Jensen

I made some ma po tofu recently that was very good. Tonight I'm making Thai green curry which will contain tofu (for me) and chicken (for the Spouse and Spawn).

I like the market under the freeway as far as selection goes but, my god, the noise is enough to drive one mad! I actually prefer the spring and fall markets as there are more vegetables available; stone fruit season is a real drag for me... Today's trip to Davis was, for the most part, a great success. We had an excellent lunch at Little Prague; the Spawn had their potato pancakes, K. had their vegetarian sandwich, and I had a bowl of borscht and a side of Czech dumplings. I decided to have a beer with lunch and so the server gave me a little "beer quiz" in order to recommend a beer to me. "Do you like light or dark beer?" (Okay, my first response was "yes" but then I went with dark.) "Sweet or not so sweet." I told him I liked a hoppy beer. At that, he just nodded and said "I've got the beer for you." Zev Black Lion It was excellent and I've already looked for a Sacramento source (BevMo has it on their website). In wondering around downtown Davis, we stumbled across Kim Market, an Asian shop with a great selection of mostly Korean and Japanese foods. They even had fresh kim chi in the refrigerated case; I would have bought some if it was going to be our last stop but, as it was far from that, I passed it up in favour of a package of uji cha soba (buckwheat soba noodles made with green tea). The farmer's market was, on the whole, disappointing. I thought being closer to the coast that there would be a wider selection than what we see here (or at least some things that haven't started to appear here yet) but there were very few vendors in attendance and most of them seemed to have only citrus. I did find some pea shoots (which I'll probably eat with my soba noodles), a loaf of rosemary bread, and some sunflower sprouts. On to Konditorei...outstanding! K. had Topfenstruedel with vanilla sauce, I had pear marzipan souffle with vanilla sauce, and the Spawn had one of their traditional cakes (something with berries, yogurt, and chocolate). We sat on their patio and practised our French (the Spawn) and German (me). I brought a slice of Black Forest cake home for the Spouse. He said it was very good but it didn't compare to the Black Forest cake available at the Old Dutch Inn at home. We stopped at an Ikeda's stand on Mace Blvd, just off the freeway, before heading home. They had some beautiful artichokes from Castroville so I picked up two for the Spawn and me to have for lunch tomorrow. So, all in all, another successful field trip day! Edited because I've obviously forgotten some of the basic rules of English grammar.

It was Moroccan-style chicken thighs over couscous for us tonight:

Thanks! So far, I've added it to some baked acorn squash which I then used along with the puff pastry squares to make little squash turnovers. I've also added it to sparkling mineral water just to add a little flavour. Tomorrow's field trip is to Davis so I'll be reporting back on that! (Marlena, I'm pretty sure we will be going to Little Prague for lunch and then Konditorei for dessert!) Edited for verb tense correction.

I love roasted asparagus. Mmmmm...

"Leftover" soup for lunch today: Last night's main was roast chicken so I picked the carcass clean for the meat and used the bones to make broth. To that, I added some miso paste, a wee splash of memmi, egg noodles, and broccoli. My bowl got a whack of sriracha added to it as well.

There's a Peruvian restaurant in Berkeley. I know that because I've been there but I don't remember the name of it and I don't know Berkeley well enough to even tell you what street it's on. I do remember climbing a lot of stairs to get to the restaurant though.

What is mock oyster dip?

It could be your arbitrary proclamations of correctness. As an example, after I heard that first pronunciation of vin, I went looking for more. Only one of them sounds like the pronunciation that I learned but I'm not about to say that the others are "pegs". BTW, your comments about the German accents were almost as offensive.

No. It's not Lyonnaise but, when I learned Quebecois, I learned to say it like this.

If anyone is looking for German pronunciations, I can recommend this site: http://dict.leo.org/ I checked that for the Gewurztraminer pronunciation but it wasn't there. However, I know from past experience that they list "der Wirsing"...

This is interesting to me. Of course, being Canadian, the French I learned is totally different than any "French French" (as we called it). That's not what's interesting to me though. Do you mean to say that there are no regional dialects in French at all? Didn't you say somewhere else that you were from Lyon? So all native French speakers (i.e., those French speakers who were born in France, not one of the many other places that speak French as a first tongue) speak just like you or they're deficient in some manner? That is just so antithetical to my experience with other languages that I was momentarily gobsmacked. I speak some German and, even with my limited abilities, can hear differences between the different areas of Germany (nevermind those German-speaking Swiss people or the Austrians! Yikes!). And English has so many different accents just within England, nevermind all the colonies. How odd that France and French would escape that natural development of language. Do you think it has to do with the Academy?

I've had gin exactly twice in my life. Both times, I had only one drink (so, an ounce and a half at the most). Both times, I had hallucinations (at least I think those people talking to me weren't real... ) Do you think genever would have the same effect as gin? What else is in it as far as botanicals go? Just the juniper? I can eat sauerkraut prepared with juniper berries and have no problems with it.

My neighbour from Nuremburg makes awesome sauerkraut and she gave me the low down on how she does it. First, buy a decent sauerkraut. Look for one that is actually German (not just one sporting a German name); they're generally in glass jars, not tinned. Our local grocery store carries one that I think starts with an M (Mannsheim???). Not sure. At any rate, drain it, rinse it, and then put it in a pot over very, very low heat. Add some white wine (or chicken broth or vegetable broth); just enough to prevent the sauerkraut from sticking. Seasonings are juniper berries (4-6) and a clove or two. The sauerkraut cooks on top of the stove for hours; just keep checking it to make sure its not sticking or burning. Add bacon if you like. My neighbour is vegetarian so she doesn't add it.

That's been my M.O. too. I think my next soup will be a riff on this: Thai Green Curry Soup

Must be the basil seeds. I have no idea what the longer thingies are though.

Before it was unwrapped, I was going to say foil-wrapped chicken. I have no real idea what that is, other than it appears on the menus of "Chinese" restaurants in Sacramento. I suspect it's not Chinese at all...

Check out Chufi's food blog. I'm pretty sure she roasted green beans in one of her meals.

Serious simple Yum. (Never have I been to grateful to have an immersion blender as I am now in my soup project.) ← It is very yummy. If you don't have curry paste, you can use dry spices but they work better if you cook them in a little bit of oil before adding them in. The pasta starch works as a thickener; you can use a potato instead of pasta, if you like. And, if you're not watching your weight like I am, some cheese stirred in at the last minute can add some richness to the soup.

I made some broccoli soup for lunch the other day. Just cooked some broccoli and some spaghetti broken into roughly 2 cm long pieces in chicken broth. When it was well-cooked, I used the immersion blender on it and then stirred in some Lee Kum Kee curry paste.

My neighbour and I took our weekly field trip today and, as it's been raining most of the day, we decided to hit some interesting food shops around town. We started out with Corti Bros. (K. had never been) and then the Italian import shop. Then, we went to Ettore's on Fair Oaks Blvd. I bought some dinner rolls there and, although they were better than most of the rolls I've ever had in Sacto, they weren't spectacular. Next up, we stopped at Naroe's East-West European Bakery, also on Fair Oaks Blvd. K. had seen some of their bread products at Winco Foods, which is how we knew to look for it. I bought some interesting stuff here: birch juice, puff pastry squares out of the freezer (I'm hoping it comes from the bakery next door!), and a loaf of Armenian flat bread. Their other breads looked wonderful too but, as I had just bought the rolls at Ettore's, I controlled myself. Lois, this isn't the sort of European artisanal bread that you see at places like Whole Foods, etc., but it smelled and looked really good. You might like to check this one out. Then, we stopped at the Odessa Market, a little further along on Fair Oaks. This used to be called Ararat Groceries or something like that. There were some interesting products in here...a lot of syrups and flavourings (like rose water). Here I couldn't resist buying a bottle of pomegranate molasses. I have no idea what I'll use it for but I'm sure I'll find something. After that, we went off on a quest for a Jewish deli that K. thought was on the corner of Fair Oaks and Madison. We didn't find it (turns out to be on Greenback and Fair Oaks) but we did find the Desi Bazaar, an Indian market. I didn't buy anything but it did make both of us ponder having an Indian dinner one night.

Vermouth? I bought some Cinzano bianco today. I like it chilled, over ice, and with a slice of lemon.

Well, I thought it might be an English cucumber standing on end. That would make it the same type of vegetable as the two "regular" cucumbers you have sitting on top of that tub of something-or-other.

There's also the Panela cheese which you've mentioned somewhere but I can't remember where.

Please don't tell me it's Budweiser (unless it's Budvar).