Recipes: Chinese Fried Rice I & Chicken Chop Suey

We like yelling out, "Chop Suey!"

CHINESE FRIED RICE I

Serves 6-8

½ C cooked ham, chicken, or pork, diced fine

2 Tbsp oil

3 oz mushrooms, chopped

4 C chilled day-old cooked rice

1 green onion, chopped fine

2 Tbsp soy sauce, plus more (if desired)

1 egg, beaten well

Heat oil in large deep skillet and brown meat. Add mushrooms, rice, green onion, and soy sauce, and continue frying over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add egg and continue stir-frying for another 5 minutes, or until dry enough to be fluffy. Add additional soy sauce to taste or for a darker color.

Chop suey recipe below. Mr. Big Food used sesame and chile oils rather than the butter called for. 

Recipe: Mexican Tamales Rojos y Verdes

Steam for about an hour

As is his custom, Mr. Big Food prefaces the recipe in The Big Food Manual with some commentary from the cook book from which the recipe was culled:

“These are the most popular tamales in Mexico. For parties, the dough is divided in two so there are the same number of red and green tamales. You can make the red and green tamales following the recipe in this book, or if you have a favorite recipe then try it!

            Also, to cut the preparation time in half you can buy any green or red salsa from the grocery store and still enjoy these delicious tamales.

Enjoy them hot with hot cocoa.”—Cocina Tìpica Latinoamericana (Traditional Latin-American Cooking), Festival Hispano Cincinnati (2001)

“Red and Green Tamales”

I have no idea what it's like these days, but the Hispanic Festival in Cincinnati was fun when we were going.

Recipe below the fold.

Ante-pesto

The very first year I started growing vegetables in earnest, I had an over abundance of some things. I tried making a dollar or two by selling stuff here. I didn't like the way that worked out. So now we just give stuff away.

I've offered my overabundance of basil to some folk. There were almost no takers-- Bart took one measley little plant.

And so. We will make pesto this weekend.

Meanwhile, Daughter C. called to say she was 'sold out'. 

Tamales

One of the BIG things Mr. Big Food did this past weekend was make a BIG batch of tamales. Recipe to follow.

"Modern science can claim no credit...

for their development," says Master Chef Louis P. De Gouy about peas in The Gold Cook Book (1948, Chilton Company--Book Division, Philadelphia and New York).

"Their pedigree is long, romantic, historic-- possibly even prehistoric... ."

The style in which this crappy old cook book is written is so different from "modern" cook books. Here's some of the eight-paragraph introduction to peas in The Gold Cook Book:

Certain it is that the people of ancient Egypt ate them, for they have been found in a tomb near the remains of Thebes. And peas long dried were uncovered among the ruins of once great Troy, where they had remained buried in pottery jars of some thirty-four centuries.

Theophratus, the Greek who is called the father of botany, and who died in 287 B.C., referred frequently to peas as a common vegetable of his land. They were mentioned, too, a short time before the birth of Christ by the Roman poet Virgil. Much later, in the Middle Ages, the writings of the time indicated that peas were grown as one of the chief guards against famine, and that they were given a major part in the rations, home and abroad, of medieval armies and navies.

In England of that time, peas were so generally in use that the terms "pottage" and "porridge" came to be practically synonymous with peas, and nursery rhymes revolved around them-- "Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold." The people of the Middle Ages, unlike the ancients who used dried peas alone as food, cooked teh green pods whole, dipped them in sauce, picked out the peas, and then threw away the empty pods.

It was the French... .

Unleashed

Thinkers at play.

BIG weekend here at the Farm. Rocky got turned loose. We woke up one day and Mr. Big Food said, "This is ridiculous. We live on a Farm. Why is Rocky on a leash?" And so, Rocky is no longer on a leash. 

We tried unleashing Missy but she is too easily distracted.

And another: http://bigfoodetc.blogspot.com/2012/05/another-photos-with-no-captions-blog.html

 

Another photos with no captions blog

 

* 

I link to Tom's blog a lot

and I go to his site daily. I'd seen that other than the Greenwood business, he's been quiet for some time. Tom is North MS Commentor. When I had a chance to catch up, I saw his post announcing that his father had died.

He has a new post up now.

Here’s a short documentary my daughter Sarah Simonson  did for a Southern Studies class about Phil Stone (my dad’s first law partner) and William Faulkner that includes a section of my father talking about Stone and Faulkner.   (I’m in there, too).   I’m so glad this is on video.

In the scheme of things, the death of your father is inevitable.

Scouting Dewberries

Dewberries, Rubus travialis Michaux, are a bramble fruit, related to raspberries and blackberries. Dewberry vines/bushes grow wild here on the Farm and elsewhere in The South. The brambles are thorny and rambling. Therefore, the berries are a real pain in the neck to pick. But they are worth the effort. I know this because Rocky & Missy & I scouted some of the prime dewberry patches today and I evaluated a very ripe one. Sweet!

From Lucile Parker's (1999) Southern Wildflowers, Pelican Publishing Company

This illustration is misleading, but illustrates another reason dewberries are such a pain to pick. The berries on any given bramble do not all ripen at the same time. In the illustration, those berries at the ends of the vine should be red (not ripe), not black (ripe). Also, compared to domestic blackberries, dewberries are small.

One must work hard & smart to harvest a respectable quantity of dewberries.

In anticipation of dewberry season, I did some research.

I learned

WikiHow: http://www.wikihow.com/Pick-Dewberries

that I should dress appropriately for my "outdoor experience" and that I should find a plastic bag and a walking stick.

Lettuce volunteer

Kagraner Sommer lettuce: "58 days — It is a good mid-season variety as it is slow to bolt in the summer heat. Originally from Germany, the heads are light green and medium sized. Each packet contains one gram, which is approximately 500 to 600 seeds." Seed from Victory Seeds.

Oakleaf lettuce: I've had one large packet of these seeds for years and they keep germinating!

Butterhead Buttercrunch lettuce: "65 days. Buttercrunch is a vigorous grower with a creamy yellow interior, buttery, flavor and tender texture. Small heads are perfect for a single-serve salad. Loves moist but not soggy soil. The compact size makes it a good container variety." Seed from Botanical Interests

Each spring, I plant my salad garden in the same raised planters. It's intense! As in, "intensive gardening"-- getting the most out of a given space: lettuce, celery, radishes, spinach, rat-tail radishes, fall radishes, cherry tomatoes, micro-greens, basil, oregano, garden cress, zinnias... . 

Back on the Farm

Sorry for the Silence. We needed to do some things.

Good Puppies!

We are back in the groove now. 

See?!?

There was some paprikaschitzel thing for dinner. And cabbage. And leftover salad.

Let's play catchup!

That is what Mr. Big Food & I are doing. It's amazing how far behind we can get when we're not keeping up. 

Would anyone like some lettuce? Speak up!

"DON'T TRASH THE NAT'I"

That's what our dumpster says. Long story.

So as not to TRASH THE NAT'I, I will say that the likedysplit internet access they have up in Cincinnati is pretty darned cool.

Today was Mothers' Day

I've chatted with a number of mothers the past few days. Most recently, I chatted-- from the parking lot of the Kroger just to the north of Tupelo-- with Mom, some time after 5pm. And Mr. Big Food's Mom and I swapped "Happy Mothers' Day!" greetings early in the day.

There was a card waiting for me at the Farm from Kat & Tony. One of the first things I did when I brought the mail in was open the card. Miss M. had called again and we were able to chat a bit. Daughter C. made me a chocolate dessert. It was good. While I was talking to Mom, Mr. Big Food was in the Kroger in Tupelo getting some ribeyes 1/2 price, and some Texas Toast bread.

I picked a very large salad. It's been rainy and relatively cool here. The lettuce has gone wild. (It is not hard, once you get the hang of it, to grow your own salad, at least in the spring.) Mr. Big Food grilled the ribeyes, and fixed up some butter & things to spread on the bread slices to make garlic toast. It's good, but homemade would have been better. Thing is, we were traveling and we didn't have time to make homemade bread. But store bought bread slathered with some butter thing is much better that frozen garlic bread. 

I had a 3-way and she was jealous.

Cincinnati chili, 1-2-3, served with oyster crackers

1-2-3: spaghetti-meat sauce-cheese (and lots of it!) Also available 4-, & 5-way.

When we approached the entrance, Mr. Big Food remarked that Miss M. was just talking about the wee morning hours she & friends had spent at Camp Washington Chili. And so, I texted her these photos.

Who's home?

I am missing the Farm & Rocky & Missy.

Spending time with Max compensates.

Don't worry, hon...

You don't look anything at all like Mississippi. Your Yankees from Hell population of Halfbacks* will never allow that to happen. 

From Y'all Politics:

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue had strong words Friday when asked about Tuesday's vote on Amendment One.

"We look like Mississippi," the governor told reporters during a visit to Greenville this morning.

Unofficial returns show the amendment - which defines marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman - passed with about 61 percent of the vote to 39 percent against.

North Carolina is the 30th state to adopt such a ban on gay marriage.

State law already prohibited same-sex marriages. Supporters said they wanted to write it into the constitution to further protect traditional marriage.

More from WWAY in Greenville, NC.

~~

Halfback: someone who moves from the northeast corridor to Florida only to discover it's hot in Florida and subsequently moves half-way back to the northeast, i.e., to North Carolina

Keeping Up: Hybrid Monsters

Crappy old school buildings

As long-time readers know, I like crappy old stuff and I'm not ashamed of it. That preference doesn't mean that I am opposed to, for example, cool modern buildings. I believe crappy old buildings and cool modern buildings can co-exist quite peaceably. But it is a crime against nature to force them to reproduce-- to create something new.

I don't give a hoot what the "experts" at Forbes say. This is a monstrosity.

If I don't keep up, I'll be lost, part 2

We have arrived in The Nati.

On our way here, we stopped at the National Corvette Museum.

We had lunch at a Waffle House where there were some Sons of God Bikers.

One of the advantages of traveling with multiple things that can take pictures is that I can take pictures on multiple things. I've only downloaded the BIG camera. Sons of God are on other devises. I have a lot of photos of the Corvette Museum. Stay tuned.

We got to Cincinnati. And Max drove us past our old house. We got out just in time.

The view from Colerain.

The view from Colerain. You can see The Shack from Colerain.

Sad. But no matter. We live in Mississippi now!

We had a great first evening back.

If I don't keep up... I'll be lost.

We dropped Miss M. off at MEM.

We had breakfast at a CK's Coffee shop

where you can get a glazed donut burger.

I saw at least 1/2 dozen of these signs in yards. 

We posted some mail.

We had lunch.

Not here.

Here.

 

 

And then POOF! We were at Mr. & Mrs. Kant's!

Delicious. Thank you!

Kids & Dog photos get a dedicated post. Thanks y'all!

Just a quick "Hello"

A car waiting in a long line outside the window of a Starbucks in Nashville.

We picked our way across western & middle Tennessee today. I took some pics. I'll share next time I have some down time. For now, let me just say you can rest assured that JESUS is doing well in this part of the country.

Tomorrow will be a BIG day for all of us.

I'll ask Miss M. to communicate her thoughts to me throughout the day.

What I miss when they are gone is the almost constant contact and the quiet times in the truck when you check off conversation starting point and reject them all in turn. There are some false starts. But the point is, you're/I'm going away tomorrow. What do you want to talk about? 

We talked a lot about dogs and cats and cooking and baking and gardening and landscaping and vegetables and animals. And nutrition and kids. And family members. 

We did some planting. 

[LANGUAGE ALERT IF YOU CLICK TO CONTINUE]

Looking forward

Day After Tomorrow we drop Miss M. off at MEM and pick our way east. We'll pause & overnight in Nashville, thanks to the hospitality of Friends. We will get up in the morning and turn left. And then, Poof! We'll be in Cincinnati.

By then, Miss M. will have been home in NC for some time. And Daughter C. will be here with Rocky and Missy and Snaps.

If you are inclined to pray, I'd recommend praying for Daughter C. Odds are that Miss M.'s flights will go well, as will our travels. (Still, if you want, say a little prayer for us... .) Daughter C. is going to have her hands full.

Bless her heart.

Priorities

Eleven ingredients (not including those in the made-from-scratch vinaigrette dressing)

4 varieties of lettuce (oak leaf, butter crunch, some French red leaf, & some German sort)

Broccoli raab

Beet thinnings

Celery leaves & flowers

2 varieties of radishes (China rose & ...?)

Yellow granex onion (an official Vidalia onion)

Micro-green flowers

Erika Johnson at Hot Air has a post concerning "food deserts" (so-called). Quoting from Bloomberg, Johnson reports that several large chain grocery stores have reneged on their commitment to opening "more than 1,000 stores selling fresh fruit and vegetables in underserved urban neighborhoods." 

Johnson says, "This is yet another example of nanny-state bureaucrats ignoring the laws of supply and demand and attacking the symptoms instead of the disease." Agreed. She notes a NYT's report of a study dispelling the correlation between food deserts and obesity. She then goes on to say, 

Secondly, if there really aren’t many healthy foods to be found in these areas, it’s only because there isn’t a market for them. For whatever reason, people in these areas do not want to buy fresh-caught scallops and broccoli sprouts. The likeliest over-arching explanation is indeed low-income levels — having the time and money to plan, shop for, and cook nice healthful meals is a luxury that comes with prosperity — but spending taxpayer money to merely improve access to these communities’ foods isn’t going to change that.

[My emphasis]

Storm clouds

Miss M. had never seen a Mississippi Spring Thunderstorm before.

The plan was for us to plant some seeds this afternoon. That will not happen. Maybe we'll bake a cake instead. After all, the kitchen had recovered from the weekend.

Funny stuff

Mr. Big Food's Dad sends this along with the comment

ONLY IN TEXAS!!! Well, maybe in Mississippi, too......

Feel free to share.

Recovery Monday

What a weekend! After preparing for the get together, and then getting together with folks Saturday, we all-- Daughter C., Miss M., A. Leland, Mr. Big Food, and I-- enjoyed a "Lazy" Sunday.

Girls! Take the dogs on a pack walk to the pasture.

Miss M.! Make some delicious bruschetta for us.

Hey you! Have a BIG salad with Sunday Supper.

Truth be told (that's a joke) we did a lot of stuff yesterday. 

Today we recover. We'll begin by recovering the kitchen for the upteenth time.

Some people came out to the Farm today.

There were already some people here. I think we all had fun!

Ham smoked over Hickory

We had to get Mike up to Speed.

Duck gumbo

Corn Hole

Here I gave my camera to Bart.

It's been a fun 24 hours!

This morning Miss M. and I were out on the patio enjoying the morning. Miss M. looked at the tiller that was on the patio and said, "What's that?" Miss M. doesn't know very much about County Life.

I replied, "A tiller."

Later in the morning, Miss M. moved the tiller.

It was a hoot & a holler.

~~

Miss M. thinks we should move the rocks Rocky, the Junk Yard Dog, dug up out of the front bed. Remember that?

~~

Later in the morning, A. Leland came out and we all smoked cigarettes and drank coffee and yacked. ... A. Leland read us a little story. And then he went to Starkvegas.

Miss M. and I also went to Vegas. We did some errands. We went to the Co-Op and bought some s&*^#-- 400 pounds of s&*^# to be exact (10 bags)-- I got a malt, we saw went to Daughter C's office and met some folk, had a beer then supper, went home and found ourselves yacking across the picnic table.

~~

Miss M. was dressed very nicely.

Arrivals

A. Leland has arrived.

Miss. M. has arrived.

Mr. Big Food & I have retired to The Den.

If this isn't enough to tick off the Pope,

I don't know what is.

I highly recommend using straw as a mulch in the vegetable garden. Straw

• retains moisture
• modulates soil temperature
• decomposes, adding organic matter to the veggie plot
• inhibits weed growth
• allows for walking through a wet garden
• keeps fruit such as melon and squash "cleaner" 
• looks nice.

This is #2 Bermuda grass-- what's available in my area. It goes for $7-8/bale. 

That's about 1/3 of a bale that got blowed away.

BIG news!

It is  

BIG news that A. Leland is coming but it is even  

BIGGER news that Miss M. is coming!

  

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye

On our way to Oxford, Mississippi yesterday, I noticed corn coming up in gardens and fields. YIKES! I have so much to do-- company's coming-- and the Clowns think it's time to go for a run in the pasture.

While I'm planting corn, head over to Keep Guessing. Becca has a nice post up about kitchen economy and flavored water.