Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Sauce

I've been living off of wine, cheese, crackers, and nuts for the past two weeks (Ed is on a business trip) - therefore I had to dig into the archives for this recipe (Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Sauce).

I'm from Guam, which means I can make fried rice in my sleep and I scoff at the use of a recipe for it.  However, I was willing to lower myself to try Ed's new spin on the old standard.

The flavor of this dish is a little sweet, subtly complex thanks to mint/basil/shallots, and nicely spicy.  The daikon provided crunch, but really didn't add anything else to the dish.

All in all - it's a dish I'd eat again, but I still prefer my Guam style fried rice.

Instead of blogging I...

...visited my crafty sister and nephews in Las Vegas

(yes, my sister made those costumes)

...checked out Poquitos (w/my friend Mo) in Capitol Hill after a hair appointment

via vivapoquitos.com

...had lunch with my favorite niece and BFF @ Grace Kitchen

(yes, she is the cutest baby ever)

...bought a couple new pieces of furniture for our condo's entryway (here and here)

(the challenge will be putting everything together before Ed returns

from his business trip)

...had lunch with a college friend (Joey) and high school friend (Maria) at Boulette's Larder in the SF Ferry Building

(best paella I've ever had)

... and reunited with high school friends and stuffed myself at a Guam style bbq (in the Bay Area)

(Lena, Maria, Claire, Kulia and me - I can't believe we're in our 30's)

(ribs, chicken, keleguin, lumpia, finadene, red rice, potato

salad, corn soup, fruit salad, pancit, and black tea ++++)

(Monster) Chili Shrimp

Note to self: if Ed goes to the market to pick up shrimp (or, really, anything), he will most likely purchase the largest shrimp (squash, scallop, salmon fillet, etc) he can find.

Exhibit A: the shrimp on steroids pictured above.  To give you a little perspective, each one was about the size of a small to medium lobster tail (yes, that is a normal size dinner plate they're displayed on).  I didn't even know such shrimp existed.  I'm pretty sure they'd be shunned in nature for their grotesquely large appearance.

I expected the meat to be stringy/fibrous but, amazingly, the shrimp was tasty and tender - and quite possibly the best shrimp I ever had.

Moral of the story: sometimes bigger can be better.

(Chili Shrimp recipe here)

Drink your vegetables

I, admittedly, have been on a weird food kick lately.  Currently, I'm dipping my toe into the world of green smoothies.

Last night I tried out this recipe.  The taste brought to mind gazpacho (not bad).

(Light) Crabcakes with spicy mustard sauce

I originally intended to make this dish for dinner on my husband's birthday, but he poo-pooed the idea and whipped up the decadent chicken dish I posted below.

I decided to use canned lump crab meat ($5/can * 3) instead of fresh ($30/lb), and was a little worried that it'd affect quality and taste - but I figured with all the ingredients in crab cakes, it'd most likely be fine.  I was right.

The crab-cakes were flavorful, meaty, and had the perfect amount of "filler" ingredients (this being the bare minimum).  A simple arugula salad provided the perfect accompaniment.

Chicken With Vin Jaune and Mushrooms

This recipe, for Chicken with Vin Jaune and Mushrooms, is not diet friendly.

"Why" do you ask?  "How can chicken and mushrooms be bad for me"?

Well - there's 14 tablespoons of butter in this dish.  Divide that by 4 servings, and you just consumed 3.5 Tbl of butter (yumm?).

But I must admit, every bite of this dish was heaven - and just knowing that I was indulging in something so decadent made it taste even better.

Etsy Love

my latest Etsy purchase

"Glacier Park Painting" by Marissa Vogl