Ichiban Ramen Original Flavor with Braised Pork Belly, Bean Sprouts, and Green Onions... in a pot!
And again!
Shin Ramyun with Braised Pork Belly, Poached Egg, Bean Sprouts, Green Onions, and Carrots!

Just a simple braise for pork belly to serve with ramen (goes great with instant or otherwise). Feel free to experiment to taste but I used (roughly):

To celebrate the spring we call "fall" here in southern California, I decided to enjoy a cold weather favorite of mine, Nong Shim's Shin Ramyun (aka ramen). Wikipedia tells me it's the bestselling brand of noodles in South Korea It's been very hot this September, but at least it was sort of cold tonight... well, comparatively anyway. Close enough for spicy ramen weather! A pack for a buck or less is enough for two servings.
Now a package of ramen by itself is just boring, so this time around I decided to boil some beef balls with the spice mix to start before adding some baby bok choy, spinach, green onions, the freeze-dried veggies, and the noodles.
Mmm... tasty! But very spicy and very hot if you eat it out of the pot like I did! See the steam in the third shot.

Texas Toast is basically buttered thick-sliced toast made in a pan or grill. According to Wikipedia, Texas Toast was first served at the Pig Stand (a now defunct fast food chain) on Calder Avenue in Beaumont, Texas in the 1940s. As the story has it, Royce Hailey, Pig Stand president, requested that the bread from the Rainbo bakery be sliced thicker, but the bread was too thick for the toaster, so a cook buttered both sides of the bread and placed it on the griddle, toasting it medium brown.
Since I had extra thick-sliced bread from making French Toast, I decided to make Texas Toast as a quick snack. All you need is:

• Thick-sliced Bread (sometimes sold as "Texas Toast" even though it's not toasted)
• Butter
• Garlic Salt if you like (Other ideas would be to mix cinnamon and sugar with the butter to make Cinnamon Texas Toast.  If you want fresher flavors, mince garlic and parsley and mix it with the butter before spreading.)

Grilling

You can also cook it on the grill if you're having a barbecue out back.  Just butter the bread and place it right on the grill.  Just be mindful of burning the bread since the heat is higher.

Here it is! My super secret tortilla soup recipe! Okay, it's not really super secret but whatever. Here's what you'll need:

• 1.5 pounds of chicken (usually I use breast but I've also just thrown in half a small chicken before. But it you use dark meat and/or skin be prepared to skim the grease.)
• a 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• a can of corn (I just use whatever size I happen to have usually 14 ounces)
• 3 to 4 cans of chicken broth
• salt, pepper, and sugar to taste
• a large brown onion diced
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped finely
• 1 to 2 chipotle peppers (bought in a small can with adobo sauce. You'll want about 2 teaspoons of that adobo sauce.) Put more if your mouth can stand it. Be sure to put in that adobe sauce!

Condiments:

• tortilla chips (or strips if you feel like cutting and frying some corn tortillas)
• shredded cheese (I usually just buy a bag of shredded "mexican" blend cheese but you can also used monterey jack, colby, cheddar, or a blend of the three)
• sliced avocados (if you like, I don't usually.)

Start by searing the chicken a bit with some oil in a 4-quart pot (or whatever large pot you have available) on medium-high heat until you get some nice browning. Add the onions and garlic and let them cook until you get a good aroma and sizzling. After that, you can put all the other ingredients in and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes, but longer if you like. Be sure to taste the soup and add salt, pepper, and sugar to suit your tastes. Serve with chips and cheese. Makes 6 - 8 servings.
It's soup! Taste it while it's cooking to make it to your liking. Don't be afraid to experiment by adding and subtracting ingredients, adjusting amounts and what not.

Ginger Chicken served on a bed of steamed white rice. This is something I first made for a quick and easy dinner for one a few years ago. It's pretty simple. You'll need (these are rough estimates... I don't really measure anything):

• a 1/4 inch of ginger minced
• a clove of garlic minced
• a tablespoon of sesame oil
• a chicken breast (boned preferably but that's really up to you)

Put all of the ingredient in a small ziplock bag shake it and put it in the fridge for 30 mins, you can do it ahead of time but I wouldn't store it for any longer than 2 or 3 days in the fridge.
When you're hungry, just take the chicken out of the bag, put a little oil in a pan, and fry it at medium heat for 5 minutes a side or when the you poke it with a fork and the juices run clear (again rough estimates... I don't really time myself either). That's it. It's done. Cut it, shred it, or serve it as is, for a quick bite.

I made French Toast according to this recipe from Alton Brown of Good Eats fame. It's pretty tasty. I deviated from the recipe a bit in using French Toast bread from Ralph's supermarket. Yes, it was actually labeled "California Enriched French Toast Bread" which was pretty lucky on my part because it was the only thick-sliced bread that Ralph's carried. You want a thick-sliced bread because it holds up better in the batter and is less soggy when you cook it.

You can see the toast is a bit shiny... that's not grease... it's sugar! I prefer to caramelize some sugar on one side of the toast rather than eating it sprinkled with powdered sugar or with syrup. It's pretty simple to do: after one side of the bread is toasted, just sprinkle some granulated or brown sugar on one side and sear that side for 20-30 seconds on high heat to burn the sugar a little. It forms a nice shiny crust as it cools.

An anonymous commenter recently asked me to post Peach House's recipe for Brazilian Lemonade which, having never worked there, I didn't know. So I did the next best thing... I made a recipe up based on some online research! It's actually a limeade so the name is a bit of a misnomer.

I went over to my cousin's and saw Martha Stewart with a guest French chef who was making food. This is kinda what they made to the best of my recollection. Haha... monkey-see-monkey-do cooking so to speak.

Made by Mom and served in a reusable Ziploc container (Look ma! I managed to keep with the brand theme!). My mom braised the beef brisket you see on top beforehand and sliced it up. She also included thinly sliced round roast and store bought beef balls ("bo vien"). She then just puts everything in the fridge and all I have to do is put everything in a bowl and spoon some boiled broth over to enjoy a hot bowl of pho.