Blue Cheese Rocket Prosciutto Bruschetta

So I was invited to my friend's birthday party/dinner/potluck at his place, and usually I would just buy some dips and snacks just so I don't need to worry about cooking anything nasty that nobody would want to eat. But I thought since we're all grown ups now, and my birthday friend just bought his new home too, maybe I would make it special this year and actually make something nice for a change.. or at least try. Now I've been craving for bruschettas for some reason and I've wanted to make it myself, so I googled for some recipes, and obviously I looked for ones with food I like that look easy enough to make, and with ingredients that I could buy and could actually use other than this recipe so they wouldn't go to waste, and I found a recipe for a Blue Cheese Rocket Prosciutto Bruschetta that look like this.

Now I know some of you are gonna say, who needs a recipe for bruschetta?? But for someone like me who doesn't understand cooking, a dish as simple as bruschetta just wouldn't turn out the same if I were to imagine what goes in it. Like if I were to make this just from the picture, all it would taste like is prosciutto with blue cheese and some lettuce on bread. Anyway, just making the point here why I would need a recipe for this.... So the recipe that I found included: woodfired bread, extra virgin olive oil, garlic clove, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, wild rocket leaves, prosciutto, blue cheese, and walnuts. I took out the walnuts because I don't like them even though I'm pretty sure it tastes great with them. I also substituted the woodfired bread with baguettes because I don't know how the hell I would get woodfired breads unless I have a wood oven. Now, wild rocket leaves. What are wild rocket leaves? I had to google them and still couldn't figure out. I went to the produce markets and couldn't find it in any of the salad mixes nor in the produce aisles, and I even asked the produce clerks and they didn't know what they were. Correct me if I'm wrong, but eventually I came to the conclusion that they were arugulas as they look similar enough to me, so I ended up just buying a bag of spring mix that comes with arugula.

So on the day of my friend's birthday I had two hours to rush home from work, quickly jump in the shower, and get all the ingredients set up and ready to make. I sliced up the bread, and it was to be brushed with olive oil and grilled on both sides I guess to make it a little bit golden crispy, but I don't have a grill so I just popped it in the oven, and then it was rubbed with garlic on one side. Then make the dressing with olive oil, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar. Toss the salad with half of the dressing, top it on the bread along with the prosciutto, then sprinkle blue cheese and drizzle the rest of the dressing all over.

Here's my Rocket Blue Prosciutto Bruschetta, saran wrapped and ready to be delivered to the party. Also noticed I added some sliced turkey breasts in there to make up for the few slices of prosciutto I could only afford, didn't want to seem so stingy, but prosciutto is expensive. The picture wasn't so clear, but sorry I was in a hurry. Here's also a picture of our feast with some homemade soups, roasted lamb racks and salmon, as well as some take-out sushi and fried chickens.. what I could've done... hahaha. Oh yea, so what was the verdict? My friends actually loved it, some even asked for the recipe. But I thought the bread could've done better, maybe I did need to use woodfired bread.

Random Noodles in Soup

When all else fail, mix and match left overs!!! Actually these aren't even left overs, they're just food I found in the fridge that I like. But I do a lot of mix and match with my mom's left overs, especially when she makes soup then I could use it as soup base and just add stuff to it. But what I have here was vermicelli noodles again in dashi soup, then I added some lettuce I bought, trying to use them up before they go bad, some fish balls, and spicy bamboo shoots which you can buy in a can at Asian supermarkets. I know, I know, this isn't much cooking, but I enjoyed what I put in my bowl! I've had some bad turn outs before, but this time was good.. I often feel safe about making noodles in soup, especially dashi soup. It's kind of like MSG, but healthier? I think? Here's a picture of the meal, I know it doesn't look too appealing, but it sure tasted good!