Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Trying Thai

I cooked my first Thai inspired dish this evening. I didn't follow a recipe I just kind of made it up as I went along but here is the best of it. The chicken came tender and juicy and picked up the flavour of the cream and with the bacon sprinkled on top the balance between the sweetness of the noodles and the dry savory of the bacon complimented each other perfectly.



Recipe

5 Chicken Thigh Fillets
4 Rashes of Bacon
4Tbsp Brown Sugar
1Tbsp All spice
1/2 Cup Dessicated Coconut
300ml Light Cream
Half a Brown Onion
1Tbsp Minced Garlic
200g Rice Noodles (Packet/Dried)
8 Medium Sized Mushrooms
Handful of English Spinach
Cracked Pepper to Taste


Do the following two steps simultaneously.

Non-Stick Frying Pan
- Chop the bacon into roughly one centimeter strips and dry-fry
- When half fried add the chopped onion and minced garlic (there should be enough fat from the bacon to fry the onion)
- Chop the Mushrooms into slices and add to the pan. Use a splatter guard to ensure you don't get splashed with hot bacon fat

Saucepan
- Add the cream and approximately 1/2 cup of water to the saucepan
- Once simmering add the chicken that has been cut into strips
- When chicken has begun to cook add the spinach, coconut, sugar, spice and pepper and stir
- Cover saucepan and let simmer
- When both saucepan and fry pan are close to ready add the noodles directly to saucepan and stir into mixture. Add water if needed

Once cooked Serve and Enjoy!

-MDC

Monday, June 27, 2011

Frugality is the New Ostensity

I have never been in a position in my life where I have earned as much money as I do now, but I just cant seem to hold onto any of it. I feel like I saved more money working in a bar for 15 hours a week while I studied full time.

This doesn't put me in a fantastic position for my upcoming European trip. I will be away for two and a half months traveling through two continents and I still haven't saved a dime. Besides working I have been trying to find a way to supplement my income and I think I found a winner. Scouring op-shops and auction houses for items I know have more value than what I will pay for them.

This is my first buy.



An antique Tricycle in original condition. I picked this little gem up for $20 at a local auction and its already been bid more than twice that on eBay.

I hope to have many more finds like this and will be sure to post them up.

I will be blogging more about my trip as I piece together my full Itenerary, but I wanted to leave with something that will be constituting a full week of my two-and-a-half month trip.

A Roman Holiday