Share your interests, humor or?

[Mugwump]

I have started this tread to hopefully encourage others to share interesting and entertaining tidbits.
Many of us who are undergoing treatment need to take our minds off the gory details sometimes!

When I start thinking about liver in general it brings back memories of my sister at the dinner table and the look on her face when we were having liver. So getting ones mind off thinking about anything to do with liver is not a bad idea at least IMO

This is a link to a piece of music that I just recorded and posted to the web.

El Noi de la Mare
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxiw8Fciz7N7VjE2WE91eF9xWUU/view?usp=sharing

It was written by Miguel Llobet a Catalan guitarist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Llobet and is one of his famous Catalan Folk Song arrangements. Simple melodies but extremely hard to play because they require large left hand stretches without compromise.

[anniemybaby]

Great idea I have 3 furbabys which I spoil rotten chose to never have children n have no regrets my littlest girl is Chloe she's  a 6 month old shihtzu n brings me joy everyday I take my baby's to the beach every year n they run n play with the seagulls

[badbradley]

As a Packer fan, my allegiance is to the NFC, so yes, I was rooting for the Hawks. Both teams EARNED the Honors of playing in the SB! Trust me Hawk fans, I think it is probably more heart wrenching not making it in at all!  Anyways, Congrats Patriots! It was the best Superbowl game I've seen in years..............(well 4yrs anyways!)        Brad

[donk]

Seahawks did a bigger choke than the packers. As a Redskins fan I should not talk.

[Mugwump]

Seahawks did a bigger choke than the packers. As a Redskins fan I should not talk.

In Seattle there are some fans that in the last 2 minutes had a superbowel, I had to go for one at half time. I don't think I missed anything worth watching. Now if they could only put an NHL team in Seattle that would be interesting, they might have trouble passing the puck though.

[Red Hen]

I have two small dogs. Both are rescues. One is part papillon and part long haired chihuahua. Weighs 10 pounds. He's the "big one". The other is a 5 lb. short haired chihuahua. Spoiled!

[Lynn K]

<------- Jumps from perfectly good airplanes

[Mugwump]

<------- Jumps from perfectly good airplanes

That can get to be expensive as all get out if you fly solo as well!

[Lynn K]

Just $25 for a ride up to altitude and pack your own rig

I don't know how to edit first jump video really just 5 minuets long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-045saAP5HU

have 204 jumps now

[kate0b1]

@lynn, are you out of your mind girl? that scared me just watching (really big baby here) 

kate

[Lynn K]

Yes as a matter of fact  I am 204 times out of my mind that was number 1

[badbradley]

Awesome Lynn! Brought tears to my eyes! So much going on here if you look for it. Great song choice!
Brad

[Lynn K]

Well I figure if you have a bad medical condition you can live with your illness or you can live your life

[kate0b1]

@lynnk, true that but I'm still stayin in the plane (big baby here)

kate

[Amj1951]

HELLO EVERYONE!!

I'll be sitting beside Kate in the plane! : )

Its 440 and I am up. YUK. I thought I was back to sleeping normal but I don't think this is the harvoni. My dog is to blame .. woke me up all nite!

ERIC.. I would love another oriental dish recipe. Your last one was such a hit. Do you know any of the noodle soup dishes? There was a place up in Oklahoma City we used to love to go to because it was so authentic.. but I never knew exactly what all was in it.. so you don't ask.. just enjoy it : ) But with it so cold a good soup would be good.

I am brian dead this morning. I hope everyone has a great day today.........

Meredith

[Lynn K]

We have a saying "If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming. If you want to experience the element, then get out of the vehicle. Jump!"

Or I guess you can stay in the plane and go for the ride lol

[Mugwump]

We have a saying "If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming. If you want to experience the element, then get out of the vehicle. Jump!"

Or I guess you can stay in the plane and go for the ride lol

The only time that I get out of the boat Lynn is if I really need to take a bath, which after a week fishing was necessary in this case. I lost the fish when I tried to reach out but I didn't lose my rod! Fortunately we use floating nets.   
Naturally we were after some special fish this is the one that made the trip last year. It was over 14 lbs and around 34 inches which is great for a lake rainbow trout on the fly!
 
When not working I too have made sure that I have fun and do not constantly obsess over being HCV active, I went on strike after the first treatment failed and said to H&$^ with it.
Keep jumping out of good airplanes and I will keep floating my hat on the rivers and lakes! On twitter my handle is @Hat_Float because that is what frequently seems to happen to me when I go fishing. Last year outside Kamloops BC I was caught in a water spout and thunderstorm in my little pontoon boat and barely made to shore before the waves, wind and lightning made for poor fishing conditions! Frequently we are blown off lakes out west and it is a part of the scene, quite often the best fishing is on days when the weather is scary to say the least.

Eric
 
I guess the img insert does not work with google drive so here are working share links to the pics
The Bath
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxiw8Fciz7N7UTFtVmVXYXhON1U/view?usp=sharing
Walter da fish
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxiw8Fciz7N7aW45eEdXX3cyRmlpZm5taGtJUG9CWWVDZjNn&authuser=0

[Mugwump]

HELLO EVERYONE!!

 

ERIC.. I would love another oriental dish recipe. Your last one was such a hit. Do you know any of the noodle soup dishes? There was a place up in Oklahoma City we used to love to go to because it was so authentic.. but I never knew exactly what all was in it.. so you don't ask.. just enjoy it : ) But with it so cold a good soup would be good.

 
Meredith

Pho is an art and is not that hard to do. Same as French soups you create a vegetable mirepoix the only difference is you use a good fish sauce instead of salt added to the broth before you add the other ingredients. The noodles are pre cooked and can be Bung Pho, (bean flour based) or common wheat flour or rice flour noodles either way the key to great Oriental soup is not turning the noodles into mush and getting the balance of flavours.

The key to Thai style Pho soups is a combination of about 2 tablespoons of really great fish sauce to one quart of liquid and Thai sweet chilli sauce in combination with a few lime slices and Oriental cilantro. Roast beef, pork, chicken are all used but not together. You can use lemon grass in place of lime slices. Other ingredients commonly used are lightly sweated thin slices of onions, red or yellow peppers, prawns, roasted coarse ground peanuts, seasoned tofu cubes, bean sprouts.

One of my favourite Chinese Congi style Dim Sun soups is pork stock based. If you have roast pork and do not use the drippings or bones in a gravy then use them to create a clarified stock. But you can also use a vegetable based stock as already discussed. Use thin slices of roast pork in combination with sweated thin sliced onions. The stock is then soured with rice vinegar and then heated up with a good heaping tablespoon of XO style chunky chili sauce. In this case no sweetener just hot and sour. You can do exactly the same thing with clarified beef stock and shredded roast beef slices. Add a very small amount of thyme and dark soya for the salt content and to flavour and colour the stock.

The same Congi base from either pork, beef or vegetable can be used in Wonton Soups with the wontons made of a small amount of shrimp paste or powder, minced pork, fine diced water chestnut and minced shrimp into the wonton wrapper in the case of Royal style wonton. Some of the commercial based pre-make wonton wrappers are very good and all you do is wet them on the crimp and crimp them tightly into a small packet stuffed with ground pork, minced shrimp and shrimp paste or powder. 

In Royal Wonton Soup you use pork and vegetable stock which has been flavoured with lemon grass. Use whole prawns traditionally with the tail on added to the soup.

Into the wok go fine diced sweated onions, prawns, pre made wontons and a very small amount of minced garlic NO SOYA SAUCE or hot sauce in this case of Royal Congi, the pure essence of the stock lightly salted is the key to the flavour. Then into the wok as a steam fry goes a small amount of the stock already boiling, cover until shrimp and wonton is almost cooked for only a few minutes not until the wontons explode then add the rest of the already boiling stock to create a genuine Royal Congi.  It is a tradition for the cook to clean the wok by making a Congi at the end of the day and all great Chinese cooks feed the staff and themselves with a great Congi. 

Congi can be as varied as Thai Pho soups and are largely up to the discretion of the cook. The difference between the two is the use of sweet chili sauce in combination with fish sauce in all traditional Thai soups and noodle dishes. Southern Chinese do use fish sauce in stocks and dishes but not to the extent Vietnamese, Philippine and Thai cooking use fish sauce.

It is really interesting going into the history of fish sauces as some were used extensively in Roman times. In fact some fine Garum was worth more than its weight in gold in ancient Rome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garum Its use even goes back to the Ptolemaic Egyptians and the use of fish sauce as a staple condiment most likely went back far before that to the Persian empire. A little known fact about fish sauces is that they contain natural flavour enhancers and if used right do not actually taste fishy at all.  But great ones all smell fishy until you cook them. Roman recipes called for them in their deserts and sweets.

Eric

[Amj1951]

WOW!! ERIC!! I a saving your message on my computer so I can go thru it and respond which I will a bit later. Have you thought of writing a book? I am serious!! At a glance I am loving your suggestions. Let me figure out which it is I love the most and Im going to have to make some of this.
Talk VERY soon!
Meredith

[Red Hen]

Yum! I want to try it.

[Mugwump]

OOPS I forgot, in both Thai noodle soups and congi the use of reconstituted dried mushrooms like black dried cloud ear, shitake or king oyster (sliced fresh) is almost always done. Just remember that cloud ear is also a blood thinner so be careful not to over do it with that one!

Out west where we live I pick Chanterelle and other wonderful wild mushrooms every time I get the chance. In fact I have supplemented my income at times selling them to mushroom buyers, restaurants and grocery stores. But most of the time I pick them for my own table or to dry. We also have wonderful natural boletus that grow in the bush here in abundance. In fact there are even great porcini when the season is right but they are rare and you have to beat the worms to them! http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Boletus_edulis.html

One of my favourite Chinese vegetarian recipies is for what is called a Buddha's Delight which is a thickened vegetable stock to which is added small deep fried seasoned tofu pieces, light soya, garlic slices, thin onion slices, a dash of Chinese rice based cooking wine or saki, celery, snow peas and most importantly as many fresh wild and dried mushrooms as the kitchen has available. It truly is heaven on earth especially when Cauliflower Mushrooms are in season and available to the cook. They are the most fantastic of all the native mushrooms out here IMO and can grow to incredible sizes at least the sub species that we have out here in BC! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparassis

How can you tell I am thinking about what to cook for supper tonight! LOL

Cheers
Eric

Edit the next post is what I decided to cook and it took me a day to figure out again so last night we had frozen pizza while I contemplated how to satisfy my taste for a dish with mushrooms LOLx2 

[Mugwump]

A Real Southern Chinese Prawn and Chicken Noodle Dish

This dish was taught to me by a close friend over 45 years ago when I was in high school and was fortunate enough to have good friends in the Chinese community who loved to play cards, gossip and most of all hang around as a group after hours in a restaurant on the West Coast of BC.

Use two wok or three wok preparation methods for this one it tests my skills but when done right there is nothing quite like it for the effort!

Ingredients:

Vegetables and Meats to make Mise en place;

Slivered onion slices, thin sliced garlic, fine minced fresh ginger, whole snow peas (string removed by pinching ends and pulling stringy tough pod edges), thin sliced fresh mushrooms, red sweet pepper sliced long and thin, Chinese style dried mushrooms reconstitued in a small amount of boiling hot water then thin sliced, bean sprouts.

Meats;

Thin sliced chicken breast raw fresh preferable to cooked but pre cooked and sliced is ok if you have left over roast chicken to use up.
head off size 16 to 21 praws with shell. If you use pre cooked chicken do not add it to the boiling liquid like you do with raw fresh sliced chichen instead add the chicken slices last to the dish.

Noodles;

Fresh thin style stir fry noodles, if only dried are available then the stir fry will require that you pre soften and separate the noodles in boiling water before stir frying.

DO NOT use thick Cantonese noodles or soup noodles or Singapore rice noodles the extra cooking necessary for these type of noodles is different they are meant to be stir fried not boiled.

Condiments;

Fish Sauce, Dark Soya Sauce, XO type super thick extra hot chili sauce with the chili seeds.

Peel the prawns and save the shells.

Cooking:

In a small pot just enough boiling water, at most two cups, to cover the prawn shells, add some fish sauce but not too much because all fish sauce is preserved with salt. Boil until the liquid starts to foam and remove from heat and let stand till the foam settles down. Remove the shells and put in sliced chicken to cook in liquid. Do not be concerned if the chicken is not fully cooked by putting it in the liquid. There should only be enough liquid to steam fry the noodle dish not more as this is not a soup dish.

Into hot wok number one goes the chicken and stock along with some peanut oil or canola if peanuts are off the menu. Add noodles and toss fry on a high heat. After tossing and mixing add the raw prawns and continue tossing.

Into hot wok number two goes a few tablespoons oil and onions, garlic, ginger. Toss and while tossing add red pepper slices. Only cook until the steam slows and then toss contents of wok two into wok one. It only takes a minute or two so you cross toss the woks to keep the ingredients in both woks cooking evenly on high heat the same time to keep things from sticking and burning. Toss the contents of wok two into wok one and toss wok one.

Return wok two to the heat and add another small amount of oil and when hot again toss in snow peas and mushrooms while the wok is up to temp toss and stir in a small amount of soya sauce this will flavour the mushrooms and really give the dish the character it deserves. DO NOT BURN the snow peas or mushrooms. When the mushrooms are soft and the snow peas still crispy toss the contents of wok two into wok one again with bean sprouts and toss the entire dish while you add the XO hot chili paste. Serve immediately as soon as the shrimp and chicken is cooked.

DO NOT SALT this dish as the salt in the soya and fish sauce will do the job nicely if you do not use too much of either.

Yes this dish is a lot of hard work but it is a work of Chinese high art IMO and ranks up there with the best of Haute Cuisine in Versailles.

Some may call this chow mien but in my books this dish if prepared correctly and not over cooked in a steam table rises above standard fair. Stan a classmate of mine and the son of the cook who taught me much of what I know about great Chinese cuisine watched me order us a boiler room "chicken chow mien". He cancelled the order and asked his father to make me a real one after calling me out for ordering what he called coolie food for the white guys! That is how I learned about this dish. Being interested in great cuisine I asked how to make it. After many years I can now get it right. LOL   

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Iwq5sZoQKSo/VNl6eJSmiQI/AAAAAAAAAVU/puD6MuWWl6k/w702-h395-no/noodle.JPG

 

 

[Amj1951]

A Real Southern Chinese Prawn and Chicken Noodle Dish

This dish was taught to me by a close friend over 45 years ago when I was in high school and was fortunate enough to have good friends in the Chinese community who loved to play cards, gossip and most of all hang around as a group after hours in a restaurant on the West Coast of BC.

Use two wok or three wok preparation methods for this one it tests my skills but when done right there is nothing quite like it for the effort!

Ingredients:

Vegetables and Meats to make Mise en place;

Slivered onion slices, thin sliced garlic, fine minced fresh ginger, whole snow peas (string removed by pinching ends and pulling stringy tough pod edges), thin sliced fresh mushrooms, red sweet pepper sliced long and thin, Chinese style dried mushrooms reconstitued in a small amount of boiling hot water then thin sliced, bean sprouts.

Meats;

Thin sliced chicken breast raw fresh preferable to cooked but pre cooked and sliced is ok if you have left over roast chicken to use up.
head off size 16 to 21 praws with shell. If you use pre cooked chicken do not add it to the boiling liquid like you do with raw fresh sliced chichen instead add the chicken slices last to the dish.

Noodles;

Fresh thin style stir fry noodles, if only dried are available then the stir fry will require that you pre soften and separate the noodles in boiling water before stir frying.

DO NOT use thick Cantonese noodles or soup noodles or Singapore rice noodles the extra cooking necessary for these type of noodles is different they are meant to be stir fried not boiled.

Condiments;

Fish Sauce, Dark Soya Sauce, XO type super thick extra hot chili sauce with the chili seeds.

Peel the prawns and save the shells.

Cooking:

In a small pot just enough boiling water, at most two cups, to cover the prawn shells, add some fish sauce but not too much because all fish sauce is preserved with salt. Boil until the liquid starts to foam and remove from heat and let stand till the foam settles down. Remove the shells and put in sliced chicken to cook in liquid. Do not be concerned if the chicken is not fully cooked by putting it in the liquid. There should only be enough liquid to steam fry the noodle dish not more as this is not a soup dish.

Into hot wok number one goes the chicken and stock along with some peanut oil or canola if peanuts are off the menu. Add noodles and toss fry on a high heat. After tossing and mixing add the raw prawns and continue tossing.

Into hot wok number two goes a few tablespoons oil and onions, garlic, ginger. Toss and while tossing add red pepper slices. Only cook until the steam slows and then toss contents of wok two into wok one. It only takes a minute or two so you cross toss the woks to keep the ingredients in both woks cooking evenly on high heat the same time to keep things from sticking and burning. Toss the contents of wok two into wok one and toss wok one.

Return wok two to the heat and add another small amount of oil and when hot again toss in snow peas and mushrooms while the wok is up to temp toss and stir in a small amount of soya sauce this will flavour the mushrooms and really give the dish the character it deserves. DO NOT BURN the snow peas or mushrooms. When the mushrooms are soft and the snow peas still crispy toss the contents of wok two into wok one again with bean sprouts and toss the entire dish while you add the XO hot chili paste. Serve immediately as soon as the shrimp and chicken is cooked.

DO NOT SALT this dish as the salt in the soya and fish sauce will do the job nicely if you do not use too much of either.

Yes this dish is a lot of hard work but it is a work of Chinese high art IMO and ranks up there with the best of Haute Cuisine in Versailles.

Some may call this chow mien but in my books this dish if prepared correctly and not over cooked in a steam table rises above standard fair. Stan a classmate of mine and the son of the cook who taught me much of what I know about great Chinese cuisine watched me order us a boiler room "chicken chow mien". He cancelled the order and asked his father to make me a real one after calling me out for ordering what he called coolie food for the white guys! That is how I learned about this dish. Being interested in great cuisine I asked how to make it. After many years I can now get it right. LOL   

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Iwq5sZoQKSo/VNl6eJSmiQI/AAAAAAAAAVU/puD6MuWWl6k/w702-h395-no/noodle.JPG

 

 

ERIC, You need to open a restaurant!! : ) I am making this dish. I read your other pieces and WOW. Your knowledge base is truly incredible. At Central Market which I mentioned in another topic, they carry different mushrooms throughout the year but have the largest variety  I've ever seen, both fresh and dried.

I've had soups on my mind so much, I met a friend for lunch yesterday at this little whole in the wall which in my opinion is where you can find some of the most authentic dishes, but I had a soup called Tom Yum? .. I had the chicken. They offered it with seafood to. Are you familiar with this? It did not have the noodles, but it had a really rich flavor!! I really like the broth which reminds me of the sour but not the sweet sour base but it had a chicken broth maybe? It was kind of clear but I thought these were made with a coconut milk in it? It had fresh tomatoes in it? When I was trying to question the server.. she didn't speak English well.. did a lot of smiling.. so I didn't get far : )

I looked on the web but didn't see one that resembled the ingredients they had in it. Maybe they do their own version? My friend had Pad Thai with seafood that I had to taste. I love when you can tell something is freshly made.

You mention making stock. I make a lot of my stock. I am a believer that food is 100% better when the stock is fresh with seafood and meats with bones. I think that is where all the flavor is and its not a big deal to do. At the market I use, we can buy a lot of the bones, and seafood shells you need because they make dishes in the store you can buy ready to heat and serve and they make a fortune on that area for folks who do not cook.

I suspect YOU would love this store too. I always kid if I had to leave Dallas that would be on the top of my list of things I miss. They do not carry a large line of paper products and if they did I would never go anywhere else. I am totally hooked and loyal!!

I am hungry now : ) I have a couple of appointments this morning so I think I'll settle for some oatmeal!!

I'll be back!
Meredith

[Mugwump]

Hope you are ok and SVR Meredith. Here is my latest fish which is currently being saturated with homemade teriyaki sauce in preparation for slow bbq.
I caught it on Stump Lake and it was 5 and a half lbs of really beautiful rainbow trout. I changed my avatar back from a well known alien hunter to the happy fisherman seeing that I just got back from fishing in the Kamloops region of BC.

This fish is being served with a nutty flavoured calrose brown rice done up with ginger root and light soya.

I boned the fish and left the skin on so it will firm up nicely and hold the moisture in during a long smokey bbq session. YUM
 http://e45i.imgup.net/fishfromst81bc.JPG

Oh and funny but when these guys show up all you can hope is that they drive some fish towards you!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxiw8Fciz7N7b3o4YlFWS0xMY1k