A slacker am I...

[thistlechaser]

I always feel like a slacker if I don't make at least a post a day. I know this is silly, but hey. I'm a silly person (mentally, at least).

I saw Monsters, Inc for the first time yesterday. Luckily it was wonderful and beautiful to look at, because I disliked the storyline. Actually, I didn't like the voices much either, which is a bad thing for an animated movie. The fur was beautiful though, so I just stared at that and watched it move for the 1.5 hours of the movie.

Got some new anime all/nearly downloaded. One series (13 eps) finished downloading this morning, the other will likely be finished by the time I get home (unless Hooch crashed sometime today...). It'd be nice if I knew the titles to post with this bit of info, huh? I *think* one was called The Twelve Kingdom (in English; A-something Something in Japanese), and the other one was something like 'Shadow of the Sun, Shadow of the Moon' in English. Both came highly recommended, so I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Food is... blah. Got an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (which is more than I usually have, but I was hungry), then had to get lunch on the run (because I had to return software as well), so ended up with a cheese sandwich. Too much cheese. I had only a couple bites of lunch, the rest is in the work fridge. I'll probably end up eating it for dinner... Good thing it has lettuce on it, otherwise I'd just kill myself at my continued poor veggie intake. (Yeah, lettuce isn't much, but it's better than nothing. Barely.)

When I have time, I want to find somewhere to have stirfry. I'm not sure where they have it though. Chinese? Japanese? Both? Other?

And anyone have experience with a "noodle bowl" restaurant? Is it just like... noodles? With broth and veggies in a bowl? Does it tend to be very or oddly spicy?

Lastly, Mongolian Barbecue? I know it has 'barbecue' in the name, but I think I heard that it's really just a type of stirfry?

Comments

[loup_noir]

You have lived a protected culinary life thus far, haven't you?

Stir frys are usually found in Chinese restaurants. The Chinese cuisine has wonderful vegetarian entrees. I am particularly found of spicy eggplant. Yum! Udon soups are sometimes vegetarian. You should see if you can steal a taste of the broth first. Some places use chicken broth, but most use sea weed.

Mongolian BBQs have an "assemble it and we fry it" methodology. You pick the veggies and meat (or no meat), put the combination of sauces you want into the bowl and then they quick fry it on a large hot surface.

There are good Italian pasta dishes that are veggie, too.

And Mexican! Chilies rellenos are wonderful. Huevos Rancheros (since you eat eggs) are old favorites of mine.

A lot of Indian cuisine is vegetarian. Samosas, daal, loads of the curries, saag...

Noodle houses vary a lot. You can usually find something to match every taste in then. Always be very specific about how spicy you want something. If you're not into spicy food, ask for not spicy. You can always add something to kick it up a notch.

Mediteranean features stuff like babaganoush (eggplant), hummus, and other stuff that my brain isn't supplying.

Go forth and try stuff!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You have lived a protected culinary life thus far, haven't you?

Very, very. Once I ate nothing but PB&J sandwiches (on white) for two years straight until I got bored of it. That's about the story of my dietary life thus far -- I find one thing I like and just stick with it.

Thanks for all the info! We have so many different restaurants around here, but I worry at going into them because I don't know what to expect. First up: Mongolian! Probably Friday night.

Thank you!

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

I love Noodle Bowl!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I hear that from folks, so I'm looking forward to trying it as well!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Be careful about assuming that if you're eating lettuce, you're eating vegetables. If it's iceberg lettuce, which is the most commonly used kind about everywhere in the U.S., it has virtually no nutrients and is pretty much like drinking a crunchy glass of water.

The darker green lettuces, on the other hand, are very healthy.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah. This was darker stuff, at least what I could see around the edges and from the couple of bites I took. (I was eating in my car though, so I couldn't really open it up to check.)

[shay-shay.livejournal.com]

I am a very picky eater, also. I definitely recommend Mongolian Barbecue because you pick exactly what you want and how much of it you want. It doesn't get better than that to me! Plus, it's a good way to get some vegetables into your diet.

I've never been to a noodle restaurant, but I believe they have different types of noodles from various cuisines. Here are some links that might help you out.

http://www.noodles.com/menu.htm

http://www.genghisgrill.com/byob/index.html

I haven't been to Genghis Grill, but I have been to another mongolian barbecue called BD's. I don't know if they have that particular restaurant where you are but they should all have similiar items and such.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm checking those links out now!

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

It's been a long time since I've been there, but the Mongolian Barbecue place on Castro Street in Mountain View is pretty good. (Not sure if that's in any proximity to your work or not- there used to be one in downtown SJ called "Mongo's" that was really great, but I think they went out of business.)

By "noodle bowl", do you mean the Vietnamese Pho shops? I could live on noodle soup, but they're mostly meat-based. If I find a place that has veggie broth and no meat/seafood particles floating within, I'll definitely give you the name/location. It's a wonderful lunch or dinner, and cheeeeeap!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Mountain View isn't really in easy striking distance, but there's a Mongolian Barbecue on ECR in Sunnyvale that I'm going to try.

By "noodle bowl", do you mean the Vietnamese Pho shops?

I wasn't sure if they were the same thing or not, I've seen both names used...

If I find a place that has veggie broth and no meat/seafood particles floating within, I'll definitely give you the name/location.

Thanks!

longwindedness ahoy!

[metron-ariston.livejournal.com]

Do you have a name for the "noodle bowl" place? Because there are some chain-ish restaurants that I know of that are completely /not/ pho places. Rather, you go in and pick out exactly what you want to go in your big bowl of food. You can choose from different sauces, different meats or just veggies and tofu, different kinds of noodles or just rice, or even getting it as a stir fry or as a soup. I've only been to one of them but the concept seems to be pretty common? And it's more of a pan-Asian type of thing in that you can choose lots of different styles of sauce.

I guess it's kind of like Mongolian barbecue in that you pick out exactly how much of each veggie you want from a salad bar setup, then hand your (heaping full, mmm) bowl of veggies to the cook and it comes back with slightly-shrunken veggies and lots of noodles and sauce in with it.

I've never been to an actual Mongolian barbecue place. ^^; But it seems like it would be hard to get a vegetarian meal there, just by virtue of it being barbecue. I mean, I guess you could get tofu but...

I've also never had pho from a real pho place, just at an all-encompassing kind of Vietnamese restaurant. Which is lame because Houston is known for having great pho places. *adds to the list of things to do*

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I've only been to one Mongolian BBQ place but, if it's anywhere similar to what other places do, you'd have no problems eating vegetariarn there. You control what goes in, and meat is a separate item. No meat broth to worry about.

Let me know if you decide to go some weekend. I would love to join you, and check out a local Mongolian BBQ place. I [heart] Mongolian BBQ.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Okay, sounds good!

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

In a properly civilized area, you've got lots of options. Most of the things you've mentioned, as has been stated above, isn't limited to food of any one ethnic extraction. If we're sticking to Asian nations, however, you can get good noodles from lots of places.

As with Mongolian barbecue, a teppanyaki grill will give you lots of control over your ingredients. Plus, that'll be the best place to get some good yakisoba (easily one of the best noodle dishes in creation), made to your specs. As previously stated by others, a good Pho joint is a blessing, as well. A good Pad Thai is a divine thing. Once you look, Thai restaurants are everywhere, at least here in H-Town, so you'll need some experimentation to find a place you like. But even "bad" Thai food is usually pretty good.

The Indian suggestion is also a very good one...You can eat most of the menu without hitting meat if you so desire, and there's nothing like a nice samosa or saag paneer.

In short, there's a world of choices out there, so go nuts.