Stir-Fried Chicken with Crispy Basil in Sweet Chili Sauce

Crispy Basil Chicken Stir Fry, originally uploaded by sunpath.

I am lucky enough to be helping Jaden (of Jaden's Steamy Kitchen fame) test recipes for her forthcoming cookbook. Of course, I'm not the only one testing, there are a number of people from all around the world. It's pretty neat to read the comments from folks overseas about what they can and can't find in their local Tesco.

Above is one of the dishes I've tested for her. I won't post a recipe, but I will tell you that those basil leaves are deep fried and crispy...a very interesting twist.

Want to see more? Well, one of the others I tested was the Thai Red Beef Curry. If you follow that link you can start flipping through to see other yummies too...

Cali-forn-i-a

At the beginning of the month I/we took a little vacation and toured around a good chunk of California. I started out driving west and camping overnight in Joshua Tree, which was beautiful. I had not been there before and am really glad I stopped. I basically rolled in just before the sun started going down and took pictures until it was gone and the stars were out. Then I set up my tent and attempted to get some sleep. I say attempted because it was actually quite windy. In fact, I had originally planned to have a glorious morning yoga practice amidst the Joshua Trees...well, that plan had to be scrapped due to wind, but I did get to discover a funky little coffee shop in town and have a bagel and coffee there before setting out.

My next stop was Santa Cruz where my dear friend Katie is finishing up her grad program (Paleoclimatology, in case you are interested). She has already blogged about our visit here. To get to her I drove up Hwy 101, through zillions of lettuce patches. At the end of the day I passed numerous farmworker buses carting workers back to their living quarters. Once in Santa Cruz, our three days were filled primarily with eating, talking, some walking, more eating and a lot of baking. Much fun was had with heavenly strawberries. I think we must have done more than that, but really, it was a classic Katie-Micha few days.

Dylan flew into town from Miami (where he had been sweatin' it out for work) and we traveled together up to the Santa Rosa area to visit his uncle John. We got into town just in time to go hear John's jazz trio play at a local winery, enjoy the sun setting over the grapevines and reflect on how lucky we are in so, so many ways...

The next day we went with John into Forestville to see the annual parade and hang out for the first day of the 2-day music and bbq extravaganza in the park. I'm not sure you can get more of a vacation feel than that!

We finished up our trip with a whirlwind visit to Liz and Woody in Pasadena. I've got no picture love to show from this visit, as we were literally there for less than 12 hours (and we slept during that time...). Hopefully, though, there is another trip in the near future, one where I can spend a little more time catching up with Liz :)

Longevity Noodles

Longevity Noodles, originally uploaded by sunpath.

The recipie for Jaden's Long Life Fertility Noodles with Happy Shrimp can be found here.
This photo is a good example of why I don't usually photograph dinners...the sun is down and the lighting is less than ideal. Oh well. It sure tasted good :)

Two excellent articles

Well, well...here we are again...me posting a pile of articles that I've sent to Facebook recently. I'll reatrain myself and only post two here today. But really, these are worth reading.

The first is about our good friend, the global food economy. If you are simplifying the cause of your rising food prices down to biofuel production and rising gas prices, you may want to check this out.
This article talks specifically about how policy has affected developing countries, but we get more and more of our food from "out there somewhere," at a seemingly great cost to us and a much greater cost to the pesant farmers who produce it. Next time you buy a can of black beans, check out where they came from...China? Can you even tell?

Long but worth it.

The second article is about the history of consumerism. Yes, we are all consumers. How did we come to live in this, well, consumptive manner? Hmmm...
The article is extremely interesting and backs up some of the general feelings and tendencies I have with actual historical info. Specifally, the Kellogg corp., at one time, had all employees only working 6 hours. When new management came in and tried to change things, no one wanted to give that up...not even for more money.

Also long and also worth it.

Happy reading!

Char Siu Bao

In Tucson there really isn't any amazing Chinese food. In fact, most Chinese restaurants also serve Japanese, Korean, and/or Vietnamese in some combination. You want a specific regional style of Chinese? HA!
OK, maybe it's not that bad...we have found a few asian restaurants we adore, but not a Chinese one. (If anyone reading knows of one in Tucson that we should try, please tell me!).
Tucson certainly is not Chicago, or San Francisco or Seattle. There's not a "Chinatown" where you can go and get your fix on delectable delights.
For me, even the "International District," as it is called, in Seattle is pitiful compared with my hometown. I remember as a kid going to Chicago's Chinatown every Saturday after dance class and always going to the same restaurant, with the same waitress, Sue. Heck, she was teaching us to order our favorite dishes in Mandarin. Many of my favorites are are beyone my spelling skills, but man, I know what I want.
Ah, Chinatown. We also went there for the Chinese New Year celebration every year. Usually it was me, my mom, sis and cousin. We always went to one of the bakeries and brought back Char Siu Bao for our uncle.
Alas, I have found no yummy Char Siu Bao in Tucson. Sometimes you just have to DIY. Here, dear friends, is my first attempt at Char Siu Bao. Not too bad, if I don't say so myself :)

Char Siu Bao, originally uploaded by sunpath.

Mary's temptation...

What to do with extra sourdough starter?, originally uploaded by sunpath.

To keep my sourdough starter going I regularly reduce the existing starter down to 10g and then feed it equal parts of flour and water. But what's a girl to do with all that extra starter that is essentially being tossed out each feeding?
English Muffins!

Freitag!

Freitag!, originally uploaded by sunpath.

TGIF (Freitag, that is)!

Cardamom Lime Sweet Rolls

Cardamom-Lime Sweet Rolls, originally uploaded by sunpath.

This is an easy recipe at the very end of ths month's Cooking Light. I HIGHLY reccomend that you give it a go. It is really lite and delicious..not heavy and nauseating like some sweet roll recipes can be. If you are interested in the recipe and aren't a CL subscriber, shoot me an e-mail.

Craving Satisfied

Craving Satisfied, originally uploaded by sunpath.

whoa...needed that!
OK, the brew is mass produced...but the orange is from our next-door neighbors tree :)

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, originally uploaded by sunpath.

The fruits of everyone's (the ranchers, the people who grew our lettuce, wheat growers and the flour makers...and don't forget the cheese makers!) labor: a delicious organic, grass-fed Double Check Ranch burger on a homemade roll.

Dinner is so good to us sometimes!

Pennsylvania decides Consumer Education is OK afterall :)

As a follow-up to my previous freak-out that PA had passed legislation banning the use of the rBGH label on dairy products: for once, logic, consumer safety and education win out over Monsanto's ever growing profits. As Tom Philpott (of Grist) pointed out, these guys are a monopoly if the US has ever seen one...now, if only we could get our courts to uphold those darned anti-trust laws...

From an article out of yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer:

Pennsylvania agriculture officials backed down today from a controversial ban on milk labels that identify the milk as coming from cows not treated with synthetic growth hormone.

The ban was to take effect Feb. 1, to the dismay of consumer activists and many smaller dairies who choose not to inject their cows with hormones. But the move was superseded by new standards issued today, after a review by the office of Gov. Rendell.

Rendell ordered the agency to review the policy after consumer outcry, his spokesman said

"The governor's position was relatively simple: he wanted the labels to be accurate and informative," said Rendell's press secretary Chuck Ardo.

Though labels are once again permitted to mention that hormones were not used, the standards require a disclaimer stating there is no difference in milk from cows injected with hormones and milk from cows that are not injected. Such disclaimers already are printed on many milk cartons.

"It's basically a complete back-down," said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at the nonprofit group Consumers Union, which had opposed the ban.

The agriculture department had issued the ban in October, arguing that a misleading impression might be conveyed by identifying milk as coming from cows not treated with synthetic hormones. Pennsylvania would have been the first state to implement such a ban.

The synthetic hormones are said to boost milk production by about 10 percent, and were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1994, though they are not allowed to be injected in Canada or Europe.

The product, which is marketed as Posilac, is used on about one-third of U.S. dairy herds, according to the manufacturer, St. Louis-based Monsanto.

The link to this story, by Tom Avril and Amy Worden, is here.

ya learn something new every day

In reading Roz Cummings retrospective food column today had an elated epiphany about thyme. And I quote from Roz:

Most transcendent moment in an organic garden
When I visited Sooke Harbour House, on Vancouver Island last spring, I took a tour of the organic garden with Nichka Phillips. While showing me the herbs, she mentioned that the French use thyme in a tincture to treat respiratory ailments. I suddenly remembered the expression that I heard my father use all my life whenever the topic of healing came up -- "Nothing heals as well as a tincture of time." Might he really have been saying "a tincture of thyme"? It made me feel connected to him, even though he died a few years ago. The sense of feeling connected to someone I loved while standing in an aromatic garden in a beautiful place was completely lovely.

HA! A tincture of thyme! I'm familiar with the expression, having heard it before, probably from my grandparents. I had no idea - and apparently neither did she!

(if you are interested, her full article is here.)

Attack of the Christmas Pears

I think we are finally nearing the end of our Christmas Pears - whew! The other night Dylan made roasted pears with a caramel sauce. Yum!

Pastures of Plenty

A Federal Judge toured a migrant housing encampment outside of LA. The Judge is holding a hearing in January to determine if all of these workers will get the boot from the unsafe conditions.
I wonder if he realizes the double-edged sword he's dealing with? Specifically, if these workers were provided with adequate (and, by the nature of it, more expensive) housing opportunities, their wages would need to rise to accomodate the increase in their housing costs (or at least the would in a fair world). Our friend the Judge might just find himself paying a bit more for his pestcide soaked strawberries...

Read an article here.

more fishes.

Ok, you know that Alaskan Salmon commercial where Ben Stein encourages you to "grab a fork and eat all you want, there's lots more out there"? I hate that commercial. It's always made my skin crawl - it's just slimy marketing by the Alaskan Commercial Fisheries. Of course there's not an infinite number of fish in the sea.

Well, recent research shows that we may have to stop proclaiming about how there is so much more out there before too long...shock.

June in Tucson

Yes, that's a ripe and delicious tomato you see. No, it did not come from California.
It came from Dragoon, AZ - very near to us. The grower told me that he did utilize a greenhouse, but really, who cares when you can have yummy caprese in June?!?

(Oh yeah, the basil is from our garden. The Mozz is from Trader Joes, so probably somewhere in California.)

heaven

Tonight was the closest to heaven I've been in a while. (Well, maybe since last August).
I went on a long bike ride and then enjoyed one of my absolute favorite dinners: fresh, steamed garden green beans and cottage cheese with a smidge of fresh ground pepper. I added some baby yellow squash and fresh ripe tomatoes this time too.
It doesn't get much better than that. Seriously.