Cha Gio Chay (Vietnamese Vegetarian Egg / Spring Rolls)

After working too many hours this summer, eating out too often, eating too much junk, and just, in general, not eating well, I craved vegetables and simple Vietnamese food. Nothing elaborate. Just some cold noodles. Grilled meats. Perhaps a few egg rolls to toss into the bowl.

My standard Cha Gio (Vietnamese Egg/Spring Rolls) were fine, but I had been wanting to challenge myself to come up with a tasty vegetarian version for a while. My mom made vegetarian egg rolls long ago for my Chinese grandfather's first year death anniversary, in which the whole meal is supposed to be vegetarian. All I remembered were the vermicelli noodles, which were quite dry and crunchy because they didn't have anything substantial to latch on to. I don't count the cheap cabbage-only fillers at Chinese buffets. Recently, at my oldest uncle's 49th day death anniversary, the Buddhist temple had an excellent version with shredded taro root.

So in creating my recipe, I knew that I wanted to add some tofu for moisture. Instead of taro, I used a small yam. Have you seen the sizes of taro that are sold at the supermarket? They're just way too big for one person and I didn't want food to go to waste. But other than that, the traditional cha gio ingredients of Nam Meo (Vietnamese Tree Ear Fungus), bean thread vermicelli noodles, and carrots suited me just fine. The main trick then was pressing the tofu to reduce as much liquid as possible so that the egg rolls don't get soggy.

The result? These vegetarian egg rolls were so good that I didn't even see them as a meat substitute, but as a separate recipe all their own. And isn't that how it should be? Not a substitute; just good.

Blueberries, Long Days, and Vacillating Victuals

Last year, my siblings and I weren't able to take a family trip home to Oregon. The niece was still too young and lil' sis ran the Disneyland Half Marathon. This summer we made it a point to sync up our schedules and came home for several days in August.

Aside from that, August was mostly a blur of long days at work and too much bad food because I was either too hot or too tired to cook.

One Pomegranate. Singular.

Two years ago, I had about half a dozen pomegranates on my tree. Last year, they were only about an inch or two in size. :( So I was really excited this year to see about three that were almost 3 inches in diameter.

Only, when I cut it open, that's what I saw above. The seeds never even formed! Have you ever seen the like before?

Still, I was hopeful since there was one decent-sized pomegranate left on the tree.

Mama's Lu Dumpling House - Monterey Park

For a while a few years ago, Right Way to Eat kept trying to convince me to try other dumpling houses, but I wasn't willing to give up my favorite -- Luscious Dumplings, Inc. - San Gabriel. Well, I've certainly tried other dumpling houses, I just refused to relinquish the title of "favorite" to any other. :)

After going back and forth on various places, we decided to eat at Mama's Lu Dumpling House in Monterey Park. This was partly because it's owned by the daughter of the original mama Lu herself of Dean Sin World - Monterey Park fame, and partly because I was curious about the restaurant that replaced Heavy Noodling, which I liked more for its name than its knife-cut noodles.

Chinese Sauteed Lettuce with Oyster Sauce

I bought a bag with three heads of romaine lettuce that I intended to eat with my homemade Caesar Salad Dressing, but I was feeling too lazy to run to the store to buy anchovies and Parmesan cheese. Plus, there was all that mincing and chopping.

I've always much preferred to eat my vegetables via soups rather than salads, but it was late August, the dog days of summer, and I was in the midst of working 12 days in a row. Exhausted! Hungry!

I needed vegetables and I needed them in minutes. So recalling that I wanted to try making the cooked lettuce I ate at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant - Rosemead and, more recently, at Mama's Lu Dumpling House - Monterey Park, I decided to treat lettuce like I treat most vegetables -- I sauteed it with just a bit of oyster sauce.

Oh my!

It was so good that I made it again a few nights later.

Cooked, lettuce has a lovely sweetness that's enhanced with oyster sauce. Just saute it until wilted so the lettuce retains its crispness. Perfect as a complement to many dishes, but I ate this as a meal with rice and salmon.

Chinese Shanghai Noodles with Ground Pork, Spinach, and Onions

As I was sorting through the photos for my Vegetarian Shanghai Noodles with Spinach and Onions recipe, I realized that although the photos weren't awful, I could do a lot better. Plus, it made me crave the thick Shanghai noodles again and it had been a long while since I made them. This time around, I decided to add ground pork, just 1/4 lb, but it made the dish so much better.

The noodles were so good that I made them again the following week when lil' sis came home, but that second time, I used thick chow mein noodles, and they just weren't quite the same. Still, she loved this dish so much that she killed off the whole pan, taking some home to polish off later.

Vegetarian Shanghai Noodles with Spinach and Onions

This quick and easy recipe has been buried in my queue since November 2008. Too simple I thought, but then sometimes we all need simple.

It's based upon similar Shanghai noodles that I've eaten at J&J Restaurant - San Gabriel and Mei Long Village - San Gabriel. If you like the chewy toothsomeness of thick noodles, then you need little else except a bit of vegetables and oyster sauce.

Dai Ho Restaurant - Temple City

In August 2007, I joined lil' sis and her best friend for lunch at Dai Ho Restaurant in Temple City. The owner has been dubbed the "Noodle Nazi" for his brief noodle menu and short hours. Which was news to lil' sis's best friend, who's been dining at the restaurant since he was a kid. He said the owner has always been nice to him.

How bad could the owner be? And just how good were his noodles?

Well, on my two visits, the owner wasn't there because he was battling some health issues. As for the latter, apparently the noodles were so good that a Los Angeles Times reporter stole my photo and uploaded it onto his personal Facebook page without acknowledging that the "two thumbs up" in the picture weren't, in fact, his thumbs at all.

On my first visit, we arrived shortly after opening. Dai Ho is only open for three and a half hours a day for lunch.

How to Julienne Carrots and Other Vegetables

During our lunch at Young Dong Tofu - San Gabriel, Pink Candles at Ridgemont High and I were talking about julienning vegetables. Was it when the Korean Cold Buckwheat Noodle Salad was brought out and we were admiring the artfully arranged platter? Or was it a discussion of cooking techniques in general?

In any case, I was telling her how I do it, and wondered whether I should blog such things. And she said I should since she didn't know. So, in case you'd like to slice your carrots or other vegetables like how I do mine, so you get something like this...

Jaengban Gooksu (Korean Cold Buckwheat Noodle Salad)

I liked the Korean cold noodle salad at Young Dong Tofu - San Gabriel so much that I recreated it later at home. After recently coming across the photos of Ding's Garden - Alhambra and the noodle dishes there, I decided to add shredded roast chicken to my version. Not that you need to add meat, this cold noodle salad works well if you keep it all vegetarian too.

A perfect light dinner for those long hot summer days.

I used green tea buckwheat noodles because that's what I had in the pantry, but regular soba noodles or Korean arrowroot noodles will work too.

Ding's Garden - Alhambra (Closed)

Speaking of cold noodles, and in my attempt to clear out old photos by reorganizing them by date, I stumbled upon these pictures taken on June 13, 2007 of Ding's Garden in Alhambra. I usually try to visit a place at least twice before blogging it, but the restaurant closed before I got around to it.

Besides being a loose online diary of what I ate, the pictures sometimes remind me of dishes that I'd like to recreate later.