2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup broccoli flowerets
1/2 cup soy beans
1 cup peas
water

1. Combine honey, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame seeds and garlic. Set aside.
2. Steam broccoli, soy beans and peas until bright green, then toss with prepared sauce.

Makes 2 servings

8 ounces rice noodles
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger puree
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 ounces cooked crab meat
water

1. Soak noodles in boiling water under tender.
2. Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, chicken broth, garlic and ginger. Set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil, lightly fry the crab for a minute, breaking apart. Stir in the sauce, then drain noodles and toss with crab. Serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings

Still in the theme of umami (ok, really just Asian noodle dishes) I picked up some crab (ok, not real crab, I'm not made of money) and went to work. I've always been especially fond of the texture of crab (real crab) and figured I'd work with what I've got to make what I'll call fauxmami (sort of like faux pas, which is what I hear all these parentheses are often referred to) with the flavored pollock version. The result is Crab Fried Noodles (where you expecting something clever?) and basically tasted like crab with a Chinese sauce on a bed of noodles. To be honest, it started to get really gross after a while and I wanted to move on to something else.

Luckily I made a second dish, Hoisin Veggies, so I had something to alternate to. Unluckily (if that's a word) I did not particularly care for this at all either. I don't think hoisin was made for peas, or really anything other than meat or a select few grilled items. Actually, this is the most bastardized hoisin sauce you'll ever encounter, since it is only vaguely reminiscent of a hoisin flavor and in any other way does not resemble hoisin at all. I'm simply running out of generic Asian names for dishes. "American-Oriental-honey-sauce" vegetables might be more appropriate.

If you can think back to the beginning of the year, or willingly click back to the beginning of the year, you'll notice I have had a lot of unfortunate bouts with Asian cuisine, specifically Chinese style cooking. For some reason, I have not learned my lesson and continue to pretend I know what I'm doing and churn out terrible Asian dishes that would make 3/4 of the population of Asia cry and the other 1/4 laugh at my misfortune. We went to Chinatown a couple days ago and picked up a lot of really pretty bowls, so at least I have the satisfaction of having nice dishes for my terrible food now.