Rhubarb Curry

I've seen rhubarb in both farmer's market and grocery store but honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with this red, celery-lookalike vegetable. The first time I tasted it, it was at the rhubarb potluck Brook from Learn to Preserve invited me to (thanks, Brook!). While I'd had never cooked with rhubarb before, I offered to bring some pandan cake. They had this spread of all rhubarb goodies, and my favorite were the rhubarb ketchup and rhubarb jelly. Enjoying rhubarb with some of the nicest people in Seattle was a blast. I went as a rhubarb virgin and came home as a rhubarb lover.

Then out of nowhere, I started to imagine how good it would be to have strips of rhubarb in red curry, instead of bamboo shoots. Went home with one mission, to try this brilliant idea of mine (most ideas are brilliant until proven silly). Well, lucky for me, I liked it. The tartness of the rhubarb, spicy curry and cubed chicken complements each other so well.

Fun with Pho

When we used to live in Beacon Hill, we went out for pho at least once every 2 weeks. One of the perks of living in south Seattle is the abundance of Asian grocery stores and eateries. Actually, I still shop for groceries there. I don't know what stop us from going out for pho, but we haven't been out for pho in the longest time. The joy of eating pho at home is we get to choose whatever we want. While I like less noodles and more herbs, my husband is the otherwise. I think that could be the reason why we haven't been going to pho restaurant.

  

Most people associate chicken soup with being sick and needing nourishment. That's how we look at pho. When Seattle's weather isn't being kind to us, we like to have a bowl of pho. The cinnamon scented broth and the noodles cooked just right, with slightly cooked beef slices and crunchy beansprouts, that must be better than medicine, yes?

 We love pho so much, we even made this pho cake, made out of cake and fondant.

Crispy Chow Mian, a Feel-Good Dinner

At times when we don't know what to cook for dinner, we always settle for the easiest dish. The one that everyone enjoys. While it's not always healthy, it's homecooked. We rarely eat out, only occasionally when there's the urge to splurge. I always feel so accomplished whenever I successfully cook dinner using only leftover ingredients. 1/4 of the chicken breast, half of the capsicum. While it is perhaps just me, I do feel like I'm some frugal goddess when that happens.

Tired of fried rice, the ultimate vessel to use up leftover ingredients, crispy chow mein or chow mian (I prefer to call it the latter) is also a good way to channel my inner frugal goddess. Of course, the name of my blog gives it away, we eat it with rice. It's the Chinese in us, without rice, it somehow doesn't feel like a meal. We treat the crispy chow mian not as our main carb. It's more like an extra crunch to complement the vegetables & meat.

I rarely cook with a real recipe, unless it's a new dish that I've never cooked before. This one is pretty easy. It all depends on what you have in your refrigerator. I use leftover roasted chicken from the day before, half capsicum, some mushrooms, green onions and peanuts. The noodles was boiled and deep fried until crisp, it was crunchy, but soft where the sauce from the stir fry soaked into the noodles.

The seasonings are mostly a dash of this and a pinch of that. But sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper are strongly recommended. Sometimes when I feel cheeky, I also use spicy bean paste to season the stir fry. Fast and easy dinner.

I bet it's good to cure hangover too, yes?

Spicy Fried Tempeh, and How I Miss My Mom

I haven't written for quite awhile. Had a moment where I find it hard to process my thoughts into words. I miss having my mom around, so there's an adult to talk to during the day when my husband is at work. Ironically, I didn't have a good relationship with my mom as a child. We rarely talked, except when I was talking back. I didn't know why she was so.. bitter and unloving. I'm not going to elaborate, but I discovered something when I was 16. She's been holding so much burden by hiding someone else's secrets just so we, her children, won't lose respect for that "someone". To make long story short, since then, I see her in different light.

Funny how my mom lives thousand miles away from me, but her voice is always in my head. Making comments. Sometimes it's a nice one, sometimes it's mocking me. When I was playing puzzles with my son, her voice in my head said "Start with the sides first, then you just fill in the middle parts". After how many years, the memories just flooded back. Like that one time she told me how God would punish me in the future, by making me marry the boy I socked in kindergarten "so watch out, don't hurt people". 

While driving to my grandmother's house, we would pass a river. A really dirty one. There were people brushing their teeth there, taking a dump, taking a bath, using the water to cook their meals. I was (and still am) grateful that we have proper plumbing, so using the dirty water wasn;t necessary. Then I saw something else, I'm sure they've been there forever, but didn't notice til that day. There were two men, in their underpants and wifebeaters, stomping something inside a barrel with their sweats dripping down. Undoubtedly using the dirty water, too. My mom noticed me looking at them, said nonchalantly "Oh, they're just stomping on the soy beans that they'll turn into tempeh". My 8-year-old self, who love tempeh so very much, got so disgusted and wouldn't touch it for the next 5 years. While my mom swore she never said that, I'm sure it was her selective memories playing tricks on her.

Chicken Noodles, Comfort Me Please?

It was a drizzly, cold morning when I was waiting for the bus. As crazy as it sounds, for the past five years, I rarely go out by myself, without my kid(s). It feels liberating, yet nerve-wrecking. When I left the house, the kids were still sleeping, the boy tucked next to his dad and the girl slept soundly, the only noise was their snore.

I was going to an open house for a culinary school. About 6 years ago, I applied to this same school but due to financial and immigration problem, I had no choice but to back out. Now the latter is settled, so we decided it's time to go back. Despite my worry about being socially inept, I made small talks without turning red (major improvement, I dare say). And heck, I like this school. There was another school that I was considering but it doesn't fit my needs and it's quite a distance from where I live, while this one is just a 10-min drive away.

Spinach soup

First Dinner in Our New Place

The thought of moving out of our old apartment was exciting and relieving. No more loud noises at 3am. No more cigarette stank seeping through our windows. No more petty fights that we could not help but overhear. But the process of moving is a pain in the ass. While I can't really help my husband move the bigger stuff, I can't stand the mess that's sitting in the middle of the living room right now. Our dresser isn't built yet, and with my habit of collecting books, we definitely need another bookshelf. My son loves our current condition, as he uses the piles of books and bags of clothes as his obstacle course.

Roast chicken

Bread-That-Was-Supposed-to-be-Ciabatta with Shredded Pork

Couple days ago, Danielle from Runs with Spatula gave me an award, thanks Danielle! It sounds like a fun thing to write but to be honest with you, I don't know what to write when it comes to 7 things about myself. I will try...

1. I'm a bookwhore. My husband hates how I leave books all around. Trip to bookstore is always filled with temptation.
2. My yearly new year resolution is to be less profane, somehow I haven't succeeded yet. 
3. I get all happy and excited when I go grocery shopping, and spend less than I expected. Then I will show the receipt to my husband and yap about it for a good 15 minutes til he tells me that "I don't really care how much you save". Ouch.
4. Socially inept. It's really hard for me to start a conversation. But after 5 minutes of talking, usually things go smoothly. 
5. I cannot live without chilli sauce. Or chilli itself. We buy the 136oz huge jar and it'll be gone by the end of the month.
6. My husband is 11 years older than me, but sometimes I look 5 years older than him. Life. is. not. fair.
7. My right thumb nail is deformed, has been that way since I was 14. Don't know what's wrong with it. Anyone?

Back to food, last week I made two huge loaves of ciabatta from Peter Reinhart's book, Bread Baker's Apprentice. It was good but definitely not ciabatta. It doesn't have huge airpockets as it should be. I love eating ciabatta just as is, without any adornments. Unfortunately, this bread-that-was-supposed-to-be-ciabatta (BTWSTBC) is too dense to eat as is. So I decided to slowcook a piece of pork shoulder butt with ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, paprika, garlic and dried chilli flakes. And shredded it by hands and top the BTWSTBC with the shredded pork. 

The crunchy, rustic-looking crust with the soft bread and the juicy, tangy pork, without a doubt, is delicious. If that bread was a pillow, I'd love to sleep on it. But the thought of having bread crumbs on my hair snapped me out of it. And pork is such a versatile ingredient. No matter how you prepare it, it will turn out edible if not tasty. And I believe pig's sole purpose in this world is to be eaten. Cow/cattle serves multiple purposes, chicken too. But not pig. Where is pig's destination other than the butcher shop? Oh pork, how I love you.

BTWSTBC is just a vessel for the awesome pork. The inside was scooped so it could be used as a shovel, for transferring the pork from plate to mouth. Eating utensils aren't needed.

Red Curry, We Had Poor Man's Curry Yesterday

Seattle's weather is pretty interesting. You can get sunshine, wind, hail and snow all in one day. I like to joke how Mother Nature is PMSing, and when she's in shitty mood like this, I'd love a bowl of comfort, please. What can you make from 2 baking potatoes, and half of chicken breast? Well, if your pantry is like mine, you can make Thai curry! While I can't say it is authentic, but it's better than most Thai places we've been to. Spicier and has more flavors than the bland-ish curry they serve.

Usually when our fridge is fully stocked, we'll put kabocha and bamboo shoots into the curry too. But because I wasn't well prepared this time, it was just potato and chicken breast. But what important is the curry paste. As long as you have good curry paste, you're good to go. 

This is my trusted red curry paste recipe. It has never fail me. Ever.

Ingredients:

• 6 red chilies, remove the stems, chopped (I use 10, because I'm nuts)
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp lemongrass powder
• 1 tsp minced galangal
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp dried shrimp paste
• 1 tbsp oil 

It's up to you to either keep the chilies seeds or discard them. I keep them because I like spicy stuff. Put everything in a blender (or in my case, magic bullet), then process them until it turns into smooth paste.

For one recipe, I use 5 tablespoons of red curry paste to 3 1/2 cups coconut milk and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce. But I usually eyeball it depends on my mood that day. Some days I like my curry a bit less spicy but when I need the extra heat, I go crazy. It was good for cold weather, gives you warmth and save your electricity (hey, who needs heater if you're eating curry?) My son could have 2 bowls of rice with it if I allow him.

Stuffed Bitter Melon Pyramid, No Wonder He Likes It

I can't believe I used to hate bitter melon. The bitterness is actually so natural now, I can't have enough of it. Funny how my son loves it, although it's not his "favoritest" food, he doesn't show repulsion (like I did) at all. Kids nowadays are so picky, I'm glad mine is not!

Get to Know It More, and You'll Love It

Have you ordered food at a restaurant, with high expectation, but it turns out to be a flop?

We were shown a duplex unit in Ballard, and loved it. It was within our price range, on the ground floor (we have a stomper here) 2 bedrooms, bigger than our current rental and it has washer and dryer in unit. It felt too good to be true, and it was. The next day, the agent said that the owner decided against renting it and wants to sell it. That was like the flopped dish. You were expecting it to be so good, it makes you moan. Turns out it makes you moan out of disappointment.

But then, have you ever had food that looks so-so if not unappealing but it leaves you sated and happy?

Yesterday, we stumbled upon this ads for a rental in Greenlake. It's an apartment complex with more than 5 units on premise. We felt iffy because for one, most resident managers look at us as nuisance (thank you kids) and for two, it might not be the first floor (it wasn't mentioned in the ads). For three, more neighbors to deal with (not that we don't like our neighbors, but our current neighbors on the left hand side are bad enough to make us worry).

When we were met by the resident manager, I was relieved. She loves kids! Of course she didn't say that, or it might be an overkill. But we can sense it and it feels sincere. Also she said that there are other kids in the building, slightly younger than my son. And then she walked us to a ground floor unit, I was pretty much so happy at that point, I grinned from ear to ear (yeah, I haven't mastered the art of hiding my feelings). Yes! The one available is the ground floor unit! And the neighbors? That part, I don't know yet but it's a corner unit so nothing much to worry. So far, it has everything we need. With 2 kids, it's a necessity to have washer and dryer in unit.

We sent in the application and hopefully we passed and get it (I think we should.. unless they have other people who applied before us). So right now I'm just crossing my fingers! 

That Greenlake apartment is like the food you expect to flop, but turns out to be the one that makes you feel sated and giddy with excitement.

That kind of food looks like this.
 

Ham hock is not appealing at all, thank you Mother Nature. But it's oh so good when cooked to perfection. The meat falling off the bones, with the chewy yet tender skin. Stewed for so long, you can taste the deep, dark soy sauce and garlic in every inch of the meat. Coupled with crunchy chopped red chilies. What is not to like?

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have second.

You need to get to "know" it more, and you'll love it. ps: Eat with your hand (whichever you prefer) for maximal pleasure.

No "Mushies" Pasta, Thanks to the Constant Warning

Every time I make homemade pizza, I always end up with leftover tomato sauce. So stingy as I am, it goes into the freezer for future use. I do that a lot... putting leftover in the freezer. Let me see, chicken stock, beef stock, fresh rolled pasta, cookie logs, you name it. Note to self: when we get bigger place, buy a freezer chest. 

Chili for Chilly Weather

2011 is my 7th year in Seattle, I am still not used to the cold weather. Even my husband, who's been living here his entire life, cannot stand the chill. And after consuming copious amount of herbal soup these past couple weeks, we agreed we need something we haven't had in a while. But it has to have the same warming effect herbal soup has.  

Udon with Miso Broth

I was on a quest to find sausage casings yesterday, and somehow read online that Uwajimaya sell it (they don't). So we went to Uwajimaya to look for it, but me, the compulsive shopper saw a box of miso and remembered how I've been wanting to try to use miso. The direction on the box suggests tofu and wakame (seaweed). Luckily I still have a box of tofu at home, it's one of my staple ingredients. From what I looked up online, lots of recipes suggest noodles to be served in miso broth too. 
 

When Homemade Pizza > Store-bought Pizza

I once thought that pizza shouldn't be made at home and the only place that sells pizza is Pizza Hut. Well, my grandma used to make pizza for us at home, but it tasted like white sandwich bread with lots of toppings. Her pizza was good, if you can call it that, but lack the chewiness the usual pizza has.