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After listening to a podcast author interview, I've read Peter J Kim's first book, Instant Ramen Kitchen (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) from cover to cover and think it’s quite a clever book. Peter Kim has created something akin to an instant ramen version of Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat with enough info in the first sections of the book to enable anyone to come up with their own instant ramen variations, learning a bunch of cooking fundamentals (the value of mise en place, dealing with differing cooking times and balancing flavors for personal taste) in the process. Armed with a bunch of instant ramen packets and some pantry ingredients, a kitchen novice could learn a ton by making a bunch of these little single-serving, low cost meals, using either the recipes or the general guidelines to come up with their own combos. Up front, he breaks down the steps (prep, pre-simmer, simmer and finishing) with example timelines, reviews types of instant ramen widely available in the US and the importance of choosing the right simmer time, usually shorter than the label specs. Next, he presents a “Ramen Flavor Wheel” which serves as a guide for choosing flavors and also introduces all the ingredients used. Each of the ingredients gets a little blurb outlining how to use it. For example, spices might get bloomed in fat before simmering or be used in finishing. There are chopping and cooking time recommendations for each veg and protein. That’s followed by a section with sub recipes for toppings, a few sauces and dressings and a couple pages of quick ideas for cup noodles.. Anyone who’s taken the time to read through these sections, is set to start creating their own dishes but there are also plenty of recipes for those who’d rather skip reading the manual and get cooking. The first few are intended to make the instant packets more ramen-ish with recipes inspired by classic ramen styles. After that, caution is thrown to the wind and the flavors and ingredients are all over the map with soups, stews and sauced noodles inspired by frijoles de la olla, moqueca, shakshuka, borscht, Thai curry, Xi'an-style cumin lamb, and Mac 'n’ cheese, among others. I think the book would be a fun gift for a beginner cook, maybe with some ramen packets and a few condiments. A more experienced cook who’s frequently pressed for time might also find useful information here, as I did when I doctored up a packet of ramen the other day. I usually think I can chop and add veg while the noodles simmer but I followed his recommendation to prep everything first. I found his veg cooking times spot on and didn’t overcook the noodles while scrambling for toppings at the last minute. He doesn’t specifically address the often alarmingly high sodium levels in ramen packets but does explain the importance of proper seasoning, reducing the amount of the seasoning packet used when salty additions are included vs using more with unsalted additions so one can be judicious there. Here's a link to The Dinner Plan Podcast episode with Peter Kim discussing the book and featuring a couple of recipes from the book. I plan on trying the spinach ramen gratin, at least.

Cavatappi with a puttanesca-ish sauce with zucchini, cherry tomatoes and arugula. Meant to cook some chickpeas for this but forgot. I’ll add them to the leftovers.

You didn’t ask me but I follow the Zuni Cafe Cookbook recipe which uses ~3/4 teaspoon sea salt/pound of chicken. It goes in the fridge, loosely covered for 24 hrs-3 days. Before roasting, it’s blotted dry, but not rinsed. The upper surfaces are usually nice and dry (as is the goal) but there’s often some moisture underneath and inside that needs to be blotted off.

Prima Taste brand Singapore curry noodles with added veg & egg

Thanks for sharing that, @Maison Rustique, especially the photo. When you posted about your gift, I was very curious to understand the difference between a “meal” and a tin of seasoned fish!

Chicken sando with apple chile slaw. Sorry for the crappy photo, but it was good. Yesterday, I had fancified chicken and waffles for lunch at a local restaurant. See here. Leftover chicken came home and wanted to be used. My favorite of the fancy additions was an apple chile slaw, which was really just julienned apples that tasted to me of apple cider vinegar, cayenne and a hint of cinnamon. I thought it would be a great condiment with pork or roast chicken. I transferred the flavors to a more conventional slaw with apple, cabbage and Fresno chiles, dressed with mix of honey, apple cider vinegar, a dried chile mix, cayenne, cinnamon and just enough mayo to bind it together. Happy with the result and would make again

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I went to the waffle place again for lunch. Chicken & Waffles….But Make It Fancy Two pieces of chicken breast, covered with chili apple slaw and sweet orange marmalade, on top of a golden waffle, sitting on a bed of fresh spring mix, creamy orange ricotta, and crispy bacon bits Salmon I Used To Know A trio of savory brioche waffles topped with smoked salmon, herb caper cream cheese, and peppery arugula. Finished with roasted lemon slices and pickled onions. Hass, Queen! A savory vegan waffle topped with fresh spinach, olive tapenade, sliced red onion, and crisp cucumber. Roasted cherry tomatoes and creamy roasted red pepper hummus add depth, while a drizzle of balsamic and creamy avocado complete the dish.

Be careful you don’t make it so easy to slide that it slides right off the counter when it’s running!

Yes! It's salmon roe! I bought it for one of the previously posted waffles and then checked my cookbooks for opportunities to use it again, which led me to this delightful recipe!

I have 1, 2 and 3 qt sauciers as my workhorse saucepans. I cook mostly for myself or a few others. It’s possible a 3 qt saucier may help you out with soups, etc. It’s one of my most used pans, along with a 4 qt saucepan. I also have a 12-inch carbon steel wok, which is smaller than most recommend for a wok but I find it the perfect size for me. I see a lot of 4 and 5 qt “everything” pans on the market but they tend to be a lot heavier than my wok when it comes to tossing things about and don’t offer the benefit of starting in a small pool of oil. I do have 6 and 8 qt saucepans I use for larger volumes of soups, etc. I

Another quick pasta lunch TJ's lemon pasta, yellow summer squash, sugar snaps, red bell pepper and little tomatoes tossed with TJ’s lemon pesto. Salmon roe for a salty punch instead of feta or Parm.

Thanks, @rotuts, I remember that! Here’s a gift link to that NYT obit for non subscribers. And here’s the eG topic on her viral Olive Garden review: My two favorite bits of the NYT obit:

Today’s late lunch was a fast food burger - rather a curiosity for me. I don’t do fast food much except for road trips and airports and even then, I look for other options. But this morning, the local news informed me that today was National Cheeseburger Day. Who knew? They featured some great looking burgers. None were from spots in my area but they got me in a burger mood so after running a bunch of errands, I remembered a USA Today poll that picked a Habit Burger as the best fast food burger. A low hurdle, to be sure, but I’ve never had one and figured I might as well observe the national day so I got a double char with cheese from Habit. Two chargrilled burgers, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo, and cheese on a toasted bun: Not bad. Too heavy on the mayo but the charred flavor is detectable. I’d prefer a bigger burger that could take more char vs the two stacked patties but I was pretty hungry and it wasn’t bad at all. Lettuce was fresh, tomato tasted like one. The most embarrassing part is that my errands included picking up my weekly fish share (live, local oysters) and the local farmers market where I chose two varieties of passion fruit to make a mignionette for the oysters and I still stopped off for a fast food burger 🙈🙈🙈

Little potatoes here, too, in this kinda artsy fartsy smoked trout, eggs & keta (salmon roe) with sour cream dressing from Simple: Effortless Food, Big Flavours by Diana Henry I thought this was just delightful in looks and taste. The potatoes, greens and trout are all dressed in a simple vinaigrette with a separate sour cream/Dijon/lemon juice dressing drizzled on top. I used a mix of little red, white and purple potatoes with more arugula and less olive oil than in the recipe.

I put yesterday’s smoked salmon and dill waffles from Waffles from Morning to Midnight by Dorie Greenspan over in the topic dedicated to that book but I’ll go ahead and add the photo here, too. The waffles have diced onion, fresh dill and smoked salmon in the waffle, topped with sour cream, salmon roe and scallions Today, I thawed and reheated one of the onion and dill waffles from yesterday. For the toppings, I stuck close to what I had at a local waffle place last week. I made whipped goat cheese with capers, fresh thyme and oregano and spread that on the waffle. Then a pile of arugula, julienne cut smoked salmon, pickled red onion, caramelized lemon and salmon roe.

I haven’t tried Andie's corn starch suggestion yet. I usually freeze the leftover waffles and reheat in the CSO, which does help crisp them up. For some of the waffles, especially savory recipes like the one I made today, I’m OK with a softer, more bread-like texture as I often use them as the base for sandwiches.

Today’s breakfast was the smoked salmon and dill waffles from Waffles from Morning to Midnight by Dorie Greenspan The waffle itself includes diced red onion, fresh dill and smoked salmon. Toppings are sour cream, scallions and salmon roe with a pile of arugula on the side, added by me. I wasn’t sure how much I’d like the smoked salmon IN the waffle rather than as a topping so I only made one but it was quite good. The only drawback is that it limits the flexibility of the leftover waffles. I can freeze the remaining onion and dill waffles to use as a base for lots of sandwiches but they don’t all go with smoked salmon.

I’m of no real help here. The place I buy oxtails cuts them to order, at the desired thickness, from frozen (or close to it) on what looks like a big band saw. But I’m thinking you might get more specific cooking suggestions if you describe how you want to use these thawed tails currently in your possession. What oxtail dishes are you especially missing that you want to use them in?

TJ's lemon torchietti pasta, snap peas, yellow zucchini and red peppers, dressed with TJ's lemon pesto and crumbled feta. I often photograph my plate next to a window in the living room and must ask my assistant to step aside… Today, he was puzzled, but obliged. Sometimes I have to haul him away and shut him up in my bedroom.

Sounds like an excellent veg & seafood combo. I have one marked to try called Mussels and Brussels 🙃

Yesterday, I neglected to share this roasted asparagus with feta, almonds and mint from Sami Tamimi's new book, Boustany. I'll call out those little greenish red, pear-shaped tomatoes, kinda like mini-Kumatos They looked so dull compared to the brilliant red, orange and yellow varieties at the farmers market that I felt sorry for them and bought a basket. They turned out to be sweet, tangy and very flavorful. Today, I’m having leftovers from yesterday’s lunch. I went out with a group of friends to a local waffle place called Honey & Herb (full menu here.) I ordered something called “Salmon I used to know” which their menu describes as “A trio of savory brioche waffles topped with smoked salmon, herb caper cream cheese, and peppery arugula. Finished with roasted lemon slices and pickled onions for a burst of flavor,” with a salad as my side. I brought home 2 of the trio. I disassembled them, stored the components separately in the fridge then toasted the waffle to crisp it up and reassembled.

I like the frozen ones quite a lot. You need to plan ahead and give them a little time to proof but it’s well worth the effort.

If you just bought it yesterday and the appearance disturbs you, take it back to the store, ask for a replacement and inspect it carefully before leaving. I have a few similar white spots on the kombu in my pantry but they don’t disturb me so after making that observation, I put it back to be used next time I need it. I am a bit curious what you mean by “an unhealthy mold”? Is this mold that appears unwell? Or do you believe it will make you unwell? And if so, how do you make that identification based on appearance alone?

Thanks, @rotuts! Today, I just used some long toothpicks to stabilize everything but I’ve used that sandwich slicing trick several times. Very helpful! I also picked excess bread out of the middle of the roll which helps make space for the fillings.