snowangel

Meant to mention that after dinner, when I needed to do something with my hands, I worked on this: I have handwork projects lined up like you can't believe.

I'm feeling bitchy. OK. I've come clean. I've only wanted a smoke once today. But, back to the business at hand. Dinner. I did this chicken from a Bittman Minimalist column and stirfried broccoli (with huge chunks of garlic). Dinner plated: It sure looked nicer on my plate, not quite so dark. I really need to work with my camera. I, above topic, was mentioning salt. Well, that broccoli packed a punch, now that I've read the bottles. It was brocc, garlic, nam pla and this yellow bean sauce: It looks like something that was expelled from my babies when they were only breastfed, but that's beside the point. This stuff tastes good. So, my figuring on the sodium count is nam pla at 1770 mg./TB, and the yellow bean sauce at close to 1400 mg/TB. Count them. 2 T of each. The thought of it makes me retain water. So, to dinner. Had it not started with the normal type of conversation between a 10-year old brother and a 15-year old sister, things might have gone better. But, food just didn't taste good. I feel jumpy and out of sorts. I am sporting three new cuts on fingers and one burn, and I haven't had any of these for quite some time. Even odder. The twitch in my eye. For some reason, I didn't smoke when I was pregnant with any of the kids. It just disappeared from my life, before I even knew I was pregnant. Present with all three pregancies was an odd twitch in one eye. It's back, and I know I'm not with child. Positively. I'm having a martini, think I need to congratulate myself for making it through the day and either take to bed with a warm, wet towel over my eyes of have a jacuzzi. Or shoot everyone I see. But, better get the trash and recycling out first.

I'm just hope you weren't one of those out driving like a dope, eating, talking on the phone, fiddling with the car radio and applying make-up, all at the same time while driving 70 miles per hour.

I'm heavy into dinner prep now, so I don't feel like smoking. Marlene, your ribs look wonderful. Converted rice is well, ick. Pitch it. Use something better tomorrow night (you are doing rice tomorrow night, aren't you?). Wonder what it would be like fried. I agree about the salty thing. I haven't eaten much today. Well, that's not true because of the Costco run, but I was really disappointed that they didn't have many samplings of salty/crunchy things. What you need is something totally awful like fritos.

I want a cigarette for the first time today. I think I'll go brush my teeth.

3 cloves of garlic, minced 2 t. soy sauce pinch sugar And, the asparagus should be trimmed and cut into 1" diagonal pieces ← 1/2 t. lemon juice Blanch the asparagus? If so, is the water salted or unsalted? A little sesame oil? ← Blanch the asparagus briefly in salted water. Shock with ice water, drain thoroughly. Can be put in a ziplock in the fridge until ready to cook. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Toast sesame seeds, remove. Add 1-2 T. vegetable oil to skillet, heat until very hot. Add garlic, and asparagus. Add soy and pinch of sugar. Remove from heat and toss with lemon juice, 1t. sesame oil and the sesame seeds. Taste and adjust seasonings. We could call it Tag Team Asparagus.

3 cloves of garlic, minced 2 t. soy sauce pinch sugar And, the asparagus should be trimmed and cut into 1" diagonal pieces

Marlene, there's no reason you couldn't make the recipe for Snow Peas with Oyster Sauce, subbing the asparagus for the vegetables in this dish.

I recall looking at the KA ones on ebay and there seemed to be a lot out there for sale with some sort of crack somewhere in the plastic. Naturally, everyone said that it did't affect performances. Hmmm.

Add them to an Asian Noodle Soup. They are very common in noodle soups sold at stalls and noodle carts in Thailand.

Upthread, Marlene said she feels spacey. I am back from errands. I needed 5 things. Cottage cheese, shredded cheese, broccoli, and index cards. Oh, that's four items. It took me 1.5 hours. I shop primiarly at Costco and a Cub Supermarket. I'm really lucky to live less than 2 miles from a Costco. It's close enough that I often go for just milk and eggs. It was sample time, so I had lunch at Cosco. Chunks of chicken brease in Frank's Hot Sauce for wings (not nearly spicy enough for me), Stagg Chili (not bad), chicken quesidilla (mediocre), pot sticker (dreadful), seafood salad (way too sweet), some thin crust pizza (commercially acceptable), caesar salad (quite good, actually), little pieces of brie wrapped in some sort of dough and baked (bad dough), salsa (refrigerated) on chips (so good I went back for seconds). I came home thirsty and feeling incredibly unproductive. Not to mention that I'll go grocery shopping again tomorrow -- at the Asian market in prep for tomorrow night's dinner. I still haven't wanted a cigarette. Nor do I want a nap, but then again, I had almost a whole pot of really strong coffee. I'm off to Peter's class to work with the kids on spelling. I volunteer once a week.

I've been using dijon mustard lately, too. I picked this up from Fine Cooking, I think: skip the blanching, and toss the trimmed beans in a big saute pan with some olive oil or butter, over medium-high heat. Toss, but not too often. When they've picked up some color, add some liquid -- stock or wine (vermouth has been my favorite), or a combination. You don't need a lot, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan by a few millimeters. Lid on, and steam for a few minutes, until the liquid is gone and the beans are tender. Off the heat, add a little mustard and a squirt of lemon juice. Also, Marlene, I know you like to freeze super-reduced stock in cubes. If you're feeling decadent -- and this week seems reasonable for an indulgence -- this is a good time to use a cube. Toss it in the pan and swirl it around -- a nice umami glaze to finish. ← Ok now this sounds interesting. Beef or chicken stock? I've got both. and how's your day going anyway? ← Chicken stock.

Welcome to the party, Brooks!

So far, so good. I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to miss smoking. Let's see. Two loads of laundry. The driveway is shoveled. Dishwasher unloaded. Kitchen counters wiped up. But, breakfast. First off, I don't eat first thing in the morning. I don't usually eat in the morning until 10:00 am. Stems from my days working outside the house; day care fed the kids breakfast, so I toted leftovers to work and heated them up. Further, I rarely eat sweets. And, never before evening. I just don't like sweet things for breakfast. So, while I was doing some advance prep for dinner tonight, I reheated last night's leftovers -- chili. I sort of tone it down from what I would like for my family, so I added liberal amounts of Chipotle Tabasco. And, on to dinner preps. Diana has volleyball practice on Wednesday nights, so one of us has to take her, and leave the house at 6:45 (I'll be so glad when Sept. rolls around and she has a DL). Given that Paul doesn't get home until sometime between 5:40 and 6:00 pm, dinner has to be something that is quick to get on the table. So, tonight, I'm doing a take on a Bittman Minimalist column recipe -- SE Asian Chicken Two Ways. Prep: You'll note that these legs look odd at the bottom. One of the greatest tricks I've learned from eGullet is to either cut the bottom of the leg off, or cut around the bone to sever all of the tendons. Then, the leg behaves much more like a thigh. I didn't cut off the ends because if I do, they will more than likely puncture the ziplock bag, causing soy to leak all over the fridge. I'll cook the chicken and keep it warm and finish it as I start stir-frying brocolli.

Marlene, you could do what I do with green beans. Barely blanch them. Toss a big hunk o butter into a skillet, add the green beans (which could be blanched and chilled long before hand) and saute them in the butter until they are done.

Good morning! Two down, one to go (kids off to school). It is an absolutely beautiful white morning. We had a nice snowfall last night, and the treees are draped with a white carpet. I am currently worshiping my morning goddess: I get the pot ready to go at night, and my husband, Paul, gets up grinds the coffee and gets things rolling. A happy mother/wife is one who emerges from the shower to coffee, which in turn, makes everyone else's life happier! I have smoked since I was a teenager. My kids hate it. Quite frankly, now that I think about it, not only is it stinky and bad for me, it is expensive and takes time (no smoking in our house or cars). I'm sick and tired of planning my errands around stopping at the cash machine to get cigarettes. I'm getting nowhere in a hurry on a home remodeling project, partly because of all of the damned cigarette breaks. In Soba's tease photo, there was a picture of an empty jar. It is my jar. I will put a chit in the jar for every pack I don't smoke. When the amount is right, I'm treating myself to Charcuterie. I really, really want that book, so that's my carrot. Off to pull something out of the freezer for dinner.

In a moment, I will head outside to have that last cigarette out in the heavily falling snow. I will be cold and wet. Which is one reason I don't want to smoke anymore.

Wendy, this is a divine soup, isn't it? It has become a regular here -- it's one of those soups I can on the table fairly quickly (I always have stock on hand) and it has ingredients which I always have on hand. One of the best "quick on the table" meals I can do.

Had a look at the recipe and wonder if you can edit it to show quantities - 1/2 soy - is that 1/2 cup? Similarly with other ingredients - the quantity is there but the unit is missing - no doubt a slip of the finger typo! I have them all the time. ← Recipe fixed. I should know better than to try to do this when the kids are walking in the door after school...

Melissa, your query prompted me to enter a recipe for Dottie's Chicken into RecipeGullet. I also remember having a star anise sorbet somewhere within the last two years. It was wonderful. But, I most associate it with savory dishes.

I'm a firm believer in dishes near the dishwasher. Let's face it, unless you are entertaining, you haul less dishes to the table at any given time than you haul out of the dishwasher once they are clean!

Dottie's Chicken Dottie was amazing to me. When I was growing up in Thailand, it was Dottie and her husband, Gordon, who taught me to scuba dive. They introduced me to Kao Soi when they moved to Chieng Mai. It was with Dottie and Gordon that I ate squid and noodles on Sunday mornings in Pattaya (back when it was a sleepy little fishing town) before we got on the boat to scuba dive. She fed me my first brie. Sadly, Dottie died in 1995 of breast cancer. Gordon is alive and well, and has since re-married a Thai woman and they divide their time between a house in Bangkok, a place up north that they are building, with occasional forays back to the U. S. to visit Gordon's kids and grandkids. Dottie gave me this recipe along with a few others and some cooking gear when I got married. 3 lb chicken pieces 1/2 c soy sauce 1 onion, chopped 1 T grated ginger 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp allspice 3 star anise pinch ground cloves Mix all ingredients except chicken. Marinate overnight. Bake at 325 until chicken is done. Keywords: Main Dish, Hors d'oeuvre, Easy, Chicken ( RG1604 )

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 In last week's Entertainment section of the Strib: The World According to Soup -- a conpendium of restaurants that offer soups from around the world. While there are no reviews nor details or what offerings are at these restaurants, it is a nice directory. On a cold winter's night, you should be able to find something close to home. In my continuing frustration with their on-line edition, I can't find Counter Intelligence on-line. Over in the Taste section, more on soup! The Lure of Fish Soup, with a couple of recipes and some tips on buying fresh fish. An article on Chinese New Year, focusing on food symbolism, complete with a recipe for a noodle soup -- to ensure long life. Lynn Rosetto Kasper talks Chicken Broth (canned) with some tips on doctoring the canned stuff. Sh also fields questions about crock pot temps. Over in the Pioneer Press's Entertainment Section: Kathy Jenkins explores Meat Raffles. Yes, that's right. Meat raffles. Who knew? Restaurant News includes news of another Thai restaurant, this one in Stillwater. In Small Bites, news of yet another Thai restaurant in Stillwater. Over at City Pages -- It's A Wine, Wine, Wine World -- all about several of the many specialty wine shops which have opened up. Move over Surdyk's and Haskell's... I'll be back on Thursday, and on time! <><><><><> Media Digest Notes... Updates from some Twin Cities media outlets, which do not 'go to press' by Friday each week, may be edited into each week's post as they become available. Please do not reply on this thread. For discussion of any stories which are linked here, please feel free to start a new thread or contact the forum host or the "digester" who will be happy to do it for you.

How about those Freegans?

I haven't got the book or tried the bacon, so can't answer that. But, I do know that you want to use dry wood. Not green. Cut down some pieces and use them in a year.