serene’s posterous

I thought I should perhaps consume a little more fish. Since I had
smoked salmon in the freezer from previous accidental bulk-buying, 
I thought perhaps I could have cream cheese with smoked
salmon. Unfortunately, there were interesting fungi growing in my
cream cheese, so I had to scratch that idea. I settled on an
oven-toasted, open-faced sandwich with defrosted smoked salmon (with a
splash of fresh lime juice because I didn't have lemons at home!),
topped with sliced tomatoes and chopped onions.

The NY Times is running a series
on quinoa this week under Recipes for Health. I first had quinoa
during a multi-day hike in Peru. I love how cute it looks
with the little curlicue, and it also has a delicious hearty, nutty
flavor. Now, I cook it whenever I need a quick meal.

A week ago, I had quinoa with steamed broccoli, peas and cherry,
tomatoes and a hard boiled egg.

This is my current favorite quick meal. A 2-egg omelette with onions,
peppers and cherry tomatoes. Sometimes I would add some smoked salmon
into the mix as well. And for the green vegetables, I would steam
some broccoli in the microwave.

After reading this article from NYT

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/the-11-best-foods-you-arent-eating/

I thought I should make an Asian-style cabbage salad. I chopped up
some green and red cabbage, mixed it up with a bit of sesame oil,
seasoned rice vinegar and freshly squeezed lime juice. Finally I
added some halved grape tomatoes and raisins for sweetness. This is
somewhat inspired by the recipe from

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lime-peanut-coleslaw-recipe.html

I had a leftover half can of coconut milk in the freezer, so I
thought, "time for some green curry!" I didn't have basil on hand,
but I thought it should still taste fine, if not quite authentic. I
was inspired by this recipe:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/in-a-hurry-green-curry-recipe.html

Mae Ploy brand of green curry paste is quite good. I stir fried
the paste and a bit of the coconut milk with red onions, ginger and
garlic. Then added the rest of the coconut milk and 2 cups of water,
as I was going for a lighter, brothy version of the curry. At the
end, I poured in a mixture of frozen peas, asparagus and broccoli and
silken tofu into the broth to steam until cooked.

We had a version of this salad, made by our guide/cook, Zac, while
"luxury" backpacking in Peru. I think it tasted particularly good
because we were starving after a long day of hiking.

This simple salad has chopped up carrots, red onions, grape tomatoes
and canned tuna (in olive oil) mixed up with some olive oil, freshly
squeezed lime juice and a dash of pepper.

I discovered recently how convenient miso paste is for flavoring one
pot meals. This is just some vegetables (spinach, bai chai, wakame),
enoki mushrooms, green onions, grape tomatoes and silken tofu cooked
warmed in a pot of water. I added some brown rice and a teaspoon of
miso paste at the end.

Another blurry picture:

I had some old eggs in the refrigerator. Time to use them before they go
bad. Hmmm...baked eggs, kinda like the fancy version of the soft
boiled eggs that I had back when I was a little kid.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/dining/26mini.html

In my version, I used some olive oil, threw in some prosciutto, grape
tomatoes, and seasoned with pepper and dried "Italian herbs". Here's
the blurry picture: