There's No Place Like Home

I've been in SE Asia for the past week and a half or so and I am more than ready to come home. It doesn't sound like very long, I know - but being away always makes me appreciate how great things are back in Oregon.

I spent last week in Singapore for work and since I was here for two weeks back in October I can't say I really did a whole lot more exploring. Work was pretty busy, and three of the nights I had dinners lined up with coworkers so it was kind of a continuation of work (although a much more enjoyable continuation). The rest of the nights I was able to meet up with my friend who lives here and get dinner or go swimming. The hotel I was in had two (yes, TWO!) water slides into their pool - it was kind of awesome. I ate quite a bit of good food while I was here - mostly Chinese vegetarian style food from the Hawker centers (like little groups of  food carts - almost reminds me of Portland except it's far too hot!). I'll share more food photos when I return home and have a chance to sort through them!

This past weekend I did something I had never done before (at least not in the international sense) - traveled alone. I took a trip to Bali for a few days - I was already all the way over here and figured I should take advantage of work paying to send me at least most of the way there! I'm having mixed emotions on the experience right now so I don't want to say too much otherwise it may come out really negative. I'll share more when I return home and can maybe view the trip in a more positive light!

For now I am back in Singapore for one night (barely - I leave for the airport at 3:45am!) and am excited to meet up with Matt one last time and maybe eat some Indian food - I haven't actually had much of that on this trip!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that my flights home tomorrow go smoothly because like I said, I am more than ready to come home already!

-C

Greetings from Singapore

I made it through my first day of the trip. I am abosultely exhausted though! The flight here is nearly unbearable - 13.5 hours in economy seating is not very enjoyable, plus that was only one of my three flights! But I made it fine and now get to enjoy a week of some good food and visiting with my friend Matt (in between the work stuff at least).

It's nice getting here late Saturday so I can just go to sleep and then still have Sunday to recover a little. I met up with Matt - my friend who has been living here for the past year and a half teaching - early this afternoon and we went out to get some food right away. There are a lot of things about Singapore that I don't really care for, but I do enjoy the food a lot! I was excited because you can't really get anything like their vegetarian mock meats back at home. Now I'm not always a fan of the meat subsitute, but sometimes they're just plain good. Last time I was here I had to make Jonathan try several of them because I was a little concerned that it may actually be meat afterall and I just didn't know how to tell. He assured me that it was indeed fake though and kind of looked at me like I was crazy for maybe thinking otherwise.

I love the food courts here - you can get a crazy amount of food for ridiculously cheap (I think it may be the only cheap thing in Singapore actually). My lunch today consisted of some steamed rice, braised greens, and several various forms of mock meat and was about $4SGD. I don't exactly know what they're all supposed to be because there are no signs next to them, but they were all quite good.

We then walked about 2 miles, which in 85+ degree weather with 95% humidity is quite a challenge, to the Botanical Gardens and then spent a bunch of time walking around there. I didn't take any photos because when I'm hot and sweaty the last thing I feel like doing is taking my camera out and snapping a bunch of pictures. It was really nice there though - the park is huge and there are all kinds of paths to walk down, I think you could spend hours there easily. They have a large orchid garden there as well, but they charge you to go into that part so we skipped it.

That's about it for the trip so far. I can hardly keep my eyes open and it's barely even 8:30! I think I might try to get some sleep soon so hopefully I will be alert and ready for work tomorrow.

Super Fantastic Stir-Fry

I love the idea of stir-fry, but to be honest I'm never totally happy with how they turn out. Mainly because I've never found a store bought sauce that was all that good and my attempts at mixing soy sauce with various seasonings has never completely worked out. Then I came across a recipe from Post Punk Kitchen for a stir-fry topped with avocado, basil, and peanuts. Since I'm in the midst of  a love affair with avocados right now I couldn't resist trying this - plus it helped me use up a few of the items from the Harvest Box.

I loved this recipe. The ingredients were simple but delicious - the only change I made was to marinate the tofu in a sauce of soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and chilies for about an hour before pressing it. I hate tofu that is plain and flavorless in the center so I must marinate. I also forgot to make some sort of grain to serve this on top of, but I think it was good enough to stand on its own.The avocado was the perfect touch to finish it out. I can't wait to make this again for Jonathan once we're both back in the same country!

There are a ton of other recipes at Post Punk Kitchen that I really want to try - I'd suggest browsing it if you're looking for something new. I've had a few of Isa's books for quite awhile now, but this was the first time I came upon the website and I'm really excited about it!

Native Bowl

I was up in Portland this weekend for a class so I decided to take advantage of some of the great food that city has to offer. I was near the Mississippi Marketplace food cart pod so I decided to stop by one of my favorite carts - Native Bowl.

First let me tell you a little bit about Mississippi Marketplace. The setup is fantastic - there are ten different carts located there and plenty of (covered!) seating. They are also located right next to a beer pub called Prost! which has heated outdoor seating and will let you sit there and eat your food cart food as long as you purchase a drink - a fantastic arrangement if you ask me, and one I would have taken advantage of if I wasn't in a hurry to get home this weekend! Another plus for people like me who don't live in Portland and have to travel there is that parking has never been an issue there - there has always been a ton of available street parking right around the corner.

But now let me tell you about Native Bowl. I love the bowl concept - grains, proteins, veggies, and sauces all mixed together? It's hard to go wrong. Native Bowl offers five different bowls named after different streets in town: Broadway, Alberta, Hollywood, Couch and Mississippi, with various sauces and veggies and either tofu or soy curls.

I usually get the Mississippi Bowl because I'm a sucker for BBQ sauce and soy curls, but this time I decided to branch out a little bit and try something different so I went with the Broadway Bowl. It's a combination of jasmine rice, garlic tofu, ginger peanut sauce, red cabbage and carrots topped with scallions and sesame seeds. I think it was nearly perfect except several of the cabbage shreds were on the large side and kind of awkward to eat. Other than that I have no complaints - the sauce was delicious, the tofu didn't have any sort of gross squishy texture and the cabbage and scallions give it a nice freshness.

I lied a little when I said I branched out, because I also ordered a Mississippi Bowl to take home with me (hey - it's far and I don't get to go often, I need to make the most of it!). The food is of course best when it is freshly made, but I think it kept well until lunch the next day. I love this bowl - it has homemade (vegan) ranch sauce plus two kind of BBQ sauce and soy curls topped with coleslaw and more scallions. Just like the Broadway Bowl, the cabbage in the coleslaw and the scallions give it a nice crunch and freshness which goes well with the creaminess of the ranch and the tangy taste of the BBQ sauce.


  I'm kind of in love with the food cart trend and Native Bowl is definitely one of my favorites.

Garden Progress and The Best Potato Salad Ever

It's been two weeks since I last took some photos of our garden progress and now that we finally have some nice weather again I thought I'd share a few more! Things are progressing pretty well except that we seem to have a problem with slugs this year. It's mostly affecting the plants in the covered bed so maybe they like that it's warmer at night. I was reading that they don't like to cross sharp or gritty things, so I'm thinking of lining the edges of the bed with some gravel and egg shells and see how that goes.




The uncovered bed isn't doing quite as well - I'm not sure if it's too cold or if the starts just didn't transplant very well. The peas are having a tough time, but I'm still hoping they'll rebound. Same with the delicata squash plant - and I reeeaaallly hope that one bounces back because I love delicata squash! The fava beans and the carrots and onions are starting to sprout though, so that's exciting!


I need to think of a few more things to plant in the little space that we have left - any suggestions? I also need to start my herb garden but the planter I used last year is currently in use for the radishes and spinach - I think a trip to Bi-Mart is in store for tomorrow.








But now on to the good stuff - potato salad. I've always thought mayonnaise was gross and when I stopped eating eggs it wasn't even an option, so I've never actually had a typical potato salad. Then one time while browsing through Parent's magazine in a doctor's office waiting room I came across a recipe for a different kind of potato salad - one with a vinaigrette dressing and corn and red onions, all things I love.

I think my search to find this recipe on the Parent's magazine website is what lead to the internet assuming that I have children (Have you tried searching for information on yourself? It can be quite entertaining.) Anyway - I finally did find the recipe and after making a few modifications for personal taste ended up with what I think is the best potato salad ever.

Red Potato and Corn Salad
1 lb red potatoes
3 ears of corn
1/2 red onion
1/3 c. olive oil
3 Tbs cider vinegar
1/2 Tbs fresh thyme leaves
2 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
salt & pepper

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes or until tender, drain and set aside to cool.
2. Boil the ears of corn for about 5 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. Cut the corn off of the cob with a serrated knife into a large bowl.
3. Dice the red onion and add it to the corn.
4. Cut the cooled potatoes into bite size chunks and add it to the corn and onions.
5. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, and herbs - add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss together with your hands - I think this is the most effective way since the potatoes are a little bit delicate.

This salad works with all kinds of potatoes, but red potatoes are classic. I think my favorite are the purple viking potatoes but I can only find those at the farmers market (and hopefully in my garden shortly)!

Black Bean Chipotle Nachos

Remember how I mentioned that those quesadillas turned into nachos due to the lack of tortialls? Well it turns out they were pretty awesome as nachos and I thought I would share the recipe here with you! Thanks to my friend Sara for inspiring the original zucchini/black bean combo which I just tweaked and modified based on what I had on hand!

Black Bean Chipotle Nachos
1 Zucchini, quartered and diced
1/2 White or yellow onion, diced
1/4 Red onion, diced (optional - I happened to have some around)
1 chipotle chili, canned in adobo sauce, diced finely
1 14.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup salsa (I like the Emerald Valley brand)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chili powder (or more to taste)
Tortilla chips
Cheddar cheese (sharp or medium)
Cilantro, Green onions, and Avocado for garnish

Start by sauteing the zucchini and onions in some olive oil over medium-high heat - cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add in the diced chipotle pepper, the black beans, the salsa, and the spices - stir together and then cover and lower the heat - cook for around 20 minutes before removing the lid and allowing the chili to reduce to the consistency you'd like. You don't want it to be runny but you want it loose enough you can easily drizzle/spread over the chips.

Preheat oven to 250 F. Cover a baking sheet with a layer of tortilla chips and then sprinkle a thin layer of cheese over them. Top with the black bean mixture covering as many chips as possible. Cover with another layer of cheese and place in the oven. Check on them after about 5 minutes - if the cheese looks fairly well melted you can turn on the broiler for just a minute to crisp up the top.

Remove from oven and top with lots of chopped cilantro, diced green onions, and diced avocado. Don't skimp on these toppings - they really make all the difference!

We ate this two nights in a row. That's how good it was, not how lazy I was feeling.

-C