Kung Pao Chicken with Fried Cabbage and Rice

 Mostly I followed a recipe found in Anna Kao's Classic Chinese Cooking. Marinade 2 breasts of chicken with 1:2 ratio of cornstarch to soy sauce.

 2 T. soy sauce, 1 T. wine, 1/2 T. cider vinegar, 1/2 t. sugar, 1 t. cornstarch 1 t. sesame oil, 1 T. water. I added roughly 6 Sichuan hot peppers to the sauce. I'll remove these later to fry them with the rest of the goods.   

 1/2 diced sweet brown onion.

 4 Green onion with tops.

 Copious garlic and ginger.

 Some peanuts for topping.

 Rice.

 Oil and pepper in a pan.  Hot fire. Brown the chicken.

 Reserve.

 Saute garlic, onions, ginger, and about a cup of bamboo shoots for a few minutes and add the chicken and sauce to reduce. 

 Caramelize a bit of cabbage in a separate pan by putting a pinch or two of sugar into the pan ... this might take a few minutes.

Make a stack of the whole hot mess, rice, then cabbage, then the Kung Pao chicken. 

Mac and Cheese

 

 Pasta as Giada does it ... macaroni ... go figure.

  

Onions.

 

 Flour. 2 T.

 Butter.

 

Cook the flour and the butter a bit.

 

Garlic.

 

Mustard.

 

Cheddar. 

 Romano.

Combine everything, loosen up with some cream. 

Chicken Tikka Masala

 

3 cardamom, 3 clove, 2 T coriander seeds.  Heat in oil. 

 White onion complete, generous garlic and fresh ginger.

 

Chicken ... or Salmon.  

 

Whole yougurt to coat. 

 

Spice generously, 1 t. each.

 

Boom.

 

Serrano peppers, jalapeno, canned tomatoes, chicken stock. 

 

You should roast or grill the chicken, but I just sauteed it. 

 

Puree the sauce. 

 

Combine all of it and add some cream. 

 

Make some rice. 

 

Mangez!  Chicken Tikka Masala.  

Yakisoba

 

 Pork sliced, garlic, ginger, shallot. 

 

Carrot, onion, cabbage. 

 

Rinse noodles.

 Shitake mushrooms.

 

  Yakisoba sauce.

Yakisoba!

Fairplay

Prospecting at Scales.

RIP Rich Coleman. We dropped part of Richard's Ashes in above these falls. I told stories and showed one of my friends around a bit.

I spent more than a few nights camped with Richard in the hydraulic mine at Fairplay, including one particularly memorable one in about 1983 that included about a 4 hour thunderstorm.

If you want to try to find this place on a map, give it a shot. It took us more than a few hours and I *knew* where I was going. If you need to go there and spread some flowers, or motorcycle parts, let me know, maybe I can find it again.

I hope there's a lot of things to fix where you're headed Richard.

Here's a list of the crap I didn't do today.

Anything regarding the insane road raging neighbor, despite his name calling, gesturing, swearing at me, and spitting at me, among other things.
Fix the bricks on the North walk.
Pour concrete for the shed floor.
Build the storage area behind the shed.
Smoke a brisket.
Put a fence around the garden.
Put away the decoys.
Move the flat file cabinets into the library.
Run a hose bib to the back of the yard.
Rebuild the custom coffee table I built some years ago.

Some things I did do:

Move the flat file cabinets into the library.
Flood the backyard.
Feed the chickens.
Fix the hose bib on the north side of the house.
Plant Italian parsley, squash and cabbage.
Order plans for a boat to build.
Read a hand written letter from someone I was once quite delighted to be friends with.

Bibimbap!

I made this. Sue's recipe was very good and very authentic.  I was just like the Bibimbap in Chueong Ju.

Foshan Confucious Temple

Guangzhou, China

So I am in Guangzhou, China in a “suburb” of Guangzhou called Renhe Town, in the Baiyun District.  I put “suburb” in quotes, because this is very urban.  Tenement like housing with apartments and flats, but with strong rural ties and beginnings.  It has its own market and Is very self-contained.  It reminds me of what Brasilia wanted to be, a utopian community where you never had to leave the building to get all that you want or need. 

Since I left the airport eight days ago, I haven’t seen a white person. Several people have spoken to me in English, one, my wife, two, a nine old Canadian visiting her grandmother, and last night a young woman working in the market where I’ve been accused of buying beer.  She said, “You like Beer?” Go figure.  I noticed tonight that she has a fifth of Jim Beam high on the shelf (as though it were special).  She asked, “Do you want to buy that?” She queried me about my living (read: staying) nearby.  I said yes.  But I won’t buy the whiskey till next week. 

When I am out on the streets often I see 4 or 5 year old children who look at me as if they’ve never seen a white person before.  I assume this is true.  One child literally asked me, “Why are you white?”

There has been a lot of family around my wife during my stay including several cousin reunions. There is a lot of visiting, for a couple of reasons, one being several cousins visiting from Malaysia.  When a lot of friends and family show up it ends up at the same local restaurant.  I have had Dim Sum and lunch and dinner (all more than once), and since I have been here before, most of a fairly sweet bottle of Chinese “Brandy” (whatever that means), compliments of my wife’s Uncle (we drank actual cognac together, last time I was here). 

I have been here a few times now.  I am starting to know my way around and know the neighbors and the shopkeepers, and they know me.  I am learning to find what I need, but still fear getting lost.  Right now I think we want to try to find a blender, and another pound of ground coffee.  We may have to wait till we get to Vietnam for that.