OREO ICE CREAM

 I have been craving Oreo ice cream for days.  I just finished the mint Oreo ice cream last week and it was good.  The Oreo cookies got really small and pretty much disintegrated in the ice cream.  I wanted to make ice cream where the cookies stayed cookies so I made the cookie pieces really big so even if they started to disintegrated they would not get too small before they froze up.

The ice cream came out great. It has nice big chunks of Oreo cookies.

I finally had a bath.  Having that heart monitor on me made it I could not have a bath for two weeks.  It was hard! Especially the first week when it was raining.  I love to have a bath when it is raining.  I could also take a long shower without having to worry about getting the monitor all wet.  It was a nice weekend.

Until tomorrow...

DAY SIXTY OF COOKING COURSE

 I made something really good today.  I made a Banh Mi sandwich.  It was a four step process:

1. make the barbecue sauce and mix it in with the mushrooms to marinate.  I used mushrooms instead of eggplant.  Cook after 30 minutes.
   
2. make the pate. The pate was made out mushrooms and peanuts. 
3. make the salad out of cucumber, rice vinegar and sugar.
4. assemble the sandwich.  

This sandwich was so awesome to eat.  The mushrooms were marinated and cooked just right. The pate added some flavor with the peanuts. The cucumber salad added a crunch and sweetness.  It was such a balanced sandwich.  

I was going to make something else but I decided to take it easy instead.  I found ants in my downstairs door area so I had to clean that out. There is no food or water there so I have no idea why they were there.  There must be a hole somewhere.  I get ants every now and then in that spot. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-NINE OF COOKING COURSE

 This morning I decided to make a Crispy Tofu Noodle Soup from a magazine recipe.  I wanted some food that will last a few meals.  I found this awesome soup recipe and I had most of the ingredients.  I traded out some of the ingredients like the tofu. I didn't have plain tofu but I had tofu that was already flavored and cooked.  I took some soy sauce and soaked the tofu before I fried it.  It changed the flavor of the tofu. Then I didn't have the chard in the recipe but I had some kale so I used that instead. I like to take a recipe and switch up the ingredients with what I have available. The soup tastes great.

I took a break during lunchtime and watched the last two episodes of WandaVision.  I am starting to understand it a little.

I wanted to make a Banh Mi from the cooking course but I realized I was missing an ingredient. So, I made a dessert instead. I made a Mango Jelly.  It is a vegan jelly with fresh mango on the bottom layer and the top layer is a sweet coconut cream topped with toasted coconut.  It isn't super sweet but refreshing.  I enjoyed it very much.

 I went to turn on my front door light and it was burnt out.  I can't remember the when I put in that light bulb but it had to be a long time because there was painter's tape on the light from when I had the house painted. That was almost two years ago.  I put the same type of light bulb in again.  I guess it has a long life. It also seemed lighter but I think it is just because I washed the light cover off. There was a ton of dirt and bug stuff in the cover.  I also had to WD40 the screws because the painters tightened the screws so much I had to use pliers to loosen them. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-EIGHT OF COOKING COURSE

 Today didn't go as planned.  First, I had a hard time getting going.  It was one delivery after another.  My food was delivered (except the new Ben & Jerry's flavor), then an Amazon package, then the post office picked up my package, and then another Amazon package.  I finally got going around 2pm.  

I made Fried Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauce on my first day of Vietnamese cooking.  It started out well with the veggies and tofu cut up and mixed with the vegan fish sauce and coconut cream.  It looked delicious. I rolled perfect spring rolls and they were ready to go into the oil.  They were the same rice wrappers I used last time only this time, the minute they went into the oil, the wrapper disintegrated.  I don't know what happened.  It was a big mess as all the ingredients from the spring roll floated around in the oil. At this point I decided to call it.  This was not going to work like my last round of fried spring rolls.  It may have been the sauce that made the spring rolls a bit wet.

I had to think on my feet and find another way to cook them. I decided to try baking them in the toaster oven on a piece of parchment.  It worked!  They weren't fried but baked.  The spring rolls still tasted delicious.  

They were so good I ate them all for dinner. Yum!

I went to a video "school" tonight and learned about Grizzlies. I learned the California Grizzly is extinct but there are like 15 types of Grizzly bears around the world.  It was super interesting.

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-SEVEN OF COOKING COURSE

Well, I did it!  I passed the Thai cooking chapter.  I took my test, passed and received my certificate.  

Today I cooked my final Thai dish Tom Som - Spicy and Sour Soup.  It IS Spicy.  I took one bite and gave the whole soup away.  I didn't even put all the spice in the soup.  It had a bunch of mushrooms, tofu and tomatoes in it.  It was a pretty soup that would burn your tongue out of your mouth.  I do see that my spice tolerance has increased through this course.  When my dog walker says something is too spicy for him, I know it is VERY spicy.  He is one of those folks that travels with hot sauce and grew up eating chili peppers in Mexico.  

Now I am moving on to the Vietnamese chapter.  I am super excited!  I started out with making Vegan Fish Sauce with pineapple.  The pineapple is cooked with sea salt and molasses.  Then it is strained and kept in the refrigerator.  

I wasn't done for the day and I made Fried Morning Glory with Spinach as a substitute.  The spinach is blanched and fried with the vegan fish sauce.  It was really tasty and I love spinach.

I got to take my heart monitor off today. It is all boxed up and ready to go back tomorrow.  Two days ago I could not wait to get it off but most of the time it was fine and didn't bother me.  I was thrilled to take a shower longer than a few minutes and this weekend I want to take a long bath.  While wearing the monitor you have to be careful how much water, sweat and steam gets near the monitor.  It will be a five weeks until I hear the results.  It will be interesting to hear the results.

It was a busy day.  I even had time to buy some more supplies for the upcoming week.

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-SIX OF COOKING COURSE

 I attempted making Pad Thai today.  It turned out okay but I think the recipe called for too much tamarind paste.  It tastes okay but tamarind paste is a bit biter and when I make it again I will put less. The Pad Thai has tofu, noodle and bean sprouts.  

There are different items to put on the Pad Thai depending on your tastes: crushed peanuts, lime, sugar and chili flakes.  I only used the lime and peanuts.

Tomorrow I am finishing up the Thai chapter and moving on to the Vietnamese chapter.  

I posted my first blog post on my other blog. It was exciting to keep moving forward with my new project.  

GOOD NEWS: I spoke to the veterinarian last week and we decided that I should try again giving Lucky children's Benadryl on the days she goes to the beach to see if her "snorting or stuffiness" goes away.  I started last Friday and I think it is helping. I wouldn't say she is cured but she isn't up all night having a hard time breathing so this is super good news.  I am getting better sleep!

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-FIVE OF COOKING COURSE

 It's a Monday and I had a tough time getting moving. Not sure why.  I finally got moving and began the cooking for the day.  I have three dishes left for the Thai chapter.  Today I made Laab Isaan.  It is a dish with mixed mushrooms and tofu with chili flakes.  It also had fried sticky rice that is ground into a powder. 

 

I took one bite and my mouth was on fire. It was hot!  I had to eat a spoonful of rice with each bite to tamp down the flames.  

I gave the rest of the dish to my dog walker and I am sure he doesn't think it is too hot.

My friends helped me edit some of the writing for my website.  They made the writing so much clearer and edited the punctuation.

I had a phone call from a friend who moved to Hawaii tonight. He is back in town to finish packing his final items and get his pets. The pets needed to get final shots before they could travel.  They move for good to Hawaii in a month.  I am excited for them but sad for me.  Hopefully some day I can visit them.

Until tomorrow...

SLOW DAY

 Today was a slow day.  I talked to my nephew for his birthday. It was good to catch up with him.  Then I video chatted with some friends for my regular Sunday Funday.  Then I talked to my friend A.  I wanted to catch up with her. She is going to help me edit some of my writing.

I watched the movie The Little Things on HBO. I know it had mixed reviews but I really liked it. I thought Deenzel Washington is always good in these types of roles. Jared Leto was his crazy self.  I still can't get over Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury.  It will take me a while to see him in a different role. 

I worked on my blog for my new venture for my new website. Then it was the end of the day. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-FOUR OF COOKING COURSE

 The excitement this week never ends!  I got up and went to the post office to mail my mail and get my mail.  Lucky has not been feeling well (not to worry, just upset tummy) and I took my time getting out the door.  I drove down and got my mail.  I just got back in my car and my phone rang.  It was 7:35am on a Saturday.  It was the alarm company telling me my inside sensor went off.  No outside sensors went off so no doors or windows were opened.  After a momentary panic I figured out it had to be the dog.  This happened once with Happi.  It was her bark that set off the sensor, not her presence.  I am assuming the same thing was happening.  I told the guy this and he said he could not cancel it without my pin.  What was my pin?  I could not remember my pin.  This is not my first pin I have forgotten.  I am sure it will not be my last.  The problem with pins is that when you don't use them, you forget them.  I could remember my old, old one.  Not the current one so he said he had to call the police.  I explained that I was 2 min from home.  Nope that would not do. So, he called.  I got home and everything was fine.  Lucky was fine.  I remembered my pin now that I wasn't in a state of shock and called them back to see if they could cancel it.  Nope.  The police showed up at my door and I explained it was my dog and thanked them profusely.  This is only the first time the cops have had to come for a false alarm.  Other time I set the alarm out of habit and the dog walker came on his scheduled day and the alarm went off but I remembered my pin and stopped the police from coming.  My dog walker was terrified.  

Once again when the excitement calmed down, I cooked a scrumptious dish called Fried Morning Glory & Dipping Sauce. Although it is changed to Fried Spinach & Dipping Sauce.  I could not find any Morning Glory.  It was so good!  It was a lot of work for very little outcome. It was more of a party trick.  It was fun to make.  The spinach goes in the tempura and goes in the oil.  It fries and comes out crispy and delicious.  Then a dipping sauce is made from mango, spices and lime.  A little to hot for me but it was good and my friend S (who came by to get her curry from yesterday) had some and loved it.  

 Three more dishes and I move on to Vietnamese food.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY FIFTY-THREE OF COOKING COURSE

 What a morning!  I went down to start my car and you guessed it, it didn't start.  The battery was dead yet again.  I called for service and they came right out.  This time I told them I don't care what your recommendation is I want a new battery straight away.  He said I could take the battery down and get it recharged since it had practically no charge left.  I said no thank you.  All I can envision is I am waiting in line to get my vaccination and my car won't start because the battery conks out.  No thank you.  Just give me a new one right now.  Then he showed me what to do if I can't drive it for a few weeks.  There is a trick to keep your battery from running down and you don't have to get a drip thingy or take your battery out.  I don't think I will have to do it but good to know.

Of course I missed my window to get to the post office.  I also set my alarm off because I was so distracted when my car wouldn't start. Crazy morning.

Once everything calmed down, I made a lovely curry.  Yes, another one. It is the last curry in this chapter.  I am so happy.  This curry was kind of fun.  It was Panang Curry with Jackfruit "Meatballs".  The meatballs were more like fritters we make in the USA.  The curry was made tofu, mushrooms, baby corn and coconut milk and then it is poured over the meatballs.  The meatballs were made from jackfruit, soy sauce and tempura flour. They are then fried until they are golden.  I used canned jackfruit so I didn't have to crack open that large fruit.  The curry was too spicy for me (I ate a little) but the jackfruit fritters were really good.  Who doesn't like fried food?  

Once again I gave some to my friend S and to the dog walker.  

Until tomorrow...