RecipeMuncher

Citymama is doing a challenge and I’m going to play along. The idea is to make a nutritious meal for a family of 4 for or less. I want to make something that is reflective of the food we eat, rather than making just anything that I know will come in under . Not completely decided yet, but it will probably be some kind of stir-fry with either rice or noodles.

Think you can do it? Great! Check out her post for details.

This food challenge has got me thinking about the price of food these days. I have definitely been watching what we spend on groceries. I watch for specials and buy the store brands more often. A couple of weeks back, one of my local grocery stores (I have 4 within 2 miles of my home) had my favorite brand of pasta on special, {content}.99 per box, down from .49. They put a limit of six, so I went back twice that week and bought six boxes each time. I think I was being smart, but you may think I’m crazy. Either way, I saved !

I was in another one of my local stores yesterday. One of the items on my list was bagels, but I just flat out refused when I saw they were .99 for a bag of six. Just plain ol’ bagels. Nothing fancy. Not organic. Talk about highway robbery! I ended up not buying them. I would rather wait until I visit one of the other stores, where I knew they’d be at least a dollar less.

What about you? Do you watch what you spend on food? How? Are there foods you don’t buy as often or have stopped buying because of price? I’d love to know.

This is a food blog and I usually stick to food-related posts, but with all the election hoopla and commentary on the debates, I just can’t leave it be. I’m not particularly political. From the very beginning, I knew who my guy was. Yes, the issues are always important, but the fact is, I’ve just always liked the guy. I like the way he carries himself. He seems genuinely genuine. I could never articulate this gut feeling about Obama, but after reading Citymama’s post on the Momocrats site, I was thinking yes yes yes! She hit the nail on the head. Definitely check it out, if you want a unique perspective.

Alex of Just Cook It! did a fun post asking people to list the 5 foods they’d want with them on a desert island. Check it out! It’ll be fun to see people’s responses.

Here’s my list:

1. Fish sauce. Even though he said there’d be unlimited fish and sea salt, I couldn’t be bother to make my own.

2. Rice. I’d go into shock if I went without for more than a couple of days.

3. Limes. Goes great with fish.

4. Cilantro. My favorite fresh herb.

5. Garlic. It won out over chili, but just barely.

About a week ago, I was walking around my local Whole Foods when I was suddenly hit with the most delicious aroma. It was like someone had put a big bowl of Indian curry right in front of my nose. I followed the aroma and was lead to a cooking demonstration being put on by the folks of Katmandu Foods. In front of the cook stood open jars of various Shiba’s brand chutneys, pickles and curry pastes. “Here, dear. I know you want to taste this, “ she said, handing me a small paper cup with spiced rice. “Take a little of each and see what you like,” she said, pointing to the open jars in front of her. She didn’t have to convince me. I tried each and every one, some more than once. All the products I tried were delicious. It took a lot of will power to walk away with only one jar of curry paste and one jar of chutney.

<a href=”http://www.blazinghotwok.com/uploaded_images/creamyindiancurry-721694.j…

And I thought the potato was hard to deal with, but in a way, the tomato is even harder!

Oh, I could think of a million things to do with it, but most of them don’t involve cooking, at least not this time of year. Right now, the most appealing thing I can think of is to pick a sweet little sungold off the vine and pop it in my mouth. However, that wouldn’t make a very interesting post and since I’m hosting Weekend Wokking this month, I thought it’d look better if I actually made something. As luck would have it, I found a recipe in my Food of Thailand book (see right side bar) that looked interesti…

A couple of times when I was a teenager, mom shipped us to Thailand to spend summer break with the relatives and learn about our roots. The first time I was 13 and it was so exciting to travel alone. Except I had my 8 year old brother in tow, and that was annoying.

Since we stayed for 2 to 3 months at a time, we weren’t treated like tourists (that is, our relatives didn’t take time from work to show us around) and we were too young to venture out ourselves. The aunts and uncles worked during the day, so us kids mostly just hung out in the neighborhood. And because the adults had to leave 2 hours early to account for the horrendous Bangkok traffic, the cousins, brother and I had to procure our own breakfast, lunch and snacks. Every meal we ate came from one street vendor or another. No matter what else we’d eat during the day, we always made a trip to a particular vendor to get skewered, grilled fish balls brushed with a delicious sweet chili-garlic sauce. We’d…

If there is one vegetable that can evoke the biggest sense of uselessness in me, it is the potato. I just don’t know what to do with the damned thing beyond the standard boiling or mashing. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to come up with a dish to submit for Weekend Wokking that would showcase the potato in all its glory. I thought maybe I could do them up Asian-style, but there really weren’t many recipes that inspired me. The one Thai dish that I would have loved to do was massaman curry, but I’ve already done that (and you should too, if you’ve never had it). There was a Korean dish with potatoes and pork loin that briefly piqued my interest. And of course Indian spiced potatoes would have fit t…

I’m what some people might call a technology idiot old school. Hubby is exactly the opposite. It’s like George Jetson married to Wilma Flintstone. We’re constantly discussing the value of modern-day conveniences. In my opinion, these so-called conveniences are either a waste of money or end up being a big pain in the ass. Like the dumb “universal” remote control that only controls half of the TV accessories. Don’t get me wrong, I love things like electricity and indoor plumbing, but why do I need a camera phone that can play MP3s? Why do I need a panini maker when I have a perfectly good cast iron grill pan and lid? Why do I need an espresso machine when the stove top brewer works perfectly fine?

The latest issue is whether we should get a gas grill. Hubby thinks gas would be swell, while I’m a die-hard charcoal fan. Food tastes better over coals and wood and there’s no threat of freak explosions. But with the shitty spring weather we had here in Portlan…