use real butter

I made up a recipe on the fly tonight while preparing dinner. We were having pad thai and… I had a fresh batch of asparagus on hand. My fridge is usually stocked to the hilt, so I found some tofu and then swiped half of a flank steak intended for a meal later this week – I mean, we’re trying to EMPTY the fridge, right? The flank steak is sautéed with peanut and tamarind sauce with a hint of sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I think I’ll omit the soy sauce next time. I fried the tofu and mixed it in at the last minute with the sauté. I like it! This goes in the quadrille notebook of keeper recipes.

new recipe

Yesterday was such a teaser. Today the temps were down (a little) and the winds were up and snow is in the forecast. Not that I’m complaining, because I am a ski whore… just that the muddy melting of spring felt nice. Trust me – I am definitely torn up about leaving during the month of March because March is when you get those amazing springtime dumps. Then again, I’d be off my rocker to turn down a chance to see amazing rock formations in The Middle of Bloody Australia, cook and dine with Kell and Chef Jerad in Sydney, and to tramp, paddle, and play in New Zealand. There are far worse choices to make in life (elections come to mind), so I’ll shut up now.

The US postal service gets a big fat Effingham F. My dad sent me a priority package last Wednesday which only just arrived today – 9 days later. We go through this with the post office every damn year. My mom thinks to make this special vegetable dish: 10 ingredient lucky vegetables, which you eat for good luck at the start of the Chinese New Year. And every year it arrives too late and the food poisoning potential is very high, but my superstitious Chinese upbringing makes me nervous for fear that if I don’t eat it, I’m screwed. The dish translates into “as you wish”. I tasted some and it was slightly sour. But it’s made with some pickled vegetables – so I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be that way or not. My mom would never overnight anything. She stresses about the vegetables calling me every day to see if it has arrived. And so, it stresses me out. Then when it arrives, I’m stressed some more. I’m just going to make it myself from now on since I have achieved Chinese Cooking Competency. She called this afternoon and said to just stir-fry it on high heat for several minutes.

**Jump for more butter**

It was ridiculously warm today. Air temps were likely in the 40s, but our deck read nearly 70 in the sun.

it’s still winter, right?

After my 1.5 hour cardio workout, I gathered the dog and her leash and we went for a brisk walk. Kaweah was tired by the time we returned to the house. Clearly, she isn’t getting enough exercise in the winter. I suck.

Time to clear out the fridge. I’ve been eating leftovers from Amy and Louie’s visit. It’s taken longer than usual too because Jeremy has been in Puerto Rico meeting with the NSF program manager since Wednesday. I’m going to have him finish the pot roast and potatoes. I am tired of beef. I want greens and fruits. Today was better though. I put a ton of fresh spinach into the leftover hotpot soup for dinner and had a couple of grapefruit too.

roughage – give it to me