Darienne

And speaking of making your own coconut milk/cream...cracked open my coconut yesterday morning. It was rotten. So much for that effort.

Congratulations, radtek. But then we in East Central Ontario are just grateful that the snow is finally gone.

Good idea, Smithy, although the whole thing is so new to me that I cannot see myself starting the thread. Put off buying a rice cooker for years...DH did NOT want one, seeing as he normally cooked the rice, his way!!...but wouldn't eat brown rice. Gave in, bought one...for peanuts I might add...and the rest as they say....

Do get yourself a rice cooker...advised by a very amateur cook (me). You'll never look back. I finally got one last year. And now I can get DH to eat brown rice at last.

Can you make some kind of cold salad using couscous? I have a few salads made with cold cooked quinoa. I don't like cold rice or pasta salads, but many folks do. Perhaps couscous can work this way also.

Just finishing up my report. The curry I made was Panang Curry with Beef from ThempleofThai.com (thanks for the site, djyee) Left out a few of the finishing bits like the big red chili sliced (but unidentified as to proper name or type and probably not available in Peterborough anyway) and the fact that I used shredded pork instead of sliced which made the final dish look more like a dog's dinner than a proper meal. I still have a fresh coconut to make milk from and three containers of red, yellow and green curry from Arroy-D to try next, plus some fried chicken pieces now in the freezer for the next Thai curry.

Lunch is over. Two photos to post. The vegetables are: Chinese eggplant, snow peas and broccoli with coconut rice. The curry looks as it does because it's made from shredded pork instead of sliced pork. Also plating is not something I can do. The meal was delicious...though I have nothing to compare it with. Perhaps the next step is to eat at a reputable Thai restaurant. I think there is one in Peterborough...although, yes, my favorite out-of-home meal is fish and chips at a local 60s sort of dive. Next I need to freeze (?) all the leftover coriander, Thai basil, etc. if possible. Thanks for all the help.

Deryn is correct...except that I would have packed those extra pounds around my middle for sure. All that wonderful chocolate for one thing...

We have a pretty good Asian grocery in Peterborough, ON, although I don't think they carry fresh galangal...I bought fresh-frozen...at least not constantly. (They also have frozen Durian which I have yet to try. They came here 40 years ago and began their business in a hole in the wall when it was not a sure thing at all and I simply won't patronize any of the recent comers.) Also...how many friends can you tell this one to? Yesterday I pulled a pork 'butt' out of the freezer, defrosted it and slow cooked it for today's curry. It looked funny to me, but I thought nothing of it. Even while it was cooking...I thought strange looking butt. My brain was out of gear as it increasingly is I fear. Began to shred it and wondered where all the rib bones were coming from. Duh. It was a package of frozen spare ribs. So now we have spare rib pork for the curry. :raz:

Thanks for all the encouragement, Deryn. I do hope it will be fine. Of course, given the fact that I have no idea of what it should taste like.... :smile:

My paste is made and ready for tomorrow. Yep. Not likely to be repeated too often. As noted above...Considering that I cannot pound anything anymore in a pestle and it ended up being finished in a Bullet. I wonder how many Bullets have been used for Thai curry paste? So we is ready....

All grist to the mill, so to speak.

Thanks for the further advice. Alas, in our small (and very provincial local) city, I cannot buy Chaokoh or Mae Ploy coconut milk, but can buy Aroy-D. The owner (Chinese who escaped from Vietnam during that war) suggests Savoy and that's what I buy. Maesri brand also unavailable. Curry pastes are by Aroy-D only. Curry postponed until Wednesday. Sorry. We had to go into town this morning...40 minutes each way...which does not allow for first time dishes. Promises, promises.

Wonderful photos. Wonderful tour. Sure does not remind me of the groceries and markets in Peterborough!

So, the curry actually gets made tomorrow, Tuesday, for lunch. I was missing galangal and shrimp paste and I went into the city to get them. In the meantime, I made some coconut rice and it was delicious.

There is nothing unusual about items costing a lot more in Canada. Nothing at all.

Same here.

Hello back and welcome to eGullet. What are your areas of particular interest?

Not big news, but big enough for the novice pruners. The Northern Spy apple tree was pruned yesterday. I fear that it is not a well tree...but we'll see. The Macintosh will be pruned tomorrow when there are no in town errands.

Hi Norm, No expert here, but an aficionado. You probably know that the 'seeds' are annatto and the paste made from them is the achiote. Just in case you do run across the seeds somewhere. At last we are beginning to have such things available in our nearby small Ontario city.

I'm with Deryn. You don't mention pork which to me at least is the main meat for anything Mexican which I make. But then I discovered slow cooked pork late in life and am still infatuated with the taste.

Talk about wonderful. Nougat in Turron.

Chris, please, how large are those containers? And do you have one per herb?

Watch the movie, if you like. There's not a lot to be learned from it. However, much better is read the book. Much richer than the movie and a different slant.

I was able to google zocalo, cemitas. I could not find out who was China Poblano , exactly what is a taca arabe, Fortunately I knew the others or gulfporter explained them. Thanks for any definitions.