Cambodian Wednesday

We get produce delivered to the house every two weeks now. It's kind of fun because it's always going to be different items and I have to plan accordingly in order to let nothing go to waste. Lately, I've been wanting to delve further into making food that's better for us to eat. I have no problem adding more butter and bacon and cheese to things, but Steph has issued a challenge, try not to use bacon, butter and cheese. So yesterday I had this idea. Cambodian food. I really loved it when I went. It's like Thai, but I think slightly different. From what I tasted they tend to like to highlight the sour flavor where as Thai seems to like to go for the spicy flavor. to be honest I think these cuisines are probably among the most flavor balanced there is. The simple sauce combination of garlic, chilies, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice is just amazing to me and it's applications are almost limitless. I digress, last night I made a lemongrass chicken soup and a salad using mostly ingredients that came in the produce delivery. It was simple and delicious. And I list:

4 cups water / 1 cup chicken stock
lemongrass - I have it in a jar. Very Handy
Galanagl(sp) - I have it in a jar. Very handy
Fermented Shrimp Paste - 1 tsp.
Fish Sauce - Plenty of it
Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped.
Rice - 2/3 cup. Simple just pour it in dry.
Chicken - 2 boobs, skinless

Bring to boil, then simmer 10-15 minutes. Skim top.

Then in individual bowls mix together the following fresh ingredients:
scallions- sliced
lime zest -(in lieu of Kaffir leaves)
mint - (in lieu of thai basil)
lime juice - at least 1 lime
Chilies - (Optional. Steph had none, {read:Spicecamper} I used Korean chili paste)
Cilantro - tons


Now go ahead and ladle soup into the bowls and OMG it's delicious and there's really no fats involved.


Next I made a simple salad using the above described dipping sauce (fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, chili, garlic) romaine, tomato, french cut green beans, cucumber, cilantro, mint, chopped peanuts.


Anyway, it ended up being one of my fav meals I've made in a while.

Lomo Me!

I want this.




You know for fun.

Radio Days

So after much ado our little radio show has made it's appearance on breakthruradio.com

John and I started this little extracurricular activity last year and finally made it happen. It's an all Japanese music themed show entitled "The Super Terrific Happy Hour." Mind you, the theme was not my idea. It was simply a genre that was suggested to me as it hadn't been previously broached on the ever more crowded BTR airwaves. Of course this doesn't seem to help me very much in dispelling the myth that I am indeed an Asio-phile, specifically Japedo. Yikes! (I could care less about Anime. And, I'm not into Hentai. Sheesh!) Although the Daiso thing is something Steph and Manda will never let me live down. Ugh.

Regardless it's still a fun show and the music is interesting and it's been a lot of fun because the musicians are so enthusiastic about the idea of other peeps around the world hearing their tunes.

Enjoy

Itchy Beetle

Oy Vey! So Bee went to the Vet today, again, for her skin issues. She has these little bald spots that are pretty gross and weird on their own but when she scratches them until she bleeds well that's just awful. So we come to find out that the vet is again returning an answer of "I dunno WTF that is?" and of course the same regimen of pills and topical solutions, and creams etc. come into play. This is not a rant at the Vet, because I believe they are doing the best that they can and have her best interest at heart. So do we. Anyway, fiscally speaking, $200 a visit after all her pills and goo have been factored in is a bit steep. Plus her doggie insurance doesn't cover her skin issues, which of course are her only issues. I'm just thinking it's about time to visit a specialist, a Vet. Dermatologist to be exact. She's also getting an allergy test very soon. So anyway I hope it works because I know Steph is a little bit stressed out over it because she feels bad for Bee.

Dog Accoutrement

We have decided that BiBi and Bunny are well representitive of characters in the Dark Crystal. Also, we have a "doggie" area in our room, and we have been wanting to kind of give them their own wall decor. I started with these. Framed of course.

Elegant Street Interventions by D. Billy

Elegant Street Interventions by D. Billy

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Chicago-tastic!

So we've just returned from Chicago. It was sweaty and sticky and warm. Steph found it a bit stinky in pockets near the river. I can't deny that. Anyway, I do love Chicago a great deal. I love the skyline and the way Lake Michigan makes it look like it's a coastal city.



We stayed at the fabulous and luxurious Red Roof Inn. Um, well at least it was in a good neighborhood. we were on the 16th floor and the elevator took like an hour and half to reach the top. The room was either like a sauna or it was arctic. Not much of a choice. We took arctic. Also the view of the 24 hour Dunkin Donuts was torture, but I resisted.

We did some touristy things such as art viewing at the Art Institute and Sear Tower (The Ferris Beuller tour). Steph was breaking in some new kicks and a few Mosquito bites, which caused us to visit several metropolitan Walgreens for band aids and such. Anyway, she was a champ and didn't complain. I felt bad for her feets.



Also a big part of traveling for me is food and eating it. Happily, Steph is totally on board with this plan. Anyway, I just had to go to Moto Restaurant which is kind of famous for it's "Molecular Gastronomy" cuisine. Anyway we had a ten course excursion into a very original take on food and how to eat it. My favorite course was the "Buffalo Wings" which was a delicious piece of quail that was sitting on a puree of blue cheese and served with a confit of celery. It also included a Moto signature, a piece of edible paper that tasted just like Buffalo Wings. In fact our menu was printed on edible paper as well. The worst for me was the eggplant parmesan, which was a puree of eggplant encapsulated in a tomato and cheese gelee. It was luke warm and a bummer. But the overall experience was great. Another food adventure was Hot Dougs. This place is great, it's kind of out in a very rando area of town, but the line is known to stretch around the block. Some locals seemed very excited that we went there. Hot Dougs offers fries cooked in duck fat. Steph was feeling a little under the weather so I opted not to get them. Anyway, I had a standard Chicago dog and I ordered mine deep fried and grilled, Epic! Also we went to a lil' cupcake shop called Cupcakes. It was very delicious and I figured Steph might find it to be nice. She did.

me Moto-ing

Steph Moto-ing and looking cool.

Hot Dougs!

Lastly the point of our trip in the first place. Stephs piece in the Sugarcraft show. It was well put together and I was prouds of her. We also went to Rotofugi for a plush show. I bought a French series Dunny, it's been awhile.

Steph's piece yo!

Sugar nerds.

On the way home we got stuck in Dallas for like six hours due to bad weather and some Union regulations. I hate Texas

Here are a few other shots of a couple of nerds let loose upon the midwest.