Not Lee's Sandwiches

I love me some Lee's Sandwiches. Specifically grilled pork, "Number 5" I like to call it. I love that sandwich. Fatty gristly pork, pickled carrot and radish, cilantro, jalapeno slices and some kind of mayonnaise. Not to mention dirt cheap. Seriously, what's not to love? What is that mayo stuff anyway? That's what I really wanted for lunch today. Well, that and one of those coconut raisin croissants. That my friends is good eatin'. But that wasn't meant to be. Instead I made do with this.

1. carrot and daikon pickle
2. spicy marinated pork cutlet
3. rice
4. mint and basil leaves
5. banh mo

About that pickle...Lee's Sandwiches is kinda chintzy with the toppings. You literally get 1 stem of cilantro and a couple of strands of the pickle on each sandwich. Not that you can really complain at $2.50 a pop, but still. Anyway, I always ask for "extra pickle" and the cashier/order taker person -always- feels compelled to tell me that it's not the sort of pickle that I think it is. Then I'm forced to explain that I understand what it is and that I really do want extra on my sandwich. It's really more bother than it's worth and rarely results in any appreciable difference on the sandwich. But there is hope! As you might can imagine, I was pretty freakin' excited to find it at my local Asian megamart this week. More about my LeeLee love later - in the meantime I bought a big old bag of this stuff (apparently called do chua) yesterday and I think I've eaten enough to satisfy any "pickle" cravings for the next couple of months.

Not sure how I feel about the pork. I don't think I care for the texture of pork cutlet. It was like the pork equivalent of the chopped "steak" that your parents always ordered for you at the local steak house because you were just a snot-nosed kid and rib eyes were for adults. But I digress. Pork shouldn't be mushy. It's wrong. I think I'll try this again with real meat, the marinade was incredible.

Pork Marinade

1 T brown sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T white vinegar
1 T fish sauce
1 t sambal oelek
1/2 t ginger/garlic paste
thumb sized chunk of lemongrass - smashed and cut in half

This amount was plenty for a two-serving sized piece of meat. I only let it marinate for about half an hour because that's all the time I had. Not sure that it would have been a good idea to go longer with that weird meat anyway, but you of course will use real meat.

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Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

1. Sesame Noodles
2. snow peas
3. Hummus
4. sesame candy
5. White Rabbit candy

Yes, two kinds of candy, cause I've been at least two kinds of cranky. And a special bonus today - two recipes!

Sesame Noodles

1/4 pound noodles (I used whole wheat linguine)
2 T tahini
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 t brown sugar
1 t sambal oelek
1 chopped green onion
4 thinly sliced baby carrots

Cook and drain the noodles, then in the same pan add tahini, soy, vinegar, sugar and chili and toss around until the noodles are coated. Sprinkle onions and carrots on top. Tastes great cold or at room temperature. Makes 2 servings.

Blender Hummus

1 can chick peas rinsed and drained
1/4 c tahini
1 T olive oil
1 clove of garlic
big pinch of salt
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 to 1/3 c water

Dump the peas in the blender and add the garlic, oil, salt and lemon juice. Pulse adding water a little at a time until you get the right consistency. Then blend on high for at least 3 minutes until smooth and creamy.

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Crack Curry, Medium Hot

1. vegetable curry
2. rice
3. airplane carrot


Fast. Easy. Delicious. Cheap. Addictive. What else is there? I'm looking at the ingredient list on the S&B box right now - it doesn't say there's crack in it, but it does list "spices", which is admittedly pretty freakin' vague. Please know that I will not be held responsible for any untoward effects of using this recipe. You've been warned.

I scaled the standard back of the box recipe down to a single generous serving, omitted the meat, and added raisins. I'll share.

Japanese Vegetable Curry

1 cup of assorted diced vegetables (onion, red pepper, carrots and purple potato)
1 tablespoon chopped golden raisins
1 teaspoon of oil
1 1/2 cups of water
1 cube of S&B Golden Curry sauce mix

Stir fry the vegetables in the oil for about 3 or 4 minutes. The onions should be starting to brown. Add the water and and simmer until the hardest vegetable is tender. Add the raisins and curry cube and stir until the cube is completely dissolved and the sauce is thick and glossy. Pour over rice and ingest orally.

I like chopped apple in this too - added at the end so it's crunchy. Sounds weird, but it's good. Try it sometime!

As for the airplane... Well, airplanes have been on my mind lately.

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Centuria and Esoteric Fortunes

One hundredth post. If I'd realized that sooner I probably would have dressed this up a little. Cut some words out of cheese or something. Oh well.

Leftovers. From Yao. I ordered (and ate) before I remembered that I love their eggplant.



1. spicy orange peel chicken
2. rice
3. carrots
4. fortune cookie
5. honey sesame crackers

My fortune was "it must be homegrown".
I think I got censured by a fortune cookie.

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Olive Garden Antipathy

Me and Olive Garden used to be like *first 2 fingers twisted together symbolizing mutual tightness* that. When I lived in Arkansas and got tired of red hot dogs I would sometime drive 200 miles round trip to eat at the Olive Garden and thought it was totally worth it. I loved it. But over the years we've grown apart. It's been years since I was last tempted by unending salad and breadsticks. The love had died.

He was seduced by the commercial for lasagna rollatini. With chicken. He wanted to go. We went. I had cheese ravioli. It wasn't good.

The love remains dead.

1. leftover Olive Garden ravioli
2. snow peas and roasted yellow peppers
3. leftover Olive Garden bread stick made into croutons
4. complimentary Olive Garden mint candy

A lunch that was as delcious as it deserved to be.

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My Love is a Pink, Pink Rose

So I'm no Irish poet. Or anykind of poet. Or Irish. But my cheese is.

Anyway.

1. 3 big nori-wrapped hunks of sushi rice
2. pickled ginger cleverly disguised as a rose
3. baby carrots
4. fabulous Kerrygold aged cheddar cheese slices
5. candy!
6. soy sauce in a bottle

Should have gone with an Irish theme and subbed some nice Irish whiskey for the soy, or just thrown a bottle of Bailey's in my bag. Wouldn't have tasted all that great on the rice but might have made for a more interesting work day.

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Back to Back

Back to work, back to bento.

1. spicy ginger rice noodle stir fry with peas, peppers, scallions and an egg
2. cilantro and lime for the noodles
3. tangerine slices
4. little mochi with red bean paste filling

I undercooked the noodles just a tiny bit so they stayed nice and firm with a little more chew than if I had cooked them to eat right away.

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