When Penny announced the date of the International Incident Noodle Party, little did I know that I would be bringing a guest. Conor from Hold the Beef was going to be in town the weekend prior and we were going to be able to make noodles together!!! Well, that’s what we thought, until there really was an “international incident”!
Oh yes, we had grand plans to actually make our own noodles, you know from scratch and everything. Conor even had plans to make some dessert noodles. She tends to dessertify everything in case you didn’t know, like last month’s dumpling event.
Enter United Airlines whose messing with Conor’s travel plans (and THEN taking her suitcase and not returning it for a day whilst they were clearly looking for the elusive “hammer pants” that Conor so foolishly joked about on Twitter – in joke, sorry!) meant that she was pretty much exhausted when she arrived after about 16 hours of travel which should have been at least half that. Making noodles from scratch was obviously the furthest thing from her mind when she arrived, just like making bread from scratch for Daring Cooks this month was the furthest thing from mine.
Indeed, when I woke her from a sound sleep the next morning with the “very good news ma’am that your suitcase is arriving in Toronto as we speak” (in fact the suitcase apparently underwent another series of inspections – those hammer pants were in demand – before it eventually arrived at our house about 8 hours after it landed) and told her that Penny had tweeted a sneak peek of her noodles from scratch, Conor’s reaction was “Of course she has!’ with an ever so slight roll of the eyes 😉 (just kidding Penny – we love you!)
Later that day, after brunch, a little cheese tasting, a little walk, some World Cup time and a nap, Conor emerged to supervise the kitchen goings on, namely the noodle preparation. I had picked two simple noodle recipes that I had had my eye on for a while – Ellie of Almost Bourdain’s take on Momofuku’s Ginger Scallion Noodles:
and Kate at Savour Fare’s take on Steamy Kitchen’s Garlic Butter Noodles with Shrimp:
There’s not really much to say about the prep of these dishes – both were done within about an hour with minimal prep and fuss. Both will definitely be making an appearance on our dinner tables throughout the summer. The Garlic Butter Noodles with Shrimp, in particular, were superb due to the use of pasta infused with lemon oil. The citrusy notes paired well with the slight sweetness of the shrimp.
So there you have it, a bit of a lame contribution to this month’s Party but at least we made it! And our contribution could have been a lot worse. You know, like this:
(image courtesy of British Sweets website)
Check out the rest of the party goers’ offerings here:
- Penny – Jeroxie (Addictive & Consuming) – Homemade ban mian with minced pork and mushrooms
- Christine – Christine’s Recipes – Spicy Pork Mince and Noodles in Crisp Lettuce Cups
- Mardi – Eat, Live, Travel, Write – Ginger scallion & Butter noodles
- Trix – Tasty Trix – Summer ‘Noodles’ with yellow and green zuchinni with cool basil oil tomato sauce
- Shirley – Enriching your kid – Vermicilli Biryani with Tahini
- Natasha – 5 Star Foodie – Homemade Soba Noodles
- Anges – Off the spork – Handpulled noodles at home
- Joanne – Second Helping
- Cherry – Sweet Cherry Pie – Coconut noodles with honey glazed pork belly
- Tracey – Tangled Noodle
- Evelyne – Cheap Ethnic Eatz – Incidental Noodles
- Ms Baklover – Footscray Food Blog – Zha Jiang Mian
- Casey – Eating, Gardening & Living in Bulgari
- Tamar – Koreanfornian Cooking – Tteokbokki
- Billy – Half-Eaten – Pumpkin Miso Noodles in Shitake Dashi Broth
- Nina – Consumed Food Love – Vietnamese Noodle Salad
- Suresh – 3 hungry tummies – Twice cooked pork with rice noodles
- Anh – A food Lover’s Journey – Taco Soba Noodle
Those dishes look terrific! How fun that you and Conor had a chance to cook for the noodles party together!
Yes it was awesome that she was in town!!! We had so much fun!
The best thing is to cook together with a friend!! And the noodle dishes are so yum!!
It was a lot of fun and Conor is just as funny as she sounds on her blog!
Your noodles look good, Mardi!! Thanks for the shout out. Glad you like the recipe 🙂
Oh you’re welcome – I have had that bookmarked for the longest time to try!
Mardi, I believe you felt great and a sense of achievement when you’ve made the noodles after a long winding road.
Your noodles look really good and attractive.
Thanks – I only wish we had had the time to make our own noodles!
AT least both of you had fun together! I wish I was there…. heh. And I am glad that both of you came with a cooked dish!
Still waiting for hammer pants.
We should all have a Skype party one of these days – but the time zones might make that difficult too… And yes – I am still waiting to see the hammer pants also!
Conor is cursed on this trip, the planktons are limiting us to only 1 hangout night instead of two while in Montreal.
Well I think your contribution looks really good anyways. Very yummy and the flavors are up my alley.
Darn those plankton!!! And yes the noodle dishes were most delicious!
I am laughing at that Pot Noodles photo, how hilarious!! Fab post and a great contribution to the party! Poor Conor!!
Poor Conor indeed – though we did manage to have fun whilst she was here!
Well you had a mini party if the 2 of you were together. Hope someday we could all actually be together for a party too.
I know – wouldn’t that be fun???
I think I would love to be invited to these suckers! I am hosting a Gimmie your Stuff exchange over on my blog!
Anyone can join in on the International Incident parties – just keep an eye on Penny’s blog (link in post!)
hahaha! (love that last photo!) It’s so nice to see this post after hearing Conor and your accounts over dinner! As always, your beautifully-lit photos are fab (and making me hungry as I wait at YYZ for my flight to LGA). Fingers crossed that Air Canada doesn’t lose my luggage (sans hammer pants).
Aw thanks Andrea – you know photography is the one thing I struggle with on the blog so your comment means a lot!
Homemade noodles…wow!!
Unfortunately, not homemade – next time though!
Sounds like so much fun and such a great experience! I’m glad that you finally got your luggage back.
Well, Conor finally got the luggage back!
I’m seeing a lot of homemade noodles tonight. It must be the season for them. Yours look delicious! Glad you friend made it in safely and you were able to enjoy some quality time together.
Yes, it was the noodle party weekend, hence the lovely noodles all over the internet!
A very international incident indeed with the two of you together – what fun, even without the hammer pants!
Both dishes look wonderfully tasty and simple, now if you can just send some to Melbourne for me, I will have it for lunch.
Yes just by virtue of Conor being here, we had an international incident!!!
I love the colour of your dishes. Spo vibrant. AND I love the story of the travelling “hammer”pants.
Now there’s a book or a film… the travelling hammer pants…
The Garlic Butter Noodles with Shrimp look especially delicious and it sounds like you had a lot of fun making everything! 🙂
Because, you know, noodle-making is not the same without hammer pants… In fact, every cook should wear them!
So cool that you got to meet each other though =)
Yes it was short but sweet, Conor’s visit. Seriously lacking in hammer pants wearing though!
Congrats on making FoodBuzz top 9 with this great post! What a gorgeous dish!
Thanks -and the good news? It tastes as good as it looks!
Noodle is one of my favorite things to eat. Fast easy and so yummy. Those photos are so tempting.
Yes these dishes were super fast to make – perfect for weeknights!
Oh the noodles! Each dish looks good.
Looks great…So glad you did not end up binging “Pot Noodle”, so funny:)
Oh I am so glad we didn’t have to resort to the pot noodles either!
garlic butter noodles with shrimp? what’s not to love? mmmm . . .
I know, I mean….
Despite all the trials and tribulations that Conor went through, it sounds like you had a great time together and these two noodle dishes show it! I’ll take a bit of both, please.
It was so fun to be together for a noodle party!
Despite all of the difficulties, those noodles look wonderful. Now I’m rethinking what I was going to make for dinner!
They’re so easy Jen – literally took 30 minutes to make both dishes!
So, how can we get together for the next incident? There’s gotta be some conferences somewhere we can both go to? Damn the bounds of space and time!
Wish I could have been more assistance instead of blissfully napping away while you did all the hard work, but I think I definitely pulled my weight in the eating department. Impossible not to go back for seconds of these, even with a belly full of vege pate.
Oh hammer pants, hammer pants, one day you will be mine. We will boogie through the kitchen together, it will be glorious.
Skype party!!!
Avec hammer pants, bien sûr!