snowangel

Word. Really. Life after is wonderful.

I usually get country style ribs, but chops (bone removed) or boneless chops would work, as well. Never forget using leftover roasted or grilled beef/pork/chicken. Although not strictly a larb, it works very well, and is a nice way to use up a bit of cooked meat that would otherwise mold in the fridge. This recipe works well for Paul, Diana and I. Peter and Heidi are not larb afficiandos. Heidi has some mouth sensory issues that preclude hot and spicy (Heidi is disabled). Peter is an 8-year boy (enough said). But, I usually serve it with something else, for variety. Plus, if I serve something else, I have leftovers for lunch the next day. BTW, I think I love the squid one most of all. The only difference is that I do it in advance, so that the dressing can cook the squid. On grocery list. Squid.

Biggest food fight here is about the kids. I don't believe that everyone should like very food. He thinks that every kid should like everything. He insists that his mother insisted they eat everything on their plates. Her memory is different. So, Peter doesn't like parsnips? Neither do I. Is it any different that he doesn't like them, and I don't like them? Apparently, yes. And, I have finally informed my family that if they don't like something new I've tried, they'll see it again. Don't worry about offending me. You may offend the recipe/idea creator, but not me. Finally (for all of my family) -- it sure doesn't take much more energy to open the dishwasher door and insert your glass or plate than it does to put it on top of the dishwasher. My family and husband are pretty darned good. They will try whatever I put in front on them. They love how I smell when I smoke meat. They love the end product. They have learned to appreciate spicy food. They think garlic rules. I'm really lucky, I guess.

My son, Peter, was scheduled to be born on November 29. The day before, we received received a diagnosis on our daughter Heidi of cereberal palsy (turned out to be incorrect). Totally OT, but we received this news from her ped neuro while looking at a picture of Tom Hanks as Forest Gump, autographed by Tom Hanks. I'm not sure if it was nesting, or the diagnosis, but I had to go to work and do something that would alleviate the pain. It was cooking or washing area rugs (turned out, I did both). So, I made stock. I simmered and skimmed, I reduced, and froze said stock. I made a burnt sugar cake. I made a pan of lasagne which I froze. I made a wonderful dinner that night. For dinner, I improvised on Julia's potato leek soup. I made a loaf of bread. We ate that burnt sugar cake. I made the comfort foods of my youth. The ones my grandmothers taught me to make. All the while, knowing that they were smiling down on Heidi and that unborn child who was going to be known to us the next day. When my best friend's mom died, I was asked to be at the private family time before the visitation. The minister asked people to share memories. In a room full of silence, I decided to break the ice, and mentioned her cinnamon rolls, for which she was famous. The ice was broken, and I was surprised at how many of the memories revolved around the nourishing comfort of food. After the visitation, Barb's kids and I went back to the farm, rolled up our sleeves and made her potato rolls, and toasted her with these rolls until almost dawn.

We're glad to hear we're not the only ones, too! For us, it's the romantic dinners (with the kids ) watching NASCAR. ←

Enchiladas for dinner last night. Used leftover smoked butt for filling. I remembered to make enough for leftovers for lunch today. Yummy.

Lucky us to share in your week! And, welcome Russ. Do you also grocery shop and plan meals together?

Fifi, so what's in this Goya brand Mojo Criollo? The nearest place, now that I live in the 'burbs to get stuff like this seems like a million miles away. My former Hispanic neighbors used to marinade their butts in something. Like lime, lemon, OJ, cumin, a little oil, some cumin, perhaps something else. Do I really need to drive to buy this stuff or can I just wing it with what I know my former neighbors used to use?

Once you've uploaded your photo, click on it. Down by the photo in the lower right corner, there will be a clickable phrase -- something like "click here for actual URL." Copy that, go to the post, do the IMG thing and paste. I like things way hot. I also add bird chilis for that POP. Yes, you must play with this. The recipe I indicated is what I like. I know that in Thailand, larb tastes different in almost any little joint at which you dine.

Ummm... Am I the only one that freezes her garbage. ← In those hot days of summer, I do (hangs head in shame) keeps the nasties in the fridge in a container specially for the nasties until night before trash day. We, in Minnesota, are now in the season when nighttime temps tell us that no matter what you put in the trash on Thursday right after the trash man comes, not to worry.

Thanks, R, for everything. Soup sounds divine; smoked pork bones make diving stock. Should I find myself getting to the City of Big Shoulders, I will bring you a pound of Hope Butter. It is a revelation.

And you thought you were done! Describe the soup please? From whence the bread? What kind of butter? Trust, for dessert, that you have raided a treat bag from last night. My kids know that little Baby Ruth bars belong to mommy, as do any bit o honey's.

It was a pathetic season here -- for everyone -- for warm weather crops Herbs and greens were spectacular, tho. I picked the wrong spot in our new back yard for tomatoes, but in prep for next year, I have figured out the perfect spot, have laid down a mess of compost, cardboard and mulch. Will til it in in the spring, and perhaps wait a year. My neighbors cat from hell keeps the varmints away.

I am still reading this thread! I've never made jambalaya, but your baking it idea sounds much easier. How big will the pans be?

OK, OK. They're on the grocery list. The only reason I've always hated them is the association with the previously mentioned tater tot hot dish served in a college dorm. I will report back after we've consumed this delicacy.

Too many memories of Tater Tot casserole in a college cafeteria. Styrofoam glued together with snot. My kids used to feel deprived because their friends all got tater tots, hamburger helper, etc. at their houses, and my kids were subject to larb, smoked pork butt, etc. My kids have seen the light (or the smoke, or the larb, or the curry...).

Oh, lucky you! A world series win and a kaffir lime tree! OK. So, this is my second kaffir lime tree. The first was killed during a summer storm when an 80 year old ash tree fell on it. At that time, it had grown from a wee thing to an almost 5' tree. In MINNESOTA! So, care and keeping of the tree. In the spring, about memorial day, when we are pretty much past the danger of frost, I haul it outside into a very sunny spot. Make sure it is well watered. Mine is planted in a very "barky" medium, so it doesn't hold water well, but by the same token, it doesn't sit and get wet feet. (when we are gone to the cabin for long stretches, I pay a neighborhood kid to water the plants that will need water). As I do with my orchids and Xmas cactus, I bring them inside when the nights start to fall steadily into the mid to high 40's. When inside, it sits in our sun room, on the west side of the house, where it gets lots of sun. I'm sure, having lived in Thailand (where we had a kaffir lime tree that actually produced fruit!) that it loves sun. I water at least once a week, hauling it (and my orchids) into the bathtub and give them a very good drenching, let them drain, and then put them back in their sunny spots. Here is a picture of my little lime tree: It has grown quite a bit. The plant also growing in it is a petunia that volunteered last summer. It does bloom; I have just pinched off the blossoms that were waning. They are happy living together. The catch, at least with my tree, is that it is a grafted tree, so anything that grows under the graft (the green tape thing) gets cut off. The leaves below the graft do not have the two leaves that are attached. Hope I'm describing the leaf thing well. The leaves above the graft have a little leaf with a big leaf on top, all on the same stem. In this clime, it is not a prolific grower -- but, slow and steady wins the race. Enjoy your lime tree! It provides enough leaves for me, but no extras. Those will come in future years as it gains height. The big thing, I think is sun and water.

Wow. I feel hungry after reading the recent entries. Since it was trick or treating night, I had a very tiny leftover chicken leg while doling out candy and Paul was out with the kids. I also ate a carrot. Still hungry, when the kids got home, I had two little Baby Ruth bars. These are my favorite candy bar, and I like the little ones better, and like them more at Halloween than any other time; I swear they are fresher. Figure that, because of the peanuts, gave me fiber. For fruit, I had four little red twizzler packages. I washed it down with a beer, figuring that hops can be considered a vegetable. Justification. Jason, your photo confirms what I knew. I need to get to the bookstore like tomorrow and get Les Halles. Hillvalley, I need to smoke some butt and pull some pork. I feel sorry for the teachers tomorrow. I know that my kids have eaten a year's quota of candy this evening.

It's not but once a day that I go to EG and discover something else I need. Those rib racks. I can never get as many ribs on the grill as I want, and this is the answer. Behemoth, I have an old Weber Kettle, and smoke successfully all of the time. It's a matter of experimenting. I still use an old fashioned oven thermometer in it, nothing new-fangled or fancy or requiring a battery. It works fine. Every so often, I have to take it out with one pair of tongs and use another pair of tongs to scrape the brown stuff off of it so I can read the darned thing, but it works. I do not have those charcoal bin/keeper things. I put some charcoal (I use briquettes) on one side of the grill. Put some more in the chimney, and when they are ready, dump them on the pile of un-started that's to the side (use tongs to move whatever falls into the area for the drip pan). Keep tongs handy, and add more briquettes with tongs when it looks like it's time. Add soaked hickory as necessary. Since my grill is old, the top vent is a little "leaky" and I find that I'm best off to keep temp down by keeping all vents open, but if it goes to low and I need to goose it up, I will "cock" the cover ever so slightly. I was having real trouble controlling the heat, so I experimented one day with an unbelievably cheap pork shoulder, and got it figured out. It was not the best butt I've ever done (far from it), but I at least figured out my grill. Mine is old (23 years; it was a wedding present) and has seen a boatload of smoked meat. And, part of it is weather. That recent very cool, drizzly day made temp control really easy. I was able to run errands for an hour with nary a worry. Wind, outside temp, rain, etc. all affect it. Keep on trying! Now, back to Ronnie. I think it's time I smoked something again. I think my husband likes the smell of me after I've smoked something. And, if I don't shower before I go to bed, the sheets smell faintly of smoke in the morning, a reminder of all of that good, greasy fun we've had.

Should have been lime juice to nam pla. Many recipes are heavy on one or the other. I like the balance. Most published recipes will be heavier on one or the other. Like all "authentic" recipes, "authentic" is in the eye of the taster.

If that isn't a testament for sharing a kitchen, I don't know what is. And the book is a tangible memory of that sharing and caring. Excuse me... I have to go sniffle now. (Just like I did when I got the e-mail pleas for the book from the kids the other day.) ← Oh, fifi, it goes way deeper. This is the grandmother that taught me how to grow tomatoes. The grandmother who taught me how to kill, clean and cut up a chicken. The grandmother that taught me what to fix for lunch to take out to the field during combining season. When she died, we all gathered at her house, to take things we wanted. What did I want? Her recipe box. The Christmas cactus that was given to her by her grandmother on her wedding day. I even dug up the clematis planted on the clothes line. The silly tupperware salt and pepper shakers that had sat on her kitchen table for who ever knows how long. And, the candy dish. With a lid, amber colored, shaped like a rooster. It always had something homemade in it. The others took the "collectibles," the handmade quilts. Heck, she taught me how to quilt; I didn't need her quilts. As the oldest grandchild by 6 years, I took the good stuff. The memories. The memories of visiting her in her classroom. A one room schoolhouse with an outdoor biffy. Putting stuff up over a hot stove in the wee hours in August. A root cellar. A storm cellar. Butchering a cow, and knowing just how all of those parts fit together. This, for those of you younger, would have been a life before PINs and ATMs. I was in my 30's before my first PIN number. My kids each have at least 2 (lunch room and school library). I'm feeling old, but privileged.

If I'm going to stick something in the freezer in plastic (meat, for example), I'll wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap and then a zip lock (from which I suck out all of the air). Yes, fifi, air is the culprit. Edited to add: If I'm freezing meat that has been cooked, I always add a lot of fat so it doen't get that dry stringy texture. I don't think this is freezer burn, just something that may happen to pre-cooked meat?

So, if you want to see "not that beautifully presented" just look at my blog. Pretend you have a bunch of kids who are going "what do you mean we have to wait to eat until you take a photo?"

Hi, long time larb lurker! When I larb pre-cooked meat, I do not heat the "dressing" ingredients. In fact, when I make larb using poached meat, I tend to let it sit for a bit to cool before I add the "dressing." I dislike the color that cilantro turns when it is added to the hot meat. ANd, when I use pre-cooked meat, I just do it as I always do. Mix the dressing stuff and dress it. ALthough if I have leftovers of this and eat it the next day, it is still good, and the meat does not seem dry or stringy. It is just not bloody! When I serve larb for a party: I line the larb bowl with boston lettuce leaves, so it looks pretty. I put a spoon in the bowl. A plate alongside with leaves, sort of fanned out. And, if they are larb virgins, I always demonstrate! I have found it's not that messy. People will put a leaf or two on their plates with a spoon of larb and sit and eat it. I do show them how to roll it sort of like a spring roll. Use the biggest leaves for the bowl garnish and the smaller leaves for the larb, since it's less messy at a pot luck if they are about bite (make that big bite)-sized. And, finally, I tend to favor an even ratio of fish sauce to nam pla. My recipe (since recipeGullet is down; I would reduce heat for the general public) is: 1 T Toasted Rice powder 3 T Lime juice 3 T Chicken Stock 3 T Nam pla (fish sauce) 6 tsp Ground red chilis (dried, not fresh) 4 Shallots, minced 1 Stalk lemon grass, bottom portion minced 3 Kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade 3 Scallions, thinly sliced 1 tsp Powdered galangel 6 oz Pork, chopped in food processor or with cleaver Lettuce leaves Sticky rice (optional) NOTE: For toasted rice powder, you can purchase or make your own. I prefer to make my own, toasting raw sticky rice in a wok and grinding in spice grinder. NOTE: For all of the ingredients except the galangel and toasted rice powder, quantities are approximate. I often up them by 15-25%, depending on how I want it that day. I often add Thai basil (depending on availability) and/or cilantro; some like it with mint. Poach ground pork in broth in wok or skillet. Add remaining and heat. If you want it spicier, you can add thinly sliced bird chilis. I usually opt to reduce the amount of ground chilis and add the bird chilis.

I recently did this for my cousin, who is recently single and living alone. I put together a notebook, with those ugly plastic sleeves. They are easily available, easy to use, and make it easy to replace recipes. You can pin them, as you said, or stick them on the fridge with a magnet. Some of the recipes I typed up, some I photocopied from the recipe cards that our grandmother and great grandmother wrote in that spidery handwriting in fountain pen ink that had sort of run in spots when something spilled on the card (I declined to part with the cards). I got a plain, basic notebook with the sleeve on the cover, and found a really silly photo of he and I as kids, scanned it, blew it up and stuck it in. This cousin, raised on cream of something hot dishes, loves hot and spicy food. I cook a lot of Thai food, and always offer leftovers to him for lunch at work. To augment this, I purchased (at a thrift store) and almost new (looked like used maybe once) rice cooker. A 25 lb. sack of jasmine rice. ANd, a certificate in the cookbook good for one trip to the local asian market and cooking lessons. He used a day off to take advantage of this, and after our shopping trip, he learned to make curry, larb, pad thai, and a few other Thai goodies. As well as a lesson in heating spices in the oil when one makes curry. A quick lesson on roux, etc. This was very special for me. A way of celebrating my heritage. A way of helping my cousin find his way in a new way. And, as we have had our cooking lessons, we have learned that spills and splatters are fun, and that they can help heal pain.