We got carry out from Lihn's several years ago when we lived close by, and I remembered it being good - just maybe not memorable. Since they've moved locations (still on Airway, but now in Page Manor), it seems I heard a little more buzz about them. More people on Facebook and Instagram singing their praises.

You know how you always see the little pepper next to Mongolian Beef on a menu and think, "Nahhhhh, everyone has that little pepper and the sauce is never spicy, just sweet." Well, I love that dish and thought the same thing when I ordered it here. Well, turns out not only do they use a lot of chilis, but they don't seed them. I noticed the spiciness can be tailored to your taste, so I would absolutely get this again. Even though it was far too much heat for my taste, I ate half the dish and powered through the other half the next day for lunch.

There was a mix-up with Mr. FvF's food, but somewhat understandable. He asked the server about two dishes, then ordered the second one. He was delivered the first one, which still looked delicious - just wasn't what he wanted.

Service was friendly & fast, and the prices were pretty reasonable. More than takeout, but probably on par with other sit-down Asian joints. Be forewarned that there are no fountain drinks, so if you order soda, you'll get a can & glass of ice, no refills.

Easy 4 out of 5 sporks. Would be a five had I known about the spice levels and they offered soft drink refills.

Mongolian Beef - specifically from North China on Far Hills Ave - is something I crave more than is natural for someone not suffering a hormonal imbalance. Like a lot of folks, we're on a limited dining out budget, which means you have to learn to make the stuff you love at home...and hopefully just as well, if not better.

I found a recipe that pretty well mimics the dish that I hold so dear pretty well. Aside from having to carve up an entire flank steak, it's pretty easy, too. Here's what you'll need:

1 c. vegetable oil
1 pound flank steak
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 cup total, chopped green onions and yellow onions

Another great, quick weeknight meal. Chinese takeout-inspired cooking is quickly becoming one of my favorite go-to meal plans during the week, because it takes minimal prep and negligible time to cook.
The sauce came out a bit thin, but I'll remedy that in the recipe I post here.

1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup orange juice
1 packet Splenda (or 1 tsp sugar)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 cup mandarin oranges (drained)
3 cloves crushed or minced garlic
1 lb chicken breast tenders, diced about 1"

In a small bowl, mix the first 7 ingredients and set aside. Heat about 3 tbsp oil in a pan over medium-high and add your diced chicken. About halfway through cooking, add the garlic and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add your sauce mixture and orange slices and continue cooking, kicking the heat up a smidge, until the sauce starts to thicken and bubble. A little orange rind would be great in this, too, but I didn't have any on hand.

Once Mr. FvF and I finally made it back to the Dirty D yesterday evening, the last thing I wanted to do was cook. I mentioned going to the Hasty Tasty for an early bird special, but the poor guy had taken my bossin' the whole ride home, so I let him veto my vote for Hasty in favor of Chinese food.
Only problem is, I'm really picky about Chinese food. I really like North China in Centerville, and China cottage is pretty good, too - but neither are close to the East end. After poking around on UrbanSpoon, I found that a little place on Airway Rd called Linh's was bested in ratings only by P.F. Chang's in the Dayton area. Thankfully, they have an online menu, so we phoned in our order and went to pick it up.
Mr. FvF ordered the Empress chicken and I ordered the Crispy orange beef, both in deluxe dinner specials. They each came with a side of rice, eggroll or crab rangoon, and a choice of soup. We both got eggrolls, and I got the wonton soup while he opted for the hot & sour.

We got home and Mr. FvF started unloading and I went to get some extra plates.
Me: "Do we need extra napkins?"
Mr FvF: "No, but we might need an extra table."

It was an absolute ton of food, no matter how tightly they had it crammed into tiny little cartons. We chowed down and both sampled one another's dishes, and decided that it was some of the best damn Chinese food we'd ever consumed. He says the hot & sour soup doesn't top China Cottage's, and I agreed that my wonton soup wasn't as good as what I get at North China.
His Empress Chicken had a great spice in the glaze, but the first hint of heat you got was as far as it went - it didn't intensify as you kept eating.

My Crispy Orange Beef was tender, lightly breaded, and smothered in a sauce that wasn't overly sweet and swimming in orange rind (one of my favorite things). I added a little red pepper flake to kick up the flavor a bit, which worked really well.

We didn't dine in, but the phone service was pleasant, and it wasn't too pricey. More than a lot of Chinese takeout joints, but you're getting restaurant quality food (as opposed to the chewy cat meat found at places like New China down the other end of the road), so $10 a piece isn't too shabby.

This is one of the fastest and easiest meals I know how to make. About 20 minutes start to finish, provided you've either bought stir fry beef or had your butcher cut it for you. Dot's Market keeps a little sliced sirloin (right behind the stew beef) for stir fry. It's about $5 per pound, and worth every penny. The sugar snap peas are readily available at Kroger or any supermarket for around $2 per self-steam bag. Everything else is stuff we usually have on-hand - yes, even the ramen. I detest the stuff as it's meant to be served, but Mr. FvF loves that shit. Besides, it's good on it's own for use in stir fry in place of rice, so I don't object to keeping some around.


Spicy Orange Beef

1 lb stir fry beef
1 15 oz can beef broth
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2 closed minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 pkg ramen noodles
1 bag steamable sugar snap peas



Start by browning your beef. I usually cook it over med-high heat with a little sesame oil, soy sauce and salt. The sesame oil adds tons of flavor. Cook it only to mid-rare or medium, as it will continue to cook and you'll add it back to the pan briefly at the end. Slide it all onto a plate and store it in the microwave or oven until you're almost done.

Don't bother draining the beef drippings, and add your beef broth, teriyaki, garlic, ginger, marmalade and cayenne and bring this all to a boil. Reduce the heat a bit and add your ramen (works much better if you break it up beforehand), cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add your snap peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes (covered), then add your beef, stir, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Toasted sesame seeds make a killer garnish and add a nice texture variation.

I'm normally too busy eating on the weekends to regale you with photos and recipes of what I made and home and/or where I dined. So, here's a lovely photo montage for you!

Friday: Slow-Cooker Chinese Peanut Butter Pork

1.5-2lbs pork tenderloin
1 onion, sliced in rings
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons water
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons chopped peanuts (garnish)


Put onion slices into the bottom of your crockpot. Put the pork on top. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, water, garlic, and peanut butter. No need to stir--the peanut butter needs to melt before you can do so. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4-6. The pork will be more tender the longer you cook it. 1 hour before serving, flip the meat over in the crock to allow the other side to soak up the sauce. Garnish with chopped peanuts, and serve with lime wedges.

This was a lot tastier than I thought, but I'd make one change next time - use regular peanut butter instead of the natural, which tends to be far less sweet. I suppose you could always up the brown sugar measurement, too.
Otherwise, it was pretty legit, especially when you break up the loin a bit before serving and drizzle it with the juices from the pot - which at that point will be a mixture of rendered liquid fat, soy sauce, peanut butter and onions.


Saturday: Slacker Ham Steaks


I didn't feel much like cooking, so I threw together some things we had around in the fridge and pantry. Blistered two ham steak in the cast iron skillet, whipped up some garlic-parmesan smashed potatoes with the leftover new potatoes we had from the chicken hash, steamed some veggies and made a few biscuits. Dinner was ready in less than 20 minutes!






Sunday: Slow Cooker White Bean Chicken Chili

This is a recipe from Skillz over at The Incredible Shrinking Women.

3-4 large chicken breasts, raw and diced
1 sm white onion, chopped
3-4 cloves minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth (add a little at a time, I like it thicker, so I only add about a cup)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cumin
4 oz chopped green chiles
1 bag frozen corn
2 regular ass cans Great Norther Beans, drained and rinsed

Throw all the stuff in a crockpot, cook on low 5-6 hrs, or until chicken is done. At the end, add salt to taste. Top with sour cream, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes & green onion.

I chose to amp up the cayenne at the end, as well as adding a dash of regular chili powder and a good couple teaspoons of salt. I thought it was crazy delicious, but was shocked that it earned a big fat A+ from Mr. FvF, which is a rare occurrence for something that has an entire onion in it. Plus, any meal that allows me to read while it makes itself is an A+ in my book, too.

Last night we went out for a late dinner with our friends Andrew and Katie and met up at China Cottage on Far Hills in Centerville. I'm a North China girl myself, but Andrew loves his China Cottage. Mr. FvF ordered the Szechuan Chicken with hot & sour soup and a spring roll and I has the Mongolian Beef (and his aforementioned spring roll). We also ordered a bottle of Clos du Bois for the table.

Mr. FvF was totally in love with the hot & sour soup, claiming it's the best he's ever had. The roll was tops, too - I love the thinner wrappers they use so you can actually taste the filling. The service couldn't have been any better. One of the managers who seated us and poured our wine made sure she gave us all fliers for their Chinese New Year celebration that takes place on February 22 & 23 where they'll be serving 11 specialty dishes. Not something we'll likely be attending, though, as the price is $50 per person. I'm sure it's worth it, but some things just aren't in the average bird's budget.

Our entrees arrived to the table looking scrumptralescent.





My only complaint is that I had way, WAY more onions than beef in my dish. I love onions pretty hard, but that's not what I'm paying $10 for. The mister's Szechuan chicken was fantastic, but could have been brought up a peg or two on the spice level. They did make a mistake on our bill, but it was only a matter of one of our friends' dishes ending up on our ticket. More easily remedied between us than asking them to take it back and fix it.


4.5 out of 5 sporks!






As a side note, we stopped at Murray's Place on South Dixie for a cocktail after dinner. The sign on the door says "Kettering's Best Kept Secret." In my opinion, that secret is that they have of the BEST karaoke around. I didn't say the most entertaining, I said the best. Mostly old timers that really know there way around a great tune. I tried to snap a crappy camera phone pic of the dapper-dressed fella singing all the great Motown jams, but like everything else my camera phone captures, it looked like a Big Foot spotting.
Almost every table was full, but it was far from a rowdy crowd. The waitresses were top notch, checking in on us at least half a dozen times in our visit, which was only just over an hour. They even came over and asked if we thought it was too warm and adjusted their thermostat accordingly. Between the two of us, we had two Miller Lites and two Jack & Diet doubles and it was only around $15.
Another thing to keep in mind, Murray's is open for lunch and serves up a great burger. It's no Tank burger, but it's a very close front runner in my book.



5 out of 5 shots!