chuck bro! You justify the crappiest as the fanciest like a champ!
I’m not gonna lie, I wish I was your date tonight. that looks amazingly yummy haha!
Presentation for the win!
I’m not gonna lie, if I wasn’t staging the photo for your amusement it would have been plainer… like eating out of the pot 
I never had trouble finding bay leaves, even though it seems like that’s the only brand in Taiwan that sells bay leaves.
For a while I had issue finding dried oregano. After awhile I realized they are all labelled as 披薩草 (Pizza grass).
Hahaha. fair enough. I ain’t gonna lie either, I staged the pot as well. But in all honesty I ate from the damn pot cause it was KD and it isnt worth Washington extra dishes for 
I all serious, despite our somewhat different styles on cuisine, I think we can probably all agree people eat with their eyes.
bay leaf is a common ingredient in Taiwan 
Here is what I drink these days to cope with a cold. Maybe I am going a bit overboard with the ingredients, but I absolutely love the combination of flavors.
Tea made with:
Ginger
Lemon
Honey
Raisin
Apple
Cinnamom
Marjoram
Sage
Star anise
Cloves
The amound of each can vary. Not sure how much it can cure anything, but I love the taste and it makes me feel warm. 
I shared a recipe for homemade hamburger helper recently on some thread, and tonight took a stab at it (or, something like it, couldn’t find the post again). Didn’t eat it much when I was a kid, and had to make some substitutions to avoid going out (is actually pork helper, but the end result is not bad. Better with Sriracha!
Are the apple and ginger fresh or dried? Looks tasty.
Where do you get marjoram?
Fresh. I get most of my spices from the Indian shop near Zhongxiao-Fuxing in Taipei after someone recommended it on Forumosa.
Amazing, thanks!
Homemade tomato soup for the very first time
One of my students gave me a box of cherry tomatoes, but there was no way I was going to eat more than a few before my upcoming trip to the US. Not wanting them to go bad, I got an idea to try to make tomato soup with them. I also had some leftover 九層塔 Chinese basil from making 三杯雞 the other day; the basil was starting to get dried out in the fridge but I thought it could work.
I threw together ingredients that I had, and I surprised myself because the soup came out delicious, full of fresh intense flavors. Campbell’s will now never compare with it!
I’m sure others can change it to their liking, but here’s how I made it. Sorry, it’s not very precise, just what I remember…
Ingredients 1:
1 container of cherry tomatoes (I counted, there were about 65)
2 Tbsp olive oil
A few pinches of salt and pepper
Cut the tomatoes in halves. In a large bowl mix them with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes (my Taiwan toaster-style oven was set at the highest 230°C, top and bottom elements). Remove the pan and set aside.
Ingredients 2:
1 onion, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp (or more) dried chili flakes (I keep them from pizza orders–very useful!)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 box/can (mine was 500ml) of chicken or vegetable broth
Handful of fresh basil (or 九層塔 like I had)
Heat some oil in a sauce pot over med-high heat. Add the onions and sautee for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, chili flakes, and Worcestershire sauce, stir and cook for another minute or two.
Add the roasted tomatoes and basil. Stir and cook for a minute or two.
Add the broth and heat everything together for a few minutes until hot. Carefully transfer to a blender/food processor, or use an immersion blender. The heat will expand in an enclosed blender so be careful the liquid doesn’t spew out; I left the top hopper open a bit to allow for the heat to escape. Blend at low then high speed until you get the consistency you like. I blended for probably 30-40 seconds?
Transfer back into the pot to reheat and adjust the seasonings if desired. Mine ended up perfect for my taste.
Went through the emergency stash and some things will expire soon, so here’s a concoction
Beef broth noodle soup, with kimchi and pork paste
Fried the pork paste. After removing the oil and globs of fat there remained half the volume and a bad taste, so I boiled it for a while and strained it. Won’t be getting those again, yuck. But there is canned corned beef at the SEA grocery and canned chicken chunks at Costco so not neessary
Added the kimchi, beef cubes, and some dried chilis, with fresh water, and then the noodles…
Waiting for the noodles to cook now…
Verdict: if China does blockade the island and I am forced to cobble together meals from my long term emergency stash and whatever can be scrounged, still better than the average random Kaohsiung restaurant 
Never seen it. Can’t be worse than the fried pork paste. I’ll try it if I see it, gonna have to bump up the blockade supply with more 2025 expiring stuff
I’ve also got some Taiwanese canned braised beef, threw a can in camping stew once but don’t remember how it was. Those still have some shelf life so not gonna worry about them.
Tomorrow I have a can of pressed chicken “lunch meat” which I fear will be spammy. Thinking of trying to fry it before making another noodle soup
Canned chicken came out something like Virnna sausage and catfood. I fried slices until crispy. Much better than yesterday’s pork paste, but still won’t get it again
Frozen veggies instead of kimchi in the beef broth with noodles
Yesterday’s was maybe a better Frankensoup, but still better than paying for hotpot
Going after the holy grail eh. Make sure to share pics of the pinnacle of Venn diagramitic culinary perfection. I’ll have the umpah loompahs update the records.
In the end I didn’t add salt because the beef cubes and MSG provided enough sodium (the msg I have is weird little umami balls rather than salty crystals, and I use so little it’s taking forever to finish). I also added a healthy dollop of tumeric for the anti inflammatory properties (hides nicely with the standard chili spices). Basically just watered down chili that is light on the beans, but I have to do what the venn diagram calls for 
The end times must surely be nigh dotdotdot
Oh my god!!
I can’t believe it. Did it taste good?