I've never had General Tso's chicken, I can never resist Kung Pao chicken when I am ordering at a Chinese restaurant. But this recipe is pretty close, so I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't deep fry the chicken; I sauteed it instead in some oil, then drained the excess oil before finishing the dish. I did add water chestnuts to it when I made it, since I wasn't serving it over rice. I'm not crazy about it, I like my go-to Kung Pao recipe better. But it was fun trying a new dish. : )
It's warm out, and that means it's time to break out the cool and refreshing summer rolls! Made with red leaf lettuce, fresh rice noodles, cucumber, carrot, mango, cilantro, and mint, wrapped in rice paper. The dipping sauce is a spicy peanut sauce with soy, garlic, ginger, sriracha, lime juice, and cilantro. SUPER happy, and hello summer! ♥
I haven't dyed Easter Eggs since I was a kid. I don't know why, I like eating hardboiled eggs, and I love the brightly colored Easter eggs, they are so cheerful. Last year, I picked up an egg dye kit, but didn't have time to make the eggs and color them, so this year, I saved the trip to the store to buy the dye tablets. ; ) I only made 8 eggs, since I can only eat so many hardboiled eggs. I made a pineapple upside down cake at the same time, so I let the eggs sit in the dye longer than I would have otherwise, and I'm glad I did - the eggs turned out really vibrantly colored!
I think we all know how much I love my sous vide machine. I use it A LOT. It makes the best short ribs ever. Steaks are so effortless and always perfect. It even makes a superior burger. I've started cooking my beets in it, they turn out much better than roasted or steaming. And I've been using it to poach eggs, directly in their shells. But I wanted to step up, and start doing some of the recipe from the Modernist Cuisine books. For no particular reason, I decided on the Hollandaise sauce. Maybe because it can go on top of the poached eggs I already know how to make.
I am a HUGE fan of the Downton Abbey series, and was very eagerly waiting for the start of season 3 to come to the US. (Yes, I know it is available in the UK and can be streamed online, but I like the whole ritual of waiting for the new episodes to air here.) I do have to admit, I'm less excited about the changing costuming to reflect the 1920's, which is not my favorite clothing era; I really, really love the Edwardian era clothes, and the glamour and richness of the styles.
I'm sure I've mentioned it, but my 4 and a half years in Tujunga was the longest I've lived in one place in my entire life. So you'd think I'd be pretty good at adapting to new surroundings. I am, for the most part, but other things escape me. Like remembering that my light switch is on the left side of the kitchen door. I still reach for the right side, ever single time. And sometimes I still turn left in the hall, intending to go in the bedroom, and ending up instead in the bathroom. But that is nothing compared to cooking in a new kitchen. I can't remember where ANYTHING is.
All right, I know this is one of the controversial foods that people either love or HATE. I'm on the LOVE side. Part of the attraction to me is the ridiculousness of the entire concept. Candy shaped like corn, but doesn't taste like corn? How odd! I'm in! Of course the oddity lends itself well to humor about where candy corn comes from:
Wow, I should win an award for the longest blog post title! ; ) On one of my shopping sprees at my favorite exotic game / free range butchers, I had picked up a package of duck legs, and stashed them away in the freezer. Not for a rainy day, but a day where the temperature in LA dropped below 90 degrees. Needless to say, I've been waiting for MONTHS. And of course, I mistimed the day, because tomorrow it will be back up at 90, and Wednesday the high is going to be 93. Seriously, I'm trying to move into fall foods, but the weather is NOT cooperating!
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