Southern Nuggets

Shopai made me so mad a couple nights ago. I went to go dump more kitchen scraps into the compost, not feeling at all bad or worried she might ingest something no Bueno. Soon after I dumped the contents over the compost wall, Shopai dove in and started feasting! As you might guess, I take the compost out just before bed so it's dark out. I didn't notice the side that acts as a door fell down. As I examined it, it looks like she chewed at the string of a ripe long enough it finally gave and she pulled the door down. Smart dog...but BAD DOG! Had it not been 10 p.m. and raining, I may have been inclined to solve this dilemma right then. I swallowed my anger and came back inside. Yesterday it was still raining. As much as I loved playing in the mud as a child, those days are behind me and I'd rather wait for a dry day. I'll work on this after I post this entry. I can't believe she did that! If you happen to follow me on Snapchat, you know that I ventured out last ...

As any of you know who follow me on Snapchat, you know that I was so excited about this dish that I actually broke my promise of not talking about food related to this blog on Snapchat. Not only that, but I walked everyone through it, step by step. Well, you didn't even have to be on Snapchat to know this, I've only ranted about it throughout the last two or three posts. Well the time had come to actually whip up this most anticipated dish. If you aren't already following me, you're always welcome to!  Slowly, I'm started to get into the habit of removing vegetables from the stove BEFORE they cook all the way, especially in circumstances like this where it tells you too because you'll reintroduce it later on. I don't know why I struggle with it, I mean it after all already edible. I'm not sure why my brain insists on making sure it's cooked all the way through. I suppose residue from cooking chicken. The aromas of lime juice, garlic and ...

I believe I mentioned that for this cooking cycle, I tried to plan out my meals in advance so I bought what I needed when I needed it. This was out of consideration of storage space and in the interest of not letting produce go bad before I had the chance to utilize them. The two dishes up first Black Bean Chili and Thai Cabbage Soup. Both I was super excited for because my buddy who now lives in Oregon forwarded me the Chili recipe. He's someone I trust to recognize good food so the fact he passed it my way, it just has to be good. (Don't disappoint me, Doran.) The other...I think the name speaks for itself. I LOVE Asian food. I mean, why wouldn't I? I look Asian. I'm an HONORARY Asian so fuck me up with some Asian food. YUM! Acting as icing on the cake, it's Thai. Of all the Asian food, Thai is my favorite. 1. Thai 2. Vietnamese 3. Japanese 4. Chinese (Authentic, not American) 5. Indian. There you go, my top five Asian dishes in order. The night before ...

Before I dive into my dish of chop-stick quickness and Japanese-love extravaganza, first things first... Here are a couple of things that I am starting to notice about this first exploration, transitioning into Vegetarian-status: [If you're just joining us, I'm not aiming for true vegetarian status as I will continue to consume fish and such when available, periodically.] 1 - The idea of eating no meat is actually harder than actually not eating meat. At the beginning, as you know, I expressed concern that this might be difficult. At the start, the hardest thing was adjusting my stomach and pallet to not  having meat constantly and always. I felt  like something was missing (and there was) and when done, I thought I still felt hungry. I never really was hungry, I just wasn't satisfied because I was used to the goodness of meat and fat with every consumption - it's more of a brain process if that makes any sense. And it isn't like I'm 100% vegetarian righ...