General Wow's Pork

Happily, I've gotten through half of my sugar busting week ok. Part of my strategy has been to cook satisfying tasty meals rather than attempting to snack my way through mealtime. And, in order to facilitate that strategy, I've been keeping a lot of fresh veg and meat handy. Tonight's impromptu pleasure was a healthy version of general tsao pork. Here's what I did, and apologies in advance for no photos (it's all eaten already).

1/2 lb. pork, cut into 1-2" pieces
2 T flour
2 t garlic powder
soy sauce
salt
pepper
canola oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 T slivered fresh ginger
thai chilis or sliced jalapenos to taste
1/2 cup onion, chopped into 1" pieces
1/2 cup green pepper (more is cool too), chopped into 1" pieces
lots of broccoli
water
1 T sambal oelek (a jarred asian chili sauce that has a nice vinegar and garlic flavor to it)
1-2 T oyster sauce
zest from 1/2 orange
juice from 1 orange
lemon juice

The ingredients list admittedly is kind of long, but it's stuff that can be used frequently in bits. Really this is an attempt to codify mixing a little of this and that and voila.

The meat. Marinate with some soy sauce and some pepper for as long as convenient. Mix flour, garlic powder, and some salt. Dredge pork in the flour mixture. Heat, say, 4 T of oil at medium-high and fry pork so each side is nicely seared and meat is cooked through. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, using the same oil, add garlic, onion, green peppers, broccoli, ginger, and chilis or jalapeno. Stir fry for a few minutes, about the time it takes for the onion to soften. Pour in some water, maybe 3 T worth so it gets all steamy. Add oyster sauce, sambal, and orange juice. Mix around until desired consistency is achieved, add more water if needed. Return meat to pan and incorporate with stir fry. Take off heat, mix in orange zest and lemon juice. Salt to taste.

It's good.

Going public.

It's nearly April, and there's still snow in Chicago. This may well happen every year here, but it's a shocking every time. The one positive aspect of having an extensive winter is also having an exension of cover-up time. This year's holiday season, domestic and international, has left me with a few extra "pudges", as a friend likes to call them, in addition to a tenacious sugar addiction. So, in all honesty, I'm a little happy to have a bit more time to hide under my coat while I ramp up gym time and reform the ol' eating habits. To wit:

May it here by be known that I, Cooky Monster, is going on a full on sugar rehab program starting Monday, March 24. The terms of my plan, subject to future amendment in the more strict direction only, are as follows:

• Starting Monday, March 24, Cooky Monster (hereafter known as, "CM") will not eat anything containing refined sugar for one full week (the first day on which CM may have refined sugar is April 1) in order to purge herself of a very nasty sugar addiction.



• CM may eat fresh fruit.



• CM may eat sugar substitute products, although they're usually not good tasting.

We will see how this program evolves after the first week. I hear that the first 3 days of sugar withdrawal are the worst, so hopefully it won't be too hard to keep dessert-y items at bay after a full week of going sugarless.

Yours truly at a wedding reception, post sugar bender. I had at least a little of everything from the dessert bar - chocolate cake, strawberry napoleon, mango mousse cake, fruit tart, chocolate covered strawberries, and ice cream, oh and champagne of course. Once the photographers came by, I quickly removed evidence of my binge away from my person. One plate managed to make it in the shot. Can you make out the contents?

File under "someday."

I want to go to Le Cirque and drink Cristal. Coming off a 10-day vacation this sounds like a sick luxury, but I didn't say I wanted to go tomorrow, after all.

More to come on that vacation. I'm still not home yet but this time tomorrow I'll be hard at work on the first of at least two re-entry posts, complete with eating recaps. So. Much. Eating. And somehow I lost two pounds. (The Mediterranean diet: it works!)

Perhaps my favorite food in Phuket

It's so freaking cold in Chicago! Arghhh!

Ok, just had to let that out. I was lucky for my balmy reprieve in the tropics. Here's a look at one of my favorite places to dine in Phuket, Thailand. I don't know the name of the place, but I can tell you what they serve: roti and curry.

Roti and curry shop and, what I think is safe to assume, a regular.

Roti is a fried flatbread. It used to only be served in Thailand either plain, with egg, or as a dessert with various sugary accoutrement such as condensed milk, sugar, bananas, and/or chocolate syrup, among other condiments. It is wonderful.

Roti in raw and cooked form.

These days you can also find, usually in the southern region, roti as part of a savory meal with curry. The best I've had is with a beef mussamun curry. Sometimes it's served as a wrap with a thick, sloppy-joe-like curry interior. In this case the flatbread is smooshed, cut up, and literally served just like rice alongside a thin, soupy curry.

The shop had chicken and beef curry and you could have it with or without a fried egg on top. The beef curry was the best one in my opinion.

Part of what is so genius about this concoction is the fact that the curry does not have coconut milk and thus is not so fatty. The delicious fatty satisfaction comes from the crispy, greasy bread.

Upon asking the chef about how he makes the dough, he did not reveal his recipe. However, he did impress that it's not easy. In order to have everything prepped for lunch service, his dad - the original owner of the establishment - wakes up at dawn, mixes the dough, lets it rest and then thoroughly massages the dough in a very particular style. No machines can do it quite right, apparently. All that said, you can also buy roti frozen in the asian grocery. Somehow I doubt the flavor is quite the same.

The cook at work. The pan is super hot and heated by coal fire.

Roti and curry is not indigenous Thai fare. Given the crescent and star symbol of Islam on the front of the counter as well as geographic liklihood, I would surmise that this version came from Malaysia, although there are versions of roti and curry in India and Caribbean countries too. What I'd like to try is an addition of fresh herbs or leafy veggies atop or on the side of the curry and roti. I think it would brighten up the fatty bread and spicy curry and add a harmonious Thai element to the dish.

Should you find yourself in Phuket, I highly recommend checking it out.

You can find this shop at the Thaew Nam intersection in the Sino-Chinese part of Phuket Town.