One thing I really miss living in south Florida is, oddly, there good Chinese takeout. There is meh Chinese take out near us, and down near Sarasota itself there is a good Chinese restaurant (or so I’ve been told, we haven’t actually been there) but near us? Nothing. I miss good Chinese take out and I was really craving it so I decided to try to recreate some on my own.

I found a recipe that looked pretty easy. I really just wanted the sauce part since the rest I can make up as I go along. The big mistake I made here was not checking my vegetables before going to work in the morning – you know, make sure they are still good and fresh. But I didn’t. My asparagus was iffy and my carrots were on the wilted side. The scallions were fine, and I had to add some peppers to make a full meal. I did the best I could.

The sauce was easy to make and since this really was what I wanted, I went with it. I had some pretty heirloom carrots that provided a nice bit of color (they all taste like carrot, but something about the purple color makes me happy). I didn’t have brown rice, so I just used regular white rice and that was fine.

For a quick dinner that was more about getting the taste that I wanted and using up what was in the fridge, this worked just fine. I won’t say it was my favorite creation, or my most original, but it was good enough. I think this could be a regular rotation dish with fresh vegetables. But it definitely needs fresh.