Exploration 1: Vegetable Curry - the first win!**

"Anna, I bought some curry sauce mix and all the directions say are to add onions, then the meat, then the vegetables before adding some water and breaking these cubes apart and adding them. It doesn't tell me how much water or how much curry. I've never done this before. Help!"

That was the Snapchat I sent to my Asian friend Anna who lives in Sacramento shortly after I read the instructions on the side of the curry box. I've had curry before. I love curry....never cooked with it. Things were not starting out on a good foot. It wasn't long after she sent a reply.

"That's weird. I've never seen it come in cubes before. Try just adding a little water and one cube at a time and adjust it to your taste."

With that understanding, I dove into my next attempt. This dish would in fact be 100% vegetarian (unless they snuck something into the curry sauce, but it says "no meat contained." So, I think we're good.)

What is becoming obvious is, although vegetables are cheaper than meat - they don't keep as long. Well, unless you freeze them and I'm just not sure if vegetables can be frozen. Fresh vegetables anyway. My grocery shopping spree at the start of the week is already starting to render some sickly vegetables.

The tomatoes, I knew they were too ripe when I grabbed them were all tossed in the garbage, unused, yesterday and I found mold covering all of them. I'm trying to eat as much as I can, but it doesn't help that this week I'm observing a personal fast during the day so essentially the only meal I'm eating is dinner.

Well, I lied - I get up SUPER early just to have breakfast (fasting rules: sunup to sundown), but my traditional breakfast consists of OJ/Apple Juice, 2 Eggs Over-hard, and some bacon. Yum! I was thinking this morning as I cooked up my before-dawn feast, I have no idea what I'm going to do when I extend this vegetable only habit over to breakfast. What then shall I eat? Oatmeal everyday? I suppose I can start implementing fish instead of bacon...but what about eggs? Is that allowed? 

But that's neither hear or there...I heard that phrase off one of my favorite TV sitcoms, "Baby Daddy" and I find it incredibly entertaining, so I'm sorry if I drop it a few dozen times over the next few blog entries.

As much as I hated to use the SAME vegetable medley I did for the Thai stir fry, besides it being the heart of my vegetable selection, they too are starting to go limp so need to be devoured. Then again, we're talking about vegetables, right? To a certain extent, they are going to become routine - but that's the point of all this anyway, to prepare them in a way that doesn't showcase that and makes it fun time after time. 

Instead of using oil, I used butter as recommended on the box and true to Southern form, I didn't skimp on it either. It's true, everything worth dying over - food wise, is packed full of butter - DELICIOUS! I follow in the steps of the movie, "Julie and Julia", DON'T FORGET THE BUTTER!

With this dish I noticed I need to be a tad bit more conscious about how much vegetables I use. I tend just to start cutting shit up and hope it equals a decent portion. My fear is, because it is just vegetables, I'll find myself short and on the brink of starvation. With this dish, however, I may have gotten vegetable happy as there was an awful lot. Just mental note to self. 

Considering how packed my frying pan was, I started with 1.5 cups of water. I measured it so I wasn't trying to guess again come the next curry attempt. This package, "Golden Curry Sauce Mix" that I picked up at Wal-Mart (I know, I just name dropped. I didn't want to, but I wasn't sure if it might be exclusive only to Wal-Mart..and don't judge me, Wal-Mart is about my only grocery store shopping option if I want anything "ethnic") comes with five cubes.

After the water and vegetables got a good boil going, I added the cubes one at a time. Letting the first completely dissolve. Considering I've had curry before, there was a certain consistency I believed that curry should have so I dropped in three before I tasted it. It looked too watery to be right before that.

It seemed to be a good balance. I was afraid to over do it.

The box said that it was "medium hot." Personally, I didn't think there was any spice to it. Then again, my spice tolerant is pretty high. But, my sister, who doesn't do well with spicy things - said it wasn't spicy either. So there you go.

Once it was all mixed up, I dumped a bunch of it over some steamed rice and gave it a go. I was completely satisfied. Besides the fact it tasted nothing like the previous dish, despite the same vegetables, it was really good. I think I smiled the entire time I ate my dinner.

Again it filled me up and I wasn't even tempted to follow it with a protein. I do this from time to time just because I haven't yet worked myself out of the "meat always and forever" mind set. 

There were left overs and I really had to make tough decisions on having ice cream that night after dinner because I was pretty full (I like desert.) 

Later that night when my sister came home, she hadn't eaten. I invited her to try the left overs. She seemed hesitant but it was better than the Ramen Noodles she had in her hand. 

"Hey Tyson, this is actually really good," she said with fork in hand.

"I know, right? I was totally happy with it."

So there you have it meat-committed, Southern girl approved.

Because the fridge is piling up on left overs, tonight I'll probably just eat whatever I can find in there. Hopefully I can get the next blog up come Friday morning. I have no idea what I'm going to do for that one....I have some black beans - maybe I'll try something with that. A friend from Oregon tagged me on Facebook with this bomb-ass looking recipe. (Yes, I did say "bomb." Does that date me? Probably.)

In the mean time, here's the recipe for CURRY VEGETABLES, enjoy!

1. Toss Real Butter in frying pan to melt before adding onion to caramelize.
2. Throw in vegetables (I used carrots, green bell pepper, celery)
3. Throw in more vegetables. I read these should come later as they require less cooking time (broccoli, mushrooms, and bok choy.)
4. Dump in water (I used 1.5 cups)
5. Add Curry to taste
6. Add Coconut Milk to taste.
7. Enjoy over some steamed rice

No where anywhere did it say to add Coconut Milk. But I've seen some of my Asian friends toss this in with their curry and I figured, it couldn't help and if I didn't use the stuff from the other night it would start to go bad. I have no idea how long it will keep. I probably tossed in about .5 cups, although I didn't measure it. 

Didn't hurt it one bit. In fact, I might argue, it made it that much more spectacular. 

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