We cook at home regularly, but our menu is not too diverse. We have 5 main meal nights:
Asian (yes, this could mean so many things as my sister the chef reminds me, but we do noodles/veggies/meat or tofu)
Taco night (which is really burrito night with my kick-ass guacamole)
Italian (umh, yeah you guessed it, pasta with red, butter, or pesto sauce/veggies/meat or soy)
American (mashed potatoes/corn/chicken or soy chicken)
Misc (couscous, veggies and soy for me, Jeff has meat and probably more meat)

These meals are good, but without a cookbook on hand or Giada to inspire us, we have lost the flare for new ideas. There is no Food Network here, so instead we turn to you – our faithful blog viewers. Send us your favorite recipes!! We will give them a try and post pictures of the results.

This beats us having to sort through online recipe sites and forces you to take an active role in this blog (hint: now we will know who really reads this site)!

Thanks for your help!!

Desperately seeking new menus

I haven’t been addicted for long, but I fear it’s going to take over soon. It started innocently enough. I saw the bottle in the local Asian grocery store when I was looking for a big bottle of soy sauce. I recognized the bottle and brand from the U.S., but had never tried it before. Curious, and since I was cooking a lot more than I had in a while, I figured I’d give it a try. I was hooked. It was love at first taste. It was hot and spicy that left my mouth tingling and my forehead and scalp all sweaty. (I used way too much that first time. It closely resembles ketchup and I think subconsciously I figured it wouldn’t be too spicy since I was in The Netherlands, home of the bland)

And the best part: no heartburn. I like spicy foods, but they don’t always like me. For some reason, Sriracha hot sauce loved me. No matter what I put it in or how much, no heartburn. Hell, I haven’t even had a any butthole-burning. (I know, TMI.)

Unfortunately, this addiction is just a gateway to something else: Asian food. I’ve always liked Asian food. I have an unhealthy appetite for chicken lo mein. But here in Amstelveen, my desire for Asian food has become almost an obsession. I’ve gone long streches where I had some kind of Asian food every day. Usually it’s stir fry with chicken, veggies, rice, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and of course, Sriracha hot sauce. Sometimes it’s ramen noodles. I even learned how to make my own teriyaki sauce (which is awesome, btw.)

Occasionally I’ll eat the stir-fry noodles from a place called Wok to Walk near Liedseplein in Amsterdam, which is okay, but always needs help. It’s typical of what I’ve found with Dutch food: bland. Not horrible, but it’s like they’re afraid of too much flavor. Fortunately Wok to Walk is easy to fix: just bring it home, heat up a wok, add some sesame oil, then toss in the food with some soy sauce and Sriracha hot sauce, cook for ~1-2min to get everything heated up and the flavors mixed in, and enjoy.