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Oh how I love…

fresh asparagus

I stir-fried chicken and asparagus tonight and added it to my photo recipes on my web site here.



My parents called today (again). When they travel, they want to let me know where they are at every waypoint and give me the play by play. They were in the parking lot of Trader Joes at Tyson’s Station in Falls Church, Virginia and wanted to know if I wanted anything. Oh boy, did I… but half of the goodness of Trader Joes is their fresh stuff. I thought I’d toss them a bone because they sounded so happy that they were at MY FAVORITE grocery store and could actually get something that they knew I liked.

dad: Do you like saffron? I like their saffron, I’m going to buy some for myself.
me: Well, how about some… chocolate?
dad: Chocolate? Are you going to eat it? It makes you fat.
me: It’s for Jeremy, he likes their dark chocolate.
dad: Sure, we can get you chocolate. Dark?! We will mail it to you.
mom: (shouting in background) It’s too hot! It will melt in the mail!
dad: Oh – this chocolate is a problem. Mommy says it will melt. Saffron will not melt. Do you want saffron?
me: I have a lot of saffron already, thanks. How about buying the chocolate and then waiting until October to send it?
dad: Ah – good idea, kid. Anything else you want? Just chocolate and saffron?

We had some noodles to celebrate Mom’s birthday. Long noodles for long life. It is a Chinese tradition. These are Japanese (don’t tell grandma!) somen noodles in my homemade soy sauce chicken broth.

happy birthday, mom!

We made pizza tonight. The key to making our favorite pizza is to have fresh dough for the crust, thinly sliced pepperoni (I like it almost crunchy), a very hot oven, and my personal favorite:

garlic and broccoli cheese

I like to mix minced garlic and minced blanched broccoli with the shredded mozarella. Be sure to squeeze out the excess moisture of the broccoli otherwise you will be taking a swamp out of the oven.

For dinner I made gi pien guo ba tang (chicken sizzling rice soup) and chinese stir fried rice. Now, I want to point out that I don’t like the typical stir fried rice that has ham, celery, peas (peas! the horror), and other crap that white people like in their fried rice. My chinese stir fried rice is good stuff. I dice lean pork loin and mix it with cornstarch, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I sauté diced onion (for the love of god, don’t use sweet onion), scramble some eggs, and julienne chinese preserved mustard green. [Note: Chinese preserved mustard green is like this magical salty, crunchy ingredient that makes a number of authentic chinese dishes – only in asian grocery stores]. Steam short grained white rice and stir fry these babies together:

**Jump for more butter**