Spicy Soba Noodles with Edamame and Shiitake

I heard about this dish from a friend, and realized that it was the perfect opportunity to use up my soba and dried shiitake.  Pretty tasty!  However after comparing my pictures with the original SmittenKitchen recipe, I chuckle.  Apparently I've lost all ability to follow directions, as somehow I managed to substitute red cabbage instead of Napa, and regular onions instead of green onions.
Spicy Soba Noodles with Shiitake and Edamame
recipe from SmittenKitchen
Ingredients
For Sauce:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
2-3 Tablespoons gochujang (Korean hot-pepper paste)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
For noodles
3 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
10 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (I used dried v)
1.25 pound Napa cabbage, thinly sliced (I used red cabbage)
6 green onions, thinly sliced (I accidentally used regular shallots)
9 ounces soba/buckwheat noodles
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
Preparations

1. Stir together all sauce ingredients until brown sugar is dissolved.  Set aside.
2. Toast sesame seeds over stove, in skillet over medium heat.  
3. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add ginger and garlic.  Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add shiitake mushrooms and saute until tender and starting to brown, about 6 minutes.  Reduce heat and add cabbage and scallions.  Cook until cabbage is crisp-tender, about 6 minutes.  Add sauce, and simmer for 2 minutes.
4. Meanwhile cook soba in boiling water until noodles are just tender (don't overcook!), about 6 minutes.  You can add edamame to the boiling water.  Drain soba in colander and rinse under cool water.
5. Transfer soba to large bowl and toss with sesame seeds and vegetable mixture.  
6. Enjoy!  Serves four.

It's three more weeks until the end of the dietetic internship, and the to-do list grows at an alarming rate.  But instead of writing, studying, and being a productive little engine, I find myself wandering in grocery stores and daydreaming recipes; by the end of the day I habitually default to the kitchen.  There over steamy pots, the stress simply dissolves.   Mental resolve has floated away too, or maybe it is just bobbing above my head like a balloon on a string, still attached but distant.  Come back!

Well, goodnight to you.  

I hope you are well, wherever you are.

Rachel