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.

Ghetto Soto Ayam

Seattle's weather has been so beautiful lately. The sun is out, which makes me want to go out more often (this is so rare.. I'm usually a homebody). Unfortunately, I've been feeling under the weather. Stuffy nose, clogged up ears, and sore throat. Hell no. So instead of taking a walk to playground, today we made soto ayam. It's Indonesian clear chicken broth (well, slightly yellow to be exact).

While they do sell the instant spice sachets, I find it superfluous to use. It's not that hard. If you own a mortar and pestle, you can make any Indonesian dishes (and of course you need a pantry full of Indonesian spices). Heck, I don't own mortar and pestle, but magic bullet could also doubled as spice grinder.

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

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.

My "Beef" with the Fast Food Nomad, Just Because I Want Him to Live Longer!

From where I came from, fast food is the quintessential of American food. To us, KFC is the golden ticket to feel "Western". Your $1 burger worth so much more back there. With so many other food vendors, while I can't say they're very hygienic (just don't drink the water), selling better tasting food, it is ironic we still crowd the fast food joints. In United States, I understand, because price wise, these places are way much cheaper than let say, Serious Pie. But in Indonesia, with food vendors being literally every where you go (they cost way cheaper too), why would we flock to fast food joints? My mom said "Well, fast food is much more trendier than your usual food vendors".

Tell me this looks better than the $1 burger..

My husband is an avid fast food consumer. I nickname him "fast food joint nomad", which he hates by the way, since he practically jumps from one to the other. It's weird how he complains about me overspicing food considering how salty fast food is? I still don't understand until today. My biggest wish right now, is for him to cut down his fast food intake. I'm not a controlling bitch, but I just want him to be healthier. And also not looking forward to the day our son could question "why don't we eat McWhatever burger, but Daddy does?" I am not a saint myself, I have my own share of junky food. Obviously, once every now and then, enough to make me feel so guilty.

Everyone can make fried chicken, if they don't mind deep frying

The other day I was so pissed. We went to the baby's 4-month checkup and on the way back, hubby wanted to grab some fast food. It being around lunch time, of course it was packed as hell. He kept on offering our son "do you want some burger from XYZ?" And I was so glad my son said "No, I want roast pork" (We had roast pork the other night). While waiting for the other cars to move forward, he asked our son again "So you want some?" I don't know, perhaps it was me being super hungry or PMSing, but I was pissed. Didn't say a word after that, just let our son decides for himself, right? And still glad he declined. After 20 mins at the drive thru, we went home and I heated some of the roast pork and sauteed some spinach. Voila, all done in 10 minutes. I crossly said "Faster than Jack". Although I was trying to make a point, I regret being so frivolous. *Disclaimer: I love my husband so much, but not his food choice*

Brined roast pork with lemon

I just hope that slowly (we've been together since 2006, and I've only seen a little progress) he'll eat healthier. That is all. Am I selfish for wanting him to live longer? He loves to complain about how he feels bloated (uh, DUH? The cheezburger did it). And plus, these food from fast food joints isn't so fast anyway. But to make the change easier, I've been making stuff that fast food serve, but with wholesome ingredients.

Icy Chicken and Dirty Rice

When he woke up this morning, I asked the birthday boy what does he want for lunch. Without hesitating, he said "icy chicken and dirty rice". It took me awhile to understand what he meant, then I realized he meant Hainanese chicken rice. 

No More Turkey-less Thanksgiving!

After years not celebrating Thanksgiving the traditional way, we decided 2010 is the best year to start doing just so. Last year we did our own version of Thanksgiving by cooking roasted soy sauce chicken, fried rice and I think some sort of stir fried greens (I only remember the roasted soy sauce chicken and fried rice, but there was definitely a third dish). All were cooked in the dinky kitchen of our studio apartment, where all I had, was one counter space to work with. Glad to say that earlier this year, we moved to a bigger apartment with a decent sized kitchen.

This year, duck was considered but I was determined to have turkey. And to think that I'd never cooked a whole turkey before, it was quite a scary thought. It. is. huge. My conscience was telling me "what if the turkey isn't cooked through, you donkey!" (yep, somehow my conscience sounds like Gordon Ramsay) I planned the whole thing, even googled "Thanksgiving dinner menu". I can't quite pinpoint the reason why, but cranberry sauce sounds repulsive to me. And to be honest, I don't know what to expect (tastewise) from a pumpkin pie, so I didn't dare to make it without ever tasting one myself...

In the end, my husband and I agreed to roast turkey wit h stuffi ng, mashed potatoes, baked yam, green beans of some sort and chocolate tart for dessert. 2 nights before Thanksgiving, I made the chocolate tart and refrigerate it. Then the night before the T-day (my husband called it Turkeyday), the stuffing was prepped. We bought an eleven pounder turkey, and just in case the gravy didn't turn out right, I grabbed a pack of turkey gravy mix (which fortunately wasn't needed).