Baldur

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html

Baldur

http://ihatecilantro.com/

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, Katy Perry, Pedro Martinez, Helen Reddy, Marion Ross, Billy Barty, Minnie Pearl, William Higinbotham, Richard E. Byrd, Pablo Picasso, JohnFrancis Dodge, Georges Bizet and Johann Strauss II.

polenta

The condiments I use most are:
pepper, nutmeg, yellow mixture for rice, paprika? (pimentón than makes things red), garlic, parsil, onion, oregano and chili? (ají or adobo), vinegar and lemon. And for sweet things cinnamon and vanilla.
All of the above are easily available and cheap.
Some gourmet TV channels give recipes with things like curry or Worcestershire etc but I don't think many Uruguayan housewives use them a lot although they are being introduced into the market gradually.

polenta

Baldur, I saw your list again. How do you manage without oregano? For example with pizza.

marius

Now, why does Baldur steam the bulgar for his Tabouleh versus cooking like rice, boiling then simmering? Does Baldur use a rice steamer (isn't this how the Japanese cook their rice?)

Very interesting articles about cilantro. Marius first tasted it at Mexican restaurant. It was in a pico de gallo dish and marius said quietly to spouse, "Don't try that - it's gone bad." He tried it anyway and said, "It's loaded with cliantro, that's why you think it's gone bad." Everyone else at the table liked it. Does not taste soapy to me, just horribly bitter and vile. Reminds me of capers. (shivers)

And, yes ... what about oregano? Marius likes oregano flowers in salads. Just a few.

Have never heard of cooking with lavendar. Did I mis-read something?

Baldur

Did I miss oregano? That was a clerical mistake, I do indeed have it.
My friend grows it and brings me large bunches from time to time.

Baldur

I've never boiled my bulgar, though I suppose it would work, and no, I don't own a rice steamer.

Lavendat smells like old-lady soap. It is used in baking and even in making ice cream, heavens knows why

Dragon

I see that Baldur does use Coriander despite not liking Cilantro. I don't think I've ever used ground Coriander but I like to use the seeds in soup stocks. I thought they had a rather similar taste to cilantro but perhaps I'm wrong in this.
Personally my favorite herb to us is Basil. I have a basil plant that I grew from scratch and I must say it's the funniest looking basil plant I've ever seen. I don't know if it wasn't getting enough sun or water or what but instead of being a lovely little shrub shaped plant with lots of leaves it's grown rather more like a tree. It has long, spindly, woody stems and the leaves grow at the top almost looking like a giant flower. They are perfectly shaped basil leaves and taste just the same, the only difference seem to be the stems. I am attempting to grow some more seeds in the same pot in an effort to fill things out a bit, also, I could happily use basil nearly every day and as it stands I'm afraid to thin out my branches too much, so I only pluck the leaves when I have a really good recipe calling for them. This past weekend I just bought a parsley plant and a cilantro plant (I'm definitly one of the cilantro lovers) and I'm hoping to be able to keep them alive despite being a very bad plant mommy. I find fresh parsley to be so much better than the dried variety but when I buy it at the store they always sell it in great big bunches and I always end up throwing half of it away, this is such a waste that I figured if I had a plant to pick from I can just use what I need and not worry about the rest rotting in the veggie drawer.

Dragon

Well here in Central Alberta we've gotten our first snow of the season. It seems the trick-or-treater's will likely have to slog through the slush on Halloween night this. When I think back to the Halloweens of my childhood I always remember them being very cold (mom would make our costumes big enough to wear winter coats underneath) and there was often snow on the ground for them. The last few years have been spectacular on the 31st, a couple years ago I accompanied a friend in taking her neices around and we had to strip off our sweaters because we were too hot. Don't think that will be the case this year.
Dragon wonders if any other ThinkDrawers will be doing anything special for Halloween. My boyfriend and I are going to a party, I decided to take the opportunity to wear my corset, so I will be going as a sexy pirate while my fella will be dressed as my first mate. In looking for pieces of our costumes we noticed a few things
1:Packaged costumes cost way too much
2:All men's costumes are made to look slightly ridiculous
3:All woman's costumes are made to look slutty

I've also noticed that the picture they show on the packaging is very much idealized and often is of a completely different costume which is clearly custom fit to the overly buxom model. They're usually similar but they never fit properly and frequently are clearly made from a different fabric, or the accesories that come with look nothing like the ones on the picture.

We've also found that finding a pirate shirt for a full grown man is incredibly difficult, we'll be hitting Value Village in the hopes of turning something up.

Baldur

#7868
lavendat - t + r = lavendar

Baldur

Dragon, this won't help you in such short notice but go to www.dresslikeapirate.com.
Shania, who runs the site is very nice, Baldur loves the shirts that he's bought from them.

Dragon

Those would be perfect! It's too bad our invites came so late or we would have been preparing a lot earlier.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Sasha Cohen, Seth MacFarlane, Keith Urban, Natalie Merchant, Cary Elwes, Keith Strickland, Jaclyn Smith, Hillary Rodman Clinton, Pat Sajak, Bob Hoskins, Jackie Coogan, Mahalia Jackson, Benjamin Guggenheim and C.W.Post.

Baldur

Baldur is making a big pot of vegetable chow mein for supper tonight, so dinner will be 50% celery.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Kelly Osbourne, Simon Le Bon, Veronica Hart, Robert Picardo, Peter Firth, Fran Lebowitz, Lee Greenwood, Dick Trickle, John Gotti, John Cleese, Floyd Cramer, H. R. Haldeman, Warren Christopher, Ruby Dee, Nanette Fabray, Dylan Thomas, Emily Post, Theodore Roosevelt, Isaac Singer, James Cook, Erasmus and Catherine of Valois.

polenta

celery and what else?

Baldur

Baldur's Chow Mein

Bring 2 cups of vegetable broth to a boil (you may use chicken or beef broth instead; if you are adding meat or poultry match the broth to the meat)
Dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in 1/4 cup of cold water.
Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the boiling broth and cook, stirring constantly until a thick, clear and glossy. This won't take long.
Remove from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
You may also add 1/2 teaspoon of toasted sesame seed oil, a little garlic powder and a tiny amount of powdered dry or grated fresh ginger if you'd like.
Put the sauce aside.
The vegetables are up to your own personal taste but celery is essential.
(Baldur is not fond of celery but even he uses it in chow mein)
Use at least 2 cups of cleaned, and sliced (on the diagonal) celery(remove all the leaves too). I general use the entire bunch.
When cutting the other vegetables make sure they are approximately the same size as the celery pieces whenever possible.
Other vegetables you might use include
sliced mushrooms
red or green bell peppers
scallions or green onions
bean sprouts
sliced water chestnuts (usually found canned)
bamboo shoots (usually found canned)
those deadful canned baby ears of corn (usually found canned)
You may also include:
cooked pieces of beef, pork or chicken
whole peeled and cooked shrimp
a handful of cashews or almonds
(Baldur will base the directions on what he did in making this recipe last night.. in general start with the vegetables that take the longest to cook)
Drizzle a little oil (peanut, soybean, corn etc) in the bottom of a large skillet or wok. When the oil is hot add the mushrooms and stirfry until browned and somewhat dry
I use 2 wooden spoons when stirfrying to toss and turn everything in the pan.
Cook the vegetables over high heat and try to keep a pool of liquid from forming in the pan. You want any liquid to evaporate.
Add the celery and stirfry until it is barely cooked and still somewhat crunchy.
Add the peppers and stirfry for a couple more minutes.
Add the beansprouts and scallions (and any meat if using) and cook just enough to get everything hot.
Pour the reserved sauce over everything and stir to coat the vegetables.

The word 'mein' is the Chinese word for noodles. Traditionally the dish is not chow mein unless it includes them.
You may serve the vegetable mixture over cooked soft Chinese noodles or the deep fried crispy ones avaliable in the market.
Baldur prefers the crispy ones.

Baldur

#7878
- a

Dragon

Dragon also loves the crispy noodles, strangely so does her cats. Who knew cats would be chow mein noodle fans?