C. sapidus

Jars of dried shrimp paste, also known as belacan, should be available in any well-stocked Asian market. To use it you make a foil packet with the shrimp paste inside, smush it flat, and then toast the packet over a low flame. Warning: make sure your kitchen fan is working well when you do this. 😧

Welcomed Mrs. C home with some of her favorite things: Chicken sate marinated with a paste of coriander, fennel, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and brown sugar. Basted with lemongrass-infused oil while grilling. I made lettuce-leaf wraps with mine. Spiced pineapple pickle with star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, cardamom, garlic, ginger, shallots, and brown sugar. Quite delicious, I should make this any time decent pineapples are available. Peanut sauce with toasted shrimp paste, coconut milk, chiles, garlic, brown sugar, and rice vinegar

Now that you are here, perhaps Larb Laab Larp will keep you hanging around. I posted this on the dinner thread but Heidih is right - larb should be here. Chicken larb with lemongrass, red onion, minced ginger (sub for galangal), fish sauce, lime juice, red chile powder, ground toasted rice, mint leaves, and cilantro. Put it all together and then season to taste with more lime juice, fish sauce, and red chile powder..

Larb chicken over butter lettuce. Carrot and cucumber pickle. Jasmine rice to go with. Larb always make me think of Snowangel (Susan). I hope she is well.

I did not grow the water spinach - I found it at the local international market.

Mace sounds good - I have made a note in the recipe. Thank you!

And just for fun, pasilla chile packets are often labeled "ancho" - I think chile names vary across Mexico. I don't normally post leftovers but this was interesting. I had used strip steak in the Panang beef but realized that the "beef" specified in the recipe should have been a longer-cooking cut to allow the sauce to be cooked down. So this morning I fished out the steak, cooked down the sauce, and then warmed the steak in the sauce. Much better. Cucumber salad was also better after chiles, shallots, etc. steeped overnight.

Panang beef with green beans, ground peanuts, ground coriander and cumin, coconut milk, etc. Finished with Thai basil, cilantro, and lime zest (sub for lime leaves). Cucumber salad

Thanks! First time I had cooked water spinach but I liked it very much. I would describe it as spinach with more backbone. Hoping it stays in stock at the local international market.

Tilapia with chiles and Sichuan peppercorns (la zi yu), from Fuchsia Dunlop. Jasmine rice to go with Stir-fried water spinach two ways: leaves, with garlic . . . . . . and stems, with fermented black beans, garlic, chiles, and vinegar.

Fragrant-and-hot shrimp with chile bean paste, ginger, garlic, mild red chile, dark soy, scallions, and sesame oil. Shrimp were marinated with salt and shaoxing wine, and then fried, rested, and simmered in the sauce. Jasmine rice to go with. Fish-fragrant eggplant: deep-fried Asian eggplants, with chile bean paste, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, chicken stock, and potato starch to thicken. Finished with black vinegar, scallions, and sesame oil. I love eggplant cooked this way but Mrs. C hates the texture so I cooked it while she is traveling.

Thanks! One of my first cookbooks was Diana Kennedy's 'The Art of Mexican Cooking'. 😊 Around here most Latino immigrants are from Central and South America rather than Mexico. This yields excellent tamales and tons of pupusas y tacos places, but unfortunately good Mexican restaurants are few and far between.

Thank you! Unfortunately Grandma Alice's Chipotle Chorizo is hidden behind a paywall, but I did find a few other chorizo recipes that look promising. One used ground pork and no sausage casings (longaniza?), which sounds more likely to happen. But I still prefer finding a brand I like that is available locally.

Eggs with chorizo, tomato, roasted Poblano chile strips, white onion, garlic, serrano chile, and cilantro. Younger son's reaction: "Holy sh*t that's good." I am on a quest for good crumbly chorizo. This was not it, but the flavor was good.

Raising your working surface is the way to go, methinks. I have a nice thick cutting board that raises the working surface about 2.5 inches. At 6'-7" you could probably use even more height for your prep surfaces. If you do build blocks to raise your cutting surface, please post here - I would be very interested to see. Mrs. C is about 7 inches shorter so raising countertop height was not an option. Plus, you may eventually want to sell your house to short people . . .

I had a meal planned, stopped by the Latino market for groceries, and well . . . tamales will change plans.

Ground turkey with burnt caramel sauce, onion, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce. Served on Romaine lettuce with cucumber salad and jasmine rice.

Glad you have a working fridge @Shelby In other news, I replaced two of the igniters on our cooktop. One igniter would go "tick-tick-tick" if set below medium. The other stopped going "tick" at all so we had to keep a fire starter next to the cooktop. The Blue Star cooktop is about 18 years old, so replacing an igniter every once in a while seems pretty reasonable.

Pesto scrambled eggs with sautéed garlic and feta

Pasta with pesto, shrimp, and feta cheese (we just finished a nice block of parmesan, dangit). Shrimp were tossed with smoked paprika and black pepper before searing, and then set aside to rest. Peas with butter and tarragon. Not sure there are many pantry meals left - I might need to break down and get groceries. 🙄

Opposite experience here. I was traveling and grabbed a takeout curry to eat in the hotel. No utensils whatsoever. That was a very good but very sloppy meal. 🙄

Not sure I should post given previous discussion, but . . . 😉 Tuna salad with kimchi and spicy pickles: Dogs supervising the consumption thereof:

Breakfast tacos with onion, garlic, bird chilies, veggie chorizo, and a mystery packet of shredded parmesan cheese.

Thank you! Sadly, no refried beans were available.