Spring is coming! With it, my sense of humor about the world.

Ah, well the groundhog will be telling the truth this year I think. While it is still bitterly cold and even my sister walked into the house today feeling down about "how long winter is," I've been feeling much better recently. It may be as simple as the days are longer. I've also been trying to spend at least a few minutes each day lazing about with Taffy in the block of sunshine that shines into the bedroom each morning. The other thing is that I've had a few opportunities to cook for people! Oh, I've LOVED IT! More on this in a second.

Recent interesting adventures: My water heater has been acting quite finicky recently. Doing dishes can take hours depending on how much water pressure I have at my kitchen sink. The maintenance person for my townhouse has worked with the faucet with some degree of success. The hope is to wait until spring when it will be easier to flush the water heater. Unfortunately, treating the symptoms is never a particularly effective long-term solution to a problem. I'm hoping the water heater will at least continue to function marginally for a few more weeks of winter.

I also suspect that my furnace may exhibiting death throes. For the past few years it has seemed to have trouble turning on with multiple clicks and hisses. Now, each time the fan turns on, I grimace. It lets out a mighty groan and a super-loud WHAOOOOW WHAAOW WHOAH WAWAWAA before it begins to run smoothly. I'm going to let this go until it actually is broken. Worst comes to worst, I can leave on the oven or use swamp heaters (assuming my water heater continues to function). I suppose if I get super desperate, I can put my plethora of candles to good use. Carefully of course, as I'm more or less terrified of fire due to a dream that I had when I was very young. In the dream I caught my hair on fire and ever since, fire is something which I will avoid unless it is under complete control. As an aside, I managed to catch a tortilla on fire last week using the oven broiler - great planning, right?! I was going to put the little oven fire out with baking soda, but by turning off and shutting the oven I managed to cut off sufficient oxygen that the flames went out before I had the chance to use my sodium bicarbonate fire-fighting skills.

If you have the opportunity to see Broadway's Sister Act, DO SO. My piano teacher asked me if I would be interested in seeing the Purdue Convocation with her and it was absolutely incredible. It was well done (although a touch loud), well sung and hilarious. It was the fastest three hours I have ever spent at any production.

I have quite a long story about how I adopted a cat for a day but I'll give the short version here. Doli and I walked out the door to go to an appointment a few weeks ago when it was -4 degrees outside. Then, I heard a tiny mew. As Freda pointed out, this is how all the best cat stories start out; with a tiny mew. Anyway, this young cat of course ran right past me and up to Doli who is generally not a fan of cats. Doli backed up to the wall appearing mortified! I'm sorry that I'm not sorry for getting quite a laugh out of the scene. It was love at first sight for me so in no particular order I named the cat Q (thank you Trekkies everywhere for understanding!), took Q to the vet for shots, a clean bill of health, and an appointment to un-tact his intact parts, introduced Q to Taffy (the interaction was downright adorable) and late that afternoon located the owner. I "threatened" to keep him (the cat, not the owner) should Q show up at my door again. I happened to know the owner (though clearly not very well!) so I requested/was offered more or less permanent visiting rights. Apparently, the cat's name is "Bud" but Q is just a better name. The whole day was actually quite a bit more eventful with my car blowing up in the cold and meeting all sorts of interesting people due to the arrival of the furry friend at my door, but it's a very involved story (sarcastic comment insertions, arm-waving and play-acting required) so I'll leave it to you to track me down if you want the longer version.

Newsy things: I've made a new culinary corner facebook page that everyone should "like" if they are willing and able. It's at www.facebook.com/MCulinary . The page is in the throes (my favorite word for today) of an identity crisis. I had originally envisioned the page being a culinary consultation community but it's turning into more of a personal portfolio simply due to the fact that after liking the page, there isn't a whole lot to do unless I decide to post recipes. The thought has crossed my mind but I'm not sure whether I want to connect it to this blog or not yet. I'm not particularly formal here and I'd rather keep the culinary page as more of a community of semi-professional cooks. Thoughts?

On to the cooking! I gave an American Cuisine cooking demo a few weeks ago which was an absolute blast. We made Wisconsin Cheddar and Beer Songs soup with soft pretzels. The soup was particularly interesting because we had to find substitutes for two of the three most prominent ingredients: the beer and the two different types of pork! Thankfully, we were able to use cheese because it would have just been strange without it. Instead of beer we used a few teaspoons of yeast for the flavor and then used chicken sausage as a substitute for the pork sausage as well as the bacon. The results were a huge success and enjoyed by the teacher as well as most of the students; we had one gluten-free person and a couple vegan folks that weren't able to try the soup or pretzels although they said everything smelled good!

The ad-lib recipe is as follows. The recipe is loosely based on the recipe on pages 244-246 from The Art Institutes. American Regional Cuisine, 2nd Edition. Wiley, 02/2006. VitalBook file.

16 oz unsalted butter divided, (4 oz for sauteing, 12 oz for roux)
1 onion, 1/4" dice
2 celery stalks, 1/4" dice
1 red bell pepper, 1/4" dice
1 cup (ish) AP flour
1/2 tsp (ish) each (it was to taste) Dry mustard, paprika, red pepper flakes, ground thyme and white pepper
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp active dry yeast (the type of yeast most likely doesn't matter. We immediately killed it. We just wanted the aroma/flavor that is associated with beer without using actual beer)
3-4 tbsp fresh rosemary and chives finely chopped together (use whichever herbs you prefer)
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups milk
1 large link plain chicken sausage
salt and white pepper to taste
2 cups Wisconsin sharp cheddar shreds
Generous amounts of thinly sliced green onions for garnishing

Instructions:

1) Heat the butter over medium heat; add the onion, celery, and red bell pepper, and cook 4 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
2) Add the remaining butter and melt completely then add the flour; whisk in to make a roux. Add the seasonings and cook 3 minutes.
3) Add the yeast and stock; stir vigorously to dissolve the roux, then simmer for 30 minutes.
4) Heat the milk separately and add to the soup.
5) Sauté the sausage. Add sausage to the soup. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
6) Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before stirring in the grated cheese until smooth.
7) Season with salt and pepper (and anything else you have close at hand).
8) Garnish with the green onions when serving.

This soup goes amazing with your favorite soft pretzels. I'm not sure who to cite for the soft pretzel recipe that I use so I'll not post it here. If you need a copy of it however, give me a shout and I'll email it to you!

I've also recently been working extensively with (in other words: using as guidelines) the following two recipes:
http://foodnouveau.com/PDF/FoodNouveau_How-To-Make-Bolognese-Sauce.pdf
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/02/lasagna-bolognese/

Basically, any excuse to use my pasta machine and I'm there. The noodles are lovely and the bolognese sauce that I made used lamb and turkey which makes for a DIFFERENT but delicious alternative to the ground beef. I use my own knowledge of bechamel sauce instead of the recipe given here.

There is a longer story behind this, but at this point I'm sure very few people are still reading. Short version behind how I wound up making these: A family friend was telling my dad about her endeavors with making this Venetian Lasagna and she was looking for someone with a pasta machine to make the specialty super thin lasagna noodles. Dad referred her to me and so my friend and I agreed that I would come to her house to make the noodles for a lasagna which she would subsequently serve to her gourmet culinary group. It worked out really well and the lasagna was delicious. I was given a generously-sized "small" lasagna which I shared with Dad and Bev. This week I decided to give the whole thing a spin myself and it turned out amazing as well.

Well, I hope everyone is feeling better about winter in general and that this post has provided some entertainment. I'm not sure how to end the post today other than to say "spring is coming" or perhaps the "truth is out there." I've been on an X-File kick recently; it's just as amazing now as when I was a kid! In any case, if anyone tries any of these recipes, let me know! I'd love pictures! Alternatively, post them on the facebook page!

PS: I have not forgotten about the gluten free pasta recipe I promised. I'm still tweaking it every now and again, plus I'm going to be trying it out with the Venetian Lasagna. Neverfear, I will post it here... eventually. :-)

PPS: A pretty star pastry attempt made from apple butter and pie dough:

What To Do With Indiana Weather. Subtitle: Even I Have Trouble In Winter.

This evening was the first night that I've been able to get out and go for a walk in weeks. Really, I like Indiana. I actually enjoy being in West Lafayette. There are days when I seriously consider moving to upper peninsula Michigan or some other cold climate because I like cold weather. That said, there are nights I think "is having at least 40 degree weather too much to ask?"

These last few months have been... confusing... at best. In an attempt to better myself I've been giving myself more and more goals, read more, spent more time reflecting, more time working out, more time trying to focus, and yet I feel that I'm accomplishing less and less with each passing day and forgetting things faster than I can learn them. To boot, working out does absolutely nothing for me except make me have to shower more than once a day which is just irritating. Literally. My scalp dries out and I have a beautiful "sheen" of skin flakes in my hair - seriously, I get compliments because people think I've highlighted my hair with silver. Some days I go so far as to accomplishing only the bare minimum each day and it feels like there is nothing I can do about it. I could blame the weather. Perhaps SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is my problem although I also think this could just be a plausible and convenient excuse.

I'm never bored. At least, I never should be bored because I always have 101 things to do with a rotating list that never ends. The moment I check one thing off, there are always 3-4 things to take its place. That said, something is wrong and it feels similar to boredom. Maybe I'm bored of never being able to finish my own to-do lists. The online class I'm taking is good (actually better than some campus courses I have had) but not particularly challenging. I cook occasionally to keep up my skills, but honestly, there are not that many people for me to cook for and cooking for myself really is boring. I have piano lessons but they don't require too much effort. In fact, I've had students that have asked me to write some basic music for them but I can't even procure the gumption to put that together. I have literally hundreds of goals for this year and those are just the ones I've written down.

But I don't feel driven to accomplishing any of them.

In the past, I've found that having an external drive to accomplish goals helps. This is probably why I did okay while I was in engineering at Purdue, in multiple dance clubs, balancing life at home with roommates and family, and other drama but I struggled working full-time in Agriculture with the months of "down-time." I can't wait to start working (which hopefully this week I will hear back from a possible job lead - fingers crossed). Working at least feels like I'm accomplishing something for someone even though it doesn't help my to-do lists. I love working so long as it's for other people. On the other hand, what exactly is wrong with me? Where is my will-power to enforce my own goals and deadlines?

Let's examine deadlines a bit more in depth. I actually LOVE deadlines which are enforced by others. As in, I rarely miss them. My to-do lists often have self-imposed deadlines but frequently those can be changed, or ignored until they disappear into the ether. The whooshing sounds, the slight panic of impending doom, the keeping yourself calm with the necessary prioritizing, scheduling, and multitasking... these things are what I love about "external" deadlines. I live for the challenge of meeting goals for others by their deadlines. Even missed deadlines are okay with the knowledge that everything humanly possible to reach those goals was attempted. This is very Douglas Adams I suppose. He knew a thing or two even though I had difficulty reading his books all the way through. I should probably try again now that a decade has passed. I might appreciate them more.

Thoughts? I realize this is a bit of a depressive ramble but these issues have been heavy on my mind since at least mid-November. I'm very open to suggestions. Volunteering helped significantly last year so that could be at least a temporary solution. I would do the same this year but my thinking so far was that I should prioritize my other random goals for a while. Unfortunately, right now not only do I not accomplish those goals but I also don't do the volunteering. Hmmm... I should seriously consider volunteering again, at least until school starts back up or I get a full time job. I'll look into this Monday.

On a brighter note: One thing I have accomplished in the past few months is working with a gluten-free pasta recipe and tweaking it to be my own. Coming soon! Seriously, it's delicious. Once you try it, if you're on a gluten free diet, you'll never EVER go back to boxed gluten-free pasta.

Listening to Carmina Burana - Carl Orff. Speaking of which, I've recently had an overwhelming burn to go see an opera. Anyone in? Text me!

Conversions for Cooks

Good morning!
On my last exam there were a few people who mentioned they had trouble with the math conversions. While there are definitely days when I'm disgruntled with my seemingly unhelpful engineering degree, on occasion it does have its advantages. Here is how to do math conversions like a pro.

First off, for cooking there are only 6 basic SI (Système Internationale or International System - how very French) conversions that you HAVE to remember. In the mathematical world these conversions are called identity factors (more on this in a bit). The factors you should remember are as follows:

Remember, at three, tea is served on the table:

3 teaspoons
--------------
1 tablespoon


Both of these conversions are 16 ounces per a "p" unit:

16 ounces
------------
1 pound

and

16 ounces
------------
1 pint

Next, I use a stick of butter to remember that:

8 tablespoons                     1 stick of butter
---------------       or      ---------------
1/2 cup                                    4 ounces

But you can also just remember that there are:

16 tablespoons
-----------------
1 cup

These last three conversion factors are related. Just remember that 2+2=4 and start small:

2 cups                      2 pints                  4 quarts
--------                       --------                   ---------
1 pint                        1 quart                  1 gallon


Now, aside from metric units or unusual conversions (such as number of large eggs in a cup or something wonky like that) these should be all you would need to know off the top of your head.

The important thing to remember about all conversions is that you are working with different variations of the number 1. Many people will remember the identity property from high school math that basically says when you divide anything by itself, the answer is 1. It follows that anything multiplied by 1 is itself. In other words:

a * 1 = a

And

a
-- = 1
a

All of our conversions equal 1. Two cups is the same thing as one pint. When you divide something by itself, you get 1. Therefore:

2 cups        1 pint
-------    =    -------    =   1
1 pint          2 cups

Basically, all of the conversions given above are still true if you invert them and they are equal to one in every case. That said, the moment you don't write down the units, the statement is no longer true. Always write down the units.

The fun thing about math is that if it's true for numbers it's also true for random words meaning that units cancel just the same as numbers do. So if I want to cancel words on the diagonal of a multiplication problem, there is nothing to stop me. That said, just because I've cancelled the words doesn't mean I can cancel the numbers. Let us ask the question how many cups are in a gallon. You probably already know the answer but it's a good simple problem to start with.

1 gallon = ? cups

What happens when we multiply something by 1? It stays the same so let's multiply it by 1 a bunch of times do we can cancel the units. This is also called multiplying by an identity factor (a fancy word for the number 1 which includes units in the numerator and denominator). We want to choose our identity factors such that our ending unit does not cancel but our original unit does. We can use multiple identity factors such that we can cancel as many times as necessary to leave only the desired units:

                          2 cups           2 pints           4 quarts
1 gallon    *        -------     *      ---------     *  ----------  = ? cups
                          1 pint             1 quart          1 gallon

Cancel on the multiplication diagonals and calculate!
                         
                         2 cups           2 pints                 4 quarts
1 gallon      *      -------      *      -------      *     --------  =  1 * 2 cups * 2 * 4 =16 cups
                         1 pint             1 quart                 1 gallon

I don't want to get too terribly long and boring here but I have two more problems to show. Let's say we need to determine the number of gallons there are in something outlandish like 2048 ounces of fluid (2048 is a phenomenally addictive game by the way; I highly recommend it). Then we will take it a step further and ask how many whole large (2 oz) eggs we would need to make that number of gallons of fluid.

Always write out the question of course:

2048 ounces = ? gallons

Multiply by one or several identity factors:

                                     1 pint                     1 quart           1 gallon    
2048 ounces      x         -----------      x         ---------     x     -------- = ? gallons
                                   16 ounces                 2 pints           4 quarts

Then cancel what cancels and run the multiplication and division problem:

                                       1 pint                    1 quart            1 gallon           2048 * 1 * 1 * 1 gallon
2048 ounces       x        -----------     x          ----------   x      ----------   =   ------------------------------
                                    16 ounces                 2 pints           4 quarts                               16


 2048 * 1 * 1 * 1 gallon                                   2048 gallon
------------------------------      =     ------------------- =   8 gallons
         16 * 2 * 4                                                 256

TA DA!

Now for the egg-y bit. Yes, if your eggs are 2 ounces, then why not just do the math the easy way and divide the original 2048 ounces by 2 ounces? You get 1024 eggs." True, but say you don't happen to remember how many ounces an egg is but you do happen to know that there are 4 large eggs in a cup.

Ask the question:

2048 ounces = ? eggs

Multiply the given amount by the identity factors:

                               1 cup               4 eggs
2048 ounces     *    -----------    *    ---------- = ? eggs
                             8 ounces             1 cup

Cancel appropriate units then multiply and divide. Do not forget to leave any units that were not cancelled (in our case we wanted to leave eggs for our final unit so we choose our identity factors such that everything but "eggs" cancel)!

                               1 cup               4 eggs        2048*4 eggs
2048 ounces     *    -----------    *    ---------- =  ----------------    = 1024 eggs
                             8 ounces             1 cup               8

So yes, you were right! The point is that you can convert almost anything if you know the basic steps and the basic identity factors. Let's try this with sticks of butter, shall we? How many sticks of butter is in 2048 ounces of butter?

State the question:
                         
2048 ounces =  ? sticks


Multiply by an identity factor:

                               1 sticks      
2048 ounces * ----------------- = ? sticks
                               4 ounces      

Cancel, compute and voila; more butter more better!

                           1 stick                        1 * 2048 sticks
2048 ounces * ----------------- =   --------------   =   512 sticks
                          4 ounces                              4


Alrighty, please feel free to comment if you have any questions. I think I covered everything but I am more than happy to add-on or explain further. :-)

Enjoy!

Updates! ALL OF THEM... well, most of them. Alright, fine. Just some. And a little bit.

Whoa... today was the last day of my first quarter in culinary school. I'm reeling a little bit. The practical for my class felt as intense as any academic test I've ever taken (although I hear it only gets better from here!). Grades were great, but as Bev put it when I spoke to Dad over the phone, "that's wonderful, although not at all surprising." I do feel like I've learned more in the last few weeks than I did in the ENTIRE TIME I attended Purdue. I don't know if this is just because I'm so much more interested in cooking relative to engineering or if it's because the subject matter is just so different from anything I've ever looked at before. The engineering (and my previous work experiences as a crew leader at DOW) have helped in some respects though. Organization, team-leading, and logical skills help no matter whether you work on a factory floor, in a field of soybeans, or in the kitchen. Even being mechanically inclined helped me set up the stripped pasta machines in record time. Yay static mechanics! What I did find hilarious is that I actually did super well on my practical because I was working alone. *groan* I'm such a ridiculous introvert. This is one aspect of myself that I've been working on for years. Obviously, it will have to continue to be addressed because thus far I've found that most work/life-skills are collaborative even if I prefer working independently.

The worst part about the quarter being over is that I'm not sure what to do with my "three weeks off." I don't particularly want that much time to sit around forgetting everything we've learned... There is a plan in the making for visiting Jungle Jim's in Ohio sometime next week which will at least take 1 day. There are 3 Farmer's Markets (so 3 Saturday mornings). I also bought myself a pool pass so I can swim each day. This unfortunately has been hindered by the seemingly constant lightning storms that have been in the area recently, particularly around 5 o'clock when I'm walking out the door. I've also been walking up a storm which has been good (although arguably not good if I want to swim) for me. *ALL PUNS INTENDED*

I never did update the blog on my market activities. It's a long story, but essentially I ended up being the Market Master for the downtown Farmer's Market instead of having a booth there. The booth would have been an expensive startup since any kind of juice would have required a commercial kitchen or a huge amount of space, cleaning supplies and man-power at the market itself. I wound up going to the Chamber of Commerce to ask for some pointers of the Market Master as per the Health Department's recommendation. I walked in the door and asked for said Market Master and wound up speaking to the Market Coordinator instead who told me that the position was open and asked if I was interested. At first I was hesitant, but my family unanimously thought that being the Market Master would open more doors in the long run and would be a better option. Needless to say, I applied, interviewed and was offered the job which I was offered the Monday of my first day of school (oof, I need to update more often apparently).  It's been a blast so far and I love the vendors. The worst aspect of the job is having to kick out all the pets that people bring to the market. It's a shame, but there's really nothing we can do about it. On the other hand, the reason for not allowing dogs is that some folks don't have well trained dogs which makes it a pain for the folks who do. Ugh, I had to kick out a cat-owner the first day! Talk about heart wrenching!  Everything else has been great. It does require waking up at a ridiculous hour of the morning on Saturdays but I'm usually up so early for school that it's basically just any other day. I get up, I go to (fill in the blank: school, the store, work), I come home, I nap, I teach piano, I make awesome food, I swim and/or walk, occasionally I watch ridiculous amounts of tv on the interenet, I chill with Taffy, I go to bed. Seriously, I have the coolest life right now.

Anyway, my current plan is to write a "beginners piano book of country music" over the next 3 weks since I have so many students that have been begging me for more modern country music. I heard Lady Antebellum's "Compass" for the first time and I'm in love with it. I've started working out a simple version on the piano which I will hopefully have a chance to write down tomorrow or Saturday (or tonight if I can't sleep). Good Directions and Long Black Train are also on the list of songs to try. I have 26 days to get a book together. It shouldn't be that difficult to do if I'm dedicated. Only problem would be if I actually DO get everything together, I might only be able to use it for my students and I probably couldn't have them perform anywhere more public than a small recital unless I wrote for special permissions from the artists. Oh well, we can cross that bridge when I get to it.

Speaking of piano, I did hold a recital for my students on June 1st at the WLPL. It was a huge success. If I can upload the video on here, I will. Otherwise, I'll put it up on my youtube account and link it here a bit later. I do need to make the DVDs I promised the parents of my students and send them out before the next quarter starts.

Well, I'm essentially just writing a to-do list now. I didn't even get to talking about the trip taking Sasha down to Florida but that can wait until next time. I hope everyone is having a most excellent evening!

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

It's been another amazing week in culinary school. One of the multitude of things that we did this week was make French Onion Soup. Traditionally, French Onion Soup is made with beef broth. That said, a fair number of the folks that I know are vegetarian or vegan so I made it my goal to find a way to make the French Onion Soup vegetarian. (The milk products were clarified butter and cheese for the topping but if I had decided to make it vegan I would have used Coconut Oil instead of the butter). I was very happy with the result! Here's the recipe in case anyone would like to give it a whirl. I also found out that using an electric stove to caramelize onions takes FOREVER. I don't know how long it took as compared to when we caramelized onions in class over a gas stove, but it seriously took over an hour. Here's the final soup though, in all of it's onion-y vegetarian glory:

First I made a vegetable broth following the recipe for ingredients but instead of sweating the vegetables I caramelized them and then pinceed them with tomato paste before simmering for 1 hour. Anyway, here's the whole recipe: 

1) The following ingredients were caramelized in 2 oz vegetable oil: 

- 1 lb mirepoix (onions, carrots, celery)

- 4 oz leeks

- 4 peeled garlic cloves

- 4 oz fennel

- 2 oz turnip

- 2 oz tomato

2) After these were caramelized, I added a small can of tomato paste and pincee'd everything.
3) I put in 1 gallon of cold water, 1 cup chablis table wine, and added a sachet d'epice which contained basil, peppercorns, thyme, and a bayleaf.
4) I simmered for an hour then strained it multiple times through a cheesecloth and placed the pot in an icebath while I started on the caramelized onions. Well, it was sort of an ice bath. I used ice packs but they're not as effective as real ice would have been. Unfortunately, I don't have ice on hand so I made do.
5) I caramelized around 3 lbs of yellow onions in a couple ounces of ghee butter (I know I should practice clarifying butter but the ghee is just so convenient!). This step took a LONG TIME.
6) I added 3/4 cup of red wine and reduced it until the onions looked like they were sitting in a red-ish sauce.
7) I added rosemary and all of the cooled vegetable broth. I brought it to a boil and reduced it to a simmer.
8) Simmer for an hour and a half.
9) Season with salt and pepper to taste
10) Serve with toasted bread and cheese broiled over the top of the soup.

Banana chips were an awesome dessert.

And finally here's a picture of an apple, cream cheese, onion, and honey panini I made earlier this week to try out my panini pan. I thought it was pretty. Enjoy!

Vegan or not-so-vegan yellow curry!

Whenever I say "1 can" it's usually a 12-15 oz can. The curry paste and water chestnuts were exceptions though since they are smaller.

Start: 

6-8 cups (or about 1/3 of a large stock pot) water  + vegetable bullion or whatever kind of stock you like (I used 2 spoonfuls of vegetable flavored "Better than Bullion" + water)

2 peeled and chunked sweet potatoes

6 peeled and chunked carrots

****Boil all of the ingredients up to here for 10 minutes or so to get the potatoes and carrots cooking. Then continue down this list leaving the heat on on high while adding stuff (see next note). Meanwhile, start the rice****

2-3 cans coconut milk and or coconut "gata"

1 can yellow curry paste (I buy Maesri brand curry paste at the ASIA store off of Yeager road but I suspect any curry paste would be tasty)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can pumpkin

****As soon as all this starts to boil turn the heat down to a simmer.****

2 tablespoons-ish of ginger (paste is best but chopped or grated is nice too)

1 can water chestnuts

1 can sliced bamboo shoots

2-4 tablespoons or so of sugar

1/2 cup (or to taste AFTER the sugar) of your favorite kind of vinegar (I generally use a seasoned rice vinegar)

garlic, salt and pepper to taste. 

In another pan, fry up 1 onion and 1 block of tried tofu or paneer in oil. If you would like chicken, remove the onions/tofu/paneer from the pan (put it directly in the curry) when they're done and use the remaining oil (or add some more) to stir-fry the chicken with a little bit of flour Sometimes I like to also add pineapple. When the chicken is done, put it in the curry as well and simmer until people start looking like they may be related to vultures. Or at least until the rice is done. 

When you're near serving time, cut up a baby bok choi (sometimes called Shanghai Baby Bok Choi) and add to the curry. It only takes a few minutes but make sure the green parts of the leaves look a little like cooked spinach before serving. 

If you want this spicier (which is AMAZING if you like spicy food), add the Sriracha sauce or use Red Curry paste instead of yellow.

This picture is of the largest batch of curry I've ever made. It was for the Impromptu Restaurant last year.

Enjoy!!

Cauliflower Fractals and Peanut Sauce

As per a friend of mine's special request, I am posting the recipe to the Thai Peanut Sauce that I make on a fairly regular basis. Today I made a roast cauliflower and "served it" (ermm... took a picture of it and ate a small amount) on a bed of rice and surrounded it with the peanut sauce.

Roast CauliflowerThe cauliflower was simply a head of cauliflower on which I put a generous coat of Greek Gods Honey and Vanilla flavored yogurt, then sprinkled powdered ginger, garlic and cumin on top. I put about a half inch of water in the bottom of the pan, then put in the oven at 300-325 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour or so.

Thai Peanut Sauce
You will need:
2 cans regular coconut milk
1/2 to 1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 to 1 cup chunky peanut butter (smooth can be used instead, I just prefer a little crunch)
2 teaspoons ginger paste
1 - 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (I use seasoned rice vinegar but you can add a couple tablespoons of sugar and a little salt if you prefer un-seasaoned rice vinegar)
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons thai style red curry paste (optional - use only if you want it to have a little bit of FIRE)

For the Thai peanut sauce I put all the ingredients in a large saucepan on low heat and stir until well blended together. The longer it cooks the thicker the sauce gets, but also the nicer the flavors blend together. Make sure to stir frequently in order to make sure that the bottom doesn't burn and that the top doesn't crust over too much.

Cauliflower Fractals!