Foodie

Once again, I was feeling all superior and stuff what with the people eating seconds of the Disney foods I was making. And once again, it was the dishes I thought would surely be the easiest that ended up being not so easy – and in some cases, not so good.

Let’s start with foods from Jiko. Jiko is a signature restaurant that we have not been to because it seems to be a fancy place you go if you wanna get dressed up and drink good wine. I do not ever want to get dressed up or drink wine but I especially don’t want to do those things while at Disney World. That’s the exact opposite of what I want to do. Sure, I wouldn’t mind trying some of the foods but not enough to spend a zillion dollars and get dressed up. Maybe some day when we’ve been to all of the other places?

In the meantime, I thought we could try the Jiko mac & cheese that EVERYONE apparently loves so much that you can still order it even if it is not on the menu. It seemed really easy, particularly compared to that French mac & cheese I made weeks ago. It’s just a simple roux and some shredded Italian cheese. What could go wrong? Welp, it had no taste or maybe tasted a bit of flour even though my roux looked pretty darn good. We all salted and peppered the heck out of it and I dumped some of the sauce from the next recipe onto it and nope. It just wasn’t very good.

I was so confident about that mac & cheese that I decided to make the Jiko Savannah Rolls at the same time. (That’s them in the photo above.) Seemed like a pretty decent idea to go with the heavier mac & cheese. I made a couple of changes to these and those changes were fine. If I did it again, I’d try to NOT make those changes and do it as called for. The changes were:

• I didn’t get to the produce stand so I had no fresh corn. Instead, I used plain old canned corn that I drained and rinsed the heck out of and then let drain again. Because I used canned corn, I sauteed a little less than called for – which I think was correct.
• I didn’t have the size wrappers called for in the recipe so instead of halving them and rolling, I just rolled. I think that was the right call for that sized wrapper. If I had the 8×8 instead of the 4×6, I’d probably halve them as called for in the recipe.

I was most worried about the dipping sauce but it turned out to be pretty much just right for those rolls (and it helped the bad mac & cheese out, too.)

This is the meal where I also made the Pandora Pongu Pongu aka pineapple lumpia. Because see above and me being all overly confident and superior. Haha.

These were fairly easy to roll up – I used the last of the lumpia wrappers from my cheese lumpia last week. The hardest part was trying to spread cream cheese evenly across the wrappers. That was a gooey mess and I hate gooey messes.

Next, the recipe calls for you to pre-roll and freeze – it doesn’t suggest you take them out of the freezer and let them come back to room temp or anything so I assumed you fry from frozen. That was apparently the wrong call since the ends were nice and warm and melty and the middle was frozen.

Also, why did I deep fry TWO things in one night? So much greasy mess.

The Pongu Pongu WAS tasty but deep frying from frozen was not the answer. I will make them again when I have lumpia wrappers and I will not fry them from frozen.

Last but not least, TW requested Mickey Rice Krispies Treats so i made them for 4th of July dessert. I even tracked down a big Mickey head cookie cutter and added vanilla (2 tsp), a handful more marshmallows, and a wee bit more butter (1/2 tbsp) because the WDW versions ARE extra marshmallowy and extra buttery. I forgot I gave my candy melts to Jenn so I just melted a Hershey bar and drizzled or spread chocolate on them.

TW said they were good but they needed more butter. I think she’s nuts and they were pretty darn close to perfect.

One of the best restaurants on Disney World property is the Satu’li Canteen – and it’s a quick service restaurant. We talk a lot about how amazing the food options are at WDW but focus most often on the more deluxe dining establishments that need a reservation or the food kiosks during the Epcot festivals. This little quick service restaurant in Pandora (you’ve seen Avatar, right?) takes theme park eating to another world (lol, I’m funny.) Want a burger or a hot dog? Satu’li has them but they won’t look anything like what you’re expecting and they’ll taste better than any cheeseburger or hot dog you’ve had.

Can you tell I love the Satu’li Canteen?

One of the things that makes this restaurant different from any other quick service restaurant on property is their bowls. You choose a base, a protein, and a sauce – they add slaw and some bobas – and the results are amazing.

Because it’s just the three of us here and I’m not insane, I decided to choose the base and protein(s) and the sauce and folks would have to just take what I made. It’s funny, TW has been anti-meat lately but when I told her I was making the bowls, she immediately assumed I was making the steak version. I wasn’t. I made the tofu version for us and since I had some pre-cooked chicken from the Portillo’s salad earlier in the week, I made chicken for Momal (she does not like tofu.)

I also chose the potato hash as the base and TW seemed to expect I would choose the noodles. Or make both (lol, she’s funnyyyy.) I did choose the creamy herb sauce, which was her preference, too.

I started with this set of recipes. Again, note that I made the potato hash, the slaw, and the tofu. I did not make any changes to these recipes at all. (Note: I tossed the pre-cooked chicken I had in the fridge with this same tofu seasoning and it worked just fine.) If I make this again, I will definitely make these light changes:

• I’ll buy bagged slaw.
• I’ll do the potato hash in the air fryer instead of the oven.
• I’ll fry the tofu on the stove instead of using the air fryer.

This was all super easy to make, it was just time consuming to dice all of the potatoes and slice all of the cabbage and I’m not a huge fan of spending an hour prepping food. Ultimately worth it but I didn’t really enjoy it lol.

The Creamy Herb Sauce was a different story. I planned this poorly, probably because I originally planned to use the Charred Onion Vinaigrette and changed my mind because Creamy Herb is better.

I had planned to use this recipe but ran into problems. First, our basil is pretty much dried up and gone and I didn’t expect that and didn’t order any basil from the last grocery pick up. I had parsley from the last grocery order but apparently forgot to ask for cilantro or they just gave me parsley twice. I’m not sure what happened but since I didn’t have either the basil or the cilantro – this seemed like it wasn’t going to work. Not to mention they suggested making it the day ahead and dinner was only five hours away…. It also seemed a lot more green than I remembered. So off I went for a new recipe.

I landed here and thought this looked promising – except we apparently didn’t have cardamom. And, it was clearly not green at all. Which was not right. So, I tweaked. I made this recipe but used garam masala instead of the cardamom and I left out the extra salt, just in case. I also chopped up about 1/4 cup of the parsley and added that. I let it all hang out in the fridge for a few hours and …. it was good. Very good. TW told me to save the leftover for other salads we might eat over the next few days.

The only other issue is the popping bobas. I couldn’t bring myself to pay a whole lot of dollars for them via Amazon and you’ll be shocked to know that a) Walmart doesn’t have them. b) Hitchcocks doesn’t have them. c) Sam’s and BJ’s don’t have them. So… I used my Cocktail Caviar bobas and that was a mistake. lol. TOO much boozy flavor. I’m going to have to buy some popping bobas because I like the bobas on the bowls. It’s part of what makes the Satu’li Canteen theming so amazing.

I had planned to make the pineapple lumpia from Pongu Pongu for dessert but forgot all about it and … for reasons I’ll explain later, it didn’t happen. Stay tuned. (And plan to make your own Satu’li bowls. You won’t regret it Just go track down some popping boba. You probably don’t live in a tiny town and maybe have a better grocery store or a frozen yogurt shop or a tea shop that has them.)

First, one of TW’s favorite cocktails at Disney World is a Smoked Turkey. She most often orders this at Sanaa but they have it at many restaurants and resort lounges on property. If in doubt, she’ll order this drink.

So after the Tempting Tigress, I told her I was going to figure out the Smoked Turkey. She told me not to because she thinks it’s been giving her a headache since her surgery last fall. I… did not believe this drink was causing that issue. So, I ignored her and picked up all of the things various recipes indicated one needed for this drink.

During the first attempt, TW wondered about why it was SO red. She was sure this wasn’t even close to correct because it’s not red at Disney World. Turns out, according to photos of people’s drinks – it is that red. It’s just not that noticeable in the bars and restaurants where she drinks it. Or something. Here’s that recipe.

Next problem was that the smokey flavor was WAY too SMOKEY. So I looked for a new recipe and I think it’s closer. TW says it’s still too smokey so I keep reducing the amount of smoke syrup so now I’m using a small bar spoon for a double Smoked Turkey. Since I don’t really drink this cocktail, I’m having a very hard time figuring out what’s wrong but something still is.

Regardless, she’s drinking it. Quite a bit. Tonight, for instance.

Also tonight, I told TW I would make dinner again but the thing I had planned to make didn’t seem like a good idea, based on what we’ve had for dinner in the last couple of nights and the leftovers I wanted to try to use up as side dishes. So… I went looking for Disney recipes and stumbled across a Goat Cheese and Tomato Tart from France, in Epcot. We’ve never eaten this. We’re not even 100% sure where one would find this in France, in Epcot. Chefs de France has a flatbread that might be similar to this but … I dunno. Regardless, it sounded easy and quick and I had all the ingredients. Here’s the recipe.

Because I have not had this and I could not find anyone talking about it or any photos, I did some more research and pondered making a flatbread vs a tart. And pre-baking the puff pastry or not. I mostly followed the recipe and hoped for the best. Except I made it flatbread shaped instead of round. It’s also not really clear in this recipe or maybe that’s not what the recipe intended but I used both packages from the box. I stacked them on top of each other. and rolled them out to flatten them into each other. I pinched the edges a little to make sure the two sections of flatbread kind of stuck together.

I had planned to use a huge tomato from our garden and then supplement with different color cherry tomatoes but that tomato was not a happy tomato so I had to use all cherry tomatoes. (I had a big package of the Wild Wonders Medley cherry tomatoes.) I just quartered them rather than slicing, because I’m lazy. We also had some very old and tired basil from the garden and I used some of that. I wish I’d had more, it needed just another couple of leaves, I think.

The recipe says bake for 15 minutes. LOL. Not so much. It was a lot closer to 30 minutes and I ended up switching to the Pizza setting on my oven because TW suggested it after 17 minutes and it still looking not done in the middle but close to done on the edges.

In the end, it was really good. TW and her mom both had seconds. We’d definitely make it again but I’d pre-bake the puff pastry for a bit before adding the tomatoes, cheese, basil, and olive oil.

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

The timing on this one was poor. Very poor. Oops!

But, I’d been saying I was going to make The Grey Stuff for weeks and we had a ton of milk that I really needed to use before it went bad so… I made it, it’s delicious. Don’t believe me, ask the dishes!

Here’s a link to photos of the original, Kristine’s, and the recipe. Here are photos of mine.

TW made fun of me for not knowing how to use a pastry bag. LOL HMPH. This tastes a lot like the real thing, if not exactly the same. I thought it had too much Oreo flavor yesterday and this morning when I had it for breakfast (don’t judge!) I thought it was a wee bit too Cool Whip tasting. Still delicious if you like Oreo/Cool Whip pudding dishes. It’s also SUPER quick and easy to make.

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

We’ve never tried the cheeseburger egg rolls at Magic Kingdom, though we’ve always wanted to. I hope some day we can try them. Someday soon, even. While we wait for The World to return to normal, I decided to give them a try.

Here’s a link to the photo of the original and to Kristine’s, along with the recipe. Here are photos of mine.

The only variation I made was to use the air fryer, which I’d seen someone in the comments of Kristine’s post talking about. I think that variation made them not as good as they could have been. TW thinks they needed more cheese. So next time – I’ll add a couple more ounces of Velveeta and I’ll fry them in a pan/pot and not use the air fryer. There will be a next time because I did enjoy them. (I enjoyed one the next day for lunch, too.)

I’m trying to decide whether I want to try the pizza egg rolls or the Reuben egg rolls. Probably the Reuben, because Reubens are my favorite.

PS. Are they egg rolls or spring rolls? There seems to be some confusion around that. I’ve seen them called both. I’m not sure if Disney World calls them anything… I should find out.

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

Since I am known in my family for making really good grilled cheese, I was pretty confident in my ability to pull off the outstanding grilled cheese from Woody’s Lunchbox. LOL. That will teach me to be overconfident, won’t it? Seriously. This is the one recipe that I was 99% sure I could pull off without a hitch.

Here’s a link to the photos of Kristine’s and the original, along with the recipe. Here’s a photo of mine.

It’s not that it was bad, it wasn’t. It was actually very good. It just wasn’t the Woody’s Lunchbox grilled cheese that I’ve had several times. The cheese didn’t melt as well as it should have, the cheesy filling stuff in the center wasn’t really hot, and I burnt and/or almost burnt several of the sandwiches.

Having said that – it really was good. It was also really, really rich. I’ll do things very differently the next time.

I will not put as much of the cream cheese stuff in the center, I’ll find a sturdier bread, and I will cook it on the Cuisinart Griddle so I can cook both sides at once OR I’ll reduce the heat a wee bit on the stove top. I think the mayo spread on the outside caused the burning at the normal grilled cheese temperature.

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

Next on the list, TW’s favorite cocktail (she says favorite, I say second favorite. I’m right but haven’t figured out how to make her real favorite at home, yet… I’ll get to it) and a macaroni & cheese dish from France in Epcot that we’ve never actually eaten.

Because we’ve never actually eaten at Chef’s de France and I haven’t really heard AJ from Disney Food Blog talk a lot about the macaroni & cheese there, I assumed that the photo of the mac & cheese on Kristine’s FB page was either the Jiko mac & cheese or the noodle gratin thing that AJ sometimes talks about that’s in Germany. I guess I should actually read the descriptions of these things before I decide I’m going to make them? Or maybe not since this sucker was GOOD and I think we’d all eat Gratin de Macaroni again.

You can see the photos of the original and Kristine’s, along with the recipe, here. And, these are my photos.

Kristine used Swiss, I used an 8 oz block of Gruyere that I picked up at the Jacksonville NAS commissary. Because I didn’t actually read the directions, I had a brief moment of panic that 8 oz would not be enough and was frantically digging around in the fridge for some swiss to supplement it with. Turns out, I actually had more than the 1 1/2 cups the recipe calls for. If I deviated from the recipe at all, it is just using the entire 8 oz block rather than carefully measuring out a cup and a half. And then I had another brief moment of panic when I took the foil off of the top and it was really oily looking. I thought for sure I’d used too much cheese and it was going to taste BAD. They key here, I think, is to let it sit for the 10 minutes after you take it out of the oven. It was hard to wait, but I did, and the oily sheen disappeared.

If/when I make this again, I’ll add 2 pinches of Kosher salt rather than one. That was the only complaint anyone had – it needed a wee bit more salt.

It was really, really rich and really, really good. TW had seconds AND she ate it for lunch the next day and then for breakfast today. I did not get seconds nor did I get to have any of the leftovers. TW RARELY eats leftovers. Not even of mac & cheese (which she will swear she eats leftovers of.) WINNER!

~~

Now for the Tempting Tigress cocktail, found at Nomad Lounge. Nomad Lounge is one of our favorite Disney World places. It’s also a place where TW has been known to sob out of happiness (really) and get just a littttttle bit tipsy. Neither are things she does on a regular basis.

Here’s the basic recipe. Our little liquor store does not carry the St Elizabeth’s (shocking, I know) so TW found a recipe for the Allspice Dram here. I tracked down whole Allspice and I ordered Tamarind Syrup and the demerara sugar from Amazon (mostly because I was afraid Walmart wouldn’t really have Sugar in the Raw and I had no idea whether the commissary would have it. Rather than taking a chance, I just ordered and made my life easier.)

I made the dram… super easy, if kind of weird. I used the Nellie & Joe’s Key Lime Juice that was leftover from one of those other Disney recipes I made last month. I thought for sure we’d have a lemon handy so I didn’t even think twice and… our lemons were pretty much dead so errr, that was a bit of a fail. But I don’t think TW or her mom cared.

TW has mightily enjoyed her Tempting Tigresses and I’m sure plans to continue enjoying them until the bottle of Russell’s is empty and/or I buy another bottle and make her another batch of Allspice Dram.

Another winner under my belt!

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

It’s funny. I thought making the O’hana noodles would be pretty easy and the recipe most likely to succeed. Let me just say right now that I was wrong. Very wrong.

First, I had to halve the recipe because I was much lower on rice vinegar than I realized – which is FINE because there’s no way we needed that many noodles around here. Sheesh. Next, I should have used about twice as many vegetables as halving the recipe called for. Last but not least, I should have used a LOT less brown sugar. Those noodles were sweet. Like dessert noodles, if dessert noodles were a thing. Last, but not least, I would probably not use Ramen noodles and would use soba noodles or even spaghetti. The Ramen noodles got sticky – partly because my Parker House Rolls took their slow ass time baking so the noodles had to sit in the pan longer than ideal.

Go here to see the recipe and a photo of Kristine’s. And here are a couple of photos of mine. The first, while it was still in progress – looked decent. The second, when I was ready to plate it. That bright color should indicate to you that there’s a LOT of brown sugar happening. And there was.

TW and I made a lot of jokes about it but we ate it. I added a bunch of Rooster Sauce to it and it was … edible. Oddly enough, while we were eating, TW said “Don’t throw the leftovers away, I’ll eat them tomorrow.” Then she proceeded to have a small second helping AND she did eat the leftovers. She’s weird.

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

Cheshire Cat Tails are the recipe I was most excited about but also very sure was going to be a failure. Because… I LOVE Cheshire Cat Tails. They are one of my favorite Walt Disney World snacks. I love, love, LOVE them. But… puff pastry is HARD and pastry cream is whut? I’ve never made pastry cream!

As I was prepping to make them, I began to question the whole pastry cream thing. Why does that recipe even include pastry cream? I do not recall pastry cream being in a Cheshire Cat Tail. Has it just been so long since I’ve had one that I’ve forgotten? I talked to TW about it. She also didn’t remember pastry cream. I wandered around the internet looking at descriptions and photos of Cheshire Cat Tails (and also Tiger Tails, in Animal Kingdom because they’re pretty much the same darn thing.) I looked at other people’s recipes and decided that Kristine’s recipe is likely very good but it is not accurate because of the pastry cream. Instead, I went with Chef Dave’s recipe and hoped for the best.

Turns out this was the easiest darn recipe in the entire world. And, it tastes VERY similar to the real deal. I would do some things just a little differently next time (and there will be a next time. Many next times.)

1) I’d let the puff pastry get a little warmer. I was afraid of trying to work with it if it got too warm so I probably started working with it just a LITTLE too soon. It was a little stiff and it didn’t want to adhere to the chips so more of them came out during the slicing and twisting than should have.

2) Because chips do fall out during slicing/twisting, I will do that prep work away from the pan that I’m going to bake them on. There was a wee bit of a burnt chocolate taste in some spots because there were so many little chocolate chips all over the baking sheet and I just left them there rather than removing them.

3) If I was going to eat them hot out of the oven, I wouldn’t bother with colorful icing. I’d just go with some plain ole confectioner’s icing and be done with it.

4) If I want the color of the Cheshire Cat Tail (or want to make a Tiger tail in Black/Orange or a Clemson Go Tigers! Tail in Orange/Purple or a Tigger Tail in Orange/Black) I’ll let them cool before drizzling the icing over them and I’ll pop them in the fridge for a bit to firm up that icing even more. Then just warm them up for a little bit in the toaster or microwave.

For Kristine’s recipe and photos, click here.

Photos of mine before I iced them.

Photos of the first batch that I drizzled icing over while they were VERY warm.

Photos of the second batch that I drizzled icing over while they were cool. (This is the batch that went to Jenn.)

These were SO good that TW, who doesn’t even like the real Cheshire Cat Tails, said a few hours later she wished there were more. And we talked about NOT sending three to Jenn’s house and just sending her two.

SO good. HUGE success. Need more, ASAP.

I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)

I decided to start things off with a recipe from what used to be my “dream resort” and is still one of my all-time favorite resorts at Walt Disney World… The Polynesian. Much to TW’s disappointment, I did not choose her beloved noodles for this adventure. Instead, I chose Captain Cook’s Thai Coconut Meatballs which I’ve never actually eaten. Hah. It seemed like a quick (hahaha) and easy (hahahaha) recipe and I didn’t need too many items from the grocery store in order to make it (hahahahahahahaha.)

Here’s a link to Kristine’s photo, the real meatballs, and recipe.

This is a photo of mine.

You’ll notice one differences right off the bat, eh? I had some cooking mishaps that were completely unexpected.

I’ve made rice in the microwave a zillion times without issue so I figured it would be the easiest method for this recipe and keep another pan off of the stove top. I was so confident in this cooking method that when the microwave beeped to say the rice was done… I didn’t even open the door and peek. Instead, as I was about to plate the food, I reached over my head and pulled the dish out and… spilled scalding hot water all over myself, the stove, and the floor… and the rice wasn’t cooked. WTF?

I sent TW to the spare freezer to look for the Schwans frozen mashed potatoes, which she could not find because our freezers are an overflowing mass of impossible. If you want anything that isn’t ice cream… good luck finding it, haha. I told her to give up looking and reached for a box of INSTANT MASHED POTATOES and quickly (with more spills than I want to discuss, because I’m not generally a spill everything while cooking kind of person) and plated the damn thing.

What you don’t also know is that I did not make meatballs from scratch. I used frozen meatballs, coated them in the Thai chili sauce, and baked them as directed by the bag. I’m not calling that a fail, because it wasn’t bad but as TW said… it would have been better with homemade meatballs. I agree but my meat selection is limited at the moment and have you seen the covid-19 stories about meat packing plants? Yea, no. Using the frozen meatballs was the right choice, right now.

The other thing about this recipe is that it would NOT reduce and thicken. I looked at several videos and photos of other people’s versions and the sauce always seems much thinner than I’d like. (TW said, “Oh, you made Captain Cook’s Meatball Soup” lol) I did try to thicken it a bit with cornstarch and if I hadn’t had the rice fail, I probably would have worked a little more to thicken it up. But I didn’t.

In the end, we all liked it. TW even had one extra spoon of instant mashed potatoes dipped into the sauce/soup. TW’s mom thinks she would not have liked it as much with the rice. I might try the leftovers today with some extra Thai chili sauce added in and see if that spices it up a wee bit more.

While we ate, we had Alexa play the soundtrack to Lilo & Stitch and we drank Backscratchers a la the Tambu Lounge. (I made a small batch of POG with just single serving cans of passionfruit, orange juice, and guava. The Backscratchers were a big hit with TW and her mom. TW even had a second one and that NEVER happens.)

I’m calling this first recipe (plus bonus drink recipe/s) a win.

Next up… maybe TW’s beloved noodles from O’hana. Maybe a Cheshire Cat Tail for me.

Updated the day after: TW saved my failed brown rice by finishing it off in the instapot so when I cleaned up after dinner, I put the 2 cups of rice with half dozen meatballs into a container and spooned enough sauce to cover the entire thing and put it in the fridge. I had 1/3 of it for lunch and… OMG, it’s even better the day after. The sauce thickened and picked up more flavors from the meatballs (Thai chili sauce) and the coconut milk. Definitely making this again but going to make it the day before.