed to New Mexico for Christmas before Snapchat or Facebook. Feel special. lol

Sorry, that was another tangent. AFTER I sent her a text message she responded asking for delicious vegetarian breakfast ideas. You've heard me complain a few times that I just don't know what to do with myself without bacon. (RIP) Well, in that instant I actually came up with like five ideas that I sent back to her including a breakfast burrito idea I remember saving a while back but for whatever reason forgot about it.

In the near future, prepare yourself while we switch gears and take the focus off of dinner and start to explore breakfast options.

For the record, cold cereal still rates pretty high in my 20+ year old opinion. :-)