Survival Sunday 206: Tea & Yakisoba

I've been lazy, I'll admit it.

I haven't been cooking anything interesting in a while. Right now I'm hunting down some ingredients for a simple recipe that hopefully goes well. I don't know, man. It's hard to make food right now. Regardless, we had some noodles this week! It was great!

We were making Yakisoba, which means grilled/fried noodles.
That's why our scallions & water are in a frying pan, rather than the usual pot!

I like how vinegary the flavor of Kenko yakisoba is.
Also, in case you hadn't guessed, this is another pull from our Umai Crates!

We boiled the water & scallions together before adding the noodles.
I only cooked the noodles until they were just done, and by then all of the water had gone!
We added the flavor packets, but by then I was concerned that I might burn it into the pan.
That's why there aren't pictures :(

This stuff is always good.
The noodles are tasty, the sauce is addictive, and whatever the green powder is?
It's fantastic.
It's all fantastic!

Now, you might have noticed from the title that I have also tried a new tea.

You may also remember from the last couple of weeks that I've been sick. My throat was so sore at one point that even trying to eat a cookie was excruciating. I ate it anyway because I'm fat, but still. Ouch.

The teas I have access to are usually reserved for guests, since no one in my immediate family really drinks it. There's the standard Red Rose for my grandmother, a chai that my mother only very occasionally drinks because the moment she takes a sip she is reminded that she prefers the smell over the taste, the chamomile for insomnia (it only kind of works, sorry, and it tastes like potpourri), and now something called "Throat Coat".

So. This is Throat Coat.
It's an interesting blend. The red color is interesting.

The wrapper for this bag is so stiff and plastic-lined that I almost couldn't get it open.

I don't know if you can read that picture, but...
this tea is made with:
Wild Slippery Elm Bark, Licorice root, Marsh Mallow
and it's strange.

First of all, you're supposed to boil the water (?!), then steep the tea for 10-15 minutes, covered.
I've never been requested to do this for a tea.

Now, I botched this already, since instead of boiling anything, I went for our Keurig for the hot water.
I covered the tea with a paper plate and hoped for the best.

That's... not red. Even after stirring, it kinda just looked like pee.

And here is the bag sitting in a mixing bowl because I get weird at 11pm, which is when I brewed this.

Now, I'm not a tea drinker, and I don't know how one is supposed to take tea or prepare it or whatever, but this tea was weird. It advises adding a tablespoon of honey to it for maximum effect & sweetness. After my first sip, I was very glad I hadn't added anything. This tea is actually pretty sweet. If I had to compare it to something, it would be red bean soup, which is something else we tried from our Umai Crates. It's a light sweetness, not settling on the center of the tongue, but lingering off to the edges. It's elusive. It's... delayed. Like... you'll take a sip, and then a moment later you'll taste the sweetness. It's odd.

It's not bad, though.

I will say that I didn't get much coating on my poor aching throat, though.

I still coughed less!

So in conclusion:

I recommend Yakisoba for meals and Throat Coat for sick folks.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC