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I buy or grow everything here. I can't get the buah keluak nut in shell here, but I have found prepackaged processed nut meat (meat taken out of the shell and pounded into a paste) at my local Indonesian store. I can get decent red chillies here, but I grow the Malaysian/Indonesian chillies now from seeds taken from dried chillies that I was able to bring in. I also grow the lime leaves and curry leaves - but I can buy those also in a pinch, but they're expensive. Some ingredients (like turmeric leaf used in the woku from the night before) I have to grow because it's not sold here and I can't bring back fresh ones. So I grow the turmeric leaf from the rhizome that I buy in the grocery store.

@liamsaunt Thank you for taking us along., and of course , the Menus and Rocky.

thanks - it smells amazing if you like shrimp paste!! It uses tons of it as well as the kitchen sink of SE Asian herbs/spices.

Thanks for bringing us along, as always!

@KennethT your repertoire of meals is fascinating. Every time you post a meal I have to consult Mr Google. Do you have a source in NYC for the ingredients that you need or do you return from your trips with suitcases full of special items?

The bean salad recipe I was looking at included capers, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to include them. They do offer that brininess. Will do taste tests and ponder. Thank you! I’m going to avoid those long skinny legumes this time. 😀

We are heading home today, weather permitting. We spent yesterday walking up and down Grace Bay beach and soaking up what sun came out between clouds We were not going out to dinner because of the Super Bowl, so instead went for a late lunch at the bar on the resort. Cocktail/mocktail. Snacks menu Neither of us were very hungry so we just opted to share a couple of the sushi options. This is the chili garlic tuna roll and the truffled salmon nigiri The path to our room at the resort and one last Grace Bay sunset Would we come back to Turks and Caicos? I would have to say that’s a qualified “maybe.” There are good things and bad things about it. The best good things: we had some nice food, the people are friendly, and the beaches are lovely. The worst bad things: the traffic is awful, and there are often packs of feral dogs roaming around the streets and the less visited beaches. We’ve been trying out a new island each year in addition to our usual visits to St. John and Bermuda, and so far have not visited a place that comes close to matching either. Anguilla is next on the list, and we might be headed there this summer, if we can resist the usual siren song of St. John. Time will tell. See you on the dinner thread.

I zoomed in on the photo and the gravy looks fantastic. Actually the whole dish does. I can only imagine how wonderful it must smell.

The prairie dog (and gopher) population in MT is what most ranchers rage war on. Back in the day there were bounties for removal (couple pennies for every tail turned in) and even now, many places will let a person shoot the critters. (Their burrows can trap a cow or horse leg and if running that leg can break. And they damage grazing/hay ground).

Pan Southeast Asian noodle soup... Singapore chicken rice broth, Vietnamese rice noodles, Indonesian sambal cobekan...

Peranakan ayam buah keluak, chicken in black nut curry.

@YvetteMT by the way, I would love to have your recipe for pineapple teriyaki meatballs.

What about olives added to it? You could take it in a Mediterranean direction like this salad I had a few days ago: a nice vinaigrette, not too sweet. One issue is that it might clash with the sweetness of the pulled meat sandwich. I'm not sure about compatability, but I'm throwing it out as a suggestion. You say you don't want green beans in the bean salad. What about wax beans? Or are you simply trying to avoid those long skinny legumes this time around?

I came across this recipe the other day for Swedish meatballs with chicken. The meatballs that I had were with pork and beef but I used the sauce recipe and it was quite good. Something that I will make again. I'd like to add a hint that I learned this time making my meatballs. I added about one teaspoon of baking soda for 2 lb of meat and used soda water instead of plain water when I made them. They were the tenderest, juiciest meatballs that I have ever made.

Dear partner rarely asks for a particular food so when he does, I provide. Looking at the costco coupon book he decided the pineapple teriyaki chicken meatballs sounded good. So..... Rice noodles, veg, and said meatballs with a spicy teriyaki sauce. (Id love other ideas for what to do with the meatballs, there's a bunch left!)

@AAQuesada @Tropicalsenior I'll pick up some dates at some point and take a stab at it. Thanks. Today's lunch was a Shoo Fly Bun (or three) by Helen Goh... Apparently these were popular at a Melbourne bakery called Babka back in the day. A whole orange is puréed into the enriched dough, with milk powder and a tangzhong keeping things extra soft. They didn't taste as orangey as I imagined they would - more of a gentle caress than a slap in the face - but were successful, nevertheless. She recommends eating them slathered with salted butter, which was more than enough encouragement for me...

Pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches will be on the menu this week. Easy enough in the slow cooker, and SO much easier than pulled pork or ham. PLUS, I already have half of the chicken I need in the freezer, not used in a previous CFM. I’ve made these twice before for different CFMs. Once, paired with a corn salad, and another time, served with rice dressing and coleslaw. Pulled chicken for sandwiches and corn salad. BBQ pulled chicken sandwich, rice dressing (aka dirty rice), coleslaw, boiled cookies (not homemade). I’m thinking bean salad as the side this week. Two kinds of Rancho Gordo beans (Domingo Rojo and Rio Zape) along with canned chickpeas, cucumber, onion, fresh herbs, etc. I know that green beans are often used in three bean salad, but I didn’t really want to use them. Opinions? Suggestions? Dressing recipe ideas? Alternate side ideas? Not sure what day of the week I’ll be cooking or delivering yet.

Growing up on a farm in Nebraska, we had a prairie dog town on a little hill in our pasture. As children, we spent many hours at the crest of that hill watching them play and stop to talk to each other in their happy little chirps. One day as my brother was watching them, a mother brought out a little group of pups and when she returned to the borough, she left one behind. My brother put it in his pocket and brought it home. It was only a few weeks old and could just barely walk so we really didn't have much hope that it would live. But we took turns with an eye dropper and through some miracle we pulled it through and added a fascinating, pampered little critter to our family. Not being conversant with prairie dog Anatomy, we never did figure out whether it was a he or she but we named it Buster and he was with us for about 5 years. I could probably write a book about life with Buster. In the extreme Nebraska summers, prairie dogs are able to go below ground and stay cool so Buster could not stand the heat in the house. Our cellar door was the type that laid flat on the floor of our porch and my brother-in-law cut a hole so Buster could go into the cellar and stay cool. We used to say that we were the only house in the state that had a prairie dog hole in our porch. Another consideration was that prairie dogs hibernate in the winter and only come out during warm days. My mother made Buster an insulated box lined with sheepskin to put in the cellar for him to hibernate. We had a big old shaggy shepherd type dog with a heavy undercoat and when winter was coming, Buster would comb out that undercoat and use it to line his nest. That big old dog would lay like a statue while that little mite would rob him of his winter coat. As I said, I could write a book, but appreciate your little neighbors. They're fascinating creatures.

Gutterpunk burritos with a side of corn with butter, paprika, and nutritional yeast.

Pork Curry with Turmeric Rice and Pear-Pepper-Chutney from essen & trinken magazine - chunks of pork shoulder are braised with curry paste mixture (coriander, black pepper, cumin, fennel, shallots, garlic, ginger and lime zest), tomato paste and star anise in chicken broth. Towards the end sweet potatoes, corn cob and green beans are added. Finished with some Thai basil. Served with turmeric rice (basmati rice, coconut oil, turmeric, parsley) and a red bell pepper and pear chutney (roasted bell peppers, pear, ginger, sugar and apple cider vinegar cooked together)

Eating with friends, you may be asked what 主食 (zhǔ shí falling and rising tone, then neutral tone) you prefer. This expression means 'staple food' but really means 'rice or noodles', China's choices. Having learned this you may be tempted to use it yourself, next time. Be careful. Forget that first tone and accidentally say 猪食 (zhū shi), flat tone and you've just asked your friends what kind of pig swill they prefer!

Following up on this: in case someone's interested, I snapped a photo of the works in progress, because my description may not have been clear. I still wouldn't bother buying another.

I'm out of the cold country! It took about 9 hours of driving against or across a stiff wind yesterday, and learning what that feels like (and what it does to fuel mileage) but I'm settled for a few days where I can get ready for "regular" camping -- that is, self-contained boondocking, I hope, or at least being able to use my own water. Today I flushed the lines of antifreeze, to the best of my ability, and filled the water tank. The water is still fizzy and vaguely pink, and not especially pleasant to drink, so i'll continue using bottled water until it's all flushed below my personal detection limit. This was yet one more reason my darling always wanted to be gone by now: I really detested the lingering taste of RV antifreeze, so when we bought a new trailer we ensured that the stuff had never contaminated the pipes. But that meant, of course, that we had to leave before the temperatures dropped below freezing. (One year we did have a severe cold drop in October, so we winterized that Princessmobile that year. It was only for a couple of weeks, and I don't recall having objectionable flavors. Holding time is probably a factor; this Princessmobile was winterized several months ago.) I luxuriated this morning in the idea that I could have my OWN coffee (once I found the stuff) and didn't have to go anywhere in particular. Sunshine outside, steamy coffee in bed! Yay! The coffee mug has a wedding photo from my best friend's youngest son's wedding in Kenya last summer. I'm farther around in the photo, next to my best friend and the happy couple; I'm "Auntie Nancy" to the gang. I've never written here about the Kenyan food I sampled, but you may see some of it later this winter. It was delicious. There's a prairie dog town across the field. I finally know what those mystery "birds" are that chirp so peculiarly from the ground. 🙂 I'll need to go to town tomorrow for fuel and, believe it or not, a few groceries. I finished off the yogurt today, and I think there are other things on the list as well. I worked hard getting the Princessmobile ready (mostly) and waited far too long for lunch; it became dinner. Still, I had a chance to try out my new cast iron griddle atop the stove. I haven't had much luck cooking grilled cheese sandwiches on cast iron at home without smoking up the kitchen, and that's why I almost brought along my panini press. Today's trial worked pretty well, though, Salami, turkey, Havarti cheese (I'm out of the other sliced stuff), mayo, mustard, on sourdough bread. I'd already had an uncooked version of this sandwich. As much as I like that bread's flavor it's a bit too soft without being toasted or griddled. This worked out much better. Butter on the outside for the griddling. Salad greens and pickles added after griddling. It isn't the "ooh, what will I cook first when I have time?" dinner I'd envisioned, but it's all I had the energy for.

Valentine's Day 2026 Chocolates caramel, passion fruit, and chocolate ganache

It looks pretty to me! That is one of my favourite "I need something but have no energy" meals. Another iteration that I like is a sweet potato with baked beans.