C. sapidus

Mmmm, I have to say that your pictures are the BEST in food porn! If I could crawl through my computer and have some of that fried rice for breakfast, I would in a minute. What a nice thing to say! Good luck with the fried rice - HSSS is one of our favorite cookbooks.

Saturday mornings are usually crazy. The boys play on two different basketball teams, so their games are usually held at different locations scattered around the county. Elder son stayed at a teammate’s house last night, so they will take him to his game. This morning, the weather feels much more like winter: Morning coffee mix: The Technivorm coffee maker is great fun. As the water boils, bubbles travel up a clear tube inside the water compartment. Morning coffee. Next: a few more kitchen pictures.

Rona: We chose Akurum Adel medium brown cabinets. We also considered Adel light birch because we were concerned that the medium brown would make the north-facing kitchen too dark. We really liked the medium brown, so we mixed in some glass-fronted cabinets and used open shelves around the window to keep the kitchen from feeling closed-in. By the way, we found Ikea's free kitchen planning software (click) invaluable in planning the kitchen. The program is a bit buggy, but one can work around most of its quirks.

Elder son is staying at a friend’s house, so Mrs. Crab made decaf tea for three. Tomorrow is the last day of the foodblog, so I will try to squeeze in as much as possible. We will probably not have crabs, but I would like to show you some of the local food-related sights and finish with an Ethiopian restaurant. As always, your questions and comments are welcomed. Goodnight!

What a missed opportunity! How did your Dad happen to cook Chinese and Indian food? We always set out cucumbers or carrots before dinner, so yeah, sometimes they fill up when I am particularly slow getting food on the table. There are worse things than boys filling up on vegetables, though. The boys are pretty tolerant of my experiments. They love some things – sate, five-spice chicken, mildly-spiced stir-fries, Sichuan dry-fried dishes, Sichuan fish with chile bean sauce, coconut rice, fried rice, etc. Unfortunately, they are not crazy about Thai curries or Indian food, two of my favorites (although they like Thai beef kaprow). Consequently, we have not made much Thai or Indian food lately unless we have dinner guests. Elder son is developing a taste for spicy food, but younger son has a lower chile tolerance. I try to convince younger son to mix spicy foods with rice, but he is a member of the “my food is touching” club. If he really doesn’t like something, he pours honey on it to render it palatable. The boys tolerate vegetable stir-fries, but prefer raw veggies, even some unusual things like raw chayote, limes, radishes, daikon radish, scallions, and white turnips.

I have found the Asian approach to vegetables particularly rewarding. Often, vegetables are prepared simply to contrast with a more highly-seasoned main course. Quickly seared with garlic, ginger, and/or chilies, and doused in umami-laden seasonings such as fish sauce and/or fermented bean paste, veggies have a satisfying meaty/smoky flavor. Hmm, I'm not sure that I addressed your question. Can you clarify? ← No need. What I meant was that I'd like to see demonstrations of your cooking process and an inventory of the (for me, often) unfamiliar ingredients you're using--in other words, more than the lovely finished dish you document in the Dinner thread. Your shrimp demonstration is exactly the kind of thing I meant!!! Well, since I am a creature of habit, on to oatmeal! Marion Nestle (Nutrition prof at Colombia) says we make too big a deal out of breakfast. If all you want in the morning is coffee, that's fine. ← Oh, good – I get it now. Sorry, I was replying when I should have been sleeping. Good to know that academia approves of a coffee breakfast. I still prefer to eat something solid, even if just a small portion. In the winter, I also like oatmeal for breakfast. Now that the weather is getting cold, I'll probably make a big batch of steel-cut oatmeal, seasoned with some combination of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg, and served with brown sugar or palm sugar.

An outdoor wok burner is very tempting – let’s see if we have any money left after paying for the addition. And you would be right! We love that recipe. David Thompson’s cucumber salad in Thai Food is more gently seasoned, and also very good.

Your "non-purist" omelette sure looks good to me! ← Thanks, Lorna – I figured you for a rebel.

I would be completely remiss if I did not acknowledge the incredible Chinese cooking pictorials that Ah Leung (hrzt8w) has made. Clearly, these inspired my humble efforts in this foodblog. We see farther when we stand on the shoulders of giants, as they say. Chinese Food Pictorials, by hrzt8w (clickety)

Eje has Taco Tuesday, we have Fried Rice Friday. Very loosely based on the Thai fried rice recipe in Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, fried rice is a great way to use up odds and ends in the refrigerator. Besides, the boys love it. Mrs. C assigned 7 WW points for the fried rice, plus one for a smoothie. Ingredients – fish sauce not pictured. Yes, that is Mexican chorizo. No, Mexican chorizo is not authentic in Thailand (but it gives the fried rice a special something). I sliced up the fixings – cukes, red bell peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, lime wedges. Cilantro tastes like soap to the boys, so we serve it on the side. A “whisper” of garlic and a “hint” of Thai chile bean paste. You can also use red curry paste. There were a few frozen shrimp left in the bag from last night, so I thawed the shrimp under running water before peeling and drying on paper towels. Seasonings: garlic, cayenne pepper, salt, sugar, scallions (not pictured). Stir-fry the shrimp and seasonings quickly in a very hot wok. Set aside when done, and wipe the wok clean. Stir-fry garlic, chile bean paste, and chorizo for a bit. Add cold leftover rice and stir-fry, separating each grain of rice. Make a well in the middle of the rice and add an egg. When the egg begins to set, mix with the rice. Repeat with a second egg. Add scallions . . . . . . and shrimp, and then turn off the heat. Done! Once everything is prepped, cooking the rice takes maybe five minutes - much longer to describe than to do.

Good evening, and apologies for the long delay in posting. It was one of those days. Breakfast was coffee and the last banana. For lunch, we ate at the cafeteria while discussing house addition plans with our architect. Mrs. Crab had white chicken chili and bottled water – 7 WW points. I had a tuna sandwich on rye with Swiss cheese, potato gratin, and a salad containing spinach, mixed greens, mock crab, green olives, and Ken’s blue cheese dressing. Next: fried rice Friday.

SheenaGeena: Sure, we know Hagerstown. We have been there many times, especially since the outlet malls opened up. I have been to Fort Meade (interesting place), but not Odenton (although I've heard the name). Who or what dragged you off to Boston?

Priscilla's comment - a proper noun, even (added underline).

Thanks - I'm feeling better already. I have found the Asian approach to vegetables particularly rewarding. Often, vegetables are prepared simply to contrast with a more highly-seasoned main course. Quickly seared with garlic, ginger, and/or chilies, and doused in umami-laden seasonings such as fish sauce and/or fermented bean paste, veggies have a satisfying meaty/smoky flavor. Hmm, I'm not sure that I addressed your question. Can you clarify? I usually learn a new cuisine by finding a good cookbook or two and trying some recipes. With time and experience, cooking becomes less rote and more natural. I hope to achieve that exalted state some day, but I also want to keep trying new things. I took some evening classes at Hood College – interesting experience being a male minority. Pick-your-own and direct-market fruit and vegetable farms are a huge benefit of living in Frederick. In the summer and fall, a short drive yields strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, and apples of life-altering quality. A brief sojourn in the fields can provide more sweet strawberries or tart blueberries than even our fruit-loving boys can finish. Typically, you get a basket, pick the fruit, and pay by the weight of your basket. A standard joke is that children should be weighed before and after picking. More information: Maryland Direct Farm Market Association We also have a few berry-producing brambles that grow wild in the woods behind our house. Mrs. Crab braves poison ivy to reap the harvest. Orchard, fruit, corn, dairy, and vegetable farming predominate in Frederick County. We frequent two farmer’s markets in the summer. A small market is held on Tuesdays at lunchtime, and a much larger farmer’s market is held on Saturday mornings. The latter features wonderful sweet corn, peaches, apples, pears, tomatoes, vegetables, dairy products, meats, baked goods (Stone Hearth Bakery), and freshly-squeezed lemonade (the lemons are not local, I’m sure). Several plant vendors sell interesting varieties of potted vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals. I bought several types of basil there last summer. Fall activities at local farms include corn mazes, hay rides, and picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Last year, we each carved a pumpkin – I’ll try to dig up the picture if anyone is interested. Maryland has a fledgling wine industry, and several vineyards are located nearby. The vineyards frequently hold festivals with music, food, and wine tastings. A wine-loving friend volunteers at one of the vineyards, and once invited me to help with the harvest. The owners fed us a simple but delicious lunch (with wine, of course), and then we braved yellowjackets to harvest the grapes. I even helped punch down the skins on a tub of fermenting wine. Yup, omnivore. I’ve never understood not eating certain foods just because it’s morning. Weekday mornings are too rushed for cooking, so I usually have some ready-made protein - nuts or leftovers – to avoid the mid-morning munchies at work. I breakfast late on weekends, frequently doing terrible things to innocent omelets. Coffee with cream and sugar serves as breakfast more mornings than I care to admit.

When I larb, the larb topic will be the first place I'll go. Twenty-one pages of posts about larb - who woulda thunk it.

Dejah: Excellent! Credit to Andrea Nguyen for the recipe, of course. Yes, I would love to have Majra's outdoor wok setup (click) from your Chinese eats at home, what did we cook? (click) thread. Might be a little rough in your climate, though. No problem - as long as you keep enlightening me about Chinese food.

Hmm, I don't really have one go-to cookbook. The boys would be delighted if we cooked from All About Braising and The Barbecue Bible every day. Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland has incredibly clear directions, and I love Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet has a ton of family favorites, as does Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. I have high hopes for several recent acquisitions that are sitting on my nightstand. The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diane Kennedy and Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni are sentimental favorites – those were two of my first cookbooks.

Thank you, rachel. You may be emeritus, but I love your writing whether it strays from the path or not.

little ms foodie: Thank you! Of course our kitchen is always spotless - NOT! Nah, it's a working kitchen. We do try to keep flat surfaces as clear as possible. Here is a lousy picture of what the kitchen looked like when I came home this evening - a bit more lived-in. The pictures upthread were taken several months ago, when all of the major renovation work was finished.

I love shrimp with Panang curry. My favorite way to make it is to make the curry, stir-fry the shrimp separately, and then mix everything together. I have talked up Austin's Panang beef curry (clickety) before - it is the bomb, and good with shrimp, too. The larb was good, but I prefer it a bit juicier. I like a healthy dose of chiles, lime, and fish sauce, with just enough sugar to round out the taste. I'm hesitant to admit this - I have eaten a ton of larb, but I've never made it. Unfortunately, I am the only one in the family that likes larb. I probably need to make it for lunch on the weekend - that is when I get to play with food.

That was hilarious! I have always had a soft spot for cafeteria food. Our cafeteria is pretty good - they had crab cakes yesterday.

Great pot - I looooooove my Staub (much prefer it to the LC pot I own). Are we going to see it in action? It's the perfect time of year for a rich, slow braise, a slow-simmered curry, a pot roast ... okay, now I have to go and plan something like this for dinner, I'm making myself hungry. Actually, that chicken dish of yours looks pretty scrummy, and I've just defrosted me some chicken ... ← Hey, you made me hungry, too, and I just ate. The Staub will probably see its first action next week. So, what did you do with your chicken?

That is wonderful - how did we live before the internet?

Thanks, Michael!

Where in Wisconsin? Any specialties in their area? Do you drive or fly? ← We have relatives in the Milwaukee suburbs and up near Chippewa Falls. Area specialties include venison and other game, beer-soaked brats, walleye, Sprecher beer and root beer, cheese curds, hot dish, and some excellent Mexican food and groceries. One sister-in-law is a former pastry chef, and other relatives make delicious game, fish, Spanish and Mexican food, soups, and cookies. We have always eaten very well in Wisconsin. We usually drive to Wisconsin. Last trip we rented a big honking SUV and packed up the boys and dogs. On the return trip, we hauled a very nice bar, a gift from my SIL. Flying would be really expensive, and finding someone to watch our old dogs can be a problem.