Shrimp Stories

Oops, please forgive this badly unfocused picture of a great, quick meal - I was in a hurry making it as well as photographing it.

My Beloved and I had returned home late and we were starving. I made the tactical error of starting some lovely Massa rice as the base for a stir fry, the quickest meal I know how to make. Massa rice is the most delicious rice on earth, but it does take almost twice as long to cook as white rice does. I was shaky with hunger by the time dinner was on the table - you can tell by the blurry photograph.

I never make anything with shrimp without remembering the time at age seven when I, an animal lover from an early age, fed half the cocktail shrimp my mother had prepared for a dinner party to a rangy, shaggy stray dog who showed up at our doorstep in Hawaii and with whom I fell instantly in love. Shrimp was a rare treat in our house (I had sneaked one or two for myself earlier in the day) so I figured the dog might decide to stay if I gave him some. My mother was furious, the dog had a owner, and I was grounded for the rest of my natural life. Despite these little setbacks, I still love shrimp.

I seem to be on a ginger roll, enjoying adding a little fresh grated ginger to everything from Pear-Ginger Upside Down Cake to teriyaki sauce for our grilled tri-tip to this shrimp, carrot, green bean, garlic and onion stir fry. It made an otherwise fairly bland meal into something fresh and special. These days, I get to welcome as many stray dogs as I want but I have to admit I don't feed them shrimp - I keep it all for myself and My Beloved!

Contemplating Dinner

I enjoy cooking. Like Joyce Goldstein, I think of preparing and cooking food for My Beloved and our family and friends as a "moving meditation," an act at once contemplative and loving. I like mixing the colors and flavors, tasting and trying new combinations. I have the luxury of time to shop carefully and to research new and fun things to make. Peeling and chopping are not a chore, actually a quiet pleasure. And, of course, I like eating, too, as well as the reward of seeing others enjoy what I have prepared.

On the other hand, every now and then even I like a day off, a day when either someone else makes the meal or at least does part of the preparation. When I felt this way last week, I purchased some marinated "Korean beef" from my butcher. When asked, he said that meant a basic "soy sauce-and-ginger preparation," so I made a stir-fry out of it. You can see all the ingredients in the photo - all I did was slice them, sauté them in toasted sesame oil with a dab of butter and mound them on top of that delicious Massa brown rice.

Perhaps the best part of the meal, although the food was delicious, was the evening light that brought all the colors up for us to contemplate.

Stirred, Not Shaken

Whenever I have a fridge full of a little of this and a little of that, I think "stir fry!" Nothing except soup combines diverse elements into a cohesive whole quite so nicely as a stir fry.

This time, we had a slice or two of lamb left from Easter dinner, still pink the way we like it, and a whole bunch of veggies in the fridge. A tumble of broccoli florets plus the peeled, sliced stem, a few mushrooms, two cloves of garlic, minced, half an onion, two sticks of celery and a handful of cashew nuts.

Even the rice was a motley mixture of the ends of two packages, a tad of the red rice from our CARE package and enough of the sublime Massa brown rice to fill the cup the rest of the way. I sliced the lamb into mouthfuls and sauteed all the different ingredients in order of their density so they'd all be done at the same time, including just a brief sizzle for the lamb and a drizzle of shoyu plus lots of fresh black pepper.

The result was a deeply satisfying dinner that felt healthy while still delivering a rich flavor punch and ready in less than an hour (the Massa rice is more than worth the 50 minute cooking time). I sometimes forget how much fun stir frying is - and love rediscovering it each time!

End-of-Vacation Veggies

One of the things that's hard to find when on vacation and eating mostly in restaurants is good, fresh veggies. American restaurants tend to huge cuts of meat and spuds but generally speaking are light on the veggies. One of the joys of returning home is veggie-rich meals.

Investigating the contents of the crisper after ten days away, I discovered four different veggies that really needed eating. Some of the sugar snap pea pods were past their prime but the peas inside were still plump and sweet. The onion needed an extra layer of peeling, but then was fine. The greenie beanies were a tad past prime but the carrots were still firm and fresh. I managed to harvest enough good ones and cut them all into bite-size pieces for a quick stir-fry in reserved bacon fat. Nothing too fancy but comforting, kinda like being home again after vacation.