I finally made Rendang last Friday. Lotsssss of cutting up of lemon grass, fresh tumeric, red onions and other things I don't know how to spell. Mustn't forget the toasted coconut and the fresh coconut milk... shrimp paste, ground dried chillies ...

My ex's mum washed the chicken with water and salt and then, later on without consulting with me first, added salt to the Rendang. When we sat down to eat it, it was so salty! :bigcry::bigcry::bigcry:

My ex thinks that her mum didn't rinse the chicken properly to get rid of the salt from washing it. Ex added some water to it, but how to get rid of excess saltiness? I was quite disappointed.

Will come back later with a proper list of ingredients. This is the Nyonya style of Rendang, the traditional Malay style is a bit different. Darker, drier and salty.

So I think I know Dante learned his cooking on Food Network--

Where did YOU learn how to cook? Family? Friends? School? Food Network?

I learned a little from my grandma, but I mainly just learned by cooking for myself and trying new foods and I really eat with my eyes. I always loved to read books and magazines about food and recipes, and then internet came along and it was over-- I love food blogs.

Then I found my honey and she loves to cook and we have very similar tastes but very different at the same time. She has taught me to like foods by texture and colour.

Every year that I get older, the better I get with cooking. I also, love to watch food network and the cooking channel-- yay tv.

I'm very visual too. Have you seen these sites? They are like visual recipe searches. So inspirational for us visual types. (edited to add: wow, how many times can I say visual in one paragraph?)

http://www.tastespotting.com/
http://www.nibbledish.com/recipes/
http://foodgawker.com/
http://www.yumgoggle.com/gallery/

I learned to cook a little bit from before I left home, and after that it was mostly trial and error, following recipes, and observing others. My dear mum gave me a good basic cookbook to take with me, I consulted that a lot. I think I still have it somewhere!

My family has always cooked. Every family event involved time in the kitchen and I learned a little bit of something different from them all.

My fathers mother was an amazing cook. She could cook anything from scratch and did. She taught me how to measure by sight... taste and adjust my ingredients, and how to use my imagination and improvise.

My grandmother on my mothers side taught me a lot about "almost homemade" cooking and how to use cheap and quick things from the cupboards to make something no one would guess you didn't make from scratch. She was also the canner in my family... and I still love to can some of the things she made every year... like zucchini relish and chili sauce.

Black beans are our favorite; then black beans and refried pintos combined in the same one-pot dish; then lima beans.

But ahk, I have to say, I do NOT forgive my parents lol--you're so funny!--but Mom never cooked the limas long enough. Wow, what a difference it makes when you cook them till they're actually soft!

I learned to cook in a Greek deli. I was already pretty good at following recipes and I was a good baker, but it was in the deli that I was exposed to enough different foods and techniques to really learn how cooking works. Then it was thirty years of trial and error to teach myself what I like. I have to say, those five years I spent with my mom were a waste as far as cooking; I wasn't welcome in her kitchen and pretty much retreated to very simple foods, sandwiches, burritos, etc. I made up for it in spades the past five years though!

My favorite cooking blog is the King Arthur Flour baking blog. I've learned a lot there because they go step by step with pictures and they also explain all the technical parts, the chemical reactions, the various ingredients. That blog is an education all in itself! http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/

Hello delicious friends!

I thought I'd post a follow up for my heirloom tomatoes, because they are showing up some pretty patterns now.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s13/s...4ac34025ffa2a5

They are really keeping me in suspense because I don't know how big they are going to get, or whether they are going to turn red or stay green - but I love the markings on them. Unfortunately the camera didn't do such a good job of capturing it, but hopefully you can see enough to get an idea. (They are darker on top, not sure if it just looks like the lighting or whether you can see that).

They're lovely, Urs!

I've been dreaming over the pages of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog this past week. Sneaky people, mailing that catalog out while people are in the holiday spending mood, lol.... Sun, here are your non-GMO seeds, including corn and soybeans. They test every batch; I'm telling you, pretty soon we're going to have to start growing corn in greenhouses to keep it GMO free. But in the meantime, we can still buy some pure seedstocks. http://rareseeds.com/ This year they have more than 1400 varieties of seeds, veggies, herbs, gourds, flowers, cover crops, etc. This is one of the small companies that's leading the fight for every one of us to have the right to non-GMO foods, AND their seeds are really vigorous with high germination rates. I would buy from them even if I weren't a gardener, just to support them in the fight for pure foods.

#1-New Orleans; Beijing, China; Toronto, Canada.

#2-Good people, good conversation, dancing, music ;)

#3-Mongolia. I mean, real Mongolia, not this Genghis Grill stuff. Hot pot surrounded by steppe and sleeping in a yurt. Had this in Beijing, but nothing beats authenticity.

#4-Beignets and a muffaletta sandwich, French Quarter.

#1. Singapore. When visiting relatives in Singapore, amazing food is ALWAYS involved.

#2. It has to engage *all* the senses.

#3. We briefly visited the Mediterranean on a cruise that my mother in law took us on a few years ago. I would love to visit there again and spend more time in Italy and Greece especially.

#4. Oh too many to list! Probably many of the things I had on the trip I mentioned in #3!

I just had some Thai green curry and coconut chicken sausages from my local butcher. Mmmmm, very very good!

I'd like to get into sausage making one of these days :)

#1 Is there a city or town that stands out for you as having a great food scene?
I think most places have somewhere great to eat. My ex and I used to go to a divine French restaurant in Hillcrest, San Diego but it's closed now. Bobby Chin's in Hanoi is fabulous. In fact, Hanoi has some great restaurants.

#2. What makes a location a great food scene for you?
I think I'll have to go with Guihong and Ursy - the company, the location, the occasion, and of course, the food.

#3. Where would you like to travel to, to experience the local foods? Would love to go back to Vietnam. Austria for cake and coffee. Spain, Portugal, Italy, and there is so much I haven't eaten in Malaysia yet! But where WOULDN'T I go to eat is probably an easier question to answer.

#4. What dish or meal stands out as something that you would travel for again?
Vegetarian bibimbap, Ulsan, South Korea. Their gochujang was home-made and fantastic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gochujang

Wow, I just saw some beef and chicken base at one of the larger H.E.B. stores, here in the Houston area! I am definitely going to be picking up some of that, very soon. Mind you, I'd drather make my own stock, but this makes for a quick substitute when I don't have any stored away in the freezer. Besides, I have very limited freezer space, and can never store enough stock for my tastes. I don't really like the boxes of stock and broth that are available, either.

Thank you for all your websites, I loved it!! I look at foodgawker often but thank you for the other links.

and

I enjoyed hearing about where you all learned to cook-- what amazing stories and memories.

So tonight my folks are coming over for dinner and I'm making Honey Mustard Thyme Chicken breasts, roasted sweet potatoes w/ garlic/thyme, green beans. (and polenta with carrots/spinach for my mom).

Gotta get a move on-- start to dust and other things. Enjoy your resting day --

:cuttree:

Yes, it was IN the sausage, it was a chicken sausage with green curry and coconut flavouring in it. Yum! I should go back and get some more.

Foodie Survey
 

Thank you sweet Cath!

It is my hope that everyone grows or starts growing non GMO foods so this seed resource is just priceless.

Thank you for keeping this reminder in front of us as we talk about food, we must not forget where our food is coming from.

You can use some of the noodle water as well.

Not from scratch, but I've got a favourite curry paste - Maesri - Excellent flavour. I hear Mae Ploy is also very good, but I haven't tried it because I heard that it was generally hotter.

The coconut milk/cream has to be good too. Do you have a favourite? I like Aroy-D or Chaokoh (not certain on the spelling...) - it makes all the difference.

Hmm, think I need to make a green curry soon...

Thai Peanut Sauce
 

I finally got around to making my Thai Peanut Sauce and thought I would share the recipe with you all

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbls curry powder
1 tbls dried parsley
1 tsp dried ginger (a bit more if fresh)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water

The choice of meat and vegetables I pair with this dish depend on what I have on hand and what is in season. Today I used thin sliced beef cut into strips and parsnips, carrots, zucchini, and celery. I steam the vegetables, adding the beef near the end so I can cook using as little oil as possible, once the vegetables and meat are cooked through I pour in the sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve over white rice and garnish with sesame seeds and red peppers to taste.