Night o' Chinese

Yesterday, I really wanted Chinese food. During work, Chelle and I kept talking about how delish it would be to get some – specifically to get some sweet & sour chicken. We couldn’t think of a place we could go, so I figured I’d eat some for dinner. But I’m always displeased with the greasiness of take-out Chinese, so I decided to make homemade food. I was nervous to do this (I’ve never made it by myself, I’ve usually had someone make it as I sit in the kitchen and talk to them) but I felt up to the challenge. I got some recipes, and then to Target to get the ingredients. I swear, if I could live at Target, I would. I love that store. But that has nothing to do with this, so we’ll move on.

First off, I made lo mein. I had a recipe sent to me by my dad that I was going to use, but then at the last minute, I found a different recipe that I found that looked a little easier. Plus, I thought I had spaghetti noodles, but when we returned from the store, I discovered I didn’t actually have any. And since I wasn’t going to go back to the store, I had to make do with what I had. So I used 2 packages of Ramen noodles instead, and it actually worked a little better, I think. After adding various ingredients, this is what the lo mein ended up looking like:

It was actually pretty delicious! I was pleased with myself.

Husband made the ham fried rice whilst I made the lo mein. We used a pretty basic recipe for that one, and here’s what that one looks like: I really liked the rice, it was so delish. You’re supposed to use like, day-old rice when making it, but since I only had the craving this morning, it was fresh made rice, so it was probably not how it was “supposed” to be, but I still liked it.

And now, to the infamous sweet & sour chicken - the whole reason I wanted to eat the food. When we went to Target, they didn’t have my usual sweet & sour suce that I get. They did have another brand, so I assumed they’d probably taste the same, so I got it. I also used a different kind of chicken than I usually use – I used like a popcorn chicken kind, so it was pre-breaded. I cooked those in the oven for a bit, then let them baste in the sauce for a while, and cooked them a little longer on the stove. They looked ok..ish, but then when I took a bite, they were absolutely awful. I didn’t get a picture of those by themselves, just on my plate with the other food, so you can see it here.

I also had wonton strips that I made, that was easy, I just bought the wontons, cut them into strips, and fried them in a pan until brown, which was like, seconds.

So there it is, my Chinese food dinner. It was half good, since the dumb sweet & sour chicken didn’t really pan out for me. Unfortunately, I still really want that chicken. I guess I’ll have to go somewhere to get it, since I can’t seem to make it myself. But at least this was a learning experience, and now I know I don’t know how to make it.