The End of Summer (sniff,sniff)

Where did the summer go! Here we are on Labor Day weekend, and it seems like it was just last week that we were celebrating Memorial Day! Hope you all have a wonderful last hurrah of summer. For our family, we will be jamming the long weekend full of badminton, croquet, last minute school shopping, and cooking out!

Food, fun and friends(and probably some sore muscles too!)- those are all part of of our Labor Day weekend. What are your plans for ringing out the dog days of summer?! Are you travelling or are you hanging out at home?

Restaurant Tien Tien Fatt, Pork noodles, USJ, Petaling Jaya

I was introduced to this delicious pork noodles place by my brother.

When he told me about the pork noodles at subang, I assumed it was the famous one at SS15..

Nope, it's at USJ, near the durian place...

Restaurant Tien Tien Fatt is located at the ground floor of Goodyear Court 3, where it houses plenty of hawker fare, but my brother's focus was to only one stall, the Penang Pork Mee stall.

I had Pork with loh shue fun ( a type of noodles) The soup was very sweet from boiling of pork and pork parts, which was absolutely scrumptious, especially when I had it on a cold, rainy day. Laden with goodies such as mince pork, pork slices, sliced liver (my fave!) and pork balls; and mix with a generous amount of lard/ fried garlic mix, every mouthful was so very satisfying. This is one of the best pork noodles I've tried so far.

My brother wanted to have his pork soup with rice.. The outcome was something like rice smothered with pork soup (porridge ala teochew style). Although it's very tasty, I'd still preferred it with noodles.

Do you think this pork mee is filled with MSG?
Donno, we'll see if we get thirsty later when we're on the road..was my brother's reply.
We travelled on the road for about 3 hours, and good news, we did not get thristy :)

Restaurant Tien Tien Fatt is located at Goodyear Court 3, USJ. If you are coming from Summit USJ (on your left), drive on until you reached a T-junction (traffic lights that turns to Taipan, USJ). Turn left just before the traffic light. Restaurant Tien Tien is located just next to the main road (traffic lights).

Food for fighting a migraine?!

A weird shift of weather has brought several in our family to our knees with migraines for the holiday weekend. If you have migraines or know someone who has them, you know they can be extremely debilitating, and they are hereditary. Every one of my children inherited these from me and while there are new medications to treat and avoid migraines, usually insurance limits the numbers of pills you can have so if you run out of pills before you run out of low pressure systems in a month... well, you are out of luck.

There are certain things that seem to help migraines- one is iced coffee, heavy on the caffeine. There was a coffee shop nearby that had a drink they called a migraine special with double shots of espresso. Another thing that I seem to crave when I have a headache is something hot or spicy. Sushi with wasabi (or anything with wasabi, for that matter), or, as I am cooking tonight, Fricken' Chicken, a recipe that I have posted before and a family favorite. Also a real fountain Coke (not diet!) seems to help the nausea that often comes with migraines.

Some migraine sufferers' headaches are triggered by foods such as chocolate, red wine, or aged cheeses, however, mine are usually triggered by sleep changes (either more or less), barometric pressure changes, and bright light, and either I amso sick I can't thinkof food,or I go searching for something that will provide some relief (or at least diversion!) Are there any foods or things you crave when you are not feeling well?

Getting Close (but not too close) to Your Food - A day of Crabbing

Since I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, I am new to crabbing, but to my husband who spent many of his formative years in Annapolis Maryland, crabbing is a way of life, an experience that takes him back to a time that he remembers very fondly. For that reason, he really loves taking our kids (or even friends of our kids) crabbing. He wants to recapture those carefree, long summer days with sunburn,bay breezes, and mosquito bites and share it.

Crabbing is so much more fun than fishing, a lot faster-paced, and how can you not like something that gives you an excuse to enjoy sun and water, the fun of a treasure hunt, the danger of a creature who defends itself by pinching...hard. Oh, and then there are the steamed crabs, Old Bay and melted butter.

We are fortunate in that my old (meaning previous) boss has a house with a pier that is the perfect place for crabbing, and since he has a boat lift, it casts a shadow so that you are not in the blazing sun for the whole time.

We catch crabs the old-fashioned way- with a chicken neck tied to a string. You cast the chicken out (holding onto the end of the string attached to a piling and wait to see the telltale jerks that signal a bite. Then, ever so slowly (too fast and the crab will let go) you reel him in and then snatch it up in a net. If it is big enough, we put them in a crab trap until you have enough for dinner. If it is too small or a female (only males, or jimmies, can be kept), back into the water it goes.

So here is my husband's recipe for a great day crabbing:


1 fishing net
A package of chicken necks
At least two kids
A cooler with some drinks and snacks
Sunblock
A cool breeze off the water

Mix these together with some crabs, and you will learn what getting close to your food (and your kids) is all about!

Once Upon A Time Restaurant, Bangkok

We tried street food, we had seafood, foodcourts, even thai tai chow (stir fry stalls)...but where's a proper restaurant that serves traditional thai food?

We didn't spot any near the area we stayed nor at the shopping complexes. So we resorted to getting some recommendations from the hotel staff. And surprise, surprise, Once Upon A Time was just a few minutes away from our hotel :)

Very cosy ambiance, alfresco area was filled with lots of green while those who chose to dine in were treated with a cosy and nostalgic interior, filled with antiques and pictures of royal families, movies stars etc.

The menu was very extensive and we took rather long to decide on the dishes...

Had some Tom Yam Goong.. Fiery looking soup but it was not as spicy as we thought it would be. The soup is aromatic, sour and spicy, which hits our sleepy senses immediately. Filled with large, juicy prawns, this was a great way to start our meal.

We decided to have Yam Som O (Pamelo salad) since we have yet to try it before..

The pamelo was topped with mince pork, prawns, chopped peanuts, fried shallots and doused with some intoxicating sauce. The result? Utterly lip smacking, it was so, so scrumptious! I love it, I love it, I love it!

Pineapple Fried Rice for the carbs we so love..

Alicia loved it. Elaine and I find it a tad 'wet' but very tasty nonetheless.

The Kong Kai Ob Sabparod (Shrimp and chicken baked in pineapple) sounds interesting

Most unfortunately, that's about it. It was pratically stir fried chicken and shrimps with pineapple and tomato/ fish sauce combo. I'm all for simplicity, but this was so plain, I almost cried. :(. Give me a plate of goo lou yuk (sweet sour pork) anytime.

Luckily Hou Maeng Phou Phad (pan fried baby clams with yellow curry) was served soon after..
Thick, sweetish yellow curry goes very well with the mussels (i'm quite sure those are Not clams). Beautiful dish to go with white rice, we enjoyed this dish tremendously.

The last dish was Green Curry Chicken..The portion was perfect as we were pretty stuffed by then. All of us tried the curry with white rice to enjoy the taste of the green curry and we were pretty satisfied with it. Though again the curry was rather sweet, we still enjoyed it very much. Plus points as it was filled with lots of chicken chunks and aubergines.

I sorta lost the bill, but it costs us about RM30 per head i think..

Once Upon a Time Restaurant is located at Soi 17, Phetchburi Rd., Pratunam, Bangkok. It's the small road/ lane across from Pantip Plaza. Look for road sign Soi 17, walk about 5 mins and the restaurant's on your right.

Ribs- Wet or Dry...That is the question

One of the quintessential Southern foods is barbecue ribs and there are as many different versions as there are Southerners. Hot sauce, sweet sauce, secret sauces, charcoal grill, gas grill,oven...it seems here in the South everyone has an opinion about what makes great ribs.

For me, the best way to cook ribs is low and slow,whether in the oven or on the grill over indirect heat. For most of my life I ate "wet"ribs-my mother made them that way with barbecue sauce,I didn't know any other way. even when I began cooking them myself. It wasn't until we visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg back when they first opened and they served ribs with a dry rub in their New France Smokehouse. These ribs were cooked in slabs on an open fire and were perfectly seasoned and the meat almost fell off the bone. From that moment on I have been a dry rub person when it comes to ribs.

The most important thing to help make delicious ribs is pulling off the membrane that is on the underside of the ribs. That will make the cooked ribs easier to eat and will allow seasonings or rubs to permeate the meat. And cook low and slow to ensure tender, pull-apart ribs that are tender but not dry. You can make your own rub, which I sometimes do, or use a good spice rub like Penzey's Galena Street blend or Barbecue 3000. Then get out the napkins, and enjoy! And if you have to have sauce, serve it on the side.

What is your favorite way to cook ribs? And do you like them wet or dry?!

Restoran Damansara Hokkien Mee, Damansara Utama

This is a place where I'll pop by whenever I feel like having a quick dinner of hokkien mee as it's nearest to where I stay.

Very popular among those staying at the damansara area, this restaurant is packed nearly every night...

For a plate of their famous hokkien mee Thick noodles dripping with thick sauce, loads of artery clogging fried lard, slices of pork and prawns complete this absolutely sinful meal. I must say that this is a good plate of hokkien mee, just not fantastic. Oh, and eat it while it's hot as it gets rather salty once cooled.

They also serve pork soup.. It's boiled cabbage with fried egg, pork patties and lots of pepper. The pork patties, though soaked in the soup for sometime, were still rather crunchy when I bit into it. Well marinated too. If you like pepper soup, you'll enjoy this. Other favourites includes cantonese fried mee, fried rice and lam mee.

The roasted duck stall shares a spot in this restaurant and it's as popular as the hokkien mee.. Usually, we'll see customers queuing for this delectable duck..As the turnover's really fast, the roasted duck's still warm when served. Still oozing sweet juices from the tender meat, the duck skin was roasted crisp and fragrant. Very tasty. As good as Loong Foong's at Taman Paramount (the sauce at Loong Foong is better though).

Restaurant Damansara Hokkien Mee is located at Jalan 21/37, Damansara Utama, PJ, Selangor.

My Foodbuzz bag (and my family) Travel to Washington

I have used my Foodbuzz bag and my mini cards since they arrived, usually to carry books whenever we go on a car trip, but we recently took a little getaway to Arlington to attend a dinner party at the house of both a friend and a business associate. We stayed at the Embassy Suites at Pentagon Row, which was convenient to the dinner and easy access to the Metro and (important for my girls) the Pentagon Row shops and malls.

I will write more about our trip later, but here is my Foodbuzz bag in the window with the Air Force memorial in the background!

A Taste of Italy (at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg)

With my daughter in town and a week off, we were determined to do some fun and tourist-y things while she was here. Since we have season's passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg,we decided to go there as a family and hit the roller coasters

Amusement parks no matter how good they are are not exactly known for great food (or reasonable prices!), and we ate lunch before we left so no one would be hungry, and we figured we would leave before dinner. But everyone was having a great time and the weather was awesome (warm but low humidity, nice breeze), so we decided to find something to eat for dinner and close the park down. As a park that is centered on countries of Europe, there are great opportunities for some fantastic food, however, when you are serving thousands of people of varying tastes, that can be challenging. We have tasted food at the Festhaus (Bratwurst, German potato salad, and mile-high sandwiches), at the Smokehouse where they have incredible ribs, but our favorite place to eat at Busch Gardens is in Italy, where they have homemade pasta (they really make it themselves-see picture of their chefs working, right). We always order one of the platters because there is plenty of food for two and a variety of things to try.

We ordered the Mamma Stella platter that had eggplant parmagiana, chicken parmesan, and spinach cannelloni,with more than enough food for two hungry people and at $10.49, one of the best food deals in the park. So we had our Italian Olympic meal away from home and then headed for the Roman Rapids - a fitting end, wouldn't you say?! So my recipe for good eating on a budget at Busch Gardens? Head to Italy... and mangia!

Ah Sang Bak Kut Teh, Sg. Way

Abner told me about this BKT in PJ and lucky me, he took me there quite soon too :)

Ah Sang has been running it's BKT business for years (30 years i was told) and has a loyal following of customers from around PJ area.

A claypot of piping hot BKT to start the day...

Ah Sang's BKT soup was quite thick and had a very strong herbal flavour. Skewing towards a bitter aftertaste (i believe they added quite a lot of dong gwai), I like their version of BKT. The selection of meats were tender and I find the pig stomach excellent. The pig stomach had some peppery flavour which was great served in the BKT.

I've also tried the Pork trotters in pork vinegar when I was there with my brother on another visit.. Both of us took a sip of the vinegar and the first reaction was Mum's pork trotters vinegar. Tasted very similar to my mother's version of vinegar pork trotters, Ah Sang's vinegar pork trotters had the amount of sourness that I like. Pity that the gula melaka they used was less, hence it was not as fragrant. As the meat had fully absorbed the black vinegar, it was tasty.

Ah Sang Bak Kut Teh is located at No 531, Jalan SS9A/12, Seri Setia, Sg. Way, 47300 Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-7876299.

An Unexpected Guest!

My daughter is visiting from Florida and she brought her "significant other" (I never know what to call him - boyfriend, friend...) Holding your own in our family is quite a feat, and yet somehow he seems to do it. While he is a somewhat quiet and stoic young man, his humor showed through as he sneaked into the sunroom where my husband was napping, and sat down in the recliner. My husband was a bit startled when he saw who was only an arm length away.......

Potted Shrimp (or Dracula Shrimp)

As part of our British night for the Olympics, since I had made the beef and Yorkshire pudding before, I wanted to make something new and different, so I perused the available options in my Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price, and I was stopped by a recipe that the Prices attributed to their friends, the Karloffs (as in Boris Karloff),who served this dish for dinner. Once I read the story, I had to try this dish (I can't resist a recipe with a story).

Potted shrimp is apparently a well-known and common appetizer in England, served with crackers or bread. While the recipe called for tiny shrimp, I used regular shrimp and chopped it up fine. I think if I made this again I would grate a bit of onion into the shrimp as well. However, this dish will not be known as potted shrimp in our house. They immediately dubbed it "Dracula Shrimp" in honor of it's origin. Give it a try-it's devilishly delicious!!

Dracula Shrimp

1 cup tiny salad shrimp or regular shrimp chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons grated onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 tsp mace
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Melt butter and add spices. Mix all ingredients together making sure that shrimp ar covered with butter mixture. Place in a small crock and chill in refrigerator. Spread on crackers or toast.

T&K Seafood, Chinatown, Bangkok

Chinatown in Bangkok is a sight not to be missed..
The colour, the sights, the sounds, the food and.. the pollution :p

And as you walk along the main road in Chinatown, you'll definitely see 2 very popular chinese 'restaurants' at a T-junction, one restaurant has it's staff dressed in red uniform while the other, in green uniform. We decided to have dinner at T&K Seafood.. Ordering was quite easy as the menu's also in english and had quite a number of food pictures too.

We had the famous grilled prawns that everyone orders.. Really succulent, sweet and juicy. The prawns flesh were springy and had absorb the smokey salty flavours, making this dish utterly lip smacking. Delicious.

Thai curry crab.. I had a wonderful version of this dish at a restaurant near Menam Chao Phraya, and was hoping that T&K's version would be good too. Oh well, I guess not. Their version was a tad too rich in milk and egg, so strong that it almost envelope the crab's sweetness.

We ordered Oyster omelette.. Served on a bed of beansprouts, this was really tasty. The oysters were plump and juicy, the egg omelette was crispy while the dough was moist and filled with chopped garlic and spring onions.

I wanted to have Vermicelli Crab.. Again, I have tried a fantastic version of that before, thought T&K should be able to prepare an equally delectable one. This was just mediocre to me though. Too sweet and lack of pork fats in this dish makes it rather unattractive to me.

We had some veggies too but I didn't take a picture of it.

Total bill was about THB990 (inclusive of rice and drinks)

T&K Seafood is located at 49-51 Phadung Dao Rd, Chinatown, Bangkok. T: (02) 223 4519. Open daily: 4:30 pm – 2:00 a.m.

The Omnivore's Hundred - I've Got a Lot of Eating to Do

In checking out blogs this morning , I came upon this list at Chocolate and Zucchini that sent me to the website of Very Good Taste. There, a list has been compiled of foods that any self-respecting omnivore should try in his/her lifetime. You will see that I have a lot of work to do (I have bolded all the ones I have tried). I also have to admit, that some of these items were unknown to me (I have italicized those that I had to look up). I have also highlighted in red those things I think I would not try.

This is a fun way for bloggers to interact, so go to VGT and paste this list into your own post and let others know what you have, haven't and wouldn't eat, and then let VGT know you have posted the Omnivore's Hundred.

Here is my version of the list-I can't wait to see yours.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich(Is this American street food?)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle(I hope I have the opportunity!)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes(One of my favorite Virginia wineries, Hilltop Berry Farm and Winery offers several!)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper(I love spicy, but not self-torture!)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (And I hopeto eat many,many more!!)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (I love these- actually anything with wasabi)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (A drink and a dessert-yum!)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (Do I have to have the cigar?!)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (Jello shooters!-I was young once!)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Depends on the bug!)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (I have had this in sushi)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut(When the red sign is on!)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer (Can't wait to make my own)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (These are required food when camping!)
62. Sweetbreads(I actually used to make these when Icould find them!)
63. Kaolin (Isn'tthis in Kaopectate?)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (never!)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie(in my school lunches!)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict(My favorite breakfast dish!)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.(I can hope!)
85. Kobe beef (As soon as budget allows!)
86. Hare(I wasn't sure I ever would after a traumatic childhood incident, but a couple of years ago, I tried it and it was great- can't haveit whole though, only pieces!)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (Don't think I could do it)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (As a young married on a budget!)
92. Soft shell crab(I have had this a couple of times, hoping to enjoy it, but it is not my thing)
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Pick a Country, Any Country!

Our little parade of nations is making its way around the world as the Olympics begin to wind down. We still have a few nations in the queue - Italy, Japan, Germany - but we have several days still to fill so I am asking, you, readers and lurkers alike to suggest a country or even a recipe that we can include.Remember, we cannot make anything heavy in carbs (unless they are complex), and you can check the list (or the picture of the bouquet of nations we have on our table) to see what countries we have already done. Can't wait to see your suggestions!!



Countries already featured: Greece, China, US, France, Spain, Korea, Thailand, Great Britain, Sweden, Mexico

A Great Dinner from the British Isles

With my daughter coming from Florida, I wanted to make something festive, but was not sure what country to go to, but then I found inspiration in one of my oldest cookbooks, A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price. I have written about this cookbook before, and it is one of my favorites since it was the first gift that was given to me by my in-laws. This cookbook includes recipes from many countries and restaurants and even homes that the Prices, avid world travelers, had visited.

Since we had had so many dishes that were either Eastern or Mediterranean, I decided to make food from the British Isles. We settled on a roast beef tenderloin and Yorkshire pudding with a salad (that deserves its own post). Now I know that traditionally British roast beef is made with a rib roast, but I had a tenderloin, so we were making due. Even though the Yorkshire pudding has some flour (verboten on the diet) I thought since these end up like popovers full of mostly air, it would be okay in moderation.

The beef was coated with coarse-ground pepper and just roasted until the mooing stopped. The Yorkshire pudding was very easy to make following the advice of Vincent Price to make the batter in the blender, and I made individual portions which cooked faster and were all nice and crispy.

All in all it was a delicious meal, with only a slice or two of beef left, and every Yorkshire pudding gone!


Yorkshire Pudding (from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price)

You must have all of the ingredients for this batter at room temperature or it will not turn out puffy!

7/8 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
2 eggs
1/2 water
1/2 cup beef drippings or melted butter (or combination)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour and salt together, then add to blender with milk. Blend until well combined then add eggs one at a time until batter is foamy,then blend in water until batter is light and full of bubbles. Heat muffin pan in oven until hot. Add enough beef drippings or melted butter to cover the bottom of each muffin cup, and divide batter between muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Som tum@ Chatujak, Bangkok

Will meet you at Chatujak, was the sms SF sent me while I was already at Chatujak.

I started to worry a little as my mobile was going flat soon, and searching for each other at Chatujak is like looking for a needle in haystack ._."

Guess both of us were lucky that day, we managed to find each other very quickly. After SF did her power shopping, we were all hungry, hot and thirsty.

We thought of leaving Chatujak for lunch, but SF suggested a stall that serves delicious thai salad as she has tried it before.

Most unfortunately, I didn't notice any signboard with English, but here's the place...Just remember the chicken sign board..

Some Spicy tuna salad.. It's a mix of tuna with lime, chopped shallots, bird's eye chilli, shredded cucumber and sauces..As it's sour and spicy; very appetising. Pretty good.

Next was the Crispy cat fish green mango salad.. This was my all time favourite. I've tried this in KL before, but this was much better as it had loads of catfish and it's cheap! (we paid RM4.50, i recalled i paid about RM20 for the one in Malaysia). The tangy shredded mango was sour but complemented the aromatic fried cat fish and crunchy peanuts to perfection. The sauce and spicy chilli complete this beautiful dish. Superb.

We had some spicy mince pork salad with the rice noodles.. The mince pork was cooked and mixed with lime juice, fish sauce (i think), sliced shallots and chillies. Again a very appetising dish, goes well with the dry rice noodles.

We had some grilled pork neck Pretty tasty stuff, the pork slices were juicy and slightly springy in texture. Lightly salted, tasted delicious with the accompanying spicy sauce too.

Last dish we had.. Prawn salad.. The prawns were sweet and juicy, and the batter was extremely crispy and very flavourful. The salad was generously tossed with dried shrimp, peanuts and sliced chillies. Lovely dish.

Down the meal with a glass of coke..aaaahhhhh

Find this stall at Chatujak weekend market. From BTS ( Mo Chit), turn right at the first junction. Walk pass the first block/ chunk of stalls. You'll reach a large open 'road' area. This stall is there. Happy searching :p

Great Thai-ming!

Since last night was Friday and we normally do not eat meat on Friday (a hold-over from my husband's Catholic upbringing), besides finding an international dish compatible with the South Beach diet, it had to be meatless! I decided that Thai might be good and had looked up a recipe for a shrimp Thai curry on Epicurious as well as a Thai cucumber salad (I thought it would be fun to see the difference between the Swedish cucumber salad and a Thai version!)

I headed to Trader Joe's since I had a couple of things to pick up there that only they sell,and got caught in a severe thunder storm with 40 mile an hour winds and rain so heavy you could only crawl toward your destination. It took nearly 20 minutes to drive the less than 3 miles from my office to Trader Joe's, then I had to wait for about ten minutes in the parking lot before I could even attempt to get out of the car. Walking down the aisles with the other drenched rats, I picked up English cucumbers for the salad, some diet food, and since it was still pouring outside I wandered up and down the aisles as time ticked by.

Now you know I am not much for convenience foods,usually they are filled with sugars and salt and fats to cover up the fact that they actually have not flavor. But given Trader Joe's reputation, when I saw their Green Indian curry, I thought, "Why not?"-if it was good it would save me time and since their ingredients listed lemongrass which I had almost no possibility of purveying anywhere within a 30-minute drive, I decided to give it a try.

After getting home, I made Thai green curry shrimp and Thai cucumber salad as part of our Olympic tour around the world, and I was very impressed with the trader Joe's curry sauce- it had a great melding of spices with a depth of flavor and seasoning with just the right amount of heat. And after the lengthy (and hazardous) drive, dinner was on the table in 35minutes, and most of that involved peeling the shrimp. Unfortunately for you, we are all too hungry to take a picture, so you will just have to imagine how wonderful it looked.... and tasted!

Trader Joe's Thai Shrimp Curry
1 pound shrimp, peeled
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 sweet onion cut into chunks
2/3 cup
1 tbsp peanut oil

Heat oil and toss in garlic. Cook onions until they just begin to caramelize. Stir in shrimp and toss until almost pink, then add the curry sauce and stir till shrimp is finished cooking. If you are not on a diet, this would be great over rice, but for us it was delicious as is with the cucumber salad recipe that I found on Epicurious (what else?)

Do you have a favorite Trader Joe's product that you use in your cooking when time is tight? Let me know (I might want to give it a try!)