Strawberry Smoothie v 2.0

Vanilla Ice Cream
Strawberries
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

***

Well, I've kept this recipe for about 9 or 10 years now. I think I saw when I was living out in TO.

Chef Jeremiah has never made it, until last night. You see, CJ isn't a big fan of spiced rum at all, ever since that fateful day back when I was *18: we had been drinking at my friend's house, and I proceeded to take a shot of spiced rum. It didn't agree with me at all, and I then puked all inside my friend's Philadelphia Eagles cap. I felt pretty bad about that...

And I now know I've been so hesitant to make this frosty beverage. It's a little on the tart side, but what really sets me off is that spiced rum. We have NO chemistry together.

Here's the photo:

The grade: 5.6 out of 10. Although I figure if you have a love-on for the spiced rum, you'd probably like it. What IS the rum spiced with anyways? All my bottle said was a "blend of Caribbean and Canadian rum"...

Big Ass Cab - 2008

"Just what it says. This is a big, intense, lush Cabernet Sauvignon. It may not be for everyone, but if you are serious about Cabernet, you should be extremely happy.  Very enjoyable right now, with potential for aging well into the next decade."

Price: Approximately $21.99 CAD. Add your tax and deposit on to that, too.

***

The Chef bumped into this wine just over a week, ago, when he was out looking for a dry red wine for the "Italian Baked Pasta" dish. I chuckled a little at it's name and label (the bottle comes in two distinct labels...).

Then it dawned upon Chef Jeremiah that perhaps it was a sign of things to come. "Monster-in-Law" with Jennifer Lopez was on the television later that day. Not that the Chef is a big fan of movies like that, but it was the scene where J-Lo had her short dress on, when she met the in-laws. She had to bend over a chair or something, and the Chef just about spit out his blueberry cocktail. Damn! She has some fine assets.

Then, later in the week, I flipped through Canada's Crappy Music Video channel, and it was one of those "a panel of underemployed (and unattractive) individuals critique various videos" shows. I don't much like those. But they had Nicki Minaj's "Right Thru Me" on. Go to about the 4:48 mark of the video. Yes, the video is the "clean" version. The Chef runs a respectable kitchen, after all... Well, the gentleman in the mock-video commented that in that shower scene, Nicki's ass looked like "two buttered pumpkins". Oh, the Chef laughed a long time at that one. He then proceeded to eat one very healthy serving of fresh pumpkin pie...

Hmmm, hm hmm hmm hmmm.

Well, here's the fuckin' bottle:

Don't waste your hard earned cash-money on that bottle. Better bottles for less $ to be had. Easily.

The grade: The wine? Darn well near a "fail". I'd give it a 6.0 out of 10. Nicki's pumpkins? About a 9.6...

Baked Pasta with Ricotta and Ham

Yes, my little Sous-chefs, I won't be posting the recipe this evening. No sense when I took it from here.

The Chef's inspiration for the dish comes from a foodie within the Capital City.I've never met her, but here's her blog. Thank you, Ms. Yeo!

I have to admit, that for the recipe I did use dried thyme, and that after reading "Only here for the Food" I doubled the amount of sauce (a wise girlfriend once told me that it's all in the sauce. I don't think she reads this blog...). No italian ham was used either - I don't think I can find any in Camrose. The recipe really should have been halved, unless I was going to feed this damned city of Vikings I live in.

The sauce portion took the majority of my Sunday morning. What else can I do? And when the ham was browning with the vegetables and the Chianti was added, I really should have recorded that smell. It was de-LISH!

In the end, it was a fancy Mac & Cheese with ham and bits o' onion in it, that's how I would describe it. It was pretty cheesy, and with every bite, you could catch a hint of Chianti in it. Beats Kraft Dinner, that's for sure.

I'm not sure your kids would like it. But it's worth a shot. Final Outcome: 7.1 out of 10.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

250 mL milk
125 mL frozen strawberries
1/2 banana
50 mL plain yoghurt
15 mL liquid honey

***

This is a pretty easy, quick and refreshing drink. I don't know why I added "breakfast" to the labels, but I think it would make a suitable "drink-on-the-go" that you could take with you on your way (walking, driving, riding?) to work. Just slide that into your travel mug and away you go! Enjoy it's cool freshness. Your tongue will soon smack those lips of yours after that first quaff. Soon, you will be a greedy little piggy and slurp down the rest of your drink. Without ever thinking of sharing, of course.

If you like your beverages not too sweet, then this is for you. While it certainly has the look of a milkshake, the taste is much more tame.

The whole "blueberry versus strawberry debate" won't be discussed here, but Chef Jeremiah highly recommends you try this recipe substituting some blueberries in for your strawberries at least once. Then tell me which you prefer.

I might also suggest some low/zero lactose milk. I was told this was a milk option at Starbucks a few weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to look for it at Safeway.

Prognosis: delicious! A commendable 7.9 out of 10 for a 2-minute effort. Kudos!

Breakfast Enchiladas

2 cups finely chopped cooked ham (black forest ham)
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
2 tbsp. oil
8 flour tortillas (7 inch)
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
4 eggs
2 cups light cream
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2-3 drops hot pepper sauce (I used tobasco sauce)

salsa
sour cream

Chef's note: I halved he recipe above.

***

I've had this recipe for about four years now. It's been in my binder ever since it was given to me and on Sunday night I finally dusted it off.

It's only been in the last nine or ten years that the Chef has ordered and even eaten egg dishes. Indeed, my tastes have changed.

Hmmm. I would say I was a little low on the green onion mix - the dish was a little low on the vegetable quotient. Otherwise it was pretty tasty. A savoury dish. The ham took care of that.

Certain things I'd change next time would change the green onions to spanish onions. Maybe even substituting the ham with chorizo sausage? All this in addition to including some guacamole, of course. :)

The dish plated just hours ago...

The grade: a respectable 7.2 out of 10.

น้ำปลา - Num pla

Anchovy fish extract
Water
Salt
Sugar

***

You get 57% of your Daily Value of sodium in a single tbsp serving.

Question: What is indispensable to Thai cooking, yet has such a pungent smell? Fish Sauce

Here's a piece of advice from the Chef: ensure your fish sauce does NOT spill during your move. Don't let it spill on your clothes, in your car or on any of your stuff. You will regret it.

Chef's Note: Check out that Sapporo beer can in the background! Good stuff!!

Phuket Prawns

6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb. tiger prawns, shelled (I think I had about 1.5 pounds - too much, really)
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves (I had to omit these, as the City of Leduc enacted a rationing of these goods. Just kidding. Seriously, there's nowhere in Leduc to get any of these)
2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
3 tbsp. sugar

serve with steamed rice - I cooked 1.5 cups of Japanese sticky rice - enough to feed 4
***

Well, I busted out the Thai cookbook tonight. Actually, I busted it out last night, and took out the shrimp so they could thaw for tonight's meal. Honestly, it takes maybe 30 minutes. And most of that is just waiting for the rice to cook. Pre-cut the vegetables and your cooking time is down to about 5 minutes - if that. So wait until your rice is done before you start the shrimp and you are laughing.

Well, here are two memories I have of Phuket:

Yeah, that's Darcy's (he of TDWaterhouse-infamy) armpit. And just above and to the right is this hot Russian chick's bum-bum. Yeah, she was there good-looking but a little pale. Still, I'd wager a princely sum that the view to our left was way better than the view to our right. We had about three fifty-something year-old french women without their tops on and who were as brown and leathery as saddlebags.

That's Chef Jeremiah playing in the water. I look like one of those constipated kids who sits in the shallow end and piles sand on top of themselves, don't I? But I don't usually get constipated. In fact, we had the opposite problem our second night there...

Well, there are a few other things I remember. Like seeing that Israeli guy who was getting out of the tuk-tuk at his hotel with a latex-clad (Thai, female) nurse and a latex-clad (Thai, female) cop. Maybe he wanted to discuss Thai health-care and Thai law enforcement?


Back to Phuket. So, this dish is Phuket Prawns, and as mentioned above, you can cook it up in a snap! Mere minutes is all it takes.

Chef Jeremiah was, of course, nearly overtaken by the fish sauce. I mean, that stuff really assaults the ol' olfactory glands, but it sure adds flavour. Yum! And the oyster sauce, too! CJ hasn't cooked with that stuff for months. No question it was worth the wait.

The vegetables weren't overcooked - still crisp. With the shrimp being done maybe only 20 seconds too long. I often overcook those little crustaceans, so I was pleasantly surprised the way they turned out - not chewy at all. Even the sauce was done well, slightly sticky and a little sweet - and with just a hint of curry. Someone very wise once told me that it's all in the sauce... Darn well near perfect!

Here are the prawns (honestly, is there a cooler accent than that? The answer is "No", of course). But that's not the type of prawn you see below:

Day-um! Judging from the focus, Chef Jeremiah needs to upgrade his camera from the BlackBerry Curve 8330..

And the Jeremiah-sized serving:

Yeah, Chef Jeremiah and his crew even ate it with spoons. No farang here!

Grade: A solid 8.4 out of 10. It's a great quick dish.

Chef's Note: You won't see anymore photos from the Chef's kitchen. In fact, a move is imminent! Soon a new kitchen will be established in the Land of the Lutherans. So my little sous-chefs, don't fret if you don't see an update for a week...