May 10th: Epic Meal Time -- Leftovers Edition ;P

Making food in a shared kitchen is harder than you'd think. Not only is there the obvious issue of fridge space and cleanliness, you also have to take care of other peoples' leftovers (i.e. turn them into delicious things and feed them to hungry people so that they don't hang around forever) and gauge how much everyone will eat so YOU don't leave leftovers for the next person to take care of, or worse, sit uneaten in the fridge until it goes bad!

AMAZING fried rice with green beans, red peppers, and vege-ham.  I don't know how Putao does it.  We don't even have a wok!

This is especially important for me 'cause I make dinners on Thursdays, and there's no Friday or weekend classes that require meals, so any leftovers will sit until Monday, at which time they are probably not so delicious. But before I get to do anything Putao (the CUTEST little old lady EVER) makes lunch for the daytime Thursday class. It's always difficult to gauge how much will be left 'cause even though there are 50 people not all of them stay for lunch. This particular day she made food for 50 and only 30 stayed, leaving us with a GLORIOUS amount of leftovers. Since dinner is usually about 20 people's worth (sometimes 23-25 if Tingquan and/or another adolescent male shows up) this worked out AWESOME for me :D

Apples with Dried Plum -- one of the evening class ladies brought it in.

This apple thing was surprisingly delicious.  Simply combine some not-so-sweet apples with dried plum, the kind that you usually eat as snacks with traditional Chinese tea, and let it sit for 2-3 hours.  Voila! Instant deliciousness!

I've had kind of a seesaw relationship with dried plum; I used to love it as a child, but then grew out of it when I turned lik 8, and now I'm falling in love all over again!

Green peppers with shiitake, shredded carrot, and fresh corn.

QQ kelp and bamboo shoots.  This was probably my favourite dish. 

Anything with bamboo shoots is my favourite dish.  Anything with this thick crunchy kelp is also my favourite dish.  WIN.

Big Fat Dougan (dried tofu) Cubes with Goji and I-Don't-Even-Know-Probably-Rainbow-Angel-Kitten-Tears.

No questions.  Just delicious.

Cucumbers with Sesame oil and Goji.

Crunchy and cool for summer! I don't know why there's goji in this dish, but it makes it look real purty.  And tastes good.  I guess.  xD I don't like goji very much, but it's another one of those things that's growing on me...

Apple close-up! For shits 'n' giggles.