At my favorite Thai restaurant, there's a dish called the Amazing. If you are friends with me, you've probably heard me talk about this or I've taken you there to try it for yourself. If I haven't talked about this to you or taken you to have a try, shame on me!
It truly is amazing. It's basically just a spicy peanut sauce. Some friends who recently moved away figured out the recipe and gave us two jars of the yumminess plus the recipe for Christmas. Maybe the best gift we got! Here's the how-to:
Amazing Thai Spicy Peanut Sauce
13.5 oz. can of coconut milk
2 oz. can/jar of red curry paste
3/4 c. unsweetened natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 tbsp. salt
3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1/2 c. water
1. Put everything into a medium pot and bring to a gentle boil on medium heat, whisking constantly.
2. Let mixture stand and simmer for 3-5 minutes over low heat. Be careful not to let mixture scorch at bottom.
**Sauce keeps in glass container (1 batch will make 4 small jars) in fridge for weeks. If thickens, re-thin with water and reheat. You can also freeze.
**This sauce is probably best with chicken and/or veggies with rice or rice noodles.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Kindl-ing
So Rachel Wilkerson does it again, pretty much summing up my feelings about the Kindle. You can read her post here. It's fab, and I especially love the fun quotes she found. Funniest part of her post is the mention of Berenstain Bears, who I also loved. Remember the one about Mama's quilt shop? She opened it in the trunk of a tree, and it had a fabulous window in the front that showed all the quilts inside. Loved it.
I didn't get a Kindle this year but did last year. We gave Will's parents Kindles for Christmas this year, and I won't lie, the new ones are sexier. I'll get over it though. At the moment on my Kindle, I'm reading The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love. It's the story of a NYC journalist who interviews a farmer and ends up marrying him and becoming a farmer's wife. They aren't just farmers, but are completely self-sustaining--grow everything, animals rather than machines, they make yarn for clothing. Yea, all that. In the past year, my backyard has become a mini farm. We are not self-sustaining nor as extreme as the characters in this book, but there are some similarities. Here's a description of Mark, the farmer, that reminds me of Will:
"One of the gorgeous and highly annoying things about Mark's personality is that, once he bites into an idea, he'll worry it to death, exploring every possibility, expanding it to the point of absurdity and then shrinking it back down, molding it around different premises, and bending logic, when necessary, to cram it into a given situation. No matter what he is doing or saying or thinking, the idea is perking away in the background of his formidable brain, details accruing. Bits of it will surface, iceberglike, in a burst of chatter, but the bulk of it remains hidden until the whole thing appears at once, fully formed and fiercely defended."
That's my husband for sure! Thankfully what we have going in the backyard is fairly realistic though we do stick out compared to the neighbors. Who wants to be like the neighbors though??? Not us for sure!
Anyway, this book is a fun read if you're into farming/green living plus a minor love story. Best part is that I'm learning lots of farming words which I will be filing away in my mind (hopefully I can remember them) and will be using in random conversation with Will to see if he notices.
I didn't get a Kindle this year but did last year. We gave Will's parents Kindles for Christmas this year, and I won't lie, the new ones are sexier. I'll get over it though. At the moment on my Kindle, I'm reading The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love. It's the story of a NYC journalist who interviews a farmer and ends up marrying him and becoming a farmer's wife. They aren't just farmers, but are completely self-sustaining--grow everything, animals rather than machines, they make yarn for clothing. Yea, all that. In the past year, my backyard has become a mini farm. We are not self-sustaining nor as extreme as the characters in this book, but there are some similarities. Here's a description of Mark, the farmer, that reminds me of Will:
"One of the gorgeous and highly annoying things about Mark's personality is that, once he bites into an idea, he'll worry it to death, exploring every possibility, expanding it to the point of absurdity and then shrinking it back down, molding it around different premises, and bending logic, when necessary, to cram it into a given situation. No matter what he is doing or saying or thinking, the idea is perking away in the background of his formidable brain, details accruing. Bits of it will surface, iceberglike, in a burst of chatter, but the bulk of it remains hidden until the whole thing appears at once, fully formed and fiercely defended."
That's my husband for sure! Thankfully what we have going in the backyard is fairly realistic though we do stick out compared to the neighbors. Who wants to be like the neighbors though??? Not us for sure!
Anyway, this book is a fun read if you're into farming/green living plus a minor love story. Best part is that I'm learning lots of farming words which I will be filing away in my mind (hopefully I can remember them) and will be using in random conversation with Will to see if he notices.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
New Tradition! New Tradition!
And it involves a stick of butter! My grandma would be so proud! Seriously, I'm not joking.
Last night, Will and I had Christmas dinner on December 21st. To celebrate Christmas, of course! It was simple and I didn't have to work very hard which is even better. We didn't do anything fancy, not even a red napkin. In fact, we used some leftover napkins from Halloween. They were orange. Thanks to Honeybaked Ham and pal Abbey's recommendation on these sweet potatoes, I was full and happy in no time.
I decided sometime last week that we should start having a traditional Christmas meal. One side of my family used to do this, but over the years it has changed and morphed into lunch in a restaurant on Christmas Eve. Tasty, but where's the ham and sweet potatoes??? So, I kicked off our new tradition this year. I really could have waited until Christmas Eve or even the day before, but honestly I couldn't stop thinking about sweet potatoes. I could wait no longer!
So while being thankful for my husband and Honeybaked Ham, I'm also thankful for some other stuff this holiday season:
1. This dog, who sits on the couch beside me all the time and totally would have my back in a fight. (Not that there are ever any fights, but if there were she'd save me.)
2. This dog, who sits at the table with Will in hopes that one day he'll let her have her first beer.
3. My candles that smell like Christmas trees. I have two, and they have almost tricked me into thinking we actually got a tree this year.
4. Hummus. Yea, really.
5. The chickens in my backyard. Never thought I'd say that.
6. Coffee from the morning reheated at 2:30 in the afternoon for a quick pick me up.
7. Christmas Station on Pandora. Bing Crosby followed by Mariah Carey can't be beat.
8. Cupcakes. Tomorrow I'm baking 48 of them and not eating a single one. Giving them all away. Yep, promise!
9. My health.
10. Family and Friends.
Okay, so number 9 & 10 really were serious ones. I truly do love hummus though and am thankful someone created it.
Last night, Will and I had Christmas dinner on December 21st. To celebrate Christmas, of course! It was simple and I didn't have to work very hard which is even better. We didn't do anything fancy, not even a red napkin. In fact, we used some leftover napkins from Halloween. They were orange. Thanks to Honeybaked Ham and pal Abbey's recommendation on these sweet potatoes, I was full and happy in no time.
I decided sometime last week that we should start having a traditional Christmas meal. One side of my family used to do this, but over the years it has changed and morphed into lunch in a restaurant on Christmas Eve. Tasty, but where's the ham and sweet potatoes??? So, I kicked off our new tradition this year. I really could have waited until Christmas Eve or even the day before, but honestly I couldn't stop thinking about sweet potatoes. I could wait no longer!
So while being thankful for my husband and Honeybaked Ham, I'm also thankful for some other stuff this holiday season:
1. This dog, who sits on the couch beside me all the time and totally would have my back in a fight. (Not that there are ever any fights, but if there were she'd save me.)
2. This dog, who sits at the table with Will in hopes that one day he'll let her have her first beer.
3. My candles that smell like Christmas trees. I have two, and they have almost tricked me into thinking we actually got a tree this year.
4. Hummus. Yea, really.
5. The chickens in my backyard. Never thought I'd say that.
6. Coffee from the morning reheated at 2:30 in the afternoon for a quick pick me up.
7. Christmas Station on Pandora. Bing Crosby followed by Mariah Carey can't be beat.
8. Cupcakes. Tomorrow I'm baking 48 of them and not eating a single one. Giving them all away. Yep, promise!
9. My health.
10. Family and Friends.
Okay, so number 9 & 10 really were serious ones. I truly do love hummus though and am thankful someone created it.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thank you, Pandora
Confession: I rocked out to the Katy Perry station on Pandora this morning while on the treadmill. I often think she's a weirdo because she always dresses up to look like a toy or like she's made out of plastic. But to be perfectly honest, it made the run awesome. I might of even danced a little to Natasha Bedingfield and her pocket full of sunshine and some crazy mash up of "Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing. Yea, I'm not sorry. I had fun and looked no sillier than the guy that was impersonating Rocky as he did that scooting jab punchy thing all the way around the gym. Really, he made a whole lap and even kicked a few times too.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Observations & Other Randoms
1. The cold weather has led to a great consumption of post-dinner hot chocolate. I have a sweet tooth, and I've convinced myself that if I use milk to make hot chocolate, it is good for me. You know, calcium!? But here's what is BEST about making hot chocolate--the whole time you are waiting for the milk to heat up, you can eat marshmallows which are also good for you, in the same way that candy corn is good for you.
2. I had to go on a gym sabbatical from mid-October until last week because I was consumed by school and stuff. I squeezed in random runs and all, but the actual visits to the gym came to a screeching halt. As of Sunday, I'm back to that regular gym routine and wow, in just 2 months, the staff at the gym is completely different. Of all the "trainers" running around counting for people and making them pull stacks of weights around on the floor or do a series of jumping jack/bicep curl ridiculousness, there are only like 3 of the same old crew. The rest...all new. This makes me wonder what happened in November.
3. Today while taking a shower I turned around to see that my dog had gotten into the shower with me. Why!? I have no idea. A lot of screaming ensued. If you know my dogs, you might be wondering which one because they are both curious creatures. It was Lily, the border collie, which is much less alarming than turning around to find a giant German shepherd in the shower with me. I'm assuming she was scared of something, but really, getting in the shower for safety? That makes no sense. It just made her scared and drippy rather than only scared. How is drippy scared better? Dog logic is so confusing.
4. Over the weekend, I decided it was time to accept the fact that Christmas is drawing near. I read a lot of blogs and lately lots of people (bloggers) have been admitting that they aren't in the holiday spirit. I have been in the same non-holiday-spirit situation. We are not decorating the house this year because we are in the midst of remodeling the den which is where the tree goes. No tree has meant no stockings, no wreaths, no anything. On Sunday I found a Santa tea towel way in the back of the linen closet. I hung it on the handle of the stove, and that's the extent of our holiday decorations. A-MA-ZING! To try to trick myself into the holiday spirit, I decided to make fudge. That's holiday-ish, so it had to get me in the holiday spirit. Fudge requires heavy cream. If you've ever read my blog you know that I'm sort of opposed to heavy cream because it will make you heavy. (Marshmallows and candy corn won't though!) So, I used fat free half and half, which I now know will NOT make fudge. Instead it will make goo. I'm going to have to try again and might actually buy heavy cream. This is sort of a big moment.
5. Today, I was standing in the custodian's closet/room at school using the microwave. Yes, this is occassionally the life of a teacher. There were some custodians eating lunch as it was chicken finger day at school. Someone shared with the group, "It's Obama's fault that we have to eat healthy now." Hmmm, really? I have no comment. I quietly tip toed away, hoping they wouldn't ask me to join the conversation because that could lead to a lecture about why heavy cream should be avoided (except for in fudge. maybe.).
6. I'd forgotten that Linus' little brother was named Rerun. How funny. Thank goodness for Charlie Brown holiday specials to remind us of the important details!
2. I had to go on a gym sabbatical from mid-October until last week because I was consumed by school and stuff. I squeezed in random runs and all, but the actual visits to the gym came to a screeching halt. As of Sunday, I'm back to that regular gym routine and wow, in just 2 months, the staff at the gym is completely different. Of all the "trainers" running around counting for people and making them pull stacks of weights around on the floor or do a series of jumping jack/bicep curl ridiculousness, there are only like 3 of the same old crew. The rest...all new. This makes me wonder what happened in November.
3. Today while taking a shower I turned around to see that my dog had gotten into the shower with me. Why!? I have no idea. A lot of screaming ensued. If you know my dogs, you might be wondering which one because they are both curious creatures. It was Lily, the border collie, which is much less alarming than turning around to find a giant German shepherd in the shower with me. I'm assuming she was scared of something, but really, getting in the shower for safety? That makes no sense. It just made her scared and drippy rather than only scared. How is drippy scared better? Dog logic is so confusing.
4. Over the weekend, I decided it was time to accept the fact that Christmas is drawing near. I read a lot of blogs and lately lots of people (bloggers) have been admitting that they aren't in the holiday spirit. I have been in the same non-holiday-spirit situation. We are not decorating the house this year because we are in the midst of remodeling the den which is where the tree goes. No tree has meant no stockings, no wreaths, no anything. On Sunday I found a Santa tea towel way in the back of the linen closet. I hung it on the handle of the stove, and that's the extent of our holiday decorations. A-MA-ZING! To try to trick myself into the holiday spirit, I decided to make fudge. That's holiday-ish, so it had to get me in the holiday spirit. Fudge requires heavy cream. If you've ever read my blog you know that I'm sort of opposed to heavy cream because it will make you heavy. (Marshmallows and candy corn won't though!) So, I used fat free half and half, which I now know will NOT make fudge. Instead it will make goo. I'm going to have to try again and might actually buy heavy cream. This is sort of a big moment.
5. Today, I was standing in the custodian's closet/room at school using the microwave. Yes, this is occassionally the life of a teacher. There were some custodians eating lunch as it was chicken finger day at school. Someone shared with the group, "It's Obama's fault that we have to eat healthy now." Hmmm, really? I have no comment. I quietly tip toed away, hoping they wouldn't ask me to join the conversation because that could lead to a lecture about why heavy cream should be avoided (except for in fudge. maybe.).
6. I'd forgotten that Linus' little brother was named Rerun. How funny. Thank goodness for Charlie Brown holiday specials to remind us of the important details!
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