Laptop Lunches #54

I decided to try some new recipes, based on what I had on hand (rice noodles and napa cabbage were from the duck soup I made last week, and I had some steaks from a half price sale in the freezer). Some of them were better than others. But boy, is this lunch boring looking! I had no idea stir frying napa cabbage would take away its color.

Grapes (which I am sick of now--why do you have to buy so many at once?), napa cabbage stir fry, scallion-garlic rice noodle stir fry, and Asian beef strips. Of all these things (well, aside from the grapes, which are not a recipe unless you're God, I guess), only the beef strips were a keeper. But what a keeper they were! I really liked them, and they were super easy. Plus, I got to use my meat mallet--an excellent stress reliever on any day. The napa cabbage stir fry was a little too vinegary for me. For the noodles, I did not have rice wine, so I used rice vinegar, but in any case, they were a little too bland, so I mixed in some more soy sauce and some chili garlic paste. That adds a little spark of red to the noodles, too. But I don't think that spark of red, or the green of the scallions still clinging to the beef, or the grapes, even, add enough color to make this really appetizing.

There is the lesson for you. Avoid beige and brown as a color scheme.