On Da Desk

I've been working on this peony for the past 3 days . . . off and on . . . in between fixing woven messes and videotaping rain . . . and checking out Lightening Deals on Amazon. 

I'm trying to copy this photo that I found online.

A Rainy Day

 Here's a 2-minute video that I shot with my iPhone and edited with iMovie yesterday.

Mug Rug

 😁

Fail

I couldn't finish this piece properly and got mad. I'm supposed to be able to pull the white strings through, but they're stuck and I end up puckering up the weaving.   I threw it in the trash can.  

It's now two days later, and I just fished it out to try again.  

Made me more mad.  

Dd's Cajun Gumbo

 

CAJUN GUMBO

 

1/4 c vegetable oil

½ c + 2 TB flour

1 small onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/3 c red bell pepper, diced

1/3 c green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

**1 TB cajun seasoning

1/4 # andouille sausage, ½-inch pieces

4 c chicken stock

*½ # boneless skinless chicken thighs, ½-inch cubes (precooked)

*1/4 # medium shrimp/crab, shelled and deveined (precooked)

Garnish: sliced green onion, cooked white rice

**CAJUN SEASONING:

1 1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp each salt, garlic powder

½ tsp each black pepper, cayenne pepper

½ tsp each oregano, thyme

½ tsp each cumin, dry mustard

¼ tsp ground bay leaves

**In a mixing bowl; combine all ingredients well. Set aside.

 

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add flour, stirring constantly until roux is a deep golden brown, about 22-25 minutes. Add onion, celery, peppers and garlic. 

Cook until vegetables are softened. Stir in Cajun seasoning; cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and sausage. 

When chicken is cooked through add stock, mixing until blended well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes. 

Stir in the shrimp/crab; cook 5 minutes, just until seafood is cooked through. Remove from heat. Top with white rice and green onions. Serves 2-4.

Simple Snack

 Sometimes I enjoy kuromame with green tea in the mid afternoon.

Wendell's Ginger-Lime Chicken

SO ONO!! 

Wendell found this recipe in the Star-Advertiser, but it is originally from the NYT Cooking site. Wendell grilled the chicken on the hibachi, but the recipe says you can also cook it in a skillet.

1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts

1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus more to taste

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lime zest (from about 2 limes), plus lime wedges, for serving

1 tablespoon finely grated ginger

black pepper, to taste

Pat chicken dry and season all over with salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together mayonnaise, lime zest and ginger; season with more salt and pepper.  Add chicken; stir to coat. (Chicken can sit in marinade up to 8 hours in the fridge.  Let come to room temperature before cooking.)

To grill:  Heat a grill to medium-high.  Grill chicken over direct heat until cooked through and juices run clear, about 5 minutes per side for thighs; 4 minutes per side for breasts, turning to avoid burning.

To cook in skillet:  Heat a large skillet over medium-high.  Cook chicken until juices run clear (same timing as for grilling).

Serve with lime wedges.  Serves 4.  

Taegu

I made this!  And it came out good!  Drawback is it makes me eat more rice.

I followed a Foodland recipe and used scallop strips from Wholesale Unlimited instead of cuttlefish.  

My bag of scallops strips was only 3 ounces (I needed 5 ounces), but it was too hard for me to calculate how much to lessen all the other ingredients to fit the recipe so I didn't. 

Ingredients

5 ounces

package shredded cuttlefish

2 tablespoons

honey

2 tablespoons

sesame oil

2 teaspoons

toasted sesame seeds

1 tablespoon

fish sauce

2 tablespoons

kochujang 

1⁄2 tablespoon

shoyu

2 teaspoons

asian chili pepper powder

Instructions

1. Take cuttlefish out of the package and cut into 3 inch pieces then place in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and combine with cuttlefish.
3. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes to let the flavors combine and serve.

Enjoy the Strawberry

I shared this story before.  It was back in 2008.  It's relevant to today's blog post so I'll share it again.

Buddha told a parable in a sutra:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled. The tiger chased after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

These strawberries were $18.99 for 10 pieces at Don Q.  It might seem surprising coming from someone who is usually very thrifty, but I bought them.  I decided that for once I would Enjoy the Strawberry.

And they were the best strawberries I've ever eaten.

YouTube Tip

Here's a YouTube tip for you thanks to follower Li.  It's an auto-translate feature.   Quite a few foreign YouTube videos do provide English captions, available when you click on the CC icon in the lower right menu bar, but a lot do not. That's when auto-translate comes in handy.

To turn it on you first need to click on the gear icon.  Then click on "Subtitles".

Select "Auto-translate".  I happened to be viewing a Japanese video for this sample so the default was "Japanese".

Then click on "English".  And that's it.

The translation might be very rough depending on how fast and clearly the person is speaking, but it can provide you with an idea of what's going on.  I love this feature.  Thank you Li!!