My sister and I went out to lunch today, and since I was craving sushi, we decided to go to Mikado. (I actually reviewed this place before and talked a bit about the atmosphere, here’s my last review.)

I ordered:

• 1 Amanda Roll
• Chicken Teriyaki Lunch Box

Mikado has an amazing lunch menu. (Plus you get a LOT for your money.) The “lunch box” special is $9.00 and there are a bunch of options to choose from: curry, sushi, teriyaki, yakitori, and many more. With that, you get a salad, miso soup, a spring roll, 4 California rolls, and white (or brown) rice. I chose the teriyaki style chicken and my sister picked the yakitori chicken. That was plenty of food already, but I HAD to get the Amanda roll. My sister’s name is Amanda, so it was too quirky a coincidence to pass up.

The food was delicious. (I’ve already raved about the ginger carrot salad dressing, so I’ll skip over that.)

I have a confession to make. I don’t like miso soup. I know a lot of people love it, but I just don’t get it. With that being said, this miso wasn’t too bad. The broth was salty and there were little bits of tofu to add some texture, but I’m just not a fan. Although I wouldn’t want to order more of it,  I did finish the bowl. The soup was the only thing in this meal that I didn’t fully enjoy, but even that wasn’t bad.

As for the rest of my lunch box, the chicken was tender and juicy with the tangy sauce. Each lunch box meal also comes with a spring roll and 4 California rolls.

The spring roll was tiny and very flavorful, while the California rolls were pretty standard.

Now, the Amanda roll was AMAZING. It is made with yellow-tail, tuna, jalapenos and a spicy, tangy, sauce. Although I ordered it on a whim because of it’s name, I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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It’s a rainy day here in New Jersey, so I figured it was the perfect time to try some instant phở.

The packaging is similar to most of the cup ramen I have had. The container is a styrofoam bowl filled with seasoning packets and dry noodles. The only difference is that this time they included a teeny little fork! Having an included utensil is really handy and a nice touch. The packaging design is typical for an instant soup or Ramen. It uses bold colors, images, and text. While I wasn’t wowed by the design, it is very functional.

I added all of the packets and the hot water, then I let it sit. Once it was ready, I noticed that it smelled very salty. According to the nutritional info this serving contains 82.8% of my daily sodium intake! Wow. (A lot of instant ramen and soups are VERY high in sodium.) Once I got past the salty aroma, I can also smell artificial chicken and a citrus-y oil. (Maybe lemon? Lime? I’m not too sure.)

I tried to eat it with the fork included, but it was extremely difficult. The noodles were heavy and fell right off the fork. After a few attempts I ended up switching to chopsticks, which worked much better.

This phở is very salty. I went through several glasses of water to try and balance the salty flavor and I didn’t even make a dent in the soup bowl. I can taste artificial chicken, some sort of flavored oil that I can’t quite place, and bits of dried veggies. I am not sure what the little peppercorn shapes actually are…because they are soft and spongy. (They absorbed the salty chicken flavor.)

While I like the convenience of this instant soup, the utensil supplied is almost useless, and it is extremely salty. I couldn’t even finish my bowl.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Chicken Fajita Soup - Modified version of THIS Ina Garten recipe

I have been making this soup for several years. Although I love Ina Garten’s recipes, I always modify this specific recipe. The first time I made this Mexican chicken soup, it wasn’t very spicy, and it was very tomato heavy.

The changes I make:

• I add corn (usually half a bag of frozen corn) 
• I add 4-6 jalapeno peppers (Not 2-4)
  
• I add almost double the veggies
  
• I use a little less than half of the required crushed tomatoes
• I add about 4 drops of hot sauce
• I add a teaspoon of chili powder
• I double the cumin to 2 teaspoons
• I add a teaspoon of onion powder

I am actually (mildly) allergic to tomatoes, too much tomato can make me physically sick. That is why I cut the amount of tomato in half. This is also why I eat my pasta with Alfredo, or blush sauce. I may be Italian, but tomatoes and I aren’t friends. (I say I am fail-talian.)

If you’re looking for a different take on chicken soup, give this recipe a try. It’s especially yummy with broken tortilla chips on top. (Which is a GREAT way to use up all the broken chips at the bottom of the bag.)

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Mì Lẩu Thái (Instant Ramen) - Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Another item from my favorite Asian grocery store. This time I opted for some (imitation) chicken instant ramen.

The package is really colorful, which is why I picked this brand over all the others. (There is an entire aisle of instant ramen.)

Opening the little packet, inside were four different packets to add to my noodles. I am used to having one little flavor packet, but this had dried veggies, oil, seasoning and soup mix. That was a fun surprise and it made it feel a little bit classier than a typical cup of instant ramen.

After cooking the noodles and adding the packets I was a little disappointed. I wasn’t expecting to get real chicken chunks or lime slices, but the broth wasn’t red or spicy looking like it was on the package. I was worried that this would end up being a run-of-the-mill chicken instant ramen.

Taking a taste, I was really wowed! Right away I can taste lime with the noodles and you get a decent amount of spice. At first it was refreshing, but after a bit the citrus flavor borders on cleaning-product territory. The strong citrus-oil taste was throwing me for a loop, I was on the fence on if I liked this or not.

After eating almost half the ramen I decided I did like it quite a bit. It is much more citrus flavor than chicken, but it was a nice change of pace. I think I’ll try this brand’s other flavors.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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