morsels & sauces

We spent yesterday gardening, cleaning up the backyard, and puttering around outside.  To reward ourselves for a job at least adequately done, we grilled. A few weeks ago, t he husband's parents made this Grilled West Indies Spice-Rubbed Chicken with the cookbook -recommended grilled banana, which was so good we had to make it ourselves.  However, I find that the grilled banana can become a bit cloying, so we switched out the accompanying fruit for a far zingier Equatorial Fruit Salad with lime and  jalapeño .   We walked away with five important messages about the salad from the meal: 1.) The Equatorial Fruit Salad is phenomenal.  The sweet acidity of the pineapple next to the smoothness of the papaya just tastes like a tropical summer.  The lime gives a further zing that plays off of the creaminess of the bananas.  I was a little worried about the heat, so I put in only 2  jalapeños.  However, because you seed them, the  ...

Another round of smoothies as part of this Wellness Cleanse .  I am learning that because of my sweet tooth, I like the fruit-based smoothies more than than the veggie-based ones.  However, it is still important for me to vary it up.  You'll also notice that the vessel of choice this week was jars.  I had to get them to work. Everything but the Kitchen Sink Veggie Smoothie 4 tomatoes 1 small carrot 2 stalks celery 5 leaves romaine lettuce 1 tablespoon flax seed meal 1 small red pepper 1/3 cup basil 1 pinch salt 1/4 bulb fennel 1/2 cup jicama 2 cups water 1 tablespoon lemon juice Hot sauce to taste Some notes: Oh, well, hello salad.  This literally is drinking your salad.  But quite yummy. Again, another monster smoothie.  But I think I am coming to understand that I like my smoothies a little on the thinner side, so I add more water.  You can add less, have less, and have a thicker smoothie. And seriously, I don't thin...

Part of this Wellness Cleanse has inspired me to be creative with the smoothies.  I like smoothies quite a bit, and I find that you can easily toss all the goodies in the blender, pour the results into two big glasses or jars, and either drink them down right then and there or save them for lunch or a snack at work.  Plus, they are an easy way to get more vegetables (especially) and fruits into our diets, which most of us are sorely lacking.  Finally, if you know you're rushed for time in the morning (as I generally am because I always, and I mean always , underestimate the amount of time I have), you can make it the night before, throw it in a jar, and then grab it as you bolt out the door (hoping to god that you have your phone and your keys). Here are three smoothies I had this week with all kinds of notes about them.  They are intended to be meals in and of themselves, and not just snacks (although the second one down could be just a snack...).  All servi...

This summer, I have been exploring the concept of Plenty .  Lucky for me, I had just the cookbook to help me explore it. (A beloved friend of mine (and you know who you are!) took it upon herself to shower me in cookbooks lately, and this spring, she sent me t his lovely one .  It is the work of Yotam Ottolenghi--go HERE to learn much more.) In addition to going on a road trip, having my teenage niece visit for two weeks, and attending my high school class reunion, I spent four weeks immersed in a yoga teacher training (which I affectionately dubbed "yoga camp" to all who would listen).  While I began the class believing I was merely (hah!) going to learn how to become a better and even safer yoga teacher for my own students (both of which I think I did), I ended the class plenty more: wildly in love with "The Waste Land," achy around my hamstring attachments (which I learned I have been abusing), and connected to an amazing group of women and men. ...

Adapted from Cookbook #49:  Thai Food   (2002) Recipe: Lon Pla Raa (Fermented Fish Relish) I am a little in awe of this cookbook.  David Thompson, an Australian chef and restaurateur, lived for several years in Bangkok, and his expertise in the food, city, and culture is abundantly clear in this tome.  There has been some bruhaha about Thompson, a foreigner, suggesting that he was reviving Thai cuisine; such a statement perhaps needs context.  He's certainly bringing it to Western kitchens, and well, Westerners for the most part like their ethnic cuisines digested by someone else--the French got Julia , the Moroccans got Claudia , the Mexicans got Diana .  Thompson is merely in a long line of chefs who are passionate about a cuisine that is not from their native homes.  And I cannot fault him for that. Instead, I will take advantage of it, and for a hefty 688 pages Thompson wants to ensure you learn a thing or two about the origins of th...