Vietnamese Stir-Fried Vegetables with Chicken or Shrimp

This is yummy and relatively cheap.  
http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/recipe-of-the-day-vietnamese-stir-fried-vegetables-with-chicken-or-shrimp/
I don't currently have any dried hot chilies, so I use one med. sized fresh jalapeno pepper.  I also use canola oil.  Use a mixture of oyster sauce and soy sauce.  This is a great flavorful recipe and is worth the time.  I always cook brown rice, and while the rice is cooking you can prepare the fresh veggies.  It is so delicious that we only have enough left for one person's lunch.  


I may add a few drops of seseame oil and/or hot oil to give the dish a little more heat than the jalapeno provides.   The dish is nicely colorful, too, with green and orange from the veggies.  I have made the dish with both chicken and shrimp and like it both ways.



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Mad about Madoff - it's Only Money

Gosh, we're all going to be poor, not just us retired slobs who have seen our IRAs tank, the fools who bought houses with no money down and no assets, and the working stiffs out of a job or with their 401Ks in tatters. Now, it's the super rich who have invested with Mr. Madoff who may be selling pencils on the street.

Does anyone actually sell pencils on the street? I don't think so. For everyone out of money or in reduced circumstances, there is fallout for the rest of the economy. The New York Times had an article about nannies and cleaning help out of a job. We haven't gone out to eat nearly so much in the last few months. Drove to Chicago instead of flying to California. Shopped at Kohl's and Eddie Bauer's outlet instead of Macy's and, well, you know. Baking bread, getting creative with leftovers, shopping the grocery store specials.

In days of yore, I spent some time in Palm Beach, shopping and visiting trendy restaurants. It was fun and I loved to have lunch at Ta-Boo on Worth Avenue, and watch the passing scene.
http://www.taboorestaurant.com/ For a writer, it should be a write-off. Of course it would help to publish something. In Palm Beach I discovered Sesto Miucci shoes ( http://www.zappos.com/n/br/b/145/Sesto%20Meucci.html) that my feet love so well. Saw the Chuli glass at the Museum. Walked Worth Avenue gaping at the show windows.

One would think that resorts and winter homes would be more casual and laid back, but I saw these hideous formal gew-gaws and knick-knacks and table settings and lamps that looked like something in the Newport mansions of the 1800's. Why? Nothing informal about it. Stiff and pretentious and totally boring.

On always thinks of the very rich as somehow financially savvy, folks who would know to diversity and realize that slow and steady wins the race. Apparently not. Why settle for 5% on your investment if you can get 10%?

I feel sorry for the charities that will be busted, but not so much for anyone else. Greed, you know. The greedy have been getting their comeuppance. Is gluttony next?

Tomorrow we'll unpack the ancient ornaments collected over four lifetimes for the real tree and decorate the house as it has been done forever. I make my Mom's cookies and my own and try some new recipes. It would never occur to me to buy Christmas cookies.

We ate the pork roast again last night, and it looks like there's two more meals left. The last two will be our own stir fry, with yummy veggies and not much fat. Cheap, nutritious and filling, with good Basmati rice.

In my new novel, I'm contrasting the Cuban sandwich in the eyes of the bad guy and the heroine. I think the economy being in the toilet will give the bad guy some fits, too. After all, maybe his clients will be using less cocaine. The high cost of transportation. Yes, everyone feels the economic crisis, even drug lords.

Onward with baking and writing and holiday prep. Don't be too depressed. It's only money.

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The "To Do" list

Home again, and a desk piled high with "stuff" that has to be dealt with. Soon. I update my weekly, sometimes daily "to do" list, and immediately add three more tasks after I have just printed the list. Grrrr. Of course, some of the things on the list have been there for months, such as reformating World of Mirrors for a specific publisher. Also getting rid of some stuff on EBAY. I heard that EBAY prices have tanked since the economy dived into the toilet, but one should not heed rumors. It's easy enough to see for yourself if items have a) sold and b) sold at or near former prices.

Important fact about the stock market. You haven't lost money until you sell. Of course if you sold right when things started to slide, then you have to pay capital gains taxes, or in the case of 401K, etc., ordinary income taxes, and then there's the sales charge, and when you buy it (or something) back, the buying charge, so my theory is that it's better to sit tight and go for what is looking awfully like a Nantucket Sleigh ride (a whaling boat attached to a mad whale) with your investments. I mean, hell, it's only money, right? What would you do with it? Eat? Fill the oil tank?

Hey, oil is down, which means our heating bills won't be quite as high as everyone feared. Everything to do with money is a Nantucket Sleigh Ride. Housing, price of gas, investments. The old Chinese curse, may you live in interesting times has struck again.

I have some really cheap-to-make recipes that taste great, so email me if you would like to have a few.

So after being gone I had to catch up on Obama, and writing, and Suck It Up, along with my to to list. An unblogged blog don't get no hits. Meanwhile, there's daffodils to plant, my Toastmaster's speech to write.

I have chosen the topic, "My culinary disasters." Every cook has a few. My first one was vichysoisse, then boiled potatoes ("an insult to the German tongue"), then soup with bugs, some really vile Jambalaya that even the possum snubbed, and finally, a leg of venison that you probably don't want to hear about. Maybe you do. My recipe for Venison Ragout is sublime, but there were rocky shoals en route to the harbor, so keep the sailing motif.

See prior post.

I'm gearing up to write my big "Why I Am For Obama" post, and that better be soon. Driving back up to New Hampshire this weekend to beat the bushes and knock on a few doors.

So onward, and remember I'll send those recipes if only you will ask.

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