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coconut curry shrimp

Coconut and coconut milk is something I’ve been incorporating into my meal preparation. Yes, if you look it up there are numerous health claims about what it does but again I try not to get swayed by only by the published health benefits of certain foods. As history proves fads and “new studies” contribute to the sometime misinformation about certain foods and there are surely plenty of healthy types of diets out there to follow. Usually I am open to different types of recipes that provide different types of ingredients, again moderation is the key and often whats proposed to be good for someone may not be your cup of tea. Flavor is a key factor whether it’s a vegan dish or a 1 1/2 inch thick porterhouse steak.

Back to the recipe, as I learn from another blogger some coconut and water is all you need to make a coconut milk type liquid.

prep for saute: ginger,onion, dried hot red pepper,parsley

Let’s make the coconut milk , some shredded coconut, a splash of heavy cream, and water processed in a food processor. The heavy cream gives the fluid some clumps which will cook smooth later.

Saute the prepped ingredients.

Meanwhile since I have frozen shrimp, thaw in water.

Added fresh home-grown hydroponic tomatoes  (I don’t really brag that often)

Cook and mash tomato… you can reinforce  the mix with added ginger and garlic pastes.

Added some habernaro paste, very concentrated

spices, curry powder and cardamom powder

Add the coconut milk mixture, heat to a slight boil, add the shrimp, cook only a few minutes at simmer, cover and turn off heat and set aside so residual heat will finish cooking shrimp.

Serve over rice, garnish with parsley or coriander

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dough head again

Once the repetition of making bead dough becomes commonplace, it’s hard to not use the dough for other forms other than bread. So many types of snacks on the market, flatbread types of bread and bread sticks formed from freshly mixed dough, are my go to snack if time permits, for card nights or other gatherings.

This mix used a small amount of whole wheat added to the white flour, and salt. I contemplated adding various seeds to the mix but I had prepared dips to accompany the bread sticks. (the dips did not make it to the card game location).

Two batches of white/whole wheat rising with white/cornmeal mix for chips resting.

The morning sun streams through the kitchen window as the bread sticks are rolled

corn chips, easily made in a tortilla press, and baked in a 400 degree oven

Flaky bread sticks dipped in butter and then rolled in toasted hemp seeds for a taste test

At the game ! The chips made an excellent scoop for the torpedo meat, made by Diane, and the bow tie salad, a home brew stout to celebrate the fall season, don’t forget the candy corn for the table!

 

 

spicy chicken tomato soup

The last time I made my vegetable stock, there was some hot pepper pieces in there with the vegetable remnants, so now everything I use the stock for has a spicy flavor, not that I mind.

Not a lot of pictures here.

Started with a chicken thigh browned in bacon fat, removed from pan and added the usual characters, onion, several mushrooms prepared garlic and simmered a bit. Add in some whole tomatoes previously frozen from the farmers market. A bit of tomato paste in the mix also.

Chop the thigh , with the skin and return to the pot with the bone and an ample  amount of vegetable broth. Shredded carrot, dried parsley, thyme, a smidgen of ginger. A quarter head  of red cabbage chopped fine added to the pan, what else ?

I sure that someone could come up with a Spanish sounding name for this spicy tomato soup, sopa de tomate picante as the google translate says.

 

 

surf’s up

Over many years is there a place that I’ve frequented that is still there? With all the hustle and bustle of life, people and places can change.  Old memories fade but one that resides is the power of the ocean.

Being engulfed in the salted mineralized water, the rolling, foaming surf goes way back. On a sunny day, submerged, look up to see the glimmer of the seawaters’ content. The call of nature  some would say. The permanence of the ocean on the planet, and a place of  force and energy that is always there.

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The never-ending power of nature can be felt here, the water mysteriously flows and ebbs, looking down at your stance at the water’s edge gives an illusion of motion. The wind and the sun may cycle , but the waves relentlessly flow to the shore.

If the tide cooperates and the swells are large enough, wade out to where the waves’ curls originate, a long bobbing wait for the right timing, YOU are the surfboard, with practice, facing the shore line, catch a swell just before it breaks, jump up into it, hands joined together and arms extended in front of your body, head down.

Done right, you’ll feel the curl of the wave beneath your belly.  Relax. The foamy mixture roars in your ears the wave provides your momentum. One and a great while, the curls will cascade, one replacing the depleated first, at the right sync, providing a longer ride. The sea retreats, leaving your body beached many feet from the waves origin.

 

 

 

Back of the house, hydroponic update

A sunny warm beginning to October, usually cooler in the early hours now, but not that crisp colder fall weather yet.

The DWC hydroponic has produced some greens , flowering brassicas and tat soi , the tomatoes have produced grape like clusters and with the beginning of cool weather pinching back any new growth. A clear type covering to the system in consideration to extend the growing season before it’s brought indoors. The outside limit will be the temperature of course anything near freezing the DWC will moved indoors. More greens should be started indoors.

For all you hydroponic geeks out there, I usually keep the PPM nutrient level now to about 900 to 1200, at the most bi weekly nutrient flush saponin.

Bonus pictures:

A simple chicken salad , Diane’s

Toasted, morning toast with onion, garlic and ginger butter, Good Morning!

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