Southern Nuggets

"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...

Thai Vegetable Stir Fry Saturday night, I figured I would give a more Asian-ie recipe, compared to the Ramen Noodles, a try. Mostly, because I wanted to start to figure out how to use some of the ingredients in my "Asian cupboard." After searching the web, I found one that seemed both tasty as it was simple to throw together. As a reminder, I'm a beginner at cooking vegetables as an entree and also in using the unique flavors such as fish sauce and oyster sauce. Things didn't start on a good note when, while mixing together the sauce, I became aware that I lacked ginger and lime. I searched the cabinet for anything I could substitute in, but in regard to ginger - the only thing I could think of was lemongrass. I didn't have that either. My sister is a Southern girl and the spice cabinet is very much a reflection of that: steak seasoning, garlic powder, cumin, Cajun seasoning, dill weed, pepper, salt, the list continues. Fish sauce - let me say right now,...