Sheets Culinary Feats

So here I am again, far far far too long since I’ve written a post. Many of you who read this know for a fact that I’m not dead, I’ve just been lapse in posting here. A lot of things have happened since the last time I was here, I’ve changed jobs twice, but the biggest being that I’m back in the kitchen and working for Marriott. That’s when I got the idea that I can use my employment here at Marriott to my advantage, so I’ve decided to move to Japan for a year and really get into the food out there.

With all of these changes it has inspired me to write once again, I’m going to chronicle my experiences on getting out there and all of the adventures I’ll have in Japan.

So with no further ado I’ll start the first post.  I’ve come up with a long list of items that I need to get accomplished before I move out there, not the least of which is learning a bit of Japanese and getting my passport et al.

I’ve been using several methods to try and teach myself Japanese, several kana books, and even My Japanese Coach on the DS. So far I’ve had a little bit of success, but I really need to crack down on myself and get to it hardcore.

The thing that I most have to update on is getting my passport. I had lost my birth certificate in my divorce, not sure where it got to so I had to apply for a new one. Not a big deal, but I have to say that when I searched for a way to get a copy of it on Google I found so many, what I would consider to be, shady websites offering to get a copy for me. Everyone now a days should know better than to trust any of these sites, I finally got to ok.gov and applied for a certified copy of my certificate of live birth, does that mean I’m not a US citizen? Ok ok, I’ll leave the politics out of this.

My birth certificate arrived on Thursday and so I decided to apply for my passport. Once again I found a lot of sites that would love to apply for me….right. Getting to the official .gov site I started my application online and got to the part asking if I have ever been married. Which I have, and been divorced. But it wants my ex’s info all the same.  So I find myself stymied here until I can get that info from her. Hopefully she won’t mind and can send it to me. If that doesn’t work I don’t know what else all be able to do for that.

This is a pretty good start, I’ll post again when I have more information.

So I was thinking today with the large amount of snow that we’re expecting this week that it’s the perfect time to stay home curled up under some blankets in front of a fireplace and eat some delicious comfort food.

These are some of my absolute favorites of all time when ever I’m feeling down in the dumps or just need to warm up.

The beef and noodles is probably my most favorite recipe ever from childhood and I loved hearing those words when my mom told us what was for dinner. Now a days it’s so difficult to make truly amazing noodles now a days, especially since my GG’s (read great grandma we couldn’t say it as kids) is over 100 years old and contains this sort of timeline: When the men go out to milk the cows mix the ingredients roll it out and let it dry; When the men come in for lunch, turn the noodles over…you get the point. I have, however, located a wonderful frozen noodle that actually tastes just as good as any noodle that ever came from my GG.

So without further ado, here’s the list of this weeks recipes.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Cream chipped beef

Beef and Noodles

So last week I was strolling through the cheese section at the Deli of King Soopers when I came across a cheese that really caught my eye. There sat this light cream colored cheese with some beautiful marbling of spices running throughout it.

I stopped and picked it up, and the name stuck with me then as well, No Woman. The lable told me how the beautiful marbling was actually Jamaican jerk seasonings, adding a delicious nutty flavor to the cheese. It made it directly into my basket and I whisked it away home.

It is with the deepest of regrets that I must report that this cheese was in fact quite awful. While the texture was ok, not over flaky, it wasn’t overly creamy either. Tasted more like a medium quality white American or low quality white cheddar cheese. I know that I can’t expect much out of an american cheese that must be pasteurized, but I was hoping for at least some mouth feel, but alas there was none.

Next we’ll come to the flavor…the cheese itself brought nothing to the table. Not even a hint of that velveeta or kraft oily knockoff cheese flavor. It seems that Beecher’s sought to support the entire cheese on the Jamaican jerk spices alone…and of that they did a poor job.

The jerk seasonings that I have had before have all exploded on to my tounge instantly with a tremendous spicy yet totally delicious flavor. One that did not simply burn out your taste buds but danced across it, bringing tears to your eyes because of the heat but making you laugh out in joy at the life it brings to your buds.

No Woman failed at that one too. The only thing that I tasted was a bitter burned flavor, with nary a distinct or happy spice to be found. Perhaps if they had even made the attempt to be like spicy pepper jack and just burn my mouth it would have been acceptable.

All I was left with in the end was a poor destitute triangular shaped white hunk of nasty. I didn’t even move on to trying to cook with it, didn’t seem like it was anything other than a waste of my hard earned $7 for a 1/4 pound.

One final comment, this cheese has made my list…it is the first cheese that I have never liked. I can even appreciate lousy American cheese slices that are individually wrapped, velveeta, feta, Chevre…all of it I love..but not No Woman.