april fools

community service

My car involuntarily volunteered the other day when 5 fire trucks showed up (right when I wanted to go somewhere, if you'll notice I am double parked) to put out a fire I could have extinguished with a garden hose. People who say everythings bigger in Texas probably have never been to New York City.

wet

I told you before and I'll tell you again - its smothered! In spanish its "con puesta" which means "with stuff you put on it" and its typically not an option. The options are "red" or "green" and if you dont want it "wet" you freakishly announce ' chile on the side'

I do get cranky about chile, thats for sure. Imagine if I got all "professional" about sushi? I make great sushi, probably could win awards in far away places, but it isnt my cultural food. Sorry if I am coming across as a little bitter but I just finished watching Rachel Ray where she called an omelete, a "tapa" google it, translate it do what ever you need to do to find out she is wrong. My poor culture is getting 'micky deed'.

green curry

I definitely stunk up the apartment and probably my whole floor but it was worth it. The flavor was so good and believe it or not, subtle. The shrimp paste was certainly an aroma that stayed the entire time but the flavor was sweet and mildly shrimpy and it had enough salt that more salt was not required. I sort of made up how to make the green curry based on what I thought goes into Thai food.

I put a handfull of both flat leaf parsely and cilantro in a food processor along with the juice and zest of one lemon, the white end portion of a stalk of lemon grass, three jalapenos with pith and seeds removed (three because they werent that hot) three pieces of peeled ginger about the size of a large jalapeno, three whole scallions, five cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of honey and a nice sized spoonful of shrimp paste then puree until its a paste, adding more lemon juice to keep it smooth if necessary.

I heated a large skillet and in it I put some dried red chile flakes and some freshly smashed corriander seeds and peppercorns and these were warmed until aromatic. Once it was hot I put in about a cup of the curry paste, some wings that were seasoned with celery salt, garlic, onion and ginger powder and mixed pepper (sezchuan, white and black peppercorns) that I had only fried half way to tighten the skin and chicken broth. once this came to a boil I put in three fourths of a can of coconut milk and simmered until tender. The rest of the coconut milk went into the rice cooker with the rice and water. Result: Green Curry with Chicken and Coconut Rice.

when life gives you buffalos

make wings

new ingredient

This stuff is rank. Imagine vegemite mixed with marmite mixed with rotten shrimp left out in the hot sun in a plastic bag near a cow farm that was once a pig farm and you might get close to what this smells like. It has such depth of aroma and such a sharpness that it made me convulse as if I had inhaled smelling salts. I just bought it this morning and it is going to be very challenging to cook with this thats for sure. This gem is the Vietnamese version of a Thai classic. You can read here to see a nice description of the Thai version.

"Ruoc" are small shrimps that are caught only during the rainy season. To prepare "mam ruoc", the "ruoc" are first cleaned and let dried under the sun for 3 months. They are then mixed with salt, grinded into powder and put in a jar and exposed to the sun for another 45 days. Sugar is then added to the mixture which is left fermented for 30 days. Finally the ruoc are dried again under the sun for 10 days and "mam ruoc" is now ready to be served, usually as sauce for various types of meat dishes. You can click here if you want to see some more seafood products.

I am going to make a green curry with shrimp dumplings with this probably over the weekend, lets see what happens.


This is a dollar sixty five that I will have for the rest of my life....its like a one time purchase...

poems

pen

for as long as I have had this
pen it will not write what I want
it to write; I hold it firmly yet
gently in my hand and then I
lay it soft against the paper waiting
then coaxing it to flow with
wisdom but all that scratches
out is drivel, useless lengthy ramblings
from a pen that by its actions cannot
be mine - no pen of mine could be so
shy and incapable with so much of
so little to say - mine I say as
if I have some control over this pen
as if I can possess it like that.


cg 3[2002-2008]

heads up

New header same great taste. I thought this was too cute and witty to pass up so I am using it. Who wants a greasy burger to celebrate?

bunny business

We ate Eggs a la Dogg which in this case were poached with a new poaching technique I picked up from Gordon Ramsey, while Julia and Jacques laid the foundation , Gordon actually brought me to home plate - any way, poached eggs placed on a nice round piece of toast that had some smoked salmon and tomato with a hollandaise that was thyme infused topped off with a nice steamed and seasoned shrimp. The potatoes were slow roasted with sea salt, thyme, fresh ground mixed pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Super thin cucumber slices were only treated to some of my special wine vinager and salt.



I make the vinager in this crock (I will post all about it another time). Stuffed to the gills we then headed off to the parade.







We saw some hats and that was that.




We then posed a little bit before heading to Grand Harmony Palace for some dim sum. Grand Harmony you either love the place or you hate it there is no middle ground.

pascua

Free form.




Homemade basket





Its Easter Sunday and that only means one thing, thats so funny it means many things but one thing is the Easter Promenade on Fifth Avenue. Silly hats galore. We colored eggs. We made papier mache hats. We are ready to rock this joint. Later, when we get back, I will post pictures of all the fun. We went last year but the kid was out of town so he will see it this year and this will be the first time with us wearing hats!

eggs

All day long. Greasy bacon, buttery toast and eggs.

dancing in the moonlight alone - so to speak.

Thats what it feels like: it feels like dancing in the moonlight alone. Religious holidays direct many eating and behavioral guidlines and lately is no different. You basically have to 'dance around the holidays' - so to speak. With that in mind we eat more eggs, or should I say - more eggs are eaten. Egg Season, so to speak.

We made

"curried delight"

2 Eggs, Okara, curry, whole flour, fresh onion and sea salt batter.

Fried in peanut oil.

Dip it in whatever you like

Chez What?

Lots and little going on over here. People talk about a crossroads yet I am smack dab in the middle of the intersection. I hope the best for all my blogger friends out there in hopes that these well wishes reach their destination bringing a sense of calm and peace.

I am loving this song.

irish for a day

BAD IRISH HUMOR

At The Cemetary

Three Irishmen -- Paddy, Sean and Seamus -- were stumbling home from the pub late one night and found themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard.

"Come have a look over here," says Paddy. "It's Michael O'Grady's grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87."

"That's nothing," says Sean, "here's one named Patrick O'Toole, it says here he was 95 when he died."

Just then, Seamus yells out, "Good God, here's a fella thats 145!"

"What was his name?" asks Paddy.

Seamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims, "Miles, from Dublin."


Mary Clancy

Mary Clancy goes up to Father O'Grady's after his Sunday morning service, and she's in tears.

"So what's bothering you, Mary my dear?" asks Farther O'Grady.

"Oh, Father," she says, "I've got terrible news. My husband passed away last night."

"Oh, Mary, that's terrible," says Father O'Grady. "Tell me, did he have any last requests?"

"That he did, Father ... " says Mary.

"What did he ask, Mary?" inquires Father O'Grady.

"He said, 'Please, Mary, put down that damn gun!' "

soy milk

I no longer have to make soy milk the old fashioned way. Soy milk is expensive - on sale its about 6 bucks a gallon but now I can make a gallon for about 30 cents. What a gap in price wouldnt you say? 340 grams of soy beans costs 60 cents (up from 50 cents last year). I can make about 10 liters from 340 grams. So we will be saving money while consuming even more soy milk than before. The blender and boil method takes about 2 hours at least - the soy milk maker takes about 10 minutes. Can you tell I am excited.

adverts

I have been regularly proposed with advertising offers but as you can plainly see I have declined, not that I am opposed because I am not it is only because I have not received the right offer. It has to be fun and entertaining.

jokes

Do Unto Others ...

The game warden spied a young boy carrying a wild turkey.
He stopped the boy and asked, "Where did you get that turkey?"

"What turkey?", replied the boy.

"The turkey under your arm!", said the game warden.

The boy looked down and said, "Well, lookee here. A turkey done roosted under my arm!"

"Now look, son," the game warden said, "you know turkey season is over, so whatever you do to that turkey, I'm going to do to you. So, son, exactly what are you gonna do with that bird?"

The little boy said: "I'm gonna kiss his ass and let him go!"

once upon a midnight dreary

baggage

When I open all my extra baggage

I find that the cases are empty.

Sure I can tell what used to

be there, little scraps of this

and little scraps of that

bits of yarn from long ago,

emotional crumbs

from long gone cookies, used gum.

Things that really don't matter.

Things that disappeared

faster than they ever arrived.

I was certain that my cases

were full of extra items,

items that I needed to sort through

memories that I wanted to cherish

and decide their fate but I am wrong.

The only thing left for me to do

is get rid of the baggage itself.

The only extra baggage I have

are the bags themselves,

empty save for the

odd useless tidbit.

cg3[2002-2008]

carne seca

All my life I have eaten dried meat. Since when I was a kid until now I heart dried meat. Sounds so funny to use modern vernacular to describe an age old situation. I like jerky. Fruit jerky or 'veggie' jerky or anything....like dried papaya. Well maybe not dried papaya so much but thats the general idea. Dried meat. My son wrote down that he wont eat 'dried meat' this year. So far so good, I have been giving him well salted raw pieces. We eat meat.

Sopresatta

turkey jerky

beef