Food on the home front...

While I continue my rigorous hunt for a job it hasn't stopped me from having fun in the kitchen.  Ill give you a few meals (maybe not all in the same post) we have eaten at home lately to maybe give you a few ideas...

Last night my wife and I had a green curry with jasmine rice and pan-seared sole.  A couple of thoughts on that:

• Sole is a great fresh fish fillet, although I only recommend thin filets and pan FRYING or deep FRYING it if you're like me, because if you're like me sole can taste mushy in the mouth.  Without giving it that crisp crunchy texture on the outside its not so palatable to me. (feel free to disagree)


• A lot of time a green curry (with coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger, stuff of that nature...) or a massaman style has potatoes in it.  BUT I found some acorn squash.  SO I split and seeded them, and cooked them in the oven for about an hour at 350.  Later after letting them cool, I peeled and cubed them, then sauteed them in a pan(in an attempt to 'seal' them to a form before mushing into nothing).  Then added them to the curry, later it was delicious to eat the curry and rice with the heat steadily building in my mouth only to hit a junk of sweet roasted acorn squash to counter the heat.


• The acorn squash also helped to thicken the sauce as it cooked(because of course some of it did break down into the sauce).  I say the taste was great, DO IT!

I have not had the pleasure of experiencing the 99 Ranch Market or Ranch Market till moving to California.  Love it!  Its about a five-minute walk from where I live and I am one of the only Caucasians I ever see in there...but HECK, that place is loaded with all the stuff I always wish I had to do food right, but couldn't find in a regular grocery store.  Mostly considered Asian products with far-reaching 'hands' into India, West Africa, some Spain, Caribbean...probably a few more cross-culturally crossing over each other!  And the produce, meat, rice, noodles & condiment sections put the other grocers to shame!

The Sole my wife had in Thinkers Village, Liberia (in West Africa) will always be the 'unforgettable' fish dinner to my wife Stephanie who had it on our Anniversary last year (possibly with the many fresh fish and sashimi meals we had in Cancun on honeymoon too!).  Delicious!