January 20th - Szechuan Sesame Noodles

As Promised...

So yesterday was a long, bad day.  (It felt like one gigantic panic attack.)  But today, went much smoother.  Took some Valum and luckily didn't have to stay at school as long.  The Polish dinner on Saturday is really shaping up...I'm mildly excited. (Valum is wonderful).

I've decided to share with you some pictures of wedding cakes I did (with the help of my assistant and my friend Jen) at my last job (as a Pastry Chef at a private club) to make up for the lack of content yesterday.  So enjoy it...or else!

The story:  A bride wanted three completely different wedding cakes with three completely different flavors for her reception.  Yup, that's it.  That's all the instructions I was given.  Oh and she said I could pretty much do whatever I wanted.  Yeah...I know...cool, but kind of scary.  

I have to tell you that these three cakes were my second attempt at wedding cakes..ever.  I had only made one before (luckily no pictures of it exist).  The only training I ever had was observing and helping the old Pastry Chef when I was her assistant.  That's it.  I have to say that I did a pretty good job (pat, pat...that's the sound of me patting myself on the back).

Cake # 1.  Chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting (inside) and chocolate buttercream outside.  The tiles are individually cut from sheets of fondant and then left to dry.    The brides last name was Love (hence the theme). [It looks like it was leaning..but it wasn't.  It's the angle of the photo.]

Cake #2.  White cake with white chocolate mousse filling and regular butter cream on the outside.  I figured she may want a traditional three tiered cake.  However, I think white cakes are boring, so I did yellow instead. 

Cake #3.  Carrot cake with cream cheese filling covered in fondant.  This is my least favorite of the cakes (cause I'm not a fan of fondant).  It looked much better in person. My assistant Lauren hand painted the flowers on the fondant to match the invitation.  It looked really cool in person.  I have to say, from a distance, it did look like someone left a present on the table.

Of course the bride loved them all.  She asked to see me and gave me a great big hug.  I "totally blew her away".  They tasted fantastic too (I had to stay to cut and serve them..it was a very long day!). 

I think this was the day that I vowed never to do wedding cakes again.  This was sooooo much work.  And to think what I could have charged had I been working for myself?  It's a shame.  Screwed over again!

The Recipe

I was really excited to make this recipe today.  I LOVE Asian food!!  My dirty little secret is that I am absolutely obsessed with Orange Chicken.  It's so bad for you, but it tastes so good!

Ingredients:

Noodles $1.99

Sesame Oil:  Had

Peanuts: $1.99

Ginger:  Had

Garlic:  Had

Teriyaki Sauce:  Had

Lime Juice:  Had

Chili-garlic sauce:  $2.49

Green onions:  Had

Total: $6.47

The description says you can turn this from a side dish to a main meal by adding shredded chicken.  Since I had chicken in the fridge (and this was going to be dinner tonight), I decided to add it to the noodles.

You can pretty much find all of these ingredients in the Asian aisle of your supermarket.  Or better yet, if you have an Asian market by you, you can pick from a bigger variety of Asian noodles and teriyaki sauces (only it takes you twice as long to shop because you can't really read Chinese).  And as a bonus, you can get the grocery store owner to follow you around because he thinks you're stealing stuff...nevermind you have a shopping basket in your hand.

The Results

Fast:  This recipe took me about 20 minutes from start to finish (including the time to cook the chicken).  Most of the time was spent chopping and boiling the noodles.  I didn't chop the peanuts...I left them whole.  Whatever... I do what I want!  You're not the boss of me.

Easy:  Basically boil some noodles and throw the sauce together and you've got a quick delicious dinner (or lunch).  It's a lot healthier than take-out.

Fresh:  It would be a lot more fresh tasting with some pea pods, onions, carrots, and/or broccoli.  I think the extra veggies would have taken this recipe from Wow to Pow!  (Trying that one out to see if I like it...not sure yet.)

Overall:  If you love Asian food, you will love this recipe.  It's super easy and super good.  If you want to keep it vegetarian, leave out the chicken and add tofu or scrambled eggs.   Scrambled eggs??  Are you crazy?  Yes...but it's really good. 

Alright meine lieblings...tomorrow is Salmon and a day for me to catch up on school stuff.