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Recipe: mu shu pork

It’s actually mu as in mu shu pork. When I was a kid, I ordered this at Chinese restaurants and my parents would exclaim, “Why do you order this? We make it at home much better!” They were right, but I loved the pancakes. I was also the one who ordered chicken strips at the seafood restaurant. My, how times have changed. I now refuse to order any Chinese dish that I can make at home. I usually go for those plates that make a fantastic mess to prepare… better their kitchen than mine.

Mom’s homemade mu shu pork (and yes, she always used pork – no chicken, no beef, no tofu, no shrimp versions) included homemade pancakes – the mu shu shells. We called them bing and I have no idea if that is the proper Mandarin word or just some nickname my parents made up. I learned that one of the terms of affection they had for me translates into “stinky egg” and not “dearest daughter” as I had assumed, so you will forgive me if I am cautious about littering the page with what I *think* is accurate Mandarin terminology.

lazy chinese girl solution: buy mu shu shells

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Recipe: roasted goat cheese-stuffed squash

I haven’t been cooking lately, unless you count reheating food in the nuker, on the stove top, or in the toaster oven (hey – that toaster oven is my redneck heritage). Why? Because I made too much food in the past week and now we are in the frenzied mode of trying to finish off those leftovers before they expire. Just hate to waste food… I can tell I have fallen into a rut of sorts. We were walking through our local mountain grocery store in search of hoisin sauce because we ran out. [Tangent: Let me tell you, I won’t make that mistake again… I shall henceforth maintain a proper store of genuine hoisin sauce from a reputable Asian grocer because the stuff they carry in my little town is really really narsty. Not nasty, but narsty. All of my ancestors were crying out in horror the moment that stuff touched my lips.] I wandered down the baking aisle in search of ?? Jeremy, in his effort to move us along, asked what I was looking for or rather what I wanted to make. I stopped and realized that I had filed into the recesses of my brain a todo list of sweets: raspberry almond tea cake, baklava, zebra torte, chocolate mousse…

I’m so lame. I have all of the ingredients ready to go, I think I’m just tired after skiing or maybe I’m still tired after my surgery? We went skiing today and I managed one of the most fabulous face plants. Because my left arm is not completely healed, when I fell, I kept my arms back to avoid injury. Except I biffed with my face. Funny how I was so impatient to recover from surgery so I could launch my body down the mountain. Gravity sports are great!

Anyway, I do have a lovely recipe to share with you today. I made this shortly after Christmas. It is another one of those foods I had years ago and loved and am finally getting my lazy bum around to replicating it. The evening before we left Ithaca – five years ago, our dear friends Mike and Carrie took us out for a special farewell dinner. One of the appetizers we ordered was a goat cheese stuffed squash. At this point, I can’t honestly recall anything about the dish other than it had squash, goat cheese, and tasted amazing. So that’s what I started with.

herbed goat cheese, squash, roasted garlic

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Recipe: stir-fried chicken and asparagus

You must think we – the dog and I – partied our collective bums off and were lying about in drunken stupor for several days without lifting a finger to post for the joy of it all. How I wish. No, instead dog was fine and I was out with a head cold that was delivered to me by my beloved. Today I have emerged from the fog only to tank a batch of candied lemon peels this morning. Dayquil-induced? Perhaps…

So let’s take care of some business first: seasonal cheer. I do cheer this season because snow mantles the majestic Rocky Mountains – our home… And then we slap on our skis and tele, baby! I digress. Happy New Year to all. I wish you every happiness your heart desires. And an ass ton of home cooked goodies :)

Second: I’m so late in getting this posted…

A huge thanks to the judges and Zorra, the host, for the DMBLGIT November 2007. I won for aesthetics on this entry:

chocolate covered orange peels – a great way to get you swearing by noontime

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