Trying new foods

The Asia market here is mainly Vietnamese, and they have this great assortment of desserts/snacks on display right at the entrance. I always like to get a small assortment of new treats, along with old favorites. This time, there were quite a few that I hadn't seen before so I snatched them up. One was this delicious steamed banana cake (Banh Chuoi Hap) with a dipping sauce. The cake was gelatinous and sweet with good banana flavor while the dipping sauce was coconut based, salty, with tapioca pearls and sliced green onions. It was an interesting combination that wasn't unpleasant but also didin't leave me licking the last drops of dipping sauce out of the container. Another interesting dessert was a mochi-like item (Banh Xu Xe). It has a pandan leaf flavored tapioca "wrapper" surrounding a sweet mung bean filling (very much like red bean paste filling). The tapioca was very chewy while the mung bean paste was smooth and very sweet. Overall quite tasty. It's always an adventure with Asian desserts.

A messy situation

Since pomegranate juice stains so easily, I take extreme precautions to avoid ruining clothes, furniture, and carpet. So far, so good.

Fat pants

I'm at an annoying phase right now. I'm not pregnant enough to be obvious, but enough to need a larger waistband. Plus, I'm not yet big enough to wear maternity clothes. So I went and bought some elastic-waist pants that will allow me to get large enough until I need to really buy some maternity clothes. I basically just look like a have a potbelly now. Great for one's self-esteem.

Not so fun

Yes, I got a speeding ticket in September and finally got around to taking the defensive driving course online (so that I can avoid adding any penalties to my insurance). It was my first ticket ever. The course alone is enough to make you stop speeding, despite the ticket fee. I took the course online and it requires you to take a certain amount of time for each lesson - you are penalized for going fast, even if you get the right answers! It took up my whole Saturday, sniffle.

Avoid the chaos

Happy Thanksgiving!

I made two exquisite roast chickens (recipe from Thomas Keller's book Bouchon). They were brined for about 8 hours and roasted at a really high temperature for about 50 minutes. I have never had such a well-browned chicken, nor a chicken with such exquisitely moist breast meat. A definite winner! To go along with the birds, I also made Thomas Keller's potato gratin (excellent) and Cooks Illustrated version of a better green bean casserole (also excellent). Then, I made two pumpkin pies with homemade crust and a brandy whipped cream. Along with this, my friends brought an delicious butternut squash soup and tasty pasta salad. Overall, a good spread. No one missed the turkey.

Blasphemy

I just feel that chicken tastes better, will come out more moist, and requires less time to cook. Why not cook two perfect chickens instead of one dry, flavorless turkey?