a taste of home

Being a stay-at-home-mom leaves me a fair amount of time to surf the internet for fun stuff (oh, wait I mean it leaves me time to play with my kids! and sometimes feed them!) But in-between the playing and the feeding I like finding people's blogs and reading about their hobbies, especially when they're good at what they do. So here is a really cool website I like: PIONEERWOMAN and this specific link is for a really freaky recipe that looks just bizarre enough to try it...Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings. My first reaction was something like...eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww...seeing as how I have never consumed an entire can of Mountain Dew, much less used it as a main ingredient in a recipe. But the pictures and description are really what get me, so I am dying to try these. However, there is a problem: I live in a country where I am unable to buy either refrigerated crescent rolls OR Mountain Dew.

Therefore, I am giving one of my loyal readers (out of the whole 12 of you) the assignment to make these for me and then post a comment or email me about how amazing/disgusting they are. Then I will know if I need to bother bookmarking that page to make them whenever I get back in the States. OK, ok, it's really already bookmarked, but I'm drooling over them and really need someone to tell me that they're worth the wait.

And since I am living in a tropical, curry-filled country, here is a more local recipe to give you and idea of the things we eat sometimes.

Chicken Curry Soup

Heat oil in a large pot, saute some fresh grated ginger, couple cloves of garlic, and 2 or 3 chopped green chiles with chopped chicken breast. Cook until chicken is done. Add a few Tbsp. curry paste (we use a sort of sweet honey-chicken curry sauce). Stir in a Tbsp. each of vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar. Add about 4 cups of chicken broth (maybe that's 2 cans?) and a can of coconut milk and mix it all really well together. Finally scoop in about 4 cups of cooked rice (or until it is more thick like stew than runny like soup) and serve!

I know that is a REALLY specific recipe with the amounts and all, but that is how I usually cook here, which is why Michael has lost so much weight since we've been here. If something doesn't turn out there's no desire for seconds. Well, life's an adventure right? OK, let me know if you try the curry soup. And also get cracking on those dumplings. Thank you.