I did try the "crazy easy" eggroll recipe I posted about last week (go here for the recipe). They are really pretty easy and they are good (I personally think they are better with olive oil as the oil, rather than the spray stuff - I tried it both ways).
Note there is really very little detail of amounts given in the recipe. I used one of the regular-sized bags of coleslaw, and 8 ounces of raw mushrooms, and maybe an equivalent amount of bean sprouts. I put in maybe a teaspoon and a half of ginger, and cut up 2 cloves of garlic for them.
I did probably put in too much soy sauce; I find soy sauce tends to overpower things. When I make them again, I think I'm going to try a combination of rice wine vinegar and the toasted sesame oil (and very little of that) in place of the soy sauce (and that would also be lower in salt, if that's a concern.
They do cook up just fine after being kept overnight in the fridge; it remains to be seen how they are after freezing but I cannot imagine it would greatly negatively affect them.
I used plum sauce at first as a dipping sauce, then used a mild (more traditional, not that bright red syrupy stuff that some restaurants use) sweet and sour sauce later. I think I liked the sweet and sour better.
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One of the pieces I am learning for this week is a (greatly simplified and arranged) version of the chorus from "New River Train." And I thought, I wonder if that's the New River Train that runs through the New River Gorge in West Virginia.
Apparently, it is:
It's an old bluegrass song. (I had never heard it before and from the arrangement couldn't tell if it was bluegrass or blues). I think I like it a little better knowing now that it hails from the same state that I originally do. (It's not my favorite arrangement of something ever.)
(I was born in the University hospital in Morgantown, W Va, but moved to Ohio at four months when my dad took a new teaching position).
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I'm slowly sewing down the binding on the Monkey quilt. Even though it's hot and I'd rather not have the whole thing in my lap to work on it. But I'm motivated to finish these quilts so I don't get a bunch piled up in need of binding like I sometimes do.
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I hope I can sleep better tonight. Last night, I don't know what it was, sometimes I think when it's hot out EVEN WITH air conditioning, I just can't get cool enough to sleep well. I was sleeping in about 2 hour shifts, then waking up and being awake for a while. (It may also have been the pajamas; I bought some really cute pajamas but they have an Empire waist which, while it looks very cute, has a seam that tends to put a bit of pressure on the rib cage and that bugged me, I think).
So tonight, I took a shower, used lavender soap (it's claimed to have soporific qualities though I've never really noticed it for me), avoided watching the news, put on a clean (and loose everywhere) nightdress, and hopefully will be able to sleep better.
I also made an effort to eat more protein today. It's funny, in the summer I find I crave protein-rich foods (or maybe it's just iron-rich; maybe I'm anaemic). That's not the case in winter when I tend to want more carbohydrates. So I bought some sliced beef and had that along with a big spinach salad for dinner.
And I also made an iced chai tea (or, "masala chai," if you want to be really correct. My sources say that "chai" is just the Hindustani (IIRC) word for "tea," so if you order "chai" in many Indian restaurants you get just plain tea, and "masala" is the spice mixture that makes what Westerners think of as "chai" into chai.)
I used a HUGE tea mug I have (I rarely use it because it is ridiculously big) and did a double-strength infusion of my favorite decaf chai: the Celestial Seasonings "Thai Coconut Pearl" (it may be called something slightly different now; they had a major redesign/renaming a month or so ago). And then I added sugar (which scandalizes a couple of my British friends: I put sugar in my tea! Well, at least in chai) and some cold milk and a bunch of ice (the reason for the double-strength infusion).
And oh, was it good. I realize now that one of the things I had been missing these hot days was my daily cup or so of tea. I really especially miss chai, which is one of my favorite things to drink, ever. But maybe as long as I have ice on hand, I can occasionally make myself one.
5 comments:
Due to growing up in the south, I'm pretty much inured to other people saturating their tea with sugar and ice. But personally, I'd have to side with your British friends. In fact, I'd go one step further and say that even adding milk is sacrilege. I like my tea hot and unadulterated--even if it is summer time.
I've no problem with people putting sugar in their tea. I'm sure I've read novels where the person pouring the tea at a party asks "one lump or two." But maybe those were American novels; I don't remember. I don't use sugar in my tea because I'm diabetic. The youth had a fund raiser after church last night and the beverage included was iced tea. For once, whoever was in charge made both sweet tea and regular tea. I was so happy about that.
"Thai Coconut Pearl" - I've never heard of that one! It sounds interesting.
Most varieties of Celestial Seasonings tastes really bland to me. This past winter I was hooked on Bengal Spice for a while.
I drink hot tea (black or green) even in the summer but I mostly save the herbal for wintertime. With sugar but not a lot.
I never put milk in my tea unless I drink chai. (And mostly no sweatener of any kind, but with Chai I put honey in.)It is just different enough.
Is it British or English not to take sugar and milk? I heard the old joke about the Scotsman who likes two lumps, but never gets that; when he's at home and has to pay for the sugar, he only uses one, but when he's at someone else's and they pay, he takes three.
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