muse | no muse

I am back in one of those phases of my mental cycle where things need homes and the homes need to make a degree of sense -- to the mental condition if nothing else. This past week has found me filing dead tree stuff from the basement in my surplus USGS filing cabinet, shelving books and magazines, organizing my copious amounts of garbage, and dealing with my CD collection.

Well, our CD collection, technically. Nat is responsible for the purchase of a fraction of the CDs with which I've been dealing. And, she has the run of the CD cupboard for anything she wants as long as I haven't somehow managed to lose the disc (but not the case) or the CD in question is not a part of the selection of music I am presently hording.

It's a good system, for me anyway. I don't mean to imply in any way that the intersection of music we both like is large.

Nat is awfully patient with me and she did tell me to get rid of some of her junior high music after almost nine years of marriage. If you happen to be looking for early Shai, Babyface, or Boyz 2 Men, drop me a line.

Presently misplaced CDs for which I have cases jumped from two to five since the last major reorganization. Is this like the disappearing sock problem about which I hear other people talk?

Posted by jack hattaway at 9:41 PM | Permalink

more photos

Posted by jack hattaway at 9:09 PM | Permalink

I consider my hands, cuticles a bit rough and nails trimmed as closely as possible. A few of my finger tips are often split from neglecting needed care. Scars adorn the landscape from the careless use of kitchen knives, hot slag landing badly for painfully brief visits, liquid nitrogen applied, and the over zealous fondling of Elizabeth's front right brake caliper. When I play with one of my four wheeled toys, the black finds its way into the whorls and minute crevices of my hands where it squats for days. I scrub them as clean as possible with brush and abrasive, but with little success. Still, my hands manage to knead bread, grind curries, craft code, shape clay, form metal, build shelter, repair toys, and comfort loved ones.

For a time, a couple of decades back, they bothered me fiercely, these invasions of my skin, stubborn in their stays. I've grown to appreciate if not actually like these artifacts of labor and process; but, I wonder what Cole will think about his father's hands.

Posted by jack hattaway at 7:15 PM | Permalink

Prep time: 15 minutes, plus an 8-24 hour soak of the rice
Total time: About 2 and a half hours
Makes: about 8 servings

1 cup brown rice (or short grain, sweet rice for those with fewer dietary challenges)
2 cans coconut milk
5 cups nonfat milk
1 pint raspberries
3 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Rinse the rice using your fingers as a rake. Cover with water and allow to soak overnight.

Drain the rice. Combine the rice, coconut milk, and nonfat milk in a heavy pan on medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Stir occasionally. Continue cooking until the mixture achieves a pudding or porridge like consistency. Using brown rice, the cook time was about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Cooking times may vary with other rice varieties.

Server warm or cool. Spoon a portion into a serving dish, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (3 tablespoons Splenda and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, in my case) and a portion of the raspberries.

I modified this recipe from Nina Simonds A Spoonful of Ginger. Nina calls for a cinnamon sugar recipe consisting of 1 tablespoon brown or palm sugar, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

I found this congee to be quite tasty, especially when topped with sugar and raspberries. I don't eat any sugar (honey, molasses, corn syrup, etc.) these days, and I'm told my tastes have adjusted to my new lifestyle. Nat, LaRayne, AnnMarie, and Jake all confirmed the congee was a tasty treat. I may, however, try the recipe next with 1/4 cup Splenda added during the cooking process and 1 teaspoon vanilla before cooling for something more closely resembling a western rice pudding.

Posted by jack hattaway at 2:36 PM | Permalink

Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: About 2 hours
Makes: about 5 servings

1 can coconut cream
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 pork steaks
1 tablespoon Splenda
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup cashews

In a heavy soup pot, heat the coconut cream and coconut milk until glistening and fragrent. Add 1/4 cup curry paste, mix well, and allow to simmer.

Rinse and dry pork steaks. Trim visible fat and slice thinly. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan and stir fry the pork slices with 2 tablespoons of red curry paste until the pork is well coated and even seared. Add the pork mixture, carrots, Splenda, and cashews to the coconut curry mixture. Simmer covered for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Serve hot over brown rice.

This variation has only a passing resemblance to the original recipe for red beef curry, but it was quick, easy, tasty, and used what I had in stock.

I derived from Real Thai, The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott.

Posted by jack hattaway at 2:04 PM | Permalink

Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: About 1 hour, 15 minutes
Makes: about 12 cups stock

14 cups water
2 leeks, sliced
2 bunches of scallions, sliced
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
10 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
12 whole peppercorns
3 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and sliced
1 bunch parsely
1 bunch cilantro
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

Wash vegetables. Combine ingredients in stock pot. Bring to boil on high heat. Cover. Reduce heat to simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain stock and press vegetables for extra liquid. Discard vegetables or pulp for use as a thickener for soup.

Refrigerate for 4-5 days. Freeze for up to 6 months.

Derived from Moosewood Restraunt Daily Special recipe for Asian Soup Stock.

Posted by jack hattaway at 1:53 PM | Permalink

Several years ago, while working for a company in Orem, Utah, I was taken to the Thai Chili Garden for my first exposure to thai food. I started with Pad Thai and quickly worked my way into Spicey Pad Ped before taking the plunge into thai curries. I fell quite in love with mussamun curry. I queried the proprietors for their recipe without success and I googled for potential recipes as well. I finally found a recipe which looked promising.

After investing well over $50 in exotic ingredients and spending several hours grinding whole spices by hand with a mortar and pestle, I rustled up the worst approximation of mussamun imaginable and terminated my efforts to make this thai dish at home.

Then, a few months ago, Nancie McDermott's Real Thai caught my eye as I was doing some poking for information on sourdough bread in the cooking section of a local Barnes & Noble. I bought Nancie's book and worked up the wherewithal for another attempt over the next few weeks.

The mussamun was exquisite. It is also labor intensive and I better understand why it is a special occasion curry in Thailand.

Do to my lifestyle changes earlier this year, I've had to make adjustments to the recipes from Real Thai. I've noted the omissions and substitutions at the end of each of the applicable recipes linked below.

mussamun curry paste
tamarind liquid
mussamun curry

Posted by jack hattaway at 1:12 PM | Permalink

Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: About 2 hours
Makes: about 10 servings

5 cups coconut milk
2 pounds pork steak cut into small pieces
1 cup coconut cream
1/3 cup mussamun curry paste
2 tablespoons Splenda
3 tablespoons tamarind liquid
12 whole cardamom pods
6 cinamon sticks
2 pounds red potatoes, washed and cut into chunks
1 large onion cut into thick wedges
1/2 cup dry roasted cashews
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

In a heavy soup pot bring the coconut milk to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add pork and reduce heat to a low simmer for about 1 hour, or until the pork is thoroughly cooked.

In a heavy skillet over medium heat, warm the coconut cream until oil begins to appear on the surface. Stir in the curry paste and continue cooking for 3-4 additional minutes.

Combine the curry into the soup pot. Add the potatoes, cardamom, cinnamon, tamarind liquid, and Splenda. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the onions and cashews and continue to simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Add lime juice to sharpen the flavor.

Nancie's recipe calls for additional fish sauce(3 tablespoons) and brown or palm sugar instead of Splenda (2 tablespoons). Do to my lifestyle change early in 2005, the dreaded middle-aged white man's disease, and a suboptimal gene set, I've left the fish sauce out of my curry and swapped brown sugar for Splenda with acceptable results. Nancie also calls for beef and dry roasted peanuts; but, I was introduced to mussamun with pork and cashews and prefer them in mine.

Derived from Real Thai, The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott.

Posted by jack hattaway at 6:43 AM | Permalink

Prep time: about 35 minutes
Makes: about 2/3 cup

1/4 cup tamarind pulp
1/2 cup water

Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 20-30 minutes. Drain liquid through a fine meshed strainer and press extra liquid out of the pulp with the back of a spoon. This doesn't keep well. Discard unused portions.

From Real Thai, The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott.

Posted by jack hattaway at 6:39 AM | Permalink

Prep time: about 40 minutes
Makes: about 1 cup

1/2 cup dried red chilies
10 whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole coriander seed
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
4 stalks fresh lemongrass
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro (leaves and stems)
1 tablespoon finely chopped and peeled fresh galanga or ginger
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped shallot

Stem chilies and remove seeds. Chop coarsely and soak in warm water, about 20 minutes.

Dry roast the whole spices over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring or shaking to prevent burning. Grind whole spices and peppercorns in a spice grinder.

Remove hard outer leaves from lemongrass. Remove the upper grassy top and the hard root end at the bottom. Thinly slice crosswise and chop.

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth using the chili soak water to facilitate the blend.

Store the paste in a tightly sealed glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Nancie's recipe calls for additional salt (1 teaspoon) and shrimp paste (1 teaspoon). Do to the dreaded middle-aged white man's disease and a suboptimal gene set, I've left both of these out of my red curry paste.

Derived from Real Thai, The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott.

Posted by jack hattaway at 6:06 AM | Permalink

Prep time: 40 minutes
Makes: about 1 1/2 cups

1/3 cup dried red chilies
2 tablespoons whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon whole corriander seed
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 stalks fresh lemongrass
1 tablespoon finely chopped, peeled fresh galanga or ginger
1/2 cup chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

Stem and remove seeds from chilies. Coarsely chop and soak in warm water for about 20 minutes.

Measure spices, whole seeds in one bowl, ground in another. Dry fry whole spices 3-5 minutes over medium heat stirring or shaking to prevent burning. Return to bowl to cool. Dry fry ground spices 2-3 minutes as above. Grind whole spices with a spice grinder. Combine all spices together.

Trim lemongrass stalks. Remove grassy tops and hard root bottom yielding about a 3 inch stalk. Remove hard outer leaves. Slice stalk crosswise as thinly as possible. Chop slices.

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth using the chili soaking water to facilitate blending.

Store in a glass jar, covered tightly. Keeps for about 1 month in the refrigerator.

Nancie's recipe calls for additional salt (2 teaspoons) and shrimp paste (1 tablespoon). Do to the dreaded middle-aged white man's disease and a suboptimal gene set, I've left both of these out of my curry paste.

Derived from Real Thai, The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott.

Posted by jack hattaway at 6:11 PM | Permalink

Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: About 1 hour, 15 minutes
Makes: about 8 cups stock

10 cups water
2 medium onions, quartered
1 medium sweet potato
2-3 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
2 medium potatos, washed, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig cilantro
1-3 bay leaves
6-12 peppercorns
6 allspice berries
6ish mushrooms, sliced

Wash vegetables. Combine ingredients in stock pot. Bring to boil on high heat. Cover. Reduce heat to simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain stock and press vegetables for extra liquid. Discard vegetables or pulp for use as a thickener for soup.

Refrigerate for 4-5 days. Freeze for up to 6 months.

Derived from Moosewood Restraunt Daily Special.

Posted by jack hattaway at 6:04 PM | Permalink