Thursday, August 30, 2007

Friday, August 17, 2007

Thai Curry Vegetables

Have you noticed that almost every chicken or meat recipe ends with some statement like “serve with steamed vegetables?” How simple… How boring.

Why is it that the author of the recipe concentrates on making the meat so good, and then tosses out the veggies like they eat themselves? Come on! Who doesn’t eat meat? Meat’s easy. It’s the veggies that no one wants to mess with, right?

When you swing through the drive-thru for that late night emergency meal, do you order a salad and then stress over which meat item tastes better? Nope. Burger please (and no salad, cuz that’s too hard to eat while driving…).

So put the meat on the back burner for a sec, we’ll get to it later. Meanwhile, let’s get some veggies that you’ll want to eat. Deal? Deal.

Ok. This is about the simplest little veggie dish you can make. Tastes great, too. And you can pretty much make any old meat with this and poor these over the top for a great tasting meal.

Not that you care, but did I mention the healthy ingredients? It’s get them, and one’s that you probably might not eat on a regular basis. Coconut milk, for a healthy dose of saturated fat, chili and colorful peppers for antioxidants, olive oil… You get the picture.

Thai Curry Vegetables

Servings: 4

2 chayote squash (I know. Not very Thai-like. Not authentic in the least, but who’s going to know? No one knows what they even are!)

2 bell peppers (preferably red, yellow, or orange, but green’s good, too)

1 tsp olive oil (peanut oil is probably more authentic, but who has that? Whatever…)

¼ cup water (tap is fine)

1 tbsp Thai chili paste (I know you don’t have any. Buy some. It’s good, and lasts a long time)

4 tbsp coconut milk (I freeze the rest in an ice cube tray and add it to my shakes.)

Salt to taste

Optional…

2 fresh, not dried, basil leaves (If it’s not fresh, it’s not in the recipe, okay?)

¼ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened (but if you’ve got a date over, go for the sweetened if it’s all you got!)


Seed the peppers and cut into bite size pieces.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise, then each half in half again, pretty soon, you’ll have eight long skinny pieces. Good job. Now, turn them sideways and cut them into bite size pieces. Make them similar in size to the bell pepper pieces for purely aesthetic reasons.

Heat a covered wok or large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom.

Add the squash pieces and stir to coat. Stir periodically for 2-3 minutes, being careful not to let them burn. Add in the bell peppers and stir for an additional 1-2 minutes. Add the water and cover the pan. Let them steam for 2 minutes.

If you are using the fresh basil leaves, mince them up into very small pieces while you wait. If you’re using dried, put the jar away and don’t waste your time. Dried basil is for spaghetti sauce or something, not Thai Curry Vegetables!

Remove the lid and stir in the chili paste. Stir constantly until the paste has dissolved. Most of the water should be evaporated by now, but if it’s not, let it bubble away for another minute or two.

Pour in the coconut milk and minced basil leaves. Stir thoroughly. Remove from heat and salt to taste. Sprinkle a bit of shredded coconut over the top of each serving. It looks good.

Oh, yeah… Serve over some cooked meat.

If you don’t know how to cook meat, see below.




Cooked Meat

Servings: 4


1 pound of meat, such as boneless pork loin chops, chicken breast fillets, or shelled shrimp

2 tsp olive oil

Salt to taste


With this meat, the simpler the cooking method, the better. You can grill the meat or pan fry it. Just make it simple, since the sauce from the veggies is going to be the highlight. My grill has a burner on the side, so I can do the veggies and meat in the same place.

If you don’t want to grill the meat, use the stove and a skillet that’s large enough to cook all the meat without crowding the pan too much.

The easiest way to cook it in a pan, is to stir fry it.

If you have raw, pealed shrimp, you’re already set. I f you have chicken or pork, then cut the meat into bit size pieces. Cut against the grain, if you can see which way the grain goes. If not, as long as it’s cut…

Heat the skillet over medium high heat and add the oil. Swirl to coat. Toss in the meat and stir to coat with oil.

Now, contrary to stir fry lore, you don’t constantly stir the stir fry. Let it sit, then stir. Sit, stir. Repeat. You want to let the meat cook and get lightly browned a bit. So, keep this sit/stir thing up until it’s done cooking. Shrimp cooks really, really fast. Once the shrimp is pink and no longer translucent, it’s done. The chicken or pork needs to cook a bit longer, until it’s no longer pink. Confusing? Write it down.

Add salt, if desired.

The meat is done.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The "Mom Mix"

In the boxes, I found some of my Mom's stuff. Set aside to look at later, which I never did. Can't say never, since I looked now. There was a tape that I found in my Mom's stereo. Been listening to it. Carly Simon, James Taylor, and Carol King, mostly. I'm assuming that her husband made the tape for her, before he passed away. All the songs are songs that I remember from my childhood. I've been a little sad, listening to it. Good sad, most of the time.

One of the songs was the 59th Street Bridge Song, or Feeling Groovy. My mom used to tell me how it was my favorite song when I was two years old. I knew all the words and would ask to hear it over and over again. I still love that song.

There was another song that I've always loved, along with a special book. Winnie The Pooh is the book. I don't remember too much from that age, but I remember that book, and my parents both reading it to me.

I still have my copy, and although I've read it to my own kids, I always take my book back and hide it away. It's my copy and means a lot to me. From that book, I fell in love with the tv shows and movie that Disney made by combining those shorts into one film.

Of course, when the time came, I made sure that my own daughter's baby room was Winnie The Pooh, too. A very comforting story and great characters made for a great feeling in that room.

On the mix tape, was The House At Pooh Corner, by Loggins and Messina. I guess this Pooh stuff was important to Mom, too. I didn't know.

Anyhow, like all the rest of it, I love that song, too.

The House At Pooh Corner

Christopher Robin and I walked along
under branches lit up by the moon.
Posing our questions to owl and eeyore
as our days disappeared all too soon.
But I've wandered much further today than I should
and I can't seeem to find my way back to the wood.

So, help me if you can I've got to get
back to the house at Pooh corner by one.
You'd be surprized there's so much to be done,
count all the bees in the hive,
chase all the clouds from the sky.
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh.

Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do,
got a honey jar stuck on his nose.
He came to me asking help and advice
and from here no one knows where he goes.
So I sent him to ask old Owl if he's there,
how to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear

So, help me if you can I've got to get
back to the house at Pooh corner by one
You'd be surprised there's so much to be done,
count all the bees in the hive,
chase all the clouds from the sky .
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh,
back to the days of Christopher Robin,
back to the ways of Pooh

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Findings

It's when you unpack that you begin to realize what's important to you. Box after box can be separated into things you just threw in versus things you cared for.

A box full of knickknacks that I really have no place for. Some are nice. Decorative in the right settings. Others now seem on the verge of tacky. What was I thinking, two years back when I tossed them into this box. I take two boxes and separate things into "junk" and "keep." Turns out I only needed one box. Junk.

A box of cookbooks. Most of which are excellent, but some of which I've outgrown. Many contain recipes that I don't dare eat anymore. But, I still spend a long time leafing through them. My first cookbook, that I bought when I left home. The same day. I bought the book, then hit the grocery store and started my life alone in good style. Mexican food. There are a lot of cookbooks. For a while, I got one or two at every birthday.

A box full of boxes. I keep keepsakes in cigar boxes. Here's the box that's full of them. Each cigar box one is full of little items.

Cigar Box #1 is full of miscellaneous things. The hospital bracelets from the kids births. My passport from going to Borneo when I was five. My passport from going to Germany when I was in college. A broken watch with my anniversary date on the back. My high school ring. A silver pen. About 50 keys to whatever.

Cigar Box #2 is full of things that I sometimes strain to remember their significance. Some are obvious. Some pictures of girls that I dated. A coffee sleeve from a date. A hotel key. A matchbook. Some shells. Some rocks. Some rings. Earrings that can't be mine. Some that are mine. Friendship bracelets. A CD of songs. A cassette tape. A note from a girl. A note to a girl that I never gave. Some greeting cards.

Cigar Box #3 is stationary. Like I'm going to write someone a note...

There's more (I have eight cigar boxes), but you get the gist.

Turns out books are important to me. I've got a few boxes of them. I plan on reading most of them again, even though they are far from classic. There's a new old stack next to bed, even now.

A box of video tapes and DVDs. Casablanca, The Notebook, Gladiator, Last of the Mohicans, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Princess Bride, Raising Arizona, and Ever After are the ones that I've rewatched in the past week or so.

A box full of things that I've written and pictures that I've taken. Mostly crap, but a few good things in there.

So, there's been a week or so of nostalgia as I unpack. It's slowed my progress, but why do I need to hurry? I live here.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

a room or two "finished," touch up paint , cigars, and a ceiling fan possessed!

A Room Or Two

I got the living room, dining room, and kitchen livable. The kitchen's nothing to write home about, but here are a few shots of the other rooms.

Here's the living room, as you enter the condo...




Looking toward the mantle. It's small, so I couldn't step back too far to get a great shot.





















Here's the dining room. Yes, that's a very low table. We're a family of floor sitters. Big floor pillows and no chairs.

I have plans for an actual table, but until then, I'll just serve a lot of Chinese and Japanese food to my guests...




Touch Up Paint


The place has eight cans of paint. 6 of them are white. Each is a custom color of white. No clue which is for which room. They all look alike until you dab them on the wall to cover the spackled nail holes. Damn.

Do yourself and your future new owners a favor and write the room on the damn paint can!

The worst part is that the master bedroom has a really cool paint color. Oatmeal or Lazy Autumn Day. Some lame name like that. There are two cans of paint that are close, but no cigar. I have to paint the whole room now, because I spackled A LOT of nail holes. Like 30 of them.


Cigars

Speaking of cigars. Got my humidors out of the boxes and primed. And, now there's a major shipment on it's way! Punch Rothchilds (maduro), La Finca Coronas (natural), and Hoyo de Monterey (EMS). Can't wait.


The Possessed Ceiling Fan

This is a really boring story. Please don't read it.

I've complained about the ceiling fans before. I don't care for fans! There's on in my girl's room, and she likes it. So, it's staying. There's one in the living room, but it's high and mostly out of sight. It's okay, I guess.

The problem child is in the master bedroom. Standard height ceilings and ceiling fan over bed don't mix for me. Too close. Plus, it's just always in my line of sight. I knew that someday it was out of here.

The other night, I go into the room after watching a DVD (Firefly). The fan is on and so is it's light. Very dim, too. I didn't dim it and I didn't turn it on. The buttons on the remote won't do squat. It's stuck on. Crap. I'm tired and I need this thing turned off!

After about thirty minutes of fiddling with reprogramming other remotes and experimenting with random button presses, I finally get the thing to turn off. I don't know how. It was a random press of the "fan reverse" button that turned off the light. A press of the "program temp" button made the fan reverse. A second press and it stopped. I vowed to remove the fan the next day, and did.

I bought a replacement ceiling light for the room, pulled the fan, and installed the light. Shockingly, I find that there's no wall switch for this thing. The fan was wired up, but relied solely on the wireless remote for controls. Crap. I unhook the new light that's now "always on." Now, there's a hole.

I don't care if there's a light or not. I just don't want a hole. Not there, anyway. I'm not much of a drywaller, either. I've tried. You can totally see every patch I've ever done in a wall. Not pretty.

I head back to Lowes to ask if there's some sort of wireless remote light switch I can hook up. Nope. Only for fans (they are built in to the fans, though). I'm about ready to reinstall the light and just leave it unhooked to cover the hole. Better than a hole, I suppose. But, then I spot those lamps that are meant to be attached underneath the fans! They have pull chains. There's one that looks like a true, normal ceiling lamp. And, according to the box, it can be attached flush to the ceiling, not requiring a fan. It's even got a finial looking thing on the short pull chain. Sold.

Not perfect, but better than feeling like I'm ducking under a helicopter rotor. The previous owners must have been short. Or, at least not 6'1"

Monday, August 6, 2007

getting there...

Lots of unpacking and organizing. Then taking half the crap back down again, once I realize that I don't need that "thing" up here. I've had a lot of crap in storage, and when you look at the box, you think "yes. I need that upstairs." Only I don't. So, it's back to the garage, and in many cases going to be donated to charity.

On another note, it's been great to have a house with no junk food (or non-junk food that I'd overindulge in). I have to walk or drive for a treat, so it really makes you aware of what you're doing. I wanted ice cream all day yesterday, but I'd have to walk for it. I did get some, but it was after my workout, so that worked out well. At least it made sure I'd workout, right?

Off to work.

Later!
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