J-Food Day 10, "Yakisoba"

Japanese Food Day 10... yesterday was dinner at a friend's place so I had big dreams to make several different easy dishes... you have your on days and your off days- this was an off day.

Dish 9. "Yakisoba" Seems simple enough when you make yakisoba out of the packet, but I tried all different things this time. I wanted to make "shio yakisoba" or translated to salt stir fried noodles, instead of the usual saucy kind. Mistake #1 at the store was that I assumed "Chukamen" or Chinese noodles were the same noodles as the yakisoba noodles, and that I could treat them the same. It ended up becoming... well gobbly goop as I like to call it. (I don't know if the picture makes it look goopy enough.) The stir fry of veggies was fantastic- ginger, garlic, cabbage, onions, carrots, bean sprouts, onion chives, and ham. Mistake #2 was deciding to add the noodles which were already looking like an issue before I added it to the stir fried vegetables. Part of me regrets adding the beginning of a gobbly goo mess, but it was done and that's the end of it. I also ended up making a saucy yakisoba, instead of a salt one, in an attempt to save the dish. I figured with the goo ball, it would be better saucier than as a salt goo ball. Trying to save this mess took forever and I didn't get around to making other dishes also... it looks like the weekend or the next few weeks are going to be packed with dishes!

Overall, it was okay but neither one of us really liked the texture of the finished "yakisoba". I wonder if the leftovers will be eaten... yes, I think it was that bad. I kept thinking to myself "but I'm not a cooking failure!" I thought about doing it again to improve but I don't have a strong desire to someday offer a noodle option. I'm leaning more towards rice bowls or rice bentos so maybe I'll give the noodles another try after this month is over!