(no subject)

[afuna]

Had a breakthrough tonight with Charlie and Moe! (Charlie is the old dog and Moe is the new puppy). Charlie is very territorial and jealous: great watchdog, not so good when it comes to new people and puppies, so we haven't been able to leave the two in the same room together.

We've been trying to introduce the two of them in low-stress ways -- walks together (with two different people), sniff-meetings through a baby gate, that kind of thing, but just the sight of Moe was enough to set Charlie off, so that hadn't been going as well as we'd hoped.

But then! Today Charlie and Moe were sniffing at each other through the baby gate and for once Charlie seemed reasonably calm, so I unlatched the gate between them, trying my best to act and sound slow and calm and normal-sounding and unstressed. And instead of trying to take Moe to the ground with his jaws, Charlie sniffed at Moe warily \o/

There was some growling and some chasing, and some posturing, with none of the aggression of before; I hung out in the area reading a book, again trying to exude calm and this-is-all-normal-carry-on-darlings, and I am quite happy with how it's turned out.

Charlie is bullying Moe quite a bit (poor puppy), but in a way that as far as I can tell is perfectly normal: that is, sniffing at, looming over, some barking. Moe meanwhile is alternating between lying down and yelping back. But it's all... I mean it's mostly mock-fighting rather than real fighting, and with some actual play in it. So. They're sorting things out, and as long as no one gets hurt I won't step in.

We're still not allowing them together without any humans in the area close by though! Not after what's happened in all their previous encounters.

(I'm so happy \o/ I love Charlie, and I love how loyal he is, but I was worried his protectiveness meant he would never accept Moe and now I have hope \o/ \o/ \o/)



I've also been having breakthroughs with cooking:

We put out a bowl of lettuce on the table with every meal, in addition to the "normal" cooked vegetables. Now when I say bowl of lettuce, I really do mean bowl of lettuce. No dressing, no salad fixings: just you know, a bowl of plain lettuce.

And I'm sick and tired of it -- in fact I'm sick and tired of a lot of things about food in this house. I mean to post about it at some point (that one I'll put under a cut). But while I was watching MasterChef, it struck me that we have ingredients in this house, hey? And I can use those ingredients to turn that bowl of lettuce into salad \o/

At first I insisted on calling what I did experiments, but now I'm forcing myself to acknowledge that vegetables tossed together with (sometimes) a dressing can too be properly called a salad, even if it's something I thought up myself.

I've been playing around with combinations of grated carrots, sliced almonds, and longgans (I don't know what these are in English, but if you translate literally from Chinese, then these are "dragon's eyes" :D)

For dressing I usually try one that pauamma taught me. The original recipe called for half an orange, two limes, and some raw garlic. There's no way to get limes here but I've recently found out that dayap tastes pretty similar! Calamansi kind of works, but I think I'll need to rethink the proportions since it's not as light tasting as lime.

I've also learned that you can make vinaigrette at home o_o I thought you needed a fancy machine but no, a vinaigrette is just acid + oil, basically. So far I've tried one with balsamic vinegar / olive oil / honey vinaigrette. I will poke around a bit to see what else I can do :D

OH oh and grilled tomatoes sprinkled with thyme and cheese works perfectly fine with lettuce. I consider that one a success as well.



Tonight I decided to go a bit fancy and aim for a kani mango salad.

Kani doesn't taste anything like crab, but as long as I think of it as fake crab rather than expecting anything crablike from it, it and I get along perfectly fine.

Mango we have a lot of \o/ because it's still mango season \o/ The best thing about mango is that after you slice off both cheeks to use in the salad, you can save the flesh clinging to the seed for dessert. There's nothing quite like cleaning all the flesh off a mango seed completely for sheer enjoyment of food *_*

And yeah, tossed it all together -- restaurants usually add Japanese mayonnaise, but though I prefer the sweetness of Japanese mayo over regular mayo, I don't really like mayo in general. The only thing I like mayo on are tuna salad sandwiches. Well maybe chicken salad sandwiches but that's a big maybe >_>

So anyway, yes, food. And yes watching shows that talk about food in a passionate and loving way :D


I need to see whether the Junior Masterchef Philippines edition is any good >_> I want to get ideas from somewhere local, so I can use local ingredients like oooh calamansi, stuff that would never end up on a foreign cooking show.

SO. ANYWAY. FOOD.

Comments

[pinesandmaples]

OMG, all of those salads sound really good. I want to eat dinner at your house!

[pauamma]

Line forms behind me. :-)

(OK, maybe not for the crab salad.)

[afuna]

Fake crab is merely some kind of fish :-)

[afuna]

I'd totally be happy to make salad for you! (Dinner at my house is not as fun as I make it sound alas XD For one thing we don't use any salt or sugar -- and some days I think I would kill for a nice piece of fried chicken. SOME DAYS)

[shinsetsu]

That's wonderful about the dogs. I have cat experience, but it sounds about the same. :)

I like your salad ideas. They sound yummy!

[shinsetsu]

The baby gate is not the old kind that folds like an accordian is it?

[afuna]

It is! (is there a newer kind?)

[shinsetsu]

Yes. Now they make them like a hard plastic mesh with spring tension fasteners if I remember right, but what I wanted to tell you is that if a dog or cat (or baby!) gets its head through the old style, and it collapses for some reason, the animal can be choked. I also used to have one of the old ones, but I read that somewhere, and I quit using it. It always stuck in my mind. D:

[ninetydegrees]

Yay food! And food shows!

Oh can you explain what's in Japanese mayo? I've never had any.

Also French vinaigrette is usually vinegar + oil + mustard (and salt and pepper).

[afuna]

Oooh I should try that -- though we don't have any mustard, so maybe I'll have to try that when I'm in someone else's kitchen *g*

Japanese mayo is, hm. It's usually a bit more yellow, sweeter and creamier. The most popular brand is called Kewpie and has a baby on it. I managed to dig up a recipe for Japanese mayo, but I haven't yet tried it out, so I don't know how close it tastes.

[ninetydegrees]

Thanks for the links! It looks very much like French Dijon's mayonnaise (my one and only!) with a nice yellow color but the recipe tells me it's probably sweeter indeed as I think there are less mustard and vinegar (but they may be stronger than what we have here hence the different dosage) and one more egg.

[jeshyr]

I totally just misread "The most popular brand is called Kewpie and has a baby in it." which was quite concerning!!!

[abbylee]

<3

[afuna]

<3333

[kerravonsen]

I've also learned that you can make vinaigrette at home o_o I thought you needed a fancy machine but no, a vinaigrette is just acid + oil, basically.

Yep. Oil and vinegar; that's what we usually had for salad dressing at home, giving it a good shake before pouring it.

I've been playing around with combinations of grated carrots, sliced almonds, and longgans

That sounds good.

grilled tomatoes sprinkled with thyme and cheese works perfectly fine with lettuce

But of course! I consider the "classic" garden salad to have a minumum of lettuce, tomato and cucumber.
And tomato with cheese and thyme sounds delicious.

Mango we have a lot of \o/ because it's still mango season \o/

\o/ \o/ !

(ponders what would go with mango)
I'm afraid I'm not used to thinking of mango in combination with vegetables... hmmmm.

What might be nice is a hot dish of mango chicken on a bed of lettuce, rice and shredded carrot.

Actually, one thing that I've found pretty delicious, though you might feel that it's a bit too much like your sad bowl of lettuce, is a savoury rice dish (such as fried rice with vegetables and chicken) spooned into a whole lettuce leaf (iceberg lettuce) and eaten immediately as a wrap. You get the hot/cold temperature contrast, and the crisp/soft texture contrast.

[afuna]

OH cucumber cucumber cucumber, I knew I was forgetting something ,thanks!

I have yet to try cooking mango, but I know it's used in curries and / or chutneys so I am determined to one day try that out. Or hmm, mango chicken, like chicken marinated in mashed mangoes, then roasted maybe? Or is there a specific meaning / way of cooking for that?

And oooh -- yes! I've tried that before in chinese restaurants *G* The oiliness of the meat that's served with it usually puts me off, but if I'm going to make it at home I could totally fix that... *plot plot plot*

[kerravonsen]

Or hmm, mango chicken, like chicken marinated in mashed mangoes, then roasted maybe? Or is there a specific meaning / way of cooking for that?

I don't know, I've never tried it (much rather eat the mangos straight) but I expect it would work if you took an Apricot Chicken recipe and adapted it.

And oooh -- yes! I've tried that before in chinese restaurants *G* The oiliness of the meat that's served with it usually puts me off, but if I'm going to make it at home I could totally fix that... *plot plot plot*

Yay! \o/

[vass]

My favourite vinaigrette: (sorry no measurements, I do it by taste)
- balsamic vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- sugar
- cracked black pepper
- wholegrain mustard

[afuna]

That's the second time I've heard of mustard in conjunction with vinaigrette! Now I'm wondering what I'm missing by doing without :D

[ninetydegrees]

For me, mustard makes it creamier, tastier and sweeter (it's a way to add vinegar since this is what's made of without adding acidity and a pungent smell). I don't add sugar but I use a derivative of balsamic vinegar which has must in it so sugar and it does make it taste better for me.

Edit: and now I'm hungry!