I Am Not a Muse(d).

Often, I find myself in a cooking rut where I am basically making the same five dishes over and over again. The imagination suffers, the desire to try new recipes disappears and I have to search for a muse.  The muse came in two forms this time, one by the efforts of my own lily white hands and the other by the efforts of two men's sheer genius.


Lemongrass and Mint

 

Herbs, herbs, herbs!  I have revived my indoor herb garden.  I love seeing the beautiful, leafy green fronds in my ceramic pots and inhaling their sweet, spicy, fresh aromas.  I have planted sweet basil (lots and lots), Thai basil, German thyme, lemongrass, mint.  I am still hunting for some rosemary, cilantro (which I am excellent at killing), lime thyme or lemon thyme. I think this pot is too small  to get the large stalks of lemongrass found in the Asian markets, but that's okay. I am using these for their citronella qualities (I usually buy my lemongrass already minced because I just can't be bothered with that ;)).  I also planted 4 seedlings of lemongrass in the ground so maybe, just maybe, something magical will happen there.

Dearly Beloved and I also made a much more concerted effort to actually plant a garden this year.  We have tomatoes (grape, brandywine, Amish red, San Marzano, romas and goliaths), cucumbers (killer frost attacked the week after we set those in the ground, so we may have none), leeks, garlic chives, pumpkins (11 vines!!!), sugarbaby watermelons, strawberries, cantoloupes, corn, peas and mammoth sunflowers.

Since I was already elbow deep in the muck and mire, I also planted flowers to pretty up our yard: poppies, peonies, wildflowers.  But I digress - on to the other muse!

I have been eyeing 2 cookbooks for quite a while.  In this day and age, when it is usually easier to find a recipe you want to try somewhere on the internet, cookbooks are not so much a necessity as they are a luxury.  These two books are truly that.  My Vietnam is a retelling of Luke Nguyen's original cookbook Songs of Sapa, but with more recipes and tales.  As I try to recreate my mother's recipes, his recipes are a great starting point for me.  My mother's banana bread pudding is a beautiful, striata of crustless, day-old french bread, sliced fingerling bananas and an amzing thick custard.  It is quite intimidating, but perfect for an end of workday snack.  Luke Nguyen offers a simpler, but equally delicious version made with bananas, flour and sweetened condensed milk baked in a springform pan.  Much more approachable for me.  I also love the stories he tells about revisiting Vietnam.  I hope to have my own stories soon!



Momofuku is the brainchild that stems from David Chang's search for eating and making perfect ramen.  He traveled to Japan to learn secrets of the trade, came back and opened an eatery naming it after the man who invented ramen.  Now I loves me a good bowl of ramen!  I am  not talking about the 20-cent-package-dried-stuff-with-tinfoil-bag-of-sodium-seasoning.  I am talking about a rich, steaming broth flavored with everything that simmers for hours and hours on end (much like my own country's pho broth), noodles and a smorgasboard of add-ins such as mushrooms, scallions, chicken, pork or beef, a perfectly poached egg.  That being said, the recipes in this book are not limited to just ramen.  David Chang is genius - his creative variations on classic Asian dishes are so packed with amazing flavors.  I have already made the steak ssam and roasted pork belly with steamed buns. Both were a hit - so much so that Dearly Beloved requested them again. He HATES repeat meals!

My goal is to cook every recipe in these two books.  Of course, I will post about my attempts, however humorous, here.  Oh, I almost forgot (so much to catch up on!) - I took a food photography class.  I don't know if it improved my photography skills at all, but I learned quite a bit on how to make food look appetizing (apparently, I have to take the photos in my livingroom, not diningroom).  Hopefully, this means I can stop stealing other people's culinary successes!