The Korean characters for the word “tea” are ( 차 ).

AI says, “Yes, you can marinate meat, poultry, or seafood, then refrigerate it overnight or for a few days before cooking,” and “A good rule of thumb is to keep marinating time under 24 hours.“

For the above marinade I used water, salt and coconut sugar. I’m planning to stir fry some of the pork tonight, but let the rest marinate in the refrigerator overnight. I may freeze some tomorrow, and perhaps cook the remainder tomorrow.

I cut the meat into smaller portions earlier before marinating and am thinking I’ll leave it for at least an hour while I cut up the other ingredients.

Do not wash the marinade off of the pork, but you may want to pat it dry to aid in cooking.

Stupid me. I forgot the pineapple.

The orange bell pepper looks much like the orange carrots, but the veggies in this include: carrots, jalapenos, onion, and sweet “orange” Bell pepper. Also note how fresh the “Stir Fry Vegetables” from Polar look. They are consistently of good quality.

Well, it turned out well. The pork was tender and flavorful. I put in Toasted Sesame Oil and some Avocado oil, and then added the pork. I got a good brown on the pork before adding most of the other veggies (carrots, onion, jalapenos, sweet Bell pepper), and sprinkled on some powdered ginger, and garlic powder and Splenda. Towards the end I added some pineapple chunks and finally at the end, some white sesame seeds and cornstarch slurry. *I didn’t add any Spicy Chili Crisp to this, because I wanted something different. I used a whole jalapeno without the seeds, but it wasn’t hot. Makes me think I might be able to make “Jalapeno Pork” this way.

AND CAN CHICKEN BE FAR BEHIND?

I bought a package of Chicken Tenders at IGA (Eutaw Village Shopping Center) and cut the tenders into bite sized pieces and put them in three zip lock bags, labeled them and put them all in the freezer.

“IGA CKN 02/20/25” was the label I used. If something is good, I often don’t recall where I made the purchase, so IGA tells me where. Not so much with chicken, but sometimes, frozen steak and pork can be hard to distinguish. I don’t label the dates regularly, but I know I’ve come across frozen items that have a date that is at least a couple of years old.

I flattened the packages as I’ve been reminded that keeping them flat helps quicken the thawing process later. *I’ve also frozen pineapple (in chunks or slices) to be used later in stir fry cooking.

And sometimes I freeze the second helping of the “Stir Fry Veggies” that I get in a can from Walmart. I try to divvy up the assorted stir fry veggies so they are equally portioned from one fry to the next. The veggies include: sliced water chestnuts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and (red sweet pepper, but not much of that). I am also reminded that sometimes, when I buy a bag of frozen shrimp at Publix, I divide them up into zip lock baggies with about 15 shrimp per bag. I then put these zipped bags back in the one original Publix bag, and take one out to thaw as needed. *And I normally thaw the shrimp in the microwave shortly before using. Recently I used shrimp (because I either didn’t have chicken or pork) in a stir fry, but normally the shrimp go into my “Kielbasa, Shrimp & Zucchini” dish (which I haven’t made in a long time, but it almost always is delicious… a little spicy and just a few ingredients).

I tried to “do the math” on the portion sizes. If the package was 1.11 lbs. total, and 16 ounces in a pound, then that should be about 17.76 ounces (almost 18), so almost 6 ounces per package. That’s a little more than I would normally like as a serving size. Actually 3.5 to 4 oz. would probably be ideal.

Now I am strongly thinking of using this chicken in a stir fry, but I could just as easily fix my Mexican or Indian Themed dishes from the exact same chicken. The veggies are the same: onion, carrots, and sweet Bell pepper. The difference is whether I use “Patak’s Hot Curry Paste,” or “Salsa Ranchera” by Herdez.

Ooops. I just visualized another posting about using the exact same meat & veggies and making either a Chinese Stir Fry, a Mexican dish, or an India Indian meal, just based on the seasonings I choose. The Chinese version would include the “Hot Chili Crisp,” Toasted Sesame Oil & Soy Sauce, and powdered ginger, but all three would include powdered Garlic, S&P.

I haven’t had one in a while, but instead of rice, and that would be my preference with all three versions of the meal, I could microwave a sweet potato (adding some cinnamon, sweetener, butter & sour cream) and that would work with either the Mexican or Indian versions.

I think it was over at Publix that I was looking in their meat section, where I have in the past bought many packages of “Round Bone Lamb Chops.” I haven’t had a hankering for those chops in a while, and I think I may still have at least one package in my freezer. But, I saw a package of lamb that was cut to be used in lamb stew. I bought it and once home went looking for recipes. There was a Moroccan version which looked delicious with various spices, like Cumin and Paprika, but I decided to go with the English or Irish version: carrots, onion, & potatoes.

I have a small black crockpot that I haven’t used in quite a while, so I got it out, and brushed it off and started by roasting the lamb in my wok under Broil in my oven. It browned, and I probably should have left it longer for more char, but no. I put the browned lamb in the bottom of the crockpot, and added some chopped onion. Later I would add the carrots, and much later after 3 hours cooking time, on Hi, I added the potatoes and a couple small tomatoes, diced. I used S&P and garlic powder, dry Thyme and at the end I added some Cumin and Fenugreek.

The result was “okay” but not quite what I had hoped. I did finish eating the meat, and a few carrots.

There wasn’t a lot of meat on the stew bones, and I don’t think I will try lamb stew again, or at least not anytime soon. The result was sort of like making a lentil soup and it not being “anything to write home about.” Lentil soup, done well, perhaps with spicy Andouille, some carrots, onions & a few small tomatoes, and the right spices (???) can be very satisfying.

I just added a couple of onion tops to my frozen flavorings for my next “homemade broth.” The package is getting pretty full, and I easily have enough for making a good supply of broth. Probably more onion and celery, than carrots. I forgot that when I get a head of celery, I can cut both the tops off and the root end off. The root end supplying a lot of flavor for broth.

I may buy a rotisserie chicken from Harris Teeter next week, and then about four or five days after that will make my next batch of homemade stock (God willing). I love the way how all of these things can begin to work together. Using the chicken carcass, gets the last little bit of flavor from the unused bones & some of the skin and remaining meat (after 4 or 5 meals from the one chicken).

But, because I eat Greek yogurt almost every day, I get a nice sized plastic container, with a snap lid, that I can use for storing the stock, and then freeze it. I think I might be able to get two containers, one on top of the other, in my freezer. But, I’ve also used an empty Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice container for my chicken stock, and that container fit perfectly in my refrigerator door.

I prefer Dukes Mayo, to Hellmans, for flavor, but also, the Dukes yellow plastic lids fit regular Ball/Mason jars perfectly, Hellmans does not. And the large plastic mayo bottle works well for storing dry beans with a tight fitting lid to keep out “mealy” bugs.

And as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I also keep my Hillshire Farms Deli Meat containers (clear plastic bowls with red see-through tight fitting lids, that are both microwave & top rack dishwasher safe) and reuse them for things like leftovers, and for storing my uncooked bacon. A pound of bacon fits perfectly in one of these, but I also have some black bean, and regular hummus in one.

*I realized that the company had intentionally made these containers to be reused, and if I got a good price on the deli meat in the store, it was worth the reusable container. If the deli meat (Pastrami, Honey Ham, Black Forest Ham) is under $5, you’re getting a reusable container for maybe two dollars. The Hillshire advertising on the top of the lid is printed on a cardboard sheet, which is attached to the lid with a little rubber glue. It comes off easily.

One note, is that I am not eating much of this deli meat any more, so I’m not getting a bunch of these reusable containers, but I still think I have about five of them… and their red plastic tops go with the color scheme of my Rubbermaid “Easy-Find Lids” storage containers. *Oh, I enjoy making “Pastrami Reubens” at home, but not very often because of the calories & salt, and what the bread does to my blood sugar, but for a splurge, I still do it. So, at some point, hopefully, another storage container from the Deli Pastrami.