Cooking And Eating....“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es”

12 minutes after bringing in some brightly-packaged foods from Trader Joe's.... a medley of rices, breaded chicken, walnuts and shredded coconut with the sweet sauce that came in the package of frozen chicken.....topped with sliced cherry tomatoes.....iron pan-cooked with avocado oil.....for an unexpected visitor who wanted to 'go out for dinner' in the heavy afternoon traffic.....no, thanks....could we have had a tastier dinner? I was surprised to find a frozen cheesecake, for dessert...that was, unbelievable, the same price that it was ten years ago!

Not often, but today......a 'possible epic fail.....A pie, of 'sorts'......an example of 'not giving up', even when success is highly unlikely.. begin with a too-bitter dark chocolate pie crust, left too long in the oven, then fill it with sliced bamboo shoots from the yard...marinated in sour rice vinegar and sourwood honey....then, cooked in agave syrup & orange liquor, and 'flat' ginger ale, left on the kitchen counter a couple of days ago, thickened with cornstarch.....over a 'bed' of crushed, stale pan puri semolina puffs, then sprinkled with over-dissicated coconut shavings......I'll eat just about anything, rather than waste it to the trash can.......don't know about this one, however....I haven't the will/courage to taste it....yet! Should I risk wasting some really good whipped heavy cream.......to save this concoction? It 'ended up' in a pie, oddly enough!

  A TABLESPOON OF 'SHANGHAI RUB'....(IODIZED SALT, GARLIC SLICES, CHILLI PEPPER AND CURRY POWDER) SPRINKLED ONTO BOTH SIDES OF THE RAW FLESH, THEN COOKED IN AN IRON SKILLET, WITH AVOCADO OIL UNTIL DEEPLY CARMELIZED....THEN DEGLAZED WITH COGNAC...PROVED TO BE WAAY TOO SALTY FOR MY PALATTE....SO, I WASHED MUCH OF THE 'RUB' AND SALTY, REDUCED WINE, UNDER RUNNING TAP WATER, AND DRIED IT WITH A TOWEL.....RETURNED IT TO THE STILL HOT SKILLET, FLUSHING IT WITH WORCESTER SAUCE AND SOME RED WINE....AGAIN, REDUCING THE LIQUID TO A SAUCE......STILL, A BIT 'SALTIER'  THAN I WOULD HAVE LIKED....BUT, TASTY ENOUGH WITH A BOWL OF WILD RICE.....AND A CUP OF GREEN TEA......