Elle's Kitchen: Green Curry w/ Tofu

 

I'm spoiled, I've been lucky to be able to travel

to Thailand and eat the fabulous food of that

country.  I still wake up craving Thai food ~ it

is hot ~ it is spicy ~ it is delicious!

The downside is I live in a small Midwestern

town and I can't always find ingredients to

recreate the tastes I experienced in Asia.  But

this recipe has ingredients that I can find in

the foreign food aisle of a local grocery store.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2 14 oz. cans coconut milk  (I

used one regular and one lite)
4 oz. jar green curry paste  - Please note:

I love screamin' hot food and the brand of 

curry paste I used was not very hot.  Start with 

a tablespoon or 2 and see how it tastes for you.
 1 pkg. extra firm tofu, cubed
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp.  oyster sauce (you can find vegetarian

oyster sauce or use 1 tabl. soy sauce instead, 

if you want it completely vegetarian)
 1 8 oz. can bamboo shoots
1 c. frozen peas
1 small onion chopped
1 red pepper and 1 orange pepper, sliced thin

 

Okay, so I consulted with my Asian food guru

(my brother) and he said the green curry pastes he

gets from the Asian markets are very hot.  So,

use a bit and see how it tastes, you can always

add more if you want it hotter.  He also found

an Asian market within an hour of my home

that I had never noticed before... thank you!

 

 

In a deep pot combine the coconut milks

and the curry paste and heat on medium.

 

Add brown sugar and the oyster sauce.

 

Add tofu, onions and peppers.

 

Add peas and bamboo shoots and simmer

on low for 20 minutes so everything is

heated through.

 

 

Pull out your Asian dishware and serve over

rice.  See where I get my dishware here:

 

http://americanhomestead.blogspot.com/search?q=pearl+river+mart

 

Then get together and eat with the ones

you love.

 

Enjoy!

Hot Stuff

How Hot Is Too Hot?

 

 

It all started with some guacamole.

I went out for a late dinner last night and

had a taste for guacamole.  After the food

arrived I tasted the guac and it was hot -

spicy hot.  Mr. Wonderful tasted it and

agreed, the hottest guac he's ever had. 

When the waiter stopped by to check on us,

I asked him if they made the guac there, yes,

all made fresh in the restaurant.  I told him

it was very hot and he said they had started

making it differently, so I asked him to taste

it.  He agreed. It was hot!  I LOVE hot food

but this had no other taste ~no cilantro, no

lime, just hot.  I asked if he could bring me

some lime and cilantro and I would fix it to

my taste.  A while later, he came with a freshly

made bowl of guac, the cook had made a

bowl up just for me ~ lovely.

 

So, that made me ask ~ how hot is too hot?

 

 

I love hot food, I ate my way through Thailand

and loved it all.

 

 

I eat Indian food whenever I can...

 

 

The hottest thing I ever ate was in Mexico.

I was at a Breakfast Buffet at a resort and I

sampled a little of this and a little of that...

I tried a few of the salsas that were near the

omelette station and when I ate the salsa

verde ~ I was ready to spontaneously combust!

My eyes were watering, it was a bit hard to

breathe and I couldn't talk.  Wonderful looked

at me and said are you ok?  I pointed to a

container of a watery milk and did a hand

motion of drinking.  A little while later an

older kindly waiter came by and asked if I

was ok.  I told him I had the hottest thing I

had ever tasted.  He said, " Oh ~ the salsa

verde..."  He told me to be sure to have dairy

to nuetralize the heat, I pointed to the milk.

"That should do it."  Of course, I didn't stop

eating it, I just made sure I had plenty of the

milky stuff to drink.

 

What was the hottest thing you ever ate?

 

 

 



A Little Bit of Thailand...

...In My Backyard

I was writing some travel reviews this

morning and I came across some pictures

of temples in Thailand.

I spotted the temple bells that hang

from so many of the roofs of the temples.

They make the most delightful sound when

it is breezy.

I remembered I had bought some in

Bangkok, so I hunted around and now

they are happily at home in my garden.

They sound delightful here too.

 



What is the Craziest Thing You've Ever Done?

My daughter Kate attends Purdue University

and each week she has dinner with a faculty fellow

and other students.  This week the faculty fellow's

question of the week was,  "What is the craziest

thing  you have ever done?"  Kate won.

Her answer?  Steering a bamboo raft down a river

in a monsoon.  And I was along for this ride.

We were in the jungles of northern Thailand, we

had just spent the morning riding elephants and

had a lovely lunch when we went to ride a raft down

the river to meet up with our driver.  As Murphy's

Law would have it, as soon as we got on the raft

the monsoon hit.  There were 7 of us on this little

bamboo raft, in torrential rain.  They gave us these

goofy yellow party hats to keep the rain off us and

everytime we looked at each other we burst out

laughing.  And the ride went on forever...

Pure unadulterated joy!

I hope to experience many more crazy

adventures with you Kate!

Travel Tales: Patpong Night Market ~ Bangkok

Oh! The People You Meet in This Wonderful World!

Most nights when we were in Bangkok,

we would end up at the Patpong Night

Market.  It was withing walking distance

of our hotel and generally near to where

we would have dinner.

The market sells the typical watches,

purses, scarves and t-shirts but it is

like going to a show.  There are so many

things happening around you the atmosphere

is exciting and electric.  I would love to

have this VW van, pull up, flip down the bar

and instant party!

This is where I met Jennifer.  She was

one of the endless people in Asia who

called Brennan Harry Potter.  So, I became

Harry Potter's Mother.  Each night as we

walked through the market I would hear,

"Harry Potter's Mother!"  Kate and I would

buy purses from Jennifer and on the last

night we said a sad farewell.  But the story

doesn't end there.  A few weeks ago, my

brother was back in Bangkok and I sent

him to find Jennifer and bring her a

little present from me.  So here is a picture

of Jennifer holding one of my felt ornaments,

a little token of good luck from across the world.

A Day at the Beach

Pattaya, Thailand

It is not the most beautiful beach

I have ever been on but it

certainly was the most entertaining.

You sit beneath a sea of beach umbrellas

to protect you from the strong sun.

You pay for a fabric chair and wooden

tables and someone is there to get

you cold drinks all day or they can

get you a meal from any cuisine.

But the show was on the beach.

Here is a man trying to sell fabric

flowers to Katie.

Don't like your outfit?  No worries,

you can buy another one.

Not my decor but it is available.

We ate beautiful fruits and prawns

and crab with hot chile sauce.

You could pay this person to

release a bird for you which

is considered good luck.

My favorite thing was getting

a foot & leg massage in

my beach chair.

I'm going back tomorrow!



A Travel Story

From Siem Reap to Pattaya

On a long journey you have many
experiences and many stories.  On
this journey around the world we
have collected enough stories to
fill a book.  Today we left Siem Reap
in Cambodia and traveled a few hours
by car to the Thai border at Poipet.

When we reached the border we had
to say goodbye to our wonderful
Cambodian driver and load our luggage
into a rickety wooden cart to be taken
across the border.  Poipet is a notorius
border crossing with a reputation for
scam artists.  We exited Cambodia and
had to walk across No Man's Land in
the scorching noon day heat to enter
Thailand.  We made it through the
border crossing in a half an hour and
thought it was going to be smooth sailing.
I guess we forgot about Murphy's Law.
We had arranged for a Thai car service
to meet us with a van to drive us
for 3 hours to the beach in Pattaya.

Once we entered Thailand we could
not find the van or driver.  We spent
45 minutes in heat that I can't even
describe on the side of a 7-11.  We
tried calling, we tried texting, we
kept some people with the luggage
while others went searching for
the driver.  Brennan was carrying
a sign with my brother's name
that we took from the window
of our previous driver's van.

A deaf man approached us and

started pointing to the sign with

the name on it and pointing in

another direction.  We all thought,

oh no, are we getting scammed?

But at this point we needed to

explore any option.  And here is

the amazing thing, this deaf Thai

man had read our name in English

blocks away and he recognized

this foreign word.  On one paper

the name was written in marker,

the other was printed from a

computer.  I can't recognize a

Thai word if I had 2 signs right

next to each other.  Could this man

have a heightened ability to recognize

letters even in a foreign language or

does he have a photographic memory?

We don't know but we do know that

this man, in a town filled with scam

artists and thieves, renewed our faith

in someone just being kind and helpful.



Mae Taeng Elephant Park

Sometimes It's Fun to Be a Tourist

We aren't big tour group kinds

of travelers.  We find our way

around on local transit, eat the

local foods, wander through

lonely streets, etc.  But every

once in a while taking a tour

is a fun thing.  We planned to

head up into the mountains

outside Chiang Mai and our

local truck taxi driver suggested

 a visit to the Elephant Park.

We had a great time!

First the elephants took

 a bath in the river.

Okay, this is where it did

get rather touristy with the

feeding of the elephants and

the elephants dancing...

...but then, the elephants

painted.  It was amazing.  If

 I had not seen it with my own

eyes I wouldn't have believed it.

Later that night we were showing

some new friends the photos of

the paintings and 3 of us in the

group had Fine Art degrees and

we couldn't get over how well

that darn elephant could paint.

Next it was the highlight of the

day ~ we got to ride the elephants.

I could go on a long journey by

elephant, it was wonderful to

ride atop this majestic animal.

Next we took an oxcart

ride.  That was not so nice,

it hurt to bump along the dirt paths.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch

beside a beautiful garden.

And then it was time for

the bamboo raft ride down the

river, which should have been

fun.  But in typical Murphy's Law

fashion, the monsoon rain started as

soon as we set off.  It was a long

ride down that river.

Even our sweet, kind taxi

driver had to laugh when he

saw us, we were drenched!

I was very glad he was there

to drive us back to the Villa.



Wat Pho ~ Bangkok

The Temple of the Reclining Buddha

The Wat Pho temple complex in

Bangkok, Thailand has the largest

reclining Buddha in Thailand.

The statue is 46 metres long.

On the soles of the feet of the

statue are signs of the Buddha.

People make offerings of

beautiful arrangements of

lotus flowers which are

the flower of the Buddha.

The head of the Buddha

from behind, resting on pillows.

The statue shows the

Buddha in repose.

Wat Pho is the temple

with the most Buddhas

in Thailand.



The Night Train to Chaing Mai

Transport and Hotel in One!

We are leaving Bangkok and heading

north to Chaing Mai.  Rob & Kate, and

maybe the monk are guarding all the

luggage in the train station.  The Monk

can travel through all of his life with

his robes and the one little satchel.

Not so for the Murphys, making an

around the world journey and going

from just below the North Pole to

near the equator means you have to

pack a varied wardrobe.

It seemed like all of humanity

was sprawled out on the floor

of the station.  People were eating,

sleeping, dressing, flirting ~

I was thinking about the germs...

Kate & I decided that train station

toilets had to be better than train

toilets so off we went, while there

we heard a shout that we had to board

NOW.  So, sorry no train shots.

Once aboard everyone had a bite

to eat, we had stopped at a store

and made some sandwiches but

Mick & Brennan had what was

offered on the train ~ it was ok.

There was a group of French people

with an old bucket filled with

champagne and wine on ice.

The French know how to dine in

style no matter where they are.

And then it was bed time.

The seats were converted into

beds and everyone quieted down

and slept.  I found the rocking

of the train to be very soothing.

I watched dawn break over

the northern Thailand jungle.

The scenery was spectacular.

It's morning and the train

begins to wake up.

This guy folded up the beds

and had all the new linens

packed and ready for the

next night.

Our 12 hour trip somehow

turned into a 17 hour trip.

No apology, no explanation,

I guess you just get there

when you get there.

But with scenery like this

we didn't have many complaints.