Thai Shrimp Curry (and a super cute baby!)

My good friends Dave and Kathy just welcomed their first little one into the world a few weeks ago, and boy, is that that little girl precious! I had the joy of meeting her last night when I stopped by with dinner for her parents. I love little kids, but infants make me nervous. They just look so squishy and breakable. Irene came three weeks ahead of schedule, so she's especially tiny, weighing in last week at just 6 lbs, 1 oz. She has her dad's cheeks, her mom's nose, and big grey-blue eyes that are uniquely her own. I was a bit nervous to hold something so precious, but after a few hours of watching how her parents interact with her, I felt ready. She wasn't fussy at all, although she is a very vocal baby, and the girl loves to stretch! She is still learning to control her eye movement and her eyesight isn't completely developed, so I'm really glad that I had my glasses on; the dark frames seemed to make it easier for her to focus on my face. We enjoyed some nice time together, her sort of reaching around for my necklace and hair, and then...she pooped! She's still cute though....I've got proof!

Now that I've talked about how cute baby Irene is, I can tell you about the delicious curry I brought her parents for dinner. I'm a big fan of MealBaby, by the way. It's a website that allows you to register your due date and recruit friends to make/deliver dinners once your baby has arrived. I noticed a lot of chicken on the menu, so I opted for Thai curry with shrimp. It's one of those meals that turns out better than expected and leaves your whole house smelling like your favorite Thai restaurant. Since you make the curry paste from scratch, it takes a bit of time, but the good news is that you can make the paste anytime you'd like and store it in the refrigeration in an air-tight container for up to a month! I knew I'd be pressed for time yesterday, so I made the paste on Sunday and spent only about 30 minutes putting together the meal last night. Let's start with the paste!

Thai Red Curry Paste

From Emeril Lagasse

12 dry chili peppers, seeded and soaked in warm water for 30 minutes (use only the liquid)

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 cup shallots, chopped

14 cup garlic, chopped

3 lemongrass stalks (discard tough outer leaves, chop only tender center)

3 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 tsp lime zest

1 tsp shrimp paste (I used tom yum paste, which contains shrimp)

Begin by soaking the peppers. Toast the coriander seeds and black peppercorns over medium heat for about 3 minutes until fragrant. Remove from heat, cool, and grind. Place the chopped shallot and garlic in a pan over medium heat and cook for 3 minutes or so until beginning to brown. Remove and cool. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor along with 1/4 cup of liquid from the chilies and blend until smooth. 

Thai Shrimp Curry

From Emeril Lagasse

1 lb of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 

1/2 cup shallots, chopped

2 tsp garlic, chopped

1 red bell pepper, sliced

2 medium carrots, julienned 

3 tbsp of Thai Red Curry Paste (recipe above)

1 can of bamboo shoots, drained (this is my personal touch!) 

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 can coconut milk

3 tbsp Thai basil leaves, chopped

Add 2 tbsp of canola oil to a hot wok or large sautee pan. Add shallots, garlic, pepper, and carrots and stir fry until tender (2-3 minutes). Add 3 tbsp of Thai Curry Paste and stir until fragrant (30sec-1min). Add brown sugar and fish sauce, stirring constantly, and then add coconut milk. (I hate fish sauce. Hate it! It smells awful, but you actually need its potency and flavor in the dish. It's balanced out by the sugar and coconut milk, I promise!). Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 minutes until thickened. Add the bamboo shoots and shrimp, and cook until shrimp are just pink (only a few minutes). Remove from heat, add the basil and serve over rice. 

I am planning to make a "vegetarian" version (keeping in mind that there's fish sauce in the curry paste) this week for myself just to up my veggie consumption this week. I love bamboo shoots for their texture, so I've always thrown them in; I think water chestnuts would be equally great. This week I found my very favorite enoki mushrooms (which are aptly called 金針菇 or "golden needle mushrooms" in Chinese because are a creamy off-white yellow and are also very thin) and some fresh pea pods as well as some extra firm tofu at the Asian market, so I'll be subbing those things for the shrimp. And since I made a double batch of the curry paste on Sunday, all I'll need to do is whip up some rice and throw all the veggies together. I'll even have enough for another pot or two of curry later this month! I'm sure Mike and I will have it for dinner when he visits next week! Only nine days left (you know, in case you were wondering)!

Fall in Bloomington

Three years ago I moved to Bloomington to begin my grad school career. I had just returned from Taiwan, where I had lived for two years, so I was feeling a bit homesick. But then the fall came and I felt revitalized-- as much as I had loved living in Taiwan, I had longed for crisp falls and changing leaves. I strolled to campus and took pictures along the way, amazed at how beautiful the area was. 

And Bloomington didn't just deliver on quintessential fall weather, it also introduced me to some of my best friends. Through searching for a potential roommate I found Andrea, a fellow Marylander who had also studied Chinese and was studying Chinese politics and my first friend in Bloomington. At orientation I clicked with Jess, who happened to be studying Chinese linguistics just like me and is probably the only person who can tell me exactly how it is and I'll listen without getting upset, knowing she's right. I couldn't wait to see who would take the apartment next to mine, and in a few days I would meet Amanda, a cute little red head with bangs, and her puppy Finnegan who would get so excited every time he saw me that he'd tinkle on my shoes (I would eventually learn how to great him with a wide stance). Amanda would only live next door for a semester, but her move across town couldn't stop us from nights filled with homemade dinners, cocktails, horrible movies, and baked goods. Amanda was speedy and finished her degree in a year and a half, I've been without her company for the past few years, but this past August I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in her wedding. I was happy to discover the Finnegan still couldn't hide his excitement upon seeing me, and, even after a long stint apart, peed on my foot. And three years ago I took my first Zumba class and met Trisha, the tiniest, bounciest girl ever. Last spring, after three studios and a year and half of causal chatting, we were designing programs for her wedding in her living room. Trisha and her husband Grant included me in their very small and intimate wedding weekend in St. John last May, and the friendship really took off from there. With Trisha in med school and Grant working long hours as an emergency RN, I began going over to their place to cook once a week. We'd all have dinner together and then Trisha and I would continue to study while Grant did the dishes. We'd watch football, they'd hear about all of my (disastrous) dating adventures, and finally, when I sure I had found a good one, they met Mike. The four of us had a Christmas celebration before winter break began, and a few months later, Trisha would tell me (first!) that she and Grant had their first baby on the way! We have plans later today to make our favorite chicken and dumplings recipe while watching football in our usual fashion. 

These ladies have all played important roles in my life and have been the source of so many wonderful memories. The past month has been a bit difficult as Mike moved to Pennsylvania and I started my career while trying to finish my degree, but it's hard to not to feel thankful on a beautiful fall day when you realize that exactly every experience you have had in a place has led you to meet wonderful people who have shaped your life in more ways than you sometimes realize. 

And in honor of these girls and the fall, here are a few of my favorite pictures. 

    My first trip to the farmers market with Andrea. We split breakfast from the little French restaurant.

 This abandoned building has since been demolished and replaced with a Bloomingfoods, but I kind of liked the way its colors popped with the blue sky and the yellow leaves. 

 Woodburn Hall where I spent two years teaching Chinese. 

 Trip to Nashville, IN with Trisha and Grant last fall when my aunt came to visit. 

Presenting at the East Asian Psycholinguistics Conference last fall at Ohio State University. Jess (on my left) and I made a little weekend out of it and shared a hotel and an excellent dinner both nights.

Amanda and me celebrating her birthday. We sacheted into Buffalo Wild Wings in our cute outfits completely unaware that there was some huge March Madness game on. We stopped to get gourmet chocolates and then headed to the grocery store to pick up a movie and a birthday cake!

Mexican Food: I Don't Hate It!

For most of my life, I've been convinced that I just don't like Mexican food. I was always perplexed by why I didn't like it, considering 98.2% of Americans love it, even picky eaters! I knew that I hated cilantro. If there's a speck of it in anything it's all I can taste. But cilantro isn't in taco meat or most burritos. But you know what is? Cumin! Mike has a number of dishes he rotates through for his weekly meals, and I knew I wasn't going to like many of his bean dishes. So I started sniffing around and we put our heads together. "Maybe it's the cumin," he said. So I pulled out the tin of cumin, took a whiff, and yelled, "That's it!" I was relieved! It's not that I don't like Mexican food -- I just don't like cumin. And a few great experiences with Mexican food in social settings here and there made me realize there a quite a few dishes that don't have cumin. But I always make sure to ask first. You know the Sex & the City episode where Carrie's out to dinner with the girls and Berger, and she tells the waiter, politely, but very clearly, that she can't have any parsley on the dish because she's allergic? And Berger gives her grief because he knows she doesn't have an allergy, she just doesn't like it (he was a bad guy, that Berger)? I say I'm allergic to cumin... I do. Anyway, you can imagine how delighted I was when I realized that there are lots of great options on the menu at Mexican restaurants! Mike and I had a romantic dinner at El Serrano when we were apartment hunting in Lancaster, and we liked it so much that I declared we had to go back when I visited. Cool architecture? Check. Skylights? Check. Fountain? Check. Delicious sangria? Check, check! The first time we went I ordered a flour tortilla wrap (oh, I also hate corn tortillas) stuffed with blackened chicken and topped with queso blanco. The second time I ordered something that was more similar to an enchilada. I do believe there was a bit of cumin in the chicken seasoning, but it was pretty light, and topped with pico de gallo and guacamole, it was absolutely delectable! So, inspired by our Mexican date-night dinners, I've declared this week Mexican week! What's on the menu? Chicken and black bean enchiladas and dinner nachos. Up first, chicken and black bean enchiladas!

I narrowed down all of my pinned recipes to two: these cream cheese chicken enchiladas and these skinny sour cream enchiladas. I had planned to sort of combine to the two and did so accordingly based on what I could find at the store. What I made is very close to the first recipe for the cream cheese chicken enchiladas (except I added chiles and didn't add rice). I actually thought the sauce for the second recipe sounded delicious, but the filling for that one called for Ro-Tel, and having heard a very passionate speech this past week from a friend who insists that Ro-Tel is a superior product in a league of its own, and apparently unobtainable in Bloomington, I didn't want to use just any picante sauce. I opted for the cream cheese filling instead, and while it is certainly delicious, it seemed a very bad idea to pile more cream and diary on top. So, I went with the suggested simple enchilada sauce. But given my love for tomatoes and a bit of acidity in a dish, I think that I'd rather have a lighter filling and a heavier sauce. For now, I'll just use some salsa for dipping.

Creamy Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas
(makes 5 enchiladas)

2 chicken breasts
1 small can of green chiles
1 8 oz can of green enchilada sauce
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 8 oz can of black beans
1 package of tortillas
1 package of shredded Mexican cheese

Start by cooking cooking your chicken breasts. I like to make blackened chicken, which can be done by seasoning both sides generously (I use Emeril's Essence) and blackening the chicken in a cast-iron skillet with a bit of olive oil to create a crust. When both sides are sufficiently blackened, transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until chicken breasts are cooked through (you can tell they're done when they're firm to the touch). Let the chicken cool a bit before shredding it.

Add the cream cheese, chiles, and chicken to a bowl and mix together. Spoon down the center of your tortilla, top with a few spoons of blackbeans, and fold so both sides overlap in the middle. Layer a bit of enchilada sauce on bottom of your baking dish and then add your filled tortillas seam-side down. Layer the top of your enchiladas with the rest of the enchilada sauce and then sprinkle with cheese (approximately 2 cups). Cover with foil and bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes. Remove the foil and broil for a minute or two until cheese is bubbly.

Nicki's Lasagna!

Gaah! Something amazing happened last night. I went home and thought about what I could make from just the ingredients I had at home. Now, I'm normally the kind of gal who reads recipes, dreams about how delicious they'll be, and then makes a grocery list to purchase whatever I need to make it happen. But, having recently been inspired by other bloggers who recreate delicious food and think up their own recipes, I've wanted to feel out my cooking.

So remember that delicious pizza I had at Cate's wedding? The one I wanted to recreate? Well I decided to give it a shot the other night. Only I was starving and not really in the mood to wait very long for dinner, so I was a bit rushed and the balsamic reduction totally slipped my mind. I'm a saucy kind of girl though, so I had to make sauce! I'd done a little research over the weekend and decided that a simple tomato sauce would be the best way to make sure the fresh tomatoes and basil would be the star, so I settled on tomato sauce with onion and butter. I'd never made this sauce before, because I have given my heart to an oven-roasted tomato sauce (which I'll have to write about separately), but after reading about the simplicity of this one on Smitten Kitchen, and knowing that butter makes everything taste better, I decided it would certainly be delicious. I sliced my leftover Italian bread in half horizontally, layered a bit of sauce on each side, and sprinkled a light amount of mozzarella over that. I cut a bunch of beautiful cherry tomatoes that I had gotten at the farmer's market in half, dressed them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then mixed in chopped fresh basil. I laid that over the mozarella and then added a bit more cheese for a bubbly finish. The result? A really delicious french bread pizza base, but there was something amiss with the tomatoes. They were pretty sweet to begin with, so I think a bit more salt and plenty of additional herbs would have really helped enhance their flavor. I was satisfied with the outcome, nevertheless, but I was left with a batch of tomato sauce and a lot of remaining basil and cheese. SO I MADE LASAGNA! (In case you're wondering, lasagna in Chinese is 千層麵, literally "thousand-layer noodles".)

I just happened to have a box of lasagna noodles in my cupboard and about 8 oz. of ground chicken left over from that Chinese recipe I made over the weekend. So I diced half of a white onion and put that in a hot pan with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and the ground chicken. I added a sprinkling of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Meanwhile, I cooked my lasagna noodles according to the package for about 12 minutes. I let the meat brown and the onions cook down, and then I added in the tomato sauce. I let the sauce warm through and then got ready to prepare my lasagna. Mer gave me two beautiful Le Creuset baking dishes last year for my birthday in cobalt (which, I sadly discovered, has been discontinued -- I feel lucky to have gotten these two beauties!), so I used the 1-qt. rectangular baking dish for this, and it was the perfect size! I layered a small amount of  just tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan and then put down three lasagna noodles, making sure to overlap them a bit. I then spread some of the meat and sauce mixture on top along with a scattering of chopped basil and a sprinkling of cheese. I layered three more noodles on top of that and followed with the sauce, basil, and cheese. After adding the last layer of noodles, I added the rest of the sauce and basil followed by a more generous amount of cheese. I then baked it at 350 degrees for about half an hour. I allowed it to cool for another 15 minutes or so just to let everything solidify a bit. And I couldn't believe how delicious it was! The sauce really shines through and the basil provides a brightness and freshness to the dish. The ground chicken was seasoned well and provided a hearty component to the dish without making it seem heavy. I just finished the helping I brought with me for lunch today, and it was just as tasty, if not more so, today. Not bad for my first recipe, not bad at all!

Nicki's Lasagna 

1-qt. baking dish

1 tbsp of oil

1 half of a white onion, diced

8 oz. ground chicken

salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian season to taste

*tomato, onion, butter sauce 

a bunch of fresh basil, chopped

16 oz. bag of shredded Mozarella cheese

12 lasagna noodles

*The tomato, onion, butter sauce can be made ahead of time. Simply pour a 28-oz can of San Marzano whole tomatoes into a sauce pan and add 5 tablespoons of butter, and a yellow onion peeled and halved. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Discard the onion and be sure to break up large chunks of tomatoes. Season with salt to taste. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Bring a large pot of water seasoned with salt to a boil and add lasagna noodles one at a time until they soften into the water. Add a bit of oil to prevent sticking and cooking until tender, about 12 minutes. 

Add about 1 tbsp of oil to a heated pan, and once hot, add diced onion and ground chicken. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning (I didn't measure the amounts, but I just sort of sprinkled each spice over the mixture until everything was covered). When chicken has browned and onions are tender, add the tomato, onion, butter sauce. Warm through while preparing noodles.

Add a bit of the plain tomato sauce to the bottom of your baking dish. Line the pan with three noodles, making sure to overlap them slightly. Add about 1/3 of the meat and sauce mixture on top, then top with some of the fresh basil and a sprinkling of cheese. Repeat twice. The top layer should have a bit less sauce a larger amount of cheese. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly. 

Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes before serving. 

In Honor of Mer

Almost 19 years ago, as a little 8 year-old girl in the third grade, I met my very best friend. There's a pin going around on Pinterest that says something like friendship is really just about choosing a human being and saying "yeah, I like that one," and that's pretty much how it happened for Meredith and me. At the end of the school year, Mer sent me a letter through our Wee Deliver in-school mailing system. I was shocked and delighted that she had written to me. I didn't know why I was the lucky chosen one (I just had a flashback to Toy Story and The Aliens), but I knew it was a big deal. Today is Meredith's birthday, and in honor of our her and our 19 years of friendship, I wanted to share with everyone how very special my best friend is.

In its early stages, our friendship consisted of play dates, class field trips, and birthday parties. By middle school I would often go over to her house after school, either when I "missed my bus" or when I really did miss the bus. We would have a snack, do an art project if we had some free time, or get straight to homework. I remember going on errands with her mom (mainly to the dump) going out for international cuisine with her family (believe it or not, Mer and her dad first taught me how to use chopsticks), sleep overs on the weekends, and lots of other adventures. Her parents treated me as one of their own, but in the beginning I was convinced I needed to prove myself, so when Mer's mom taught us how to make prints from etched plexiglass, I decided to give my finished product to Mer's dad, who seemed to be the toughest nut to crack. He loves me now though. Probably because I eat odd food with him when no one else will. And because I gave him that print of my cat Snowball. But I digress.... In middle school we started keeping a journal. We'd write in it back and forth, trading off when we wanted to.

In high school we continued writing in that journal (we're now on our fifth journal), played field hockey together, worked on the literary arts magazine together, did girl scouts together, took classes together, watched Gilmore Girls together, and drooled over Ben Affleck together. (Just as a reference point, I used a picture of Ben Affleck in one of my Chinese drill sections last year and no one, NO ONE, knew who he was. Sigh. In our day, he was a total hottie!) There were various cliques in high school, but we didn't really belong to any of them, we were just Nicki and Mer. When I left to spend my first summer working in Minnesota, Mer and I stood in the doorway balling our eyes out. I remember her mom saying how silly it was-- if we couldn't stand to be apart, why didn't I just stay?

When college came, Mer stayed in Maryland and I ended up in Wisconsin. But there were still phone calls and letters, packages and tons of quality time spent together whenever I was home for the holidays. No matter what we did for my birthday, it always ended in a sleepover with Mer.

For as long as I can remember, I've looked up to Mer. All of those high school activities? She was the one who got me involved. I was the Robin to her Batman. When we applied to college she wrote a personal recommendation letter on my behalf, and it was so touching that I've kept the printed out version all these years. I always felt like she had the edge over me, and it meant so much to realize that my friendship meant just as much to her.

That has only become more apparent in the years beyond college. We both sort of came into our own and gained a tremendous amount of respect for one another because we each just found our own path and kept walking. We're unique individuals but our shared experiences have created a bond that is incredibly strong. In my experience, it's rare that friendships grow stronger over the years, and I'm so thankful that ours has.

So, want to know more about the fabulous lady that is Mer? Well you can learn more at harvest-spoon.com where she combines her knowledge of sustainable farming practices and nutrition with her love for creating delicious meals. She's also one of the most artistic people I know (her mom passed on some excellent genes), which is evident in all of the font work and illustrations on her blog, and a master of multitasking. She loves all things small and cute, most likely because she feels a strong kinship with such things, and she is quietly hilarious and sassy (I like to think I help bring out that sass). She has excellent musical tastes, many of which have been imparted to me in numerous volumes of  The Nicki and Mer CD,  and she is the most excellent giver of gifts...EVER! She will be my maid of honor when I get married, although I suppose by then she'll be my matron of honor since she's getting married next fall (!), and you'll want to stay tuned for that, because she and I will be designing all of the floral arrangements! She is the strawberry shortcake to this snapping turtle and the marinade to this enickma; she is... my very best friend.

Happy Birthday, Mer!

My Love Affair with Chinese Food

It's very possible that my interest in Chinese language stemmed from my love of Chinese food. One of our Friday night favorites was take out from Ding Hao, a little restaurant down the road. I'd come home from gymnastics in whatever awesome leotard I was wearing, and the family would sit down in the kitchen to whatever special cuisine we had chosen that night (sometimes it was breakfast for dinner!) and my brother and I would drink soda from sippy cups. Unfortunately, the staff "went on vacation for two weeks" and never came back. So we moved on to New Mandarin. Aside from our take-out favorites, once in a while we would really class it up and go to Red Dragon or China Harvest. China Harvest was my absolute favorite. I wrote about in English class. My aunt really spoiled me- she'd let me order pineapple drinks in funky glasses with a sword and umbrella, and if I was really lucky (which, let's be honest, was most of the time), we'd get the pupu platter! Steak on a stick, fried wontons, egg rolls...you name it, pupu had it. And that was just our appetizer! 

Now, as many of you know, most of what you find in the States is Americanized Chinese, and I'm okay with it. I love a good lomein. And there ain't nothin' Chinese about crab rangoon, but I could eat it every day for dinner and polish off the leftovers cold for breakfast. That being said, authentic Chinese cuisine is absolutely delicious. And why wouldn't it be? Lots of fresh garlic, ginger, scallion, basil, and all of these fresh ingredients combined right in front of your eyes to create an amazing dish. Chinese food is fairly simple to prepare at home because it does consist of these basic, simple ingredients, and all you need is a good wok and a gas range. The fire and heat is quite important, but I have an uneven electric burner and I still cook Chinese quite frequently. Another great thing about it? There's an even ratio of veggies to meat, so you get everything you need in one dish. 

When I studied abroad in China, I took an extracurricular cooking class. It mainly consisted of a few of us watching the teacher prepare a dish or two and then eating it, so I didn't really retain that much, but I learned that Chinese cooking, is in fact, fairly simple. Back in the States I met my good friend Yang. We started out as each other's writing/Chinese tutor, but a wonderful friendship was born out of all those hours spent together. He taught me how to cook most of what I know how to make: green pepper and pork; stewed pork, green beans, and potatoes; fried rice; etc. And then I went to Taiwan and discovered some of the tastiest food of all time. Once a week I would stop on my walk home to get the best fried rice I've ever had from a little old woman who lived just around the corner. I watched her over and over hoping to make it for myself, but it's just not the same. She makes magic happen. The scallions are pork somehow ended up slightly browned, probably from the intense heat of the wok, and it was just delicious. Then there was the little stand run by a husband and wife that specialized in Japanese style curry with Chinese cabbage on the side and a fried pork cutlet. And my favorite, eggplant. 

Eggplant wasn't something I discovered until I studied abroad. The eggplant familiar to most of us is dark purple and bulbous, kind of like an overgrown pear. If a pear were to be dark purple...and flat on the top. Anyway, this eggplant is generally quite bitter. Unless you know the secret that is! You have to slice the eggplant, salt it, and then  let it sit for about half an hour. You’ll notice that there's a lot of liquid, which is why I like to do this on paper towels. You then rinse it and you're ready to go. But, Japanese eggplant, the long, skinny bright purple kind, is a little more delicate and not bitter. And it tastes delicious braised in soy sauce, in a garlic sauce, stuffed with shrimp, and roasted with other vegetables. 

Now, it's hard to know when you've stumbled across a good Chinese recipe. Everyone I know who has taught me how to cook Chinese food doesn't use recipes. They just cook. And then there's correlating the Chinese phrase with the English translation. I spent 20 minutes in the grocery store today trying to figure out what black vinegar and dark soy were. It's all more complicated when working in English. That being said, I was happy to find that the local luxury Kroger has expanded it's Asian condiments aisle. And why was I searching for black vinegar and dark soy, you might be wondering? Because I had my heart set on making Emeril's Eggplant and Green Beans in Spicy Garlic Sauce. 

Okay, so I know what you're thinking. Emeril? The Italian guy with a New York accent who yells "bam!"? You're using his recipe? Let me tell you. This Emeril guy? He's solid. I have two more Emeril recipes to tell you about and only one of them is Italian. I'm sharing his recipe almost exactly as found on foodnetwork.com, and I've added my notes in parentheses. 

Eggplant and Green Beans in Spicy Garlic Sauce
From Emeril Lagasse

6 ounces ground pork (I used ground chicken because I find ground pork to taste somewhat like ammonia.)
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup canola oil (You can use other varieties just make sure not to use olive oil because it doesn't hold up to the high heat.)
1/2 pound blanched frozen green beans (I used fresh because I generally don't like frozen veggies.)
1 pound Asian eggplants, ends trimmed, cut on the diagonal into 3/4-inch slices (Make sure not to make them too thick, they won't break down as well when cooking.)
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
2/3 cup chicken stock
4 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup dark soy (From doing a little research, dark soy seems to be primarily used as a coloring and seasoning agent in sauces. It has a bit of a molasses flavor, but is not all that sweet. I used Dynasty brand Brown Gravy Sauce.)
2 tablespoons black vinegar (This is just Chinese vinegar. I couldn't find it in the regular grocery store, but it should be available at any Asian Market.)
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon water (I used sweet potato starch because that's all I had, and it worked just fine). 

Combine the pork with the soy sauce and allow to stand while you prepare the green beans and eggplant. 

Heat a large nonstick skillet or wok over high heat and add 1/4 cup of the oil. Allow the oil to heat and then add the green beans. (Wear an apron and stand back, because it will certainly splatter!). Stir fry until the beans are slightly wrinkled, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the green beans and transfer to a paper-lined plate to drain. Add the remaining oil to the pan and add the eggplants to cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplants are lightly browned on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes (*Although Japanese eggplants aren't bitter and do not require salting, I still think it's a good idea. I've never seen anything about it mentioned in Chinese cookbooks, but in the few times that I've cooked Japanese eggplant, it always seems a bit rubbery and oily. Eggplant, regardless of the variety, is like a sponge, and salting it seems to prevent it from absorbing too much oil when cooking. If you salt it and slice it fairly thin, the result will be tender, buttery goodness. Just remember to rinse of the salt before adding it to the pan). Remove the eggplant to a shallow bowl and set aside. 

Add the garlic and basil to the wok and cook for a few seconds just until fragrant. Add the meat and cook, stirring, just until it changes color, 1 to 2 minutes. Return the eggplant to the wok and add the chicken stock, hoisin, dark soy, black vinegar, chili garlic sauce and sesame oil and stir to mix well. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until eggplant is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Return the green beans to the wok along with the cornstarch mixture and bring up to a boil. When sauce has thickened, serve immediately (with steamed white rice!).

A Soup History

French onion soup is my favorite! Even as a kid, I loved the soggy bread soaked in broth and the tender onions. My brother, on the other hand, only ordered it for the bubbly cheese on top...and got in trouble for it. Winter was always vegetable soup weather. I remember eating bowls of it while watching Redskins games. Then in high school, my aunt and grandma would go to the Amish farmer's market on the weekends and bring back containers of the most delicious chicken noodle soup. Yet somehow I never thought to make soup at home. Until...

Last October, I got sick just before I was set to go to a conference. It was chilly and I had spent the night working at a college fair, so I was feeling pretty yucky. I had been dating my beau Mike for just about a month, and when he volunteered to bring me something, I asked for soup. I thought he'd stop at Panera or maybe a Chinese restaurant, so my heart melted when he showed up with homemade soup! Mike is a vegetarian, so he chose a delicious lentil soup. It would be another four months before we said "I love you", just after Valentine's Day, but I think I fell in love with him a little that night. 

Now, I seek out soup recipes. I'm a huge fan of Smitten Kitchen's lentil soup with sausage, chard and garlic for the tomato base, the punch of garlic, and the hint of richness and heat from the sausage (I opt for using a lighter amount) and can also vouch for this french onion soup recipe (although I should probably be even more patient when browning the onions next time) and this delightfully sour Thai coconut curry soup. I've got my eyes set on some pretty tasty looking mushroom soup that I plan to make at the first hint of fall. For now, please enjoy the lentil soup that led me to love.

Mike's Lentil Soup 
(from Jolinda Hacket)

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

1 cup whole lentils

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp. ground thyme

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Comically large handful of raw spinach, coarsely chopped

Sautee onion and carrot in a bit of olive oil for 5 minutes. Add stock, lentils, bay leaves, thyme, pepper, salt. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer 40 minutes. Take out bay leaves. Add spinach, let simmer 5 more minutes. Stir in lemon juice.

(It’s that easy!)