I Forgot How Good This Is ...

Got back from Chicago and the first thing I made was Stir Fried Noodles with Shrimp, Chiles, and Lime ... Heavens to Betsy, I'd forgotten how good that is. Not that hard either. It was like a tango in my mouth.

Likewise with this Kao Mok Gai ... or Thai Style Chicken and Rice. I made it last night and the ginger in the rice just sang.

If you're looking for something new and interesting, but not too difficult, give these a try.

Now Serving Hot Links ...

• Everything's coming up ... tomatoes ... at How To Cook. From types to freezing to peeling to which canned ones to buy ... an amazing resource.
  
  
• Dispatches from Afghanistan Sam: How to Buy, Slaughter and Spit-Roast a Sheep ... I think that title pretty much says it all. With photos. Enjoy!
  
  
• What do the Chinese really eat at home? World Foodie Guide clues us in with Cantonese Home Cooking. That Chicken and Potato Stew looks pretty good and I have printed it out to try.
  
  
• How Local Can You Realistically Go? Barbara at Tigers & Strawberries has a wonderful example of how to take a down-to-earth look at your meals before patting yourself on the back for local buying. Also an interesting report of farmers' efforts to provide more basic foods locally.
  
  
• Nuts Online ... Siggy reports:

  Great quality. Third order and stuff is top notch.
  
  The coffees are great as well.
  
  I just rec'd 300 bucks worth of stuff- -worth every penny and way better and cheaper than whole foods type stores.
  
  The sun dried tomatoes are what I imagine your cinammon buns taste like.

  That flatterer! But I am going to check out this resource.
  

Gone to Chicago ...

... for a week.
Details here for anyone who is interested!

God Bless America, Land That I Love

Happy birthday, USA!

To those who are not Americans, I like the way that podcaster B.J. Harrison says it (as with so many other things he says):

I know that many of my listeners are not American, and to them I wish joy and freedom of the glorious land which they call home. How wonderful to have a day to celebrate independence. To me, independence proclaims our ability to choose right from wrong, and denotes a celebration for the right choices we make. These are the things that give us freedom. May we all rejoice in the freedoms we enjoy, and in the freedoms we create.

Here are 10 good ways to celebrate American freedom.

3) Walk around your house enjoying the lack of soldiers

Gimme a Moon Pie and a RC

A little bit of food-ish history over at Forgotten Classics, my podcast.

Quick Look at a Good Book

The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Schneider****

In spite of my complaints about some of the absolute worst book design I've ever seen, the content is very good (which just annoys me more about the design). I haven't made anything from this yet but definitely will. One word of warning: this book title may make you think that it is all one needs to know about the "basics" of cooking supper. Not so. It is an interesting mix of basic information with some extremely sophisticated taste combinations that may be intimidating to a beginning cook. Which is probably exactly why so many cooks are raving about it.

This was one of the books I read in June ... the rest of the list is here.