Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Though the rest of my state has somewhat emerged from quarantine, I still choose self-isolation. So the other day, I had a hankering for some lo mein and thought “What a perfect opportunity for me to make it myself!”

This was quite the adventure! I’d planned to drive to the local Asian market for the noodles, at the very least. But a storm was coming and I really wanted to be back in the house before it hit. So I opted for the market literally in my neighborhood where I was sure I could get everything I needed.

I was able to gather everything I needed and more (for another baking day later this week to fix a muffin recipe gone awry…) and jet back home before the weather turned. I’d gathered all my materials—which took forever because nothing was where it should have been!

(I couldn’t locate the measuring cups I’d bought months ago and had to wash out some others I’d found in a pinch. I swear things are just disappearing!)

Of course, once I started chopping up the veggies, I realized that we did not, in fact, have carrots like I was led to believe. Also, I’d picked up rice noodles instead of egg noodles, and the beef to be cooked was for stir-fry and wasn’t sliced thin enough.

First world problems, yes I know, but still I was like “Argh!!”

So a 30-minute recipe turned into a 60-minute one instead, in which I’m sure I used way too much sesame oil but a delicious dinner was made nonetheless. This was the first time I’d ever cooked beef, so that was interesting. More practice is needed, but I definitely wanna do it again soon.

And this time, I’ll make the drive to the Asian market for the fresh egg noodles.

Edit: I made a Target carside pickup for a new set of measuring cups and spoons, and I found frozen cooked egg noodles at Wegmans! I’ll report back the results.