The Happiness in Health

Take a Cue from Farmer Boy

Ω July 7th, 2010 Ω Tagged Almanzo Wilder, apples, apples 'n' onions, apples and onions, Beijing, Cafe Sambal, China, dogs, Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House, Little House books, mojito, Norfolk terrier, oatmeal, onions, Saratoga Peanut Butter Company Ω 28 Comments

Hi everyone! I LOVE being home! I had a great time exploring Beijing and Hong Kong over the past six weeks, but there’s nothing like Western-style toilets and home-cooked food (yes, I mentioned them both in the same sentence).

Oh, yes. And Peter.

(Screenshot from one of our countless inter-continental Skype sessions.)

I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong! I’m planning on devoting a few posts to my time in HK, but not yet. For now, I want to relish in the feeling of being home :) I’m so excited that I’m able to access all of your blogs again! No banning here in the U.S.!

In the meantime, remember this picture I took before I left for China, and how I was going to fit everything into that leetle teeny roller bag on the way back?

Yeah, well …

Not so much. Hey, I was bringing back lots of gifts, okay??

My checked roller bag didn’t make it the last leg of my three-part return flight extravaganza, so the airline delivered it to our apartment the next day. This is what I found outside our apartment when we returned from a grocery shopping trip.

Good thing the bag was cheap.

Speak of grocery shopping, I was eager to get myself into the kitchen again. After recovering from a mild bug and partially recovering from jet lag (I’m writing this entry around 4:30 am), I decided to throw together an old favorite for yesterday’s dinner. I can’t take credit for this delicious dish – all the credit goes to Almanzo Wilder‘s mother in the Laura Ingalls Wilder novel Farmer Boy.

[source]

Almanzo’s Apples ‘n’ Onions

Ingredients:
4 large onions
4 large apples, any kind (although firmer apples are best, like Gala or Granny Smith. I used Golden Delicious here.)
1 Tbsp veggie oil
Sausage (optional)

Chop your apples into rough bite-sized cubes. Cut onions in half, then slice. No need to make them pretty!

If you are including sausage (because you crave it from being in China for 5.5 weeks … or whatever), saute in large frying pan over medium-low heat until cooked through. You can also cook chicken or tofu or some other protein.  Once your protein is cooked, push it off to the side, add veggie oil and saute apples and onions until soft but still with a “bite“. If you like your apples and onions mushy (I won’t judge you), then cook for a looooong time.

Finish with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve immediately. You can drizzle a little honey on top if you like your dishes sweeter, but I find the slightly-caramelized onions to be just the right amount of sweetness for me.

Due to the wicked hot weather we are experiencing in the Northeast US right now, I was craving something cool, with a kick. I decided to try replicating this exquisite mojito my classmates and I ordered every time we went to Cafe Sambal, a great Malaysian restaurant in one of Beijing’s hutongs.

Drinking one of those mojitos on a hot day in Beijing was like drinking a class of pure ice water (of course, that could be due to the fact that it was pretty much all ice water and lime juice). To replicate the experience, I decided to try this recipe, leaving out the club soda. We have two types of rum in our plastic bin of liquor (yes, you read that right): a coconut rum and a light rum. I decided to try them both … what? What’s wrong with that? :D

First step was squeezing my limes *pause for effect* I’ve found the best way to help limes release the juice is to roll them on the counter for a minute. Microwaving them for 10-15 seconds also helps.

This coconut rum is so good, you could sample it straight up. In THEORY, folks. Geez.

All together in the cocktail shaker:

Coconut rum:

Light rum (with raspberries for a little color):

Don’t worry, I didn’t drink them both. I sampled each and decided the coconut rum version possessed a tropical flair that the light rum couldn’t match. The coconut rum was mine and the rest went to the dogs.

Just kidding! I would never do that to little Maddles. I was just looking for an excuse to insert an adorable puppa picture.

It sure is nice to be home again :)

Q: What’s the first thing you do when you return home after a long time away?

» Filed under Favorites, Recipes » 28 Comments

Encyclopedia Erwin and the Case of the Strange Fruit

Ω January 24th, 2010 Ω Tagged apples, organic, physics Ω 5 Comments

What the heck is this thing??

As a lover of all foods strange and fascinating, I couldn’t resist this one.  This is called a “Buddha’s hand“, an uncommonly used citrus fruit (at least here in the US). I’ve mostly seen them used in decorations, although apparently they can be candied or eaten raw. I’ve actually tried a Buddha’s hand, and while it WAS an experience … I think I’ll stick with oranges :).

While grocery shopping today, I picked up one of the two produce items I buy organic: apples.

The other item I buy organic is lettuce. Why these two? When I’m triaging produce items due to cost, I look at two categories:

(1) how often I eat them, and
(2) how dirty they are.

By how dirty they are, I mean: how much pesticide would I be eating with each bite? Produce items with a thick skin, like bananas or oranges, don’t need to be organic because the skin will be removed anyway. Items that are part of the dirty dozen usually have thin skins (= high pesticide). Those on the list that I eat a lot, I buy organic.

As a side note: I love red bell peppers, but I rarely buy them organic because they are so gosh darned expensive compared to regular peppers. I figure I don’t eat them enough to matter. We all need our priorities, right?

For lunch, Peter and I checked out this new Indian restaurant in Glastonbury. The restaurant served a buffet, and I tried many different items:

Not too shabby, typical Indian restaurant fare. I’d probably go back there again for dinner, as the lunch buffet didn’t have saag paneer :(.

The dessert was honey dough balls (I think they’re called Gulab Jamun?):

Doughy, dense, and delicious, with an exotic flavor I couldn’t place. Maybe cardamom or some other Indian spice? One of these makes a great end to a meal.

Have you ever though about what happens to the water inside a glass when you rotate it? (Upright, of course, or you’ll make a mess!) You would think that the water would rotate, too, but no no! Due to inertia, the water in the middle of the glass stays still. Try it some time at dinner. If you have ice cubes in your glass, you’ll see that they don’t move much (they will move a little, due to friction). Pretty cool, huh?

I’m outies like a belly button.

» Filed under Eating Out » 5 Comments