The Weather Here Will Make You Crazy

The other day, Alan and I decided we needed some beef stir-fry. Personally, I'm trying to cut down on my meat intake, but even I can't resist a little steak every once in a great while. We decided to take ourselves over to the Fred Meyers only a few blocks away. It had been drizzling steadily since that morning, and we decided to don our rain gear. It was definitely a smart idea.

Not ten feet down the block and the heavens opened. Within seconds, the gutters had become wild, brown rivers thick with sticks and leaves, and the hollows of the sidewalks gathered into unfordable lakes. Each corner required a run and a leap, and cars on Lombard sent huge waves splashing over us.

Dripping and bedraggled, we reached the store, and prepared for a meal to warm away the wet.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of beef, cut into thin strips
1 crown of broccoli, chopped up
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Garnish:

Bean sprouts
Crunchy Chow Mein noodles
Chopped tomato

Marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari
1 cup chili sauce
dash of chili oil
tblsp fish sauce
2 tsp crushed pineapple
1/4 teriyaki sauce
1 thai chili, pan roasted, seeded, chopped

Pour over beef and let sit for thirty minutes

Carrots take the longest, so throw those in. Let them soften for a few minutes, then add your beef. (If you substitute tofu for this, you really only need ten or fifteen minutes of marinading, and it doesn't have to go in until after the onions.) Add the onions, and let them cook down. Lower your heat, add the garlic, mushrooms, and broccoli, and the reserved marinade, cover, and let it simmer until your veggies are soft and your beef is cooked all the way through. Remove the ingredients with tongs, and check your leftover sauce. If it's thick and velvety, pour it on over, but if it is thin and watery take a tablespoon of cornstarch and mix it in a cup with water until it's all dissolved, then add a splash to the sauce and whisk it up to thicken it.

Serve it over Asian noodles or rice. A nice salad compose goes well with this dish, especially in a rice wine vinaigrette.

Salads Are Delicious

Salads actually can be filling, you guys. Seriously. And they don't need to be laden with meat and cheese (though it doesn't hurt) and they aren't terribly expensive to put together. We did end up throwing about a tablespoon of grated monterey jack on this salad, but it was totally unnecessary.

Shopping list!

Salad Proper
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 roma tomato, diced medium
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced. (The seeding and peeling is optional if you get a hothouse cucumber. Those are the ones in the shrinkwrap.)
1 carrot, peeled and jullienned into matchstick-sized pieces
1 bunch of radish, greens and end cut off and then sliced
1 half of an avocado, sliced
2 tablespoons grated cheese (optional)

The Dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon mustard of your choice. (I used a wasabi horseradish mixed with yellow mustard for mine)
2 tablespoon dried oregano
salt+pepper to taste
Whisk it up.

The Finished Product
From the Salad Proper list, throw everything but the avocado and cheese into a bowl and toss it with your dressing, then garnish with a couple of avocado slices and a little cheese. This salad is really great because it is fucking cheap. Radishes will run you less than fifty cents a bunch, carrots are less than sixty cents a pound. We got five large servings of salad out of this recipe, and the dressing lasts for weeks at a time in your fridge. There are certain things you can choose to leave out, but remember that you need some mustard in your dressing to act as an emulcifier.

This isn't really a real update, but I've been trying to find something to write about, and the food I make at home seems to be a good enough subject.

The Following Things Are Awesome

Dance Card,
Red Room 7/5/8

Red Fang and Big Business

Berbati's 7/6/8

Good Days

You Know The Show Was Good When the Drummer Quits Right Afterwards

Amazing show. Pictures are up on the Haute Retarde myspace. I took about sixty with my phone, only half of which turned out decent, but you can check out the better ones in my Scrapbook gallery.

Jeffrey also caught Dean falling into the drums and put it on youtube!



All in all, I had the time of my life.

Epic Adventure

We should just call this the Montage Music Festival.

May 15, Kelly's Olympian SW 4th and Washington, 9:30 21+ $3

Tough 'Mo
Haute Retarde
Marmits

I'm apparently in charge of taking photos of the Haute Retarde show, here's to hoping I can get off work and get down there soon enough.