C. sapidus

Kouign Aman: Sorry, I missed your last question (which was a good one). For the stir-fry I peeled the outer grungy layers and chopped up the bottom six inches or so of the lemongrass. The recipe stated that one stalk of lemongrass would yield about 3 tablespoons finely chopped. I found that it took two stalks of lemongrass to yield that amount. Perhaps lemongrass grows thicker in California or Vietnam? For making curry pastes, I peel the lemongrass down to the very tender inner layers. Otherwise, pounding lemongrass to a paste takes quite a while. I just sorta worked this stuff out by trial and error, so I could be doing it all wrong. We have heard from the greens experts - would any lemongrass experts care to weigh in on this?

Cooking Asian food used to require lots of planning and a two-hour round trip. Discovering the Asian Supermarket dramatically changed how we cook and eat. The owners, incredibly pleasant folks, are from Burma, near the Indian border. They also have roots in Singapore, Japan, and California. This probably explains the incredible diversity of foods that they offer in a relatively small space. One of the owners at the cash register (she told me her name, but I'm embarassed to say that the information leaked out of my brain on the short drive home): The owners would like to expand the store. Expansion would enable them to carry a wider variety of produce and offer hot prepared foods. I hope it works out – I would love to see more produce, but the store already offers nearly everything I need to cook Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporean food. In the summer, they stock cases of indescribably delicious mangos. The store has two long aisles, with cash register behind me and produce at the far end: Rice and snacks: Gratuitous Pocky shot: Freezer case with fresh coconut and durian: Indian goods: Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporean supplies: Thai curry pastes, picked vegetables, and coconut milk: Household goods, including granite mortars: Freezer cases – fish, meats, dumplings, wrappers, and frozen chilies, galangal, and turmeric: Canned goods, flours, shallots, pickled vegetables: Produce section – small but well-chosen. I usually buy lemongrass, Thai chilies and basil, mint, long beans, green mango, limes, bean sprouts, Asian greens, Asian eggplants, Napa cabbage . . . Fruit purees, cabbage, chayote, root vegetables, noodles . . . Another freezer case: Chinese and Korean sauces: More sauces – sometimes I stand here and smile quietly to myself. Japanese ingredients: There is also a whole wall of dry noodles from southern and eastern Asia (no picture). Great place!

Hmm, stunned silence after the omelet. Would y’all like to see a kitchen tour, pictures from the Asian market, both, or neither? Please let me know - I’ll be back in a bit after wrestling with ImageGullet.

Bruce makes lunch, and purists wince: omelet with fish sauce, chorizo, feta cheese, Mexican oregano, and black pepper. More coffee. Mmmmm, good. I may have some leftover rice and chicken stir-fry later, if I get hungry.

Catching up on pictures here - we stopped by the Latino Market . . . . . . and picked up some odds and ends. Their chorizo is excellent, the best I have found. They carry Salvadoran and Mexican chorizo, so I have learned to say, “Quatro chorizo Mexicano, por favor” in a moderately convincing manner. I know that I needed bitter orange (naranja agria) for something – a Rick Bayless recipe, perhaps? No ginger beer until my throat feels better. We also picked up some yard-long beans and baby mustard greens at the Asian Market. The owner is from Burma, and gave me a book of Shan recipes. Much more about the Asian market later. I forgot to take a picture of the sign outside the Asian Supermarket - sorry for the blurry pic. For locals, the store is located across the street from Rita's shave ice and the Adelphia building.

Mrs. Crab woke up early, made coffee, put the borscht in the outdoor fridge to solidify the fat . . . . . . set up to make Russian black bread for tonight . . . . . . and breakfasted on coffee and a muffin with egg white and Canadian bacon (4 WW points or less). She ate a portabella burger for lunch when she came home to start the bread machine (portabella burger - 1 point; whole-grain muffin - 2 points). Good news and bad news this morning. Bad news: my throat feels like I gargled with broken glass, so I stayed home from work. Good news: I can check my work e-mail from home and post on eGullet. Breakfast: coffee, blood orange, and a throat lozenge. Edited: y'know, if I looked at my own pictures more closely, I could tell the difference between Canadian bacon and a portabella burger. Also added WW points (thanks, Mrs. C!).

That's funny - the fridge came with the house. I dunno about the egg rack - the indentations are more jar-shaped than egg-shaped. I'm way too lazy to take eggs out of a perfectly good container and carefully put them somewhere else. Thank you! Can you grow lemongrass outside year-round? We have grown lemongrass in the vegetable garden, but the stem diameter doesn't get that big around before frost. I have seen lemongrass used three ways: 1. Chop finely and use in stir-fried or grilled dishes. Lemongrass is pretty stringy if you don't chop it very finely across the grain. 2. For Thai and Malaysian curry pastes, chop the lemongrass and pound it to smithereens in a heavy mortar with chilies, garlic, shallots, etc. Sometimes we start curry pastes out in a food processor and finish in the mortar. If we have enough volume we can use the Preethi grinder, but it doesn't work for small quantities. We are still playing with the most efficient method of making curry pastes. 3. Bruise the lemongrass, simmer it like a bay leaf, and remove before serving. In Cradle of Flavor, James Oseland recommends bruising the lemongrass and tying it in a knot. We do that for coconut lemongrass rice, which is delicious (but not very WW-friendly, unfortunately).

Thank you, Basilgirl! The butter and shortening were refrigerator temperature before mixing with the dry ingredients. I also used heavy cream, on the theory that the more detrimental an ingredient is to your health, the better it will be when baked. Beginner's luck, methinks. ← Don't tell us this is the first time you've ever made biscuits!!!! I'm loving this blog. And now I'm so ashamed to admit that I've given up on homemade biscuits and now use whack-a-roll, frozen Pillsbury, or Bisquick. Third time making biscuits, but Ann_T and others were very helpful when I posted my first-time tale of woe.

caroled: Thanks! You are the amazing baker and mapo tofu maker, correct? Awesome - that sounds right up my alley! <runs off to add collard greens and bacon to next week's shopping list>

Nakji: Thank you! I look forward to learning the differences between northern and southern Vietnamese food. Please remember to bring your camera on the trip. Mai Pham (Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table) seems have more recipes from southern Vietnam, but Andrea Nguyen’s family lived in the north as well as the south. I haven't finished reading through Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, but the recipes seem to reflect influences from both regions. Guppymo started a Vietnamese Food thread (clickety), and posted an amazing array of home-cooked Vietnamese meals. I would love to reactivate that thread – perhaps we can start posting there when we cook Vietnamese food? Edit: forgot "to".

Ah, the traditional refrigerator shots – I was hoping Sandy and Alana would forget, but no such luck. The main refrigerator compartment is a bit topsy-turvy. We moved things around to fit the ribs yesterday, and to fit the stock pot full of borscht today. The weather has been cooperative, so root vegetables, etc. are stored in a cooler outdoors. I use the bottom crisper drawers most frequently. The left crisper drawer holds vegetables – bell peppers, bok choy, long beans, Chinese leeks, etc. The right crisper drawer holds seasonings and aromatics – chilies, scallions, cilantro, basil - all of the good stuff. You can barely see bristly lemongrass stalks on the bottom right, just above the crisper. The fridge door. The green beans are for the dogs. The amber bottle to the left of the half-and-half is root beer that Mrs. Crab and the boys made at home – we have a case or two more in the pantry, waiting for the yeast to get their act in gear and carbonate the root beer properly. The freezer. Lots of home-made chicken and/or vegetable stock, bread, the grease jar, and a bottle of vodka. Ice cream is for the boys, mostly. The freezer door. My favorite part is the top shelf, which holds key Asian ingredients like Thai “long chilies”, galangal, turmeric, and our stash of kaffir lime leaves. Our Russian friends grow a kaffir lime tree indoors, and they bring over armloads of kaffir lime branches whenever they visit. We store ginger, scallions, and onions in a wicker basket on top of the fridge. Garlic has its own clay pot with air holes, also on top of the fridge. Tomatoes, limes, and avocados sit on the counter, and bunches of bananas hang from hooks on the drying rack. We also have a stand-up freezer in the basement, but it badly needs defrosting. Oops, I forgot - we also have an under-counter dorm fridge. We use this fridge to store drinks - milk, Danimals, and beer, mostly. This frees up a lot of space in the main fridge. I will try to remember to take a picture. Sigh.

Thanks, Sandy. I did refrigerate the shortening before cutting it into the flour. I have also read it helps to cut the biscuits with a sharp cutting implement before baking - I used a sharp chef's knife. Based on which side of the biscuits rose and which didn't, next time I might trim the sides, too, to see if it makes a difference. The cut edges definitely rose higher than the outer edges, which were smushed into shape with a board scraper.

Alana:You are absolutely right - the boys have enriched our lives immeasurably. Great fun, though, and, when we have time, a perfect way to relax after work. I'm assuming that you did not have dogs. Didn't Sazji say that they often eat/prepare food on or near the floor in Turkey? Rats - I was hoping Sandy forgot about the fridge shot. Perhaps after tomorrow, when we clear out the stock pot of borscht in the fridge.

Thank you, Basilgirl! The butter and shortening were refrigerator temperature before mixing with the dry ingredients. I also used heavy cream, on the theory that the more detrimental an ingredient is to your health, the better it will be when baked. Beginner's luck, methinks.

Excellent - I will try that next time.

Thank you kindly, ma'am! Your previous posts on the subject of greens in general, and collard greens in particular, were motivational and informational.

Thank you, and what a neat idea for cooking greens. Mrs. Crab would love the variety of textures.

Excellent! Hmm, that is a difficult question to answer. I have only made crab cakes twice - they held together both times, but I don't know why. I wonder if the type of crab meat makes a difference - does lower quality meat (smaller pieces) hold together better than the good stuff (larger pieces)? I know that there are some very experienced crabcake makers out there - does anyone have a suggestion?

I've thought about a gold filter, but haven't gone beyond thinking yet. I just use the large paper filters that fit the drip coffee maker - we better not run out of those!

Hi donk, great to "meet" another local. Are you looking for any particular kind of food? Saturday mornings in the summer, definitely check out the farmer's market behind the discount movie theater on Baughman's Lane, near the intersection with Route 40 West (in Frederick). Stone Hearth Bakery in downtown Frederick (Shab Row, if you know it) has some incredible breads and rugelach.

Susan, the Latino market has a meat counter, but the local Asian market does not. There is an Asian market in Wheaton (~45 minutes away) that has an amazing meat counter - all of the pig parts that you don't see in the regular grocery stores. I'm not sure when we will get to the Asian and Latino markets - perhaps on Wednesday, when Mrs. Crab is making dinner. Chile-basil paste sounds like fun - I have seen something like that, but haven't tried it yet. I used to make a hot sauce from one of Diane Kennedy's cookbooks. It was packed with aromatic spices and De Arbol chiles, really delicious, I once gave it away as Christmas presents. I haven't made it for a while, though.

I picked up younger son after work. He had a little “snack” before dinner: Mrs. Crab worked late, picked up elder son from basketball practice, dropped off one of elder son’s teammates, and arrived home around 7:00. Atypically, I had dinner on the table shortly thereafter. We also ate the salad greens from yesterday. Mrs. Crab made a dressing of Key lime vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. Dinner: chicken stir-fried with lemongrass and chile (ga xao xa ot), from Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, served with jasmine rice, and cucumbers. The recipe was simple, the directions very clear, and the flavors were rich with coconut milk, fragrant with lemongrass and curry spices, and gently spicy with Thai chilies. I like this cookbook so far. I started the rice first – a cup and a half of jasmine rice, 1.25 cups of water per cup of rice, bring to a boil for a few seconds, cover and steam for 15 minutes, and rest covered for at least 10 minutes. Ingredients for the chicken: Marinate cut-up chicken thighs in fish sauce, curry powder, salt, and sugar: Finely mince lemongrass, Thai chilies, and shallots, stir-fry briefly, add marinated chicken and bell peppers, and sear in the wok: Add coconut milk, bring to a boil . . . . . . and simmer until the liquid reduces and the chicken is done: Eternal cucumbers – the boys went through two bowls full. [dog]”Hey, are you gonna eat that? Will you give me some if I do my meerkat impression?"[/dog] Younger son had another “snack” before bedtime. That kid sure can pack away the ribs.

We had lunch at Hagan's Tavery (clickety), normally a special-occasion place for us. The building dates to the late 1700s. Located on the old National Road, this is the kind of place that could plausibly claim that “George Washington slept here.” As I recall, Washington accompanied General Braddock when he cut a road past Frederick and Braddock Heights during the French and Indian Wars. Alternate Route 40 generally follows that same roadway today (I’m going from memory here, but I think at least some of this history is true). Braddock Heights, just west of Frederick on Route 40, has beautiful views in four directions. Hand-painted murals on the dining room walls represent the view from Hagan’s Tavern in the 1790s. Stenciled wall coverings and thick stone walls. The bar is way cool. Mrs. Crab and I ate in the bar during one of our earlier dates – back then the bar was illuminated with candles rather than electricity. But enough about cool buildings and on to the food. My beautiful and delightful dining companion The menu changes with the seasons: The sauteed crab appetizer was delicious – that is what jumbo lump crab meat is supposed to look like. Note also what Mrs. Crab described as the "lemon condom" - her comment made me not want to squeeze the lemon. Mrs. Crab had the portabella mushroom sandwich (sorry about the blurry picture). It was another winner, even with the cheese removed (less WW points). We were trying to figure out the marinade – the flavor was meaty and delicious. I had a crab cake sandwich. This was also very good, but I prefer the ones we made at home. Hagan's does amazing things with sherry cream sauce and mushrooms - as good as their other offerings are, I always kick myself if I don't order something with at least one of the two. Ben, our incredibly helpful server, brought the dessert tray so we could take a picture. The servers dress in period costume. It took a lot of willpower not to order dessert, but we had to get back to work. Next: Dinner! Edit: splelnig

Ah, I was remiss – I also meant to thank everyone for their kind comments and excellent questions. Until recently, we had a 12-cup coffee maker. Mrs. Crab leaves early for work, so she heats up my stainless steel thermos, makes the coffee, and grabs a cup on her way out the door. Yeah, she’s pretty wonderful. This routine left me four steaming mugs of half-decaf joy: one to drink before work; and three to administer as necessary during the workday. The 12-cup coffee maker expired a few months ago. After extensive research, we bought a 10-cup Technivorm Moccamaster. With one less mug of coffee in the thermos, I had no antidote for mid-afternoon slumps or particularly long meetings. To restore caffeine equilibrium, I started using our 20-year old Melitta pour-over filter in the morning. This reminded me how good coffee tastes from a Melitta filter, and left me with three full mugs for the thermos.

Good evening, and thanks for your collective patience. I’ll post today’s pictures first, and then answer questions after. We decided to start the day with breakfast. Mrs. Crab gets up at oh-dark-thirty and eats first: I had a banana and leftover sweet potatoes with walnuts, cinnamon, and allspice. I like some protein in the morning – it helps avoid a mid-morning vending machine raid. Elder son’s breakfast - he likes his omelets firm. Younger son’s bowl of fluorescent sugary joy.