Disaster Chef: Buckwheat Noodles with Honey Lime Sauce

Finished product.

I was looking for a good recipe to make with buckwheat noodles, which I LOOOOVE, so I grabbed one off pinterest. I like more veggies in my meals so I used a whole carrot. I then discovered I didn't have any green onions, so I used about 1/4 of a regular onion and fried it (along with the grated carrots, since I don't really like raw carrots much).

I followed the dressing recipe from Joylicious blog  closely, though!

Ingredients

• Handful of buckwheat soba noodles (the ones I get come in handy serving-sized portions)
• 1/2 lime, squeezed (I didn't have a fresh lime, so I used about 2tbs. lime juice from a bottle)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1/2 carrot, shredded (I grated one whole carrot and sauteed it...the next time I made it, I also added a couple sliced mushrooms and some shredded cabbage and sauteed everything...it was delicious!)
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (I didn't have these so I left them out)
• small handful of cilantro, cleaned and chopped
• 1 tip of a green onion, cleaned and chopped (I used 1/4 of regular onion, sauteed)
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 2 eggs

The sauce mix.

Instructions

1. In a medium pot fill with water and bring to boil. Drop noodles in and cook for 4 minutes at medium heat at a gentle boil.
2. Rinse carrots and herbs and pat dry. Shred carrot and set aside. Finely chop cilantro and green onion and mix with shredded carrots (and if you're me, saute them now).
3. Test to see if noodles are semi firm, if so turn heat off immediately. Allow pasta to further cook in the hot water for an additional 2 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the dressing.
4. In a bowl combine lime juice, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Whisk well and set aside.
5. Test noodles for preferred firmness/softness and strain. Return noodles to pot and mix in carrots, herbs and dressing.
6. In a medium pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Crack egg(s) carefully into pan and fry until edges are browned and whites are set (sunny side up). Flip over and cook for about 1 minute for over easy, ~ 2 minutes for over medium, ~3 minutes for over hard. (I did all this in the same pan, just pushing the veggies to the sides and frying the eggs in the middle, then tossing it all on top of the noodles and sauce, and mixing it as I ate to get some sauce on the veggies).
7. To serve: Place noodles in a bowl and top with fried eggs. Feel free to add a dash of chile powder or chile sauce for an extra punch!

This recipe is wonderful, because it is so versatile and easy! I've made it three times, changing it every time. Sometimes I add extra veggies, sometimes I use only one egg, sometimes I add chili powder or cayenne on top. It's one of my favorite Pinterest recipes, and I think it's the only one I've gotten around to more than once. I love buckwheat noodles, and I've made this three times in the last month. I think I'll just add whatever veggies I have on hand, keeping the noodles, dressing and cilantro the same every time.

Recipe:  5 spoons of easiness
Outcome: 5 spoons of deliciousnsess

2014 Book Cover Trends in Contemporary YA

While surveying a list of upcoming contemporary YA  releases, I noticed some interesting trends. Gone are the girls with hair across the face (so 2013 y’all).  Since I’ve yet to read even a single contemporary YA released in 2014, I can’t tell you the popular topics (except romance, always). 

But here are some trends I gleaned while scrolling through hundreds of book covers. 

1. Maps, maps, maps. Whether we’re trying to go somewhere, or to leave somewhere, we need a map. I’m guessing we’ll see some road trip books.
2. Hearts. Maybe this never went away. But a ton of contemporary YA features hearts this year. Love.
3. Stars. Not the kindergarten-drawing type, but the glinting ones with purple galaxies around them (see Across the Universe if you don't know what I mean). This is a trend in YA lately, not just book covers. Books about space and aliens seem to be gaining popularity lately. Seems to be popular for titles too (The Fault in Our Stars, etc)
4.  Kisses. Yowza, it looked like the romance novel section of the library where I was embarrassed to go with my older sister when I was that age. Now, it’s all over YA covers. Most are a tad more tasteful than romance novel covers. (Found more than a few upside down kisses, too…thanks, Spiderman).
5. Threesomes. Not that kind, you perv. I’m hoping this isn’t indicative of a surge in love triangles, since I’m sick to death of those. But lots of YA covers this year have moved from the single face, to the kiss, and beyond. Crossing my fingers it signals an increase in friendship novels.
6. Cursive. Titles (whole or single words within the title) are turning to cursive just as schools are turning away. Will young people be able to read this strange new font? Lol…  
7.  Last but not least…there is always a random object that seems to pop up on covers, even when it has little to do with the book. And…this year’s random-object winner is…the dandelion! I know, it’s nothing new. But its popularity has only grown this year. Look for lots of dandelion fluff on covers this year.

Have you spotted any trends I failed to mention? Feel free to share!

New Year's Resolutions

So I posted my New Year's Resolutions last year, but I'm scared to even look at them, because I'm pretty sure I achieved zero out of however many I made. Still, I forge ahead with new goals for this year. Always the optimist!

2014 Goals and Resolutions:
1. Write a book. You know those crazy people who do nanowrimo and write a whole book in a month? I'm not one of them. However, I believe I can write a whole novel in a year. That's optimistic for me.

2. Publish a book. I think that was the one resolution I made in 2013 that I achieved. So I'm going to keep it for this year. I only have about 20 books written that need to be edited and published. I'm sure I can find one that's worthy of publication this year.

3. Blog consistently. I am going to try for 3 blogs a week. Don't know how long it will last, but I'm going to try.

4. Move in with my husband. Every time I tell someone I don't live with my husband, they look at me like I'm crazy. We bought a house at the end of 2013, but it's a huge project. So my goal is to live in it before 2014 is over.

5. Have a garden. I've been itching to do this for a few years now, but I don't have a garden space. At our new place, I will. I'm starting small, but anything is better than nothing.

6. Be more social. Not the kind of social that I've been doing (social media) but hanging out, going to see my friends in person. I'm going to try for at least twice a month, realistically.

7. Stay positive. This is a hard one for me. My mind tends towards the negative. But I've been trying to 'think positive' for a few months now, and it's starting to get easier. Onwards and upwards in 2014!

REVEAL Wednesday: Book Cover Preview: The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd

If you read The Secret Life of Bees and loved it as much as I did, chances are, you read something else by Sue Monk Kidd since then. I read The Mermaid Chair. Good, but not much can surpass Bees, one of my favorite books ever.

So, I was especially excited to have the opportunity to help reveal the cover of Kidd's new book, The Invention of Wings, coming to a bookstore near you on January 7, 2014.

Without further ado...

I cannot wait to read the next novel by this fabulous author! I love the cover already.