Last week was a pretty horrible week health wise. It started with me somehow spraining my hip while sitting on the sofa and only went downhill from there. After hobbling about all day Monday, I had to go to Lanai for work on Tuesday and promptly came down with a virus Tuesday night. Three days of body aches, fever and chills later, I was finally feeling better and then the virus spread to my eyes!! And it's not pretty. Eeeewwww.
All this hot weather hasn't helped much either, but summer always makes me crave saimin, and saimin always makes me feel better.
We eat this for dinner way more than I should admit to but, it's really quick and actually a fairly healthy dish. Plus Buddy loves saimin, so it's not a hard sell. You can do saimin all sorts of ways, but I usually serve it with won bok (Chinese cabbage), tamago-yaki, two kinds of kamaboko, tofu, and my favorite (and very addicting) korean style nori. Sometimes I add shumai or gyoza too. Then I just add some sides of Buddy's favorite Japanese cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots and celery and we're good to go.
Watermelon for dessert, and I'm feeling better already.
That looks delicious. Hope you're feeling better soon.
Posted by: suzy | June 12, 2007 at 11:48 PM
Wow, that looks sooo good!
Posted by: mimi k | June 13, 2007 at 02:07 AM
gah sorry about the eyes! but man does this look good!
Posted by: hannah | June 13, 2007 at 03:45 AM
Hope your eyes are feeling better. I had a viral eye infection a few years ago and found it soothing to bathe my eyes with baby shampoo. It's so mild it doesn't sting at all.
Both my daughters love the korean style nori. My elder daughter has to begged to touch vegetables, but will eat an entire packet of that seaweed.
Posted by: Donna | June 13, 2007 at 04:29 AM
Yum, I love saimin! Yours looks so inviting and comforting, and well balanced:) Hope you feel better soon. It's no fun being sick.
Posted by: Barb | June 13, 2007 at 06:54 AM
Saimin? Is that noodle soup, like udon noodle soup? Looks yummy to me and I love all the ingredients you have included. What do you use as soup base? Now you got me craving for saimin! I would really love to make some saimin myself. Thanks for sharing. Love to you and yours.
Posted by: Evelyn Lum | June 13, 2007 at 06:59 AM
Hope you feel better soon. And you are making me hungry. I love saimin that is one of the thing s I love about Hawaii. And the fact that you can get rice at McDonald's. I love my rice.
Posted by: Mia | June 13, 2007 at 07:13 AM
Saimin is definitely on my list of comfort foods. We went to visit family a couple years ago in Honolulu and then took a side trip to Kauai. We had to go to Hamura's. I have a photo of my son (then 2 1/2) shoveling saimin like it was going out of style. All the locals stared a little at the (mostly) haole kid who begged for more saimin. :)
Glad to hear your are feeling better!
Posted by: Dana | June 13, 2007 at 09:22 AM
That looks like the best kind of meal! Lots of veggies. So well balanced. Hope samin helped you get rid of the virus!
Posted by: tomoko | June 13, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Mmm. Sounds good.
Posted by: justJENN | June 13, 2007 at 06:47 PM
i love saimin! i didn't know about it until my first trip to oahu and i was disappointed that i hadn't discovered it earlier. how could i call myself a noodle-lover and not know saimin?!
it's great that you can put whatever the heck you want in it and make it an entire one-bowl meal. i think the korean nori idea is fab -- i'm going to try that next time. do you buy a certain brand of saimin? or do you make your own soup?
hope your hip & eyes are feeling better. don't rub your infected eye!
Posted by: yucaree | June 14, 2007 at 05:54 AM
Talk about comfort food!! Your saimin is gorgeous. I'm so glad I can get kamaboko and bok choy over here on the mainland. When I'm sick, all I want is miso soup and/or saimin just like yours!
Fabulous photos. Only one problem: my keyboard is wet from all my drooling! Heh heh.
Posted by: Mokihana | June 20, 2007 at 01:36 PM