Choochoo-ca-Chew

07/23/2026

🔺 POLL: What should we learn about in the LIVE SESSION?
(A)
Taiwanese Sesame Cold Noods:
A summer essential of Taiwan. We'll chat about how to make perfectly BOUNCY noodles!

(B)
Passion Fruit Margarita:
I used to bartend, let me teach you how to make a delicious margarita from scratch. (No store-bought syrups, of course)

(C)
Taiwanese Grilled Corn:
Easy delicious sauce for that night market grilled corn you've been dreaming of (plus use the same sauce on 10 other items)

(D)
Soy Marinated Soft Boiled Eggs:
fool-proof way to peel a boiled egg + you'll never want to make devil eggs ever again

👉👉 Going LIVE on Substack this Sunday 7/26 at 4pm CST. It'd be so fun for you to join us, but you'll have to subscribe to CHOOCHOOCACHEW ! Sign up so you don't miss out:
https://open.substack.com/live-stream/261704
Open to all free subscribers, see you LIVE on Sunday.

07/22/2026

HELP! 2 seconds of your time, vote for what we should demo on SUNDAY. 🥹 https://choochoocachew.substack.com/p/live-demo-726

07/22/2026

👉👉 Going LIVE on Substack this Sunday 7/26 at 4pm CST. It'd be so fun for you to join us, but you'll have to subscribe to CHOOCHOOCACHEW ! Sign up so you don't miss out:
https://open.substack.com/live-stream/261704

Open to all free subscribers, see you LIVE on Sunday.

🔺 POLL: What should we learn about in the LIVE SESSION?
(A)
Taiwanese Sesame Cold Noods:
A summer essential of Taiwan. We'll chat about how to make perfectly BOUNCY noodles!
(B)
Passion Fruit Margarita:
I used to bartend, let me teach you how to make a delicious margarita from scratch. (No store-bought syrups, of course)
(C)
Taiwanese Grilled Corn:
Easy delicious sauce for that night market grilled corn you've been dreaming of (plus use the same sauce on 10 other items)
(D)
Soy Marinated Soft Boiled Eggs:
fool-proof way to peel a boiled egg + you'll never want to make devil eggs ever again

07/20/2026

We make this drink at least three times a week! No joke. The key for us is quality Ceylon black tea. 😍 I miss traveling so much but this drink will have to do for now.

Want the recipe?

HERE IT IS!! https://choochoocachew.substack.com/p/coffee-tea-or-coffee-milk-tea

PS. I'm going LIVE on Substack this Sunday 7/26 at 4pm CST. It'd be so fun for you to join us, but you'll have to subscribe to CHOOCHOOCACHEW !

Open to all free subscribers, see you LIVE on Sunday. 💖

07/16/2026

🌟 Did you know there is a LOCAL food delivery company in Rochester called ? Instead of charging food businesses with tiny margins 30% of the order total like other big companies, it's a flat fee of $5!

🎉 Support local! Speaking of local, this video is partly sponsored by to bring you all of the hidden gems and guides to Rochester. Their event calendar is everything you need to find fun things to do in town.
mn is the only Korean restaurant in Rochester, inspired by the owner Sammi's love for K-drama but not having a place to get the delicious food through the screen, she decided to open her own place and solve fellow K-pop/drama fan enthusiast!

Get everything delivered to your door so you don't have to get up from the couch. 🤭

Here's what I ordered:

✨ Kimchi aranchini- i could live on that green sauce alone! So delicious and refreshing, perfect pairing for the crispy cheese-stuffed kimchi fried rice balls. 🤤
✨ Tteokbokki- chewy rice cake in a spicy(nor very spicy), sweet, savory sauce. Always top with a boiled egg and cheeeese! 👌🏻
✨ Crispy Mushroom- inspired by the Chinese-korean dish sweet and sour shrimp, but meaty, flavorful, delicious shiitake mushroom! There are many vegetarian and vegan dishes on the menu. Rice killer.
✨ Jjamppong- Spicy seafood noodle soup is sooo good. I could just eat the broth forever. Think Japanese ramen, thick flavorful umami rich broth stuffed with seafood and bouncy noodles. Give it to me now!
✨ Bulgogi cheesesteak- want something familiar with a twist? This sandwich combines the best of all worlds: cheeesy, sweet and savory bulgogi, kimchi... Add a fried egg to make it even more perfect.
✨ Bossam with a twist- Tender pork belly braised in special sauce then crisped up(the twist!). Make your own lettuce wrap with this yummy dish.

What are your favorite orders from .mn ?

07/15/2026

Just read this article called "The Restaurant Math Doesn’t Work in Small Cities Anymore" by chef Milena in Providence, and it hits so hard.

Everything I've been seeing and feeling in Rochester as someone who's helped many BIPOC food businesses start, and why I'll probably never have a real food business here.

On top of everything that's mentioned in the article, the construction doesn't help and it constantly feel like the city doesn't care about little tiny us, just brother Mayo. 🤷‍♀️

And it's not just because of rising costs – it's mostly about market compression.

07/14/2026

There was a famous cold noodle shop by my university where we frequented often. Upon arriving the little restaurant, you’d see stacks of giant red baskets filled with freshly cooked yellow noodles in front of fans cooling for service.

The noodle is usually a type of thin lye noodle called “油麵”(yóumiàn), slightly yellow with a unique bounce in texture. While this specific noodle is hard to find in the US, I found an alternative I’ll write about below that comes really close!

You'll love this: https://choochoocachew.substack.com/p/sesame-cold-noodle

07/13/2026

Honestly I never thought I would be using a squid ink pasta with soy sauce but here I am and I actually LOVE it. The umami and depth of the dish has so many layers I can just keep eating and never stop. I'm serving this dish at Food Union on 7/16 for our Empty the Soy Sauce Bottle event.

This event is *SOLD OUT* but I just have to talk about it.
Join out mailing list so you don't miss the next one! https://courses.choochoocachew.com/mn