The Next Best Thing to a Free Lunch

I think we all know I'm a frugal girl.

That's not the same as cheap - I expect some value for my expenditures. I'm not just trying to save money, I'm also trying not to waste it. I shop sales, and am the Queen of the Thrift Stores. I also love Manager's Specials - deals at the grocery store when foods are near their expiration date, so that they're being pushed off the shelves at half-price or less. There's nothing wrong with the food, it's just that new stuff is moving in to take its place if the old stuff will go away to make some room. I'm happy to help, and do a little tour of the store each time I'm there - I'm on a mission to look for the prized orange stickers indicating reduced prices.

So, needless to say, I'm also a fan of leftovers. Sometimes I'll eat them "as is," and sometimes I'll re-purpose them. Jeremy and I watched an episode of "Chopped" recently in which the entire show was devoted to leftovers; most of the chefs groused and whined, whereas I was in my glory coming up with ideas!

When I happened to have a number of items to combine into one stellar meal recently, I made myself a lovely lunch to take to work.

Having enjoyed a fabulous Indian meal from Curry Up, I had extra sambhar sauce that had been served with lentil dumplings. Having also eaten a great Chinese meal from the Evergreen Restaurant, there was plenty of rice waiting for a new lease on life.

I also had a small carton of coconut water that my friend Deborah had given to me. She remembers having visited her grandfather in Puerto Rico when she was young, and his having cracked open a coconut for her to drink from; the fresh beverage was amazing! So when she found coconut water for sale at the market, she instinctively bought some ... too bad. She said herself that she didn't know what she was expecting or thinking, but this stuff was not even remotely close to what she remembered. So she gave it to me, confident that I could find some use for it. I'm still contemplating a really noble purpose that lets it shine; but in the meantime, it definitely served me here.

And the final piece to my ridiculously inexpensive dish was a can of chickpeas that I'd bought on sale for less than $1.

Who would have thought such a mishmash of items would make such a fabulous, nutritious lunch to bring with me one cold day when hot food was very much appreciated???

Curried Chickpeas with Spinach

• 1 cup leftover Sambhar sauce (or use a jarred curry sauce)
• generous pinch of red pepper flakes
• generous pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves
• leftover rice from a Chinese dinner, reheated for serving

Place the sauce, red pepper flakes, salt, curry powder, chickpeas, and coconut water into a medium saucepan; bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in spinach just until wilted. Serve over rice.

Makes 2 servings.

Frugal Floozie Friday - Gourmet Garden

We've been so, so busy lately that Jeremy and I once again found ourselves out running errands and schlepping to appointments one evening, and determined that we needed to get some dinner. Not having had Chinese food in a long time, we stopped by Gourmet Garden, today's Frugal Floozie Friday feature.

For a mere $5.95, I ordered a platter of Lo Mein with bright, crisp vegetables. It was easily enough to feed 2 or more people, which then allows - within our $5 per person budget - for a fresh, hot, crunchy Spring Roll for $1.25. Since our meal had started with a complementary dish of fried chow mein noodles with a sweet dipping sauce, there was an ample quantity of food.

Jeremy veered from some of his usual dishes, and ordered the Sweet and Sour Pork for $8.50; he'd simply heard it calling to him, so he thought he'd try it. The coating wasn't soggy at all, having apparently been freshly sauced before serving; and the sauce itself wasn't too sweet, and was quite good. Served with rice, this is another dish that could serve two.

The restaurant's dinner dishes are meant to be served family-style and to be shared; and the portions are large enough to serve possibly 3-4 with appetizers. Most of the menu offerings are so reasonably priced - under $10, and often under $8 - that splitting them is a great frugal way to enjoy a good meal.

At lunchtime, you can order the Luncheon Special and get either Buddhist Delight or Broccoli in Garlic Sauce for less than $5 each; and these are served with both soup and with your choice of white, brown, or fried rice.

Gourmet Garden is a great place to go for good food, fast service, and generous portions.

Gourmet Garden
2255 W. Stadium Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734-668-8389



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Frugal Floozie Friday - Evergreen Restaurant

I couldn't even tell you how long my family has been eating at the Evergreen Restaurant - likely since it opened in 1992.  When my father was well enough to come visit in Ann Arbor, he inevitably took Jeremy and me to lunch there.  So, because it's a long-time favorite, this seemed like a great place to feature today for Frugal Floozie Friday.

There are a remarkable number of dishes you can order that are well within our mandatory $5 per person budget.  Above, you see the Evergreen Sampler for $8.99; it offers Spicy Beef Skewers, Tempura Shrimp, Spring Rolls, and Crab Rangoon.  The fried items are all crisp and flaky, and the shrimp are tender and sweet within their coating.  This appetizer was split among 4 people before eating dinner, and everyone enjoyed the treats.

After the first course, orders of Sweet and Sour Chicken, Mu Shu Pork, and Mongolian Beef were shared.  If a dish is designated as "spicy and hot," you can request varying degrees of heat which are always respected and prepared perfectly.  Other favorites among loved ones include Almond Chicken, perfect with its crispy coating; General Tsou's Chicken, which I've tasted from mild to significantly intense; and Beef with Spicy Orange Flavor, which features dried orange peels that contribute both flavor and fabulous aroma.

Entrees are very generous at the Evergreen, and very few of them cost more than $10 per order; these can easily be shared among 2-3 family members and friends to stay within our strict fiscal guidelines.  There is a tremendous variety of offerings, as well - I counted more than 110 options on just one side of the take-out menu before I got tired of adding them all up!  The restaurant features Mandarin, Sichuan, Hunan, Shanghai, and Taiwan styles of cooking, which might make one wonder whether there is too little focus.  But in 20 years of eating there, I have never encountered a bad meal or known anyone who didn't happily devour their food.

The staff is always very friendly and attentive.  So stop by sometime and enjoy a great meal in a bright, welcoming atmosphere!

Evergreen Restaurant
2771 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
734-769-2748
Sunday - Thursday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.


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Scallion Pancakes for the Year of the Dragon

Today is the Chinese New Year, so I'm serving something special in honor of the holiday.  According to Wikipedia, celebrations involve buying "presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of 'good fortune' or 'happiness', 'wealth', and "longevity'."

Because this is the Year of the Dragon I'd entertained an odd notion of making something with dragon fruit, which I adore.  I don't care so much for its flavor, which is fairly bland (in my limited experience, anyway, of trying it once), but I love its gorgeous colors.  It's also filled with tiny seeds - reminiscent of poppy seeds - which would offer perfect symbolism to hope for many blessings in the upcoming year.

I'd thought about pureeing the fruit and perhaps making a sweet filling for dessert egg rolls.  But since I couldn't find any fresh, frozen, or canned fruits despite searching through grocery stores and ethnic markets near my home and asking my very helpful friends at The Produce Station if perchance they had any, I had to make a new plan.  (This photo was taken at a market in Pittsburgh in October ... a bit premature.)

I didn't want to resort to boring ol' fried rice - it's a great way to use up leftovers, but it's hardly celebratory or festive.  I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to make steamed buns.  I found numerous variations on red bean paste that I could have played with; but that wasn't particularly striking my fancy, although I do like red bean ice cream.

And then it hit me: Scallion Pancakes.  I could devour entire batches of these, crispy, chewy and delicious as they are.  They're easy to make, and can be eaten on their own or with a dipping sauce or wrapped around a filling ... they're perfect!  They require no unusual ingredients or equipment, so anyone can make them.  And with their many flecks of onion, I could also say that they offer symbolic hopes for bounty.

I asked my BFF Wendy's daughter Alison, who is studying Chinese (and who is fluent in English, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese as well) how to say "Happy New Year" appropriately for this post.  She gave me the common greeting in Mandarin, the most widely spoken dialect:

新年快乐

The four characters are xin ([SHIN] = New), nian ([nee-EN] = Year), and kuai le (pronounced to rhyme with "why the" = Happy/Wonderful).

May the Year of the Dragon bring you much happiness and good fortune!



Scallion Pancakes with Garlic-Ginger Dipping Sauce

Garlic-Ginger Dipping Sauce:
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon minced candied ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Combine all ingredients and let rest at room temperature while making the pancakes.


Scallion Pancakes:
1 cup cake flour
1 cup bread flour + extra for dusting
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1/2 cups boiling water
4 tablespoons sesame oil
2 bunches scallions, chopped fine
4 tablespoons light-flavored oil, for frying

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and the salt.  Slowly pour the boiling water over the flour mixture, stirring until it forms a ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 portions, and keep the remaining ones covered while you work with one at a time.

Form the dough into a ball, then roll it out on a heavily floured surface to an 8" circle.  (A fair amount of flour is required to keep the soft dough from sticking to everything.)  Brush with sesame oil, then roll it up into a cylinder.

Twist the dough into a spiral, then roll out again into an 8" circle.

Brush with sesame oil and sprinkle with one-quarter of the scallions.

Roll it up into a cylinder again.

Twist the dough into a spiral, then roll out again into an 8" circle.  Repeat this procedure with the remaining dough to make a total of 4 pancakes.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the frying oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat.  Cook one pancake at a time for 2-3 minutes per side, until it's crisp and golden brown.  Repeat with remaining oil and pancakes.

Makes 4 pancakes.

21

Just as days on the Jewish calendar begin at sundown and carry through to the next setting of the sun, Jeremy's birthday celebration each year begins with dinner the night before.

Jeremy is going to be 21 tomorrow, so his dad and I are taking him out tonight for our annual feast of Chinese food.

On January 9, 1991, Stuart and I went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant that doesn't exist anymore.  (We also got engaged at a Chinese restaurant that is no longer standing ... it seems to be a theme in our lives!)  Jeremy was a week late, I was enormous and uncomfortable after gaining 60 pounds, and going out to dinner just seemed easier than cooking.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, my back started to ache - the first pangs of labor; it took Jeremy another 17 hours to finally show up to stick his tongue out at us.  Stuart has maintained for all these years that Jeremy loved Chinese food so much that it was the ultimate lure to make him give up his comfy surroundings and finally make his grand arrival!

So tonight will be the 21st year in a row that we've eaten Chinese food on January 9, the night before Jeremy's birthday.  Who knew, that first time, that this would become a tradition that's integral to our celebration???

And who knew that 21 years could possibly go by so quickly ...?


For today's recipe - Waffle French Toast with Apricot Syrup - go to the Food and Grocery page of AnnArbor.com ....

Kinda Like Old Times

I went out to dinner with Jeremy and his dad (Stuart, my ex-husband) recently, to the Chinese buffet at Asia City Restaurant which Jeremy had been raving about since he'd eaten there a week earlier. I invited Stuart to take us out so I could try it -- wasn't that congenial of me??? -- and he happily obliged ... or, at least, he agreed to do it. We get along very well, so it wasn't an issue at all. (And God knows he owes me FAR more than just a dinner -- he'll admit it himself -- so he got off easy!)

It was quite the experience to walk in, as you're greeted by waterfalls and enormous koi swimming around in ponds, and even a small village interspersed among the rocks overlooking the fish -- it's quite a spectacular array.



The hostess asks if you want the buffet or the menu, as they try to keep the two groups separate; I can see that it's easier for the staff to do this, but if one or two members of a party wants one option while others prefer a different one, that's a bit inconvenient and potentially awkward as each side tries to sway the other. We were all there for the buffet, though, so we were seated in a large dining area next to the room that held the array of food.

And what an array it was!!! Row after row after row of sushi, handmade before your eyes ... soups and noodles and dumplings and egg rolls and spring rolls ... chicken and pork and beef and fish and vegetables ... crab legs and shrimp ... a salad bar ... kimchi (another food, along with sushi, that I cannot eat) ... ice cream ... and a dessert assortment that included almond cookies, which I love.





Since I've been staying at a friend's apartment with a kosher vegetarian kitchen, you can well imagine my giddy joy at finding so many varieties of beef (spicy or not, with or without vegetables), chicken (breaded or plain), duck, pork (on skewers, immersed in sauce) ... I'm pretty sure I tried one of each and every option and enjoyed it all immensely! But I was also good and ate my vegetables, from the braised bok choy to stir-fried green beans. Never underestimate my ability to eat!

I've been to buffets that were -- shall we politely say? -- less than stellar, in quality and in cleanliness. Neither was an issue at Asia City, as the staff was very friendly, the food was replenished frequently and was very good, and everything was immaculate. And they even offered chopsticks, which I prefer to use but which aren't always available. What's not to love???

The next time Stuart is feeling generous -- or the next time he can be persuaded to feel so! -- I will happily return to Asia City's buffet to enjoy the wide variety of food and the congeniality of a meal with my family, however odd our little family of three might be.

Jeremy's Birthday Bonanza

Jeremy's birthday was yesterday, on the 10th, but we always start our celebrating on the 9th.

On January 9, 1991, my ex-husband and I went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. Jeremy was a week late, lazing away in warmth and coziness as I was enormous and miserably uncomfortable. But at 3 o'clock in the morning, after going out for our dinner, I started to feel pains. And while he took his sweet time showing up, not appearing 'til 8 p.m. that night after being dragged out with forceps, Jeremy must have decided that he liked Chinese food enough that he wanted more ... at least, that's what his dad always says. And so, every January 9th since, we eat Chinese food.

Jeremy's and my favorite place is the Evergreen Restaurant; the place we'd gone to the night before he was born has closed, so we've at least come up with an excellent substitute!

The lunch specials are an exceptional value: for an average of $7, you get a bowl of soup, a small salad, and a generous plate of your entree served along with rice as well as a spring roll. It's just about the best lunch deal in town!

So, needless to say, the Evergreen is where Jeremy and I ate on Sunday. He took a break from the Atkins diet he and his dad are doing together and indulged in some celebratory Sweet and Sour Chicken (one of his favorite meals ever), along with Wonton Soup. But he doesn't like the ginger salad dressing, so I traded him extra wontons for extra lettuce. I absolutely love the dressing!

I ordered Mongolian Chicken (which is unfortunately not quite as vividly photogenic as Jeremy's meal!), with generous quantities of meat and lots vegetables. It was perfectly cooked, not too spicy. But the portions are always so generous that there was no way that either of us could finish our meals.

And that was just Day 1 of the party. On Day 2, we had cupcakes for breakfast: chocolate and vanilla marbling, per Jeremy's request, with buttercream frosting and a coating of mini M&Ms. What a way to start a morning!

Then Jeremy and I went to lunch at his very favorite restaurant, Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub. We always order the Galway Bay Mussels in a rich, creamy, luscious, garlicky sauce; and we always order extra bread because the sauce is so amazing that there is never enough served initially to sop it all up. (We had extra sauce once a few years ago, and I mortified Jeremy by asking for a container to take it home in. It was amazing on pasta for dinner the next night!!!) Jeremy actually said that these were so good that they are "conversation stoppers."

Then Jeremy ordered his requisite Reuben, which he orders anywhere that he finds it on a menu. But this one is his favorite, because it may not have the most overwhelming portion of meat but it has the tenderest of any. Jeremy said, "You know how embarrassing it is when you bite into your sandwich and a slab of corned beef pulls out and hangs on your chin 'cause it's too tough to chew???" Well, at Conor's you won't find that, Jeremy assures you!

Believe it or not, I didn't have too much trouble deciding on my own order that day ... some planets must have been in alignment for a brief moment! I chose Conor's Ploughman, a huge vegetable sandwich with melted cheese and pesto mayonnaise, served on whole grain bread. It sounded warm and gooey with a hint of nutrition, and just plain delicious. And it was, when I took one bite! After practically inhaling mussels and bread and rich sauce, I simply couldn't eat the sandwich. But that, in addition to some leftover french fries, would provide a lovely lunch for the next two days at work, wouldn't it??? I was a happy camper ... :)

In closing -- here, in honor of his birthday (which earned him a very generous $10 gift card, too, when I embarrassed Jeremy by asking the waitress if being the birthday boy came with any perks!), is Jeremy in his favorite booth at his favorite restaurant on his own special day ....

Good Fortune

Tom, Jeremy and I went out to eat at a Chinese buffet recently -- Jeremy's choice, and a buffet is definitely a good value when feeding a 19-year-old male!

At the end of our meal, of course, we received the requisite fortune cookies.

I always wave my hand over them, waiting for one to call to me. Jeremy shuffles them and then picks, which he did that night before anyone could choose any other tactics.

This then led to a debate, as Tom believes in the "Proximity Theory": if it's closest to you and/or pointing to you, that fortune cookie is yours.

So Jeremy shuffled the cookies back into their original order, as he hadn't done much rearranging and could still remember which cookie had started where. And so we selected according to Tom's rule. And here's how they worked out:

Jeremy: "Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude." Jeremy admits to having virtually no work ethic unless he enjoys the task or the company he's keeping, so this was perfect!

Tom: "You have a curious smile and a mysterious nature." Also perfect, as 'tis very true on both counts.

And then there was mine: "You are the crispy noodle in the vegetarian salad of life."