September 4, 2009
Nay, just this side of Austin. The FIIIERRRY QUEEN of Thailand is one of my favorites, tom yum soup. That stuff.. it’s, well.. it’s
spicy. Really spicy. Like, cures everything that ails you spicy. Just got your heart broken? This’ll spice it right back together. OK, so maybe they claim its health benefits for certain little ailments like a generally stopped up nose, but whatever. I learned to make this baby in Paris, when I had all the veggies I so love to talk about.
For the last week, I’ve been eating prepackaged Indian meals at lunch at the law school, then usually conning the Boyfriend into taking me out to eat for dinner. There are two reasons for this:
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August 30, 2009
That’s what I’m made of. Seriously, could I be a better girl? Would it be humanly possible?
OK, so all I did was try and recreate some of the boything’s favorite milk, Promised Land Peaches and Cream. Why not just save yourself all that time and grueling, grueling effort and just buy some, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s a summer thing and, like the snocones and warm weather, it drifts away beginning now.
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August 29, 2009
Somehow, the first day of 1L Orientation coordinated with a box of a dozen fancy muffins arriving from the boyfriend’s “evil stepmonster”, as she so wishes to be called (What is it with mothers wanting to be called anything but.. mothers? Sorry, Mom.. I mean, uh.. dining partner..), and I was reminded of the little baby minimuffins my mum used to make when I started kindergarten and whatnot, little applesauce things rolled in cinnamon sugar. She even sent me a box for the first day of freshman year of college, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a one, since I made the mistake of letting it be, well, known that I had real, live baked goods.
But now I’m older. And wiser. And a lot more stressed out. So it was only appropriate that I start off my journey into the depths of law with a gourmet pear muffin that had an entire bottle of brandy in it. OK, maybe not, but how would I even know? I scarfed that baby down before we even got to the bus stop.
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August 22, 2009
So, I feel a little redundant saying this, since you’ve all ready my lengthy and slightly verbose (Who would have guessed?) autobiography, but tom kha is what made me like Thai food. Again, you all know I’m not a huge fan of sweet, slimy good, in general, and when I was a wee thing, my parents always ordered something in that vein for me when we went for Thai. I figured it was all greasy and sweet and noodley and in general what I just.. don’t care for. Until..
Until! Until I went my freshman year of college with an old boyfriend and some of his friends into town and they demanded we eat at this Thai place. I was told they served sushi, and that the boyfriend would secretly get me Mexican food later on, so I was down. And then they literally forced me to have a bowl of tom kha. And then..
It was like running up a hill in a peasant dress, throwing daisy petals everywhere, and some Chaka Khan song playing in the background. And to whom was I running? That’s right. Tom kha. And Thai food everywhere, in general.
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August 20, 2009
So, my second post ever was about my favorite salsa. It’s ridiculously simple, and today I’m going to prove it. I made another batch with pictures of each of the steps. So. Ridiculously. Simple.
First, you’re gonna need about this much cilantro, the bit on the left. You can add more if you really like cilantro, or less, if you really don’t like cilantro.
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August 19, 2009
It is an official ordinance, in case you didn’t know. Now you do. Now no one can say my blog never taught you anything.
I started my Contracts assignment yesterday after promising to make chorizo breakfast tacos the next day, and then I was contractually and legally obligated to follow through, to make the chorizo breakfast tacos. Otherwise, you could sue me for loss in expectancy. Or something.
Hey, it was the first day.
But then again, I never turn down ground sausage or tacos or breakfast tacos or breakfast tacos with ground sausage, especially a ground sausage I ain’t never tried before. I got Mexican chorizo, which is raw, not cured, and kinda just.. went for it. And. Good. Ness. They were so fantastically delicious. Maybe even better than yesterday’s.. But I wouldn’t want to offend myself from yesterday. I love them perfectly equally, just like my parents love my sister and me perfectly equally. Except they love me more. Ha!
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August 18, 2009
Texas is the mecca for tacos. OK, yeah, Mexico does a pretty decent job, but here in Texas, we’ve figured out a way to have tacos like Pizza Rolls: in the morning, in the evening, and at suppertime. Lunch, too. Stupid Pizza Roll jingle writers.
Yes. Breakfast tacos. When, upon my first visit to Austin in March, I heard of the breakfast taco frenzy, I just imagined those gross breakfast burritos from Taco Bell in taco form. And kinda threw up a little in my mouth. But I figured I’d have to get over my mouthvomit and myself and see what all the fuss was about.
The fuss is about something fuss-worthy. Portable little pockets of TexMex fancy goodness. Well, maybe not fancy, but definitely goodness. The best part is that they’re totally customizable, based on just how savory you want to get for breakfast. Still haven’t whipped a more traditional sweet breakfast taco, but I’m gonna go for it one day. Eggs and American sausage and maple syrup topped with some French toast crumbs? Maybe? A buttered tortilla sprinkled with cinnamon? Dare I dream?
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August 16, 2009
As promised, I ventured out to replicate my favorite little pale green dip from Las Ranas in LA. I stopped by Fiesta, of course, got some tomatillos, some more garlic, cilantro, citrus, onions, peppers, and avocados, for a grand total of something like $0.75. Maybe not, but mercy, that place is cheap. And fabulous.
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August 15, 2009
But seriously. You wish you lived with me. If I were better about unpacking and cleaning, that is. But otherwise, you wish you lived with me.
We had a general housewarming/hooray Austin party last night that also conveniently celebrated one of my roommate’s birthdays. She’s particularly fond of salsa verde, and I’m particularly fond of making people like me without using my very charming personality, so I whipped up some of the stuff.
Let me just take a moment, however, to give up some praise. You there, Fiesta? It’s me. I just wanted to say thank you for all you do for me. You may not have galangal or lemongrass, but you do have serranos that cost me $0.03 and what? You have palm sugar? I wish you had told me before I bought that massive jar of the little patties at the Asian Market, because we all know I won’t actually use them all in soup or curry, no. I’ll just end up watching I Dream of Jeanie and popping them in my mouth. It’s OK, Fiesta. I forgive you. But please, never lose faith. Onions for less than a quarter reaffirm my hope for humanity. All because of you, Fiesta.
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August 13, 2009
That’s right. You give me something, and I give back ¡bistrooo!
A while before leaving the nest for-ev-er, I had a nice French bistro night chez parents. I’ve never in my whole life made actual deep-fried french fries, so I figured, when could there be a better time to sloppily deep fry something when someone else will clean it up? Luckily for my mum, I wasn’t too much of a mess. Just a little bit of one. But the best part? They were awe-some. Completely crisp and delicious, and let’s just say, my matchstick handiwork with a knife wasn’t too shabby either. Who needs a mandolin when you’ve got ME in your kitchen? Throw in the fact that the last time I used a mandolin, I eschewed the cap holder bit and julienned my finger, leading to a call to the med student friend, “I can’t really see any bone.. just lots of muscle.. Should I go to the emergency room? I really don’t feel like it.. OK, just irrigate? Word, thanks.” Let’s just say I have a very high pain tolerance, but no tolerance for pain. Trivial human obstacles!
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