As a way of maintaining my "Summer of Revolution," I have been using my wok nearly five times a week (though owning a wok goes against my much-loved minimalist ideals). I initially started out with a few stir-fry recipes, but I soon found that there are no steadfast, blockbuster stir-fry recipes. You essentially add a protein, vegetables, and a sauce of some sort and watch as dinner magically makes itself. This approach to cooking has altered my shopping habits in that I have taken to perusing the vegetable/fruit market for whatever I can afford. My standbys include: red peppers, green peppers, scallions, tofu, cilantro, and mushrooms. On some occasions I will get the yuppie chicken (aka "Free Range"), but I tend to stick with tofu since it's so darn cheap. Tonight, however, I needed to purge my fridge of all things perishable. Thus, I threw in all of my fresh ingredients and hoped for this best. The result? Red peppers, celery, organic green peppers (from Good Foods), organic pineapple (again from Good Foods), scallions, and organic tofu that had been tossed in soy sauce prior to frying. I also doused the entire wok in some rice wine vinegar and then served it up over some jasmine rice. While this recipe seemed to make theoretical sense in my mind, the long and short of it is: it was terrible. Pineapple and celery should never meet, especially under a splash of rice wine vinegar. I'll eat it though because it's better than nothing. I'll probably heat up some naan later and sip on some Perrier, because I'm fancy like that. Failure averted.
Wok of Love? A Cooking Failure
As a way of maintaining my "Summer of Revolution," I have been using my wok nearly five times a week (though owning a wok goes against my much-loved minimalist ideals). I initially started out with a few stir-fry recipes, but I soon found that there are no steadfast, blockbuster stir-fry recipes. You essentially add a protein, vegetables, and a sauce of some sort and watch as dinner magically makes itself. This approach to cooking has altered my shopping habits in that I have taken to perusing the vegetable/fruit market for whatever I can afford. My standbys include: red peppers, green peppers, scallions, tofu, cilantro, and mushrooms. On some occasions I will get the yuppie chicken (aka "Free Range"), but I tend to stick with tofu since it's so darn cheap. Tonight, however, I needed to purge my fridge of all things perishable. Thus, I threw in all of my fresh ingredients and hoped for this best. The result? Red peppers, celery, organic green peppers (from Good Foods), organic pineapple (again from Good Foods), scallions, and organic tofu that had been tossed in soy sauce prior to frying. I also doused the entire wok in some rice wine vinegar and then served it up over some jasmine rice. While this recipe seemed to make theoretical sense in my mind, the long and short of it is: it was terrible. Pineapple and celery should never meet, especially under a splash of rice wine vinegar. I'll eat it though because it's better than nothing. I'll probably heat up some naan later and sip on some Perrier, because I'm fancy like that. Failure averted.
The New Blog
Over the years, I have started and abandoned a number of blogs, including: one teenage melodramatic LiveJournal (followed by several attempts to revive said LiveJournal account), a blog dedicated to beards and other facial hair fashions, and a blog whose primary focus was on "weird stuff found online" (the title: Found in Tubes). So far, none of these blogs have been successful (I have no idea why). Anyway, I have decided to develop a personal blog for occasional musings and other notes, which seems like a killer combination in theory.