Hi Thai

After three years I finally found something I like at Hi. Thai on campus. Of course who could have guessed that shying away from the unidentifiable chicken, the green sheen mystery meat, msg loaded pho or greasy fried rice was all that would take. I highly recommend getting the vegetable and tofu yellow curry over rice.

It is a delicious dish full of carrots, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes and tofu in a fragrant yellow lemongrass curry topped over white rice.

New years resolution

So as part of my new years resolution I've decided to cut down on my intake of meat, and eat out less. Of course as I've said I've decided to cut down on my intake of meat. So I'm allowing myself a little bit of bacon once in a while or as a seasoning, Mexican food or fast food once a week, and going out and eating once a month.

The reasons being that 1) I've signed up for a CSA box that brings me a large box of produce every two weeks so I have to step up my vegetable consumption. 2) Vegetables contain lots of minerals and fiber and are healthy to eat. 3) Price of meat has gone up. 4) Although there is nothing wrong with eating meat if everyone consumed less meat then we can utilize more land to grow food to feed more people instead of livestock. 5) I spend a lot on going out and eating when I could be cooking at home.

With the tough economy I should be saving more of my income rather than eating out; however, I reserve the right to go out and treat myself to a nice dinner at least once a month. Quality rather than quantity.

So New Years Day friends and I ended up eating out all day because we were too hung over to cook. For breakfast I went to Local Habit in Hillcrest and ended up ordering Mac n Gouda, Home potatoes, and a Quiche for breakfast. (I was aiming to get a high protein breakfast in me without ordering any meat.) Then for dinner we ordered egg drop soup, a vegetable stir fry and vegetable fried rice from a Chinese take out place. Totally anti climatic and I wasn't sure if it was health either due to all the grease.

Tonight's dinner was a lot better. Ms. Texas and Ken D wanted to do a southern dinner so we had Paula Dean's black eyed peas with veggie bacon (soo good), mashed potatoes, cheesy grits, stewed collard/ kale/ beet greens, and corn syrup free pecan pie (not pictured but eaten). It was very filling and delicious. The key to delicious greens is not over cooking it and adding vinegar. Try adding a bit of red wine vinegar instead of distilled white vinegar, it adds a lot more flavor.

Mexican Pizza

Okay I do love pizza.

I used left overs from the fabulous taco Tuesday (Saturday) dinner to make a pizza last night.

I didn't use any cheese instead brushed the dough with a bit of olive oil and topped it with some mexican chicken cooked with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and lawry's taco seasoning; black beans; and whole canned chipotle peppers. I baked it for a while to dry out the beans and chicken a bit. When it came out of the oven I topped it with a bit of fresh cilantro. It was fantastic and very interesting. I wish I had sour cream to drizzle on it but on well :)

Taco Tuesday

Friends in town. Special taco tuesday Saturday night :)

Got beer?

For months now Roberto, Ken D, and I have been talking about brewing beer. By chance I was able to score seven 5 gallon glass carboys off Craigslist for a great price and this became our catalyst for brewing beer (and me doing something about the mead that's been brewing for the last two years.)

I knew I wanted to brew my imperial chocolate stout again, of course Ken D wanted to make a hoppy IPA, and Roberto wanted to try making a fruity beer. So on Saturday we all went down to American Home Brewing Supply to get our goods.

It was a lot of fun scooping and grinding our grains, picking out of hops, and choosing the right yeast for our desired beers. Then we got hit with the bill! $377.00! Okay it was a lot. But we're brewing 8 gallons each and we had to also get supplies other than ingredients.

We made a whole day out of brewing beers. Roberto brought his slow cooker with a pork shoulder which we slowly cooked all day for carnitas while we were boiling our beers and drinking beers.

By the end of the day we had gone through 40lb+ of malt extract, 25 gallons of filtered water, several 32oz beers, In-n-out, and amazing carnitas. Here's two pics I managed to take. First we shredded the pork and I am frying it in a cast iron pot with some duck fat to crisp it. The second pic was the beer 24hrs later in the fermenter.

Pizza Night

Inspired by Anthony Bourdain's lay over in Rome, some friends and I decided to make pizza.

I wish I could say we made it all from scratch but making a perfect pizza dough is a lot harder than it sounds. Plus no matter how I decide to make it it will never meet up to my expectations of the light thin fluffy pizza crust found in Italy. So I just stick to Whole Food's pizza dough. The key is to allow it ample time to rise (1 hour on oiled baking sheets on top of the stove while the oven is preheating to 425F) and not to over knee the dough.

So while we waited for the dough to rise we were boozing up on a great dry Castle Rock Chardonnay and a lemon soda mixed with German larger and picking out our toppings.

The key to a good pizza is the simplicity. I don't like to make pizzas that are super cheesy and covered in sauce. The Italians don't add more than three different flavors to the pizza, and we decided to stick to the Italian method.

For the first pizza we brushed the crush with some home grown and made sun dried tomato italian basil pesto with a little extra olive oil and topped it with a bits of marinated artichoke hearts, feta, more chopped sun dried tomatoes in oil, and shredded roasted chicken. Yes I realize that was four toppings but the sun dried tomato was just an extension of the base sauce so it doesn't count.

The second pizza we decided to do something a little more classic. We started with a thin layer of homemade tomato sauce then topped it with thin slices of mozzarella (the big white ball of cheese in liquid is the only type of mozzarella that should be used), olives marinated mushrooms and anchovies... yummm. Again that was four toppings but we used a cow's milk mozzarella instead of buffalo and it was very mild in flavor.

The two pizzas were excellent. The pesto on the first pizza was so flavorful and really added a great flavor to the pizza. While the bits of marinated artichoke hearts added the right amount of acidity to make your mouth water. The chicken was also roasted to perfection and remained moist while the pizza was baking.

The second pizza was even better and so different. You could taste each topping. The pungent, nutty black olives, savory mushrooms, and the salty anchovies. Each flavor was very different but the creamy melted cheese and the slightly sweet and acidic tomato sauce harmonized all the sharp flavors.

Of course this wasn't a total carb party. We did have our greens. Ken D picked some fresh arugula (also seeds brought back from Italy) and dressed it with an amazing fig mustard vinegarette along with the left over feta. It was pretty amazing. I'm going to try and recreate the recipe for you.

Fig Mustard Vinegarette

1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 egg yolk smashed
1/2 minced small sweet onion (about 3 tbsp or 1 shallot minced)
3 tbsp fig preserve

Shake all ingredients in a blender or jar. Add up to equal part light flavored olive oil and shake again.

Toss with salad and don't forget to add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper to the salad.

Kale salad

I made a kale salad last minute for a thanksgiving potluck and it was a surprising hit! By popular request here's the recipe.

6 cup chopped black kale
1/2 large yellow onion sliced thin
3/4 cup diced Fiji apple
1/2 cup chopped red walnut
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
3 tbspn sherry vinegar
3 tbspn Dijon mustard
4 tbspn olive oil
Dash of kosher salt to taste
Black pepper

Toss all four top ingredients together.

Mix the vinegar and mustard and microwave and pour over kale to slightly wilt.

Add olive oil.

Add grated parmasean a few table spoons at a time tossing gently with a spoon.

Salt and pepper to flavor.

No need to refrigerate and can make up to one hour in advance.