Camping

We went camping at Palomar Mountain few weeks ago.  I kept the menu fairly simple since we were only camping for one night.

On the way up to Palomar Mountain, we stopped at Pink's Hot Dogs located inside Harrah's Casino. We walked around looking for Pink's. The casino is huge and appears to be quite the weekend destination. We looked a little out of place in the fancy resort/casino. I walked up to ask where Pink's was located and ran into a friend.  He pointed us in the right direction.  (He actually was surprised that we came all the way to Harrah's for hot dogs.)  I ordered a turkey dog and onion rings. We ordered way too much food.

We checked in at the park entrance. The woman working was less than thrilled to be working.

Since we were a little early, we stopped off at the pond and the urgent care.  Someone found a lure in his hand.  The closest urgent care was about 45 minutes from the campgrounds but I refused to go with Plan A. Lets just say Plan A involved pliers and a wire cutter. The park ranger also refused to have anything to do with Plan A. We ended up at Graybill Urgent Care. The folks at Graybill were great.

The pond was small but it was really pretty.

I sat at the edge of the pond and tried to soak in all the nature around me. A little kid walked by and said, "look daddy! He caught a log!" 

After a quick stop at the urgent care, we made it back before the park closed and pitched a small tent. The tent is not that small. It is a lot smaller than the two-room tent we had in Colorado. This tent is large enough for a single high queen air mattress with a little room to spare.  For this weekend, I wanted less fuss so I was fine with a smaller tent. It would have been nice to sleep a little higher off the ground and be able to stand up to change inside the tent.

I kept dinner pretty simple with shrimp fajitas. I sliced the bell peppers and onions ahead of time. We have a few camp stoves and grills.  I decided to leave the grills and larger stove at home and packed a smaller two-burner camp stove. I heated a 10-inch fry pan on the stove, added a little olive oil and added the onions. Once the onions started browning, I added the bell peppers and cooked a few minutes longer. I finished the onions and peppers with a little salt and black pepper.

I almost bought a cheap pan for camping but decided to just pack one of my All-Clad pans instead.

I peeled, deveined, and froze the shrimp a few weeks before our camping trip. They were still pretty frozen when I took them out of the cooler that evening. I was afraid they would defrost and be unsafe to eat so I put a pack of frozen Nathan's hot dogs in the cooler just in case. We didn't have to resort to Plan B for dinner.

I sautéed the shrimp in a little olive oil and seasoned them with a salt, pepper, chile powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried onions, cumin, Mexican oregano, and lime juice. I made the seasoning mix a few days before the trip.

Shrimp is great for camping because it cooks up so quickly. I had dinner ready in about 15 minutes. I used 26/30 size shrimp. 26/30 is my favorite size for most dishes. I bought several bags of U15 and they are still in the freezer because they're a little larger than I like.

Dessert included cinnamon crescent rolls and s'mores cooked over the campfire. I wasn't very hungry so I didn't eat either.  I didn't even finish my fajitas.

By the time the cinnamon crescent rolls and s'mores were finished, it was pretty dark out. The days have been shorter and with the unplanned urgent care trip, we didn't start cooking until a little later.

It was a long day so we didn't end up playing any games we packed. We tested out the air mattress, tandem sleeping bag, and down blanket and fell asleep with the lights on. These solar string lights from Amazon were pretty awesome. I thought they would run out of battery and turn off but after several hours, I had a search for the off button.

In the morning I got up and made breakfast. I cooked up some maple bacon in a large rectangular cast iron dutch oven.  I cooked diced potatoes in the bacon grease until crispy then added onions, bell peppers, and eggs. I ate mine without tortillas.  The hubby made a breakfast burrito and doused everything with Tapatio sauce. 

I made coffee using a Moka Pot and drank it out of a "vintage" Starbucks paper cup.

We sat by the fire for a few hours before tearing down camp and heading back to civilization. It was nice to get away from the city even if it was only for a day.

We stopped on the side of the road on our way down. It's not quite Colorado but still very beautiful.

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Kellie's Chicken Khao Pune (Laotian Curry Noodles)

I was craving some Laotian Khao Pune (curry noodles) so I texted my friend Kellie to see if she could send me her “recipe.” She texted me back and said she will email it later. The recipe below is pretty much Kellie’s version.

I use a whole chicken because it’s what Kellie uses. I think it makes a more flavorful broth. Some people simply use boneless breasts and augment with chicken broth or bouillon but I think the flavor payoff is well worth the extra step of having to deal with bones. Chicken feet and chicken wings are also great for making yummy broth. (Chicken feet is my secret ingredient for making the perfect matzo ball soup broth.)

Kellie's Chicken Khao Pune (Laotian Curry Noodles)

Ingredients for Sauce:
1 whole chicken
1 pound chicken feet (optional)
1 stalk lemon grass
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 knob dried galanga root
water to cover
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 13.5 ounce can Chaokoh coconut milk
1 4 ounce can Maesri brand Namya Noodle Curry Paste
2 tablespoons red curry paste (or use about ¼ cup red curry and exclude the namya curry paste)
MSG, to taste
Fish sauce, to taste
1 disk palm sugar (or about 2 tablespoons regular sugar)

Ingredients for Serving:
Rice vermicelli noodles, boiled
Cabbage, shredded
Bean sprouts
Banana blossom, sliced (optional)
Long beans, finely sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Green onions, sliced

1. Cut up a whole chicken into pieces and add to a large stockpot. Add chicken feet (if using), lemon grass, lime leaves, and galanga root to stockpot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken pieces and allow to cool. Continue to simmer broth.
2. When chicken is cool enough to handle, separate out the chicken meat, discarding skin and bones. Pound chicken meat with a mortar and pestle until chicken is shredded. (I think you can use a potato masher is you do not own a mortar and pestle. The goal is a finely shredded/mashed chicken without getting it too pasty.) Set mashed chicken aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, sauté shallots in some oil. Add curry pastes and sauté a few minutes until fragrant. Add coconut milk and sauté a few minutes longer. (Kellie doesn’t think that this step is necessary but I went ahead and followed it since it’s the way Kellie’s mom taught her to make the sauce.)
4. Add the curry coconut milk to the simmering broth. Add the reserved mashed chicken, MSG, fish sauce, and palm sugar. Return to a simmer until sugar is melted.

Maesri brand namya sauce, coconut milk, an assortment of rice vermicelli noodles and banana blossom.

To Serve:
1. Boil the rice vermicelli. Soak the noodles in cold water and create little bundles of noodles by grabbing a handful and laying it down on a colander. (This makes it easier for everyone to grab a bundle or two when assembling their bowls so make small serving size bundles.)
2. Layer the noodles and the various topping in a large “pho” bowl and ladle boiling sauce on top. Enjoy.

Plate of vegetable toppings:

Layer noodles and vegetable toppings in a large "pho" bowl.

Ladle hot sauce over noodles.

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Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash and Roasted Poblanos

The inspiration from this stew came from one of my coworkers. She loves roasted poblanos and uses them in many recipes. She makes a stew with lean ground chicken, acorn squash, and roasted poblanos. I texted her one day and asked her what sesasoning she used for her stew. She texted back and said she varied the spices depending on her mood. Some days it's herbs de provence and other days it's jerk seasoning and rosemary. Sometimes she adds parmesan cheese and other days she uses white wine vinegar and tobasco.

I went ahead and I used whatever I found in my spice drawer. I didn't have ground chicken so I just chopped up some chicken breast.


Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash and Roasted Poblanos

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound chicken breast (fine-medium dice) or 1 pound ground chicken
1 clove garlic
1 shallot, diced
1 tablespoon Jerk Seasoning
1 tablespoon Essence of Emeril
black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
water, to cover
1 teaspoon Better Than Buillion
1 to 2 poblanos, roasted and diced

1. Heat olive oil in a medium dutch oven over medium heat. Saute chicken breast, garlic, and shallots. Cook until chicken is lightly golden.
2. Add jerk seasoning, Essence of Emeril, black pepper and salt.
3. Add butternut squash, water and Better Than Buillion. Bring to a boil and cook until squash is soft.
4. Add poblanos and return to a boil.

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Lo Mai Gai or Nuo Mi Ji (Chicken and Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf)

I’m happy to announce that my cake phase is over…for now. I'm taking a break from baking cakes at least until I start my cake decorating classes in a few weeks. I've move on to the food in parcels phase.  To start off this phase, I made Lo Mai Gai or Nuo Mi Ji.  I think food wrapped in leaves deserve their own little category. 

I don’t usually get to eat Lo Mai Gai except for when we go out for dim sum. If I had to choose only one item to eat at dim sum, this is it. I can sit there and eat an entire parcel all by myself. I usually do not because I always feel bad about eating the entire thing.  That's why we always order two or three.

A few years ago, I went to dim sum with a bunch of girls. We then went to the Asian grocery store near the dim sum restaurant. My friend asked me if I could help her find all of the ingredients to make Lo Mai Gai at home. Asian food is complicated in the sense that most Westerners do not possess the necessary equipment or ingredients at home. This dish requires at least one if not two different types of steamers. I’ve been able to get away with just one steamer but it took some experimenting to successfully cook sticky rice without a sticky rice steamer.

I prefer a higher proportion of rice to meat so if you like more meat than rice, decrease the amount of rice to two cups and the broth to one cup. I prefer my rice to not be mushy so I use less broth than other recipes I've seen. You can also change the proportion of types of protein. I like using boneless chicken thighs without any char sui because I never really have Chinese barbecued pork around the house. I think the best part of the filling is the Chinese sausage so I use a little more than what is usually found inside your typical dim sum parcel. You can also add diced shrimp if you’re feeling it. I don’t like the smell of shiitake mushrooms so I rinse them really well and use a measly four mushrooms for the 8 packets. Use more if shitakes are your thing.  Asian food is very forgiving.  Adjust the proportions to your tastes. 

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Taco Shop Shredded Chicken Filling

San Diego taco shops usually have at least two different chicken burritos on their menus: a shredded chicken burrito and a grilled chicken burrito. The grilled chicken or pollo asado is usually seasoned diced chicken; grilled on a flat top and stuffed inside a ginormous flour tortilla with pico de gallo and guacamole while the regular chicken burrito is simply filled with stewed and shredded chicken. I enjoy both versions but I find the shredded chicken easier to replicate at home than the pollo asado. 

Growing up in San Diego, these taco shops have a special place in my heart.  They are unique to San Diego.  The style is very different from Mexican restaurants found in other parts of the country.  I think it is a regional development due to San Diego's proximity to Tijuana (TJ). Where else can you find carne asada fries?  Most of the shops are independently owned (with a few chains thrown into the mix) but they taste very similar. (Of course there are standouts but you can pretty much walk into any taco shop in San Diego and walk out pretty happy.) 

Looking for a great taco shop in San Diego? Below are a few of my favorites.

JV’s in Linda Vista/Morena: 1112 Morena Boulevard http://www.jvsmexicanfood.com/menu.htm
El Cuervo in Hillcrest: 110 West Washington Street
El Cotixan in Clairemont: 4676 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard

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Stir-Fried Water Spinach

I learned how to make this dish from my friend Kellie. Her secret (or her mom's secret) is the lime juice.

Stir-Fried Water Spinach

1 bunch water spinach (about 1.5 pounds)
2 tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chicken breast, thinly sliced
2 Thai chilies, sliced
MSG, to taste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Juice from ½ lime

1. Prep the water spinach by cutting into 4 inch segments. Split the stalkier stems into halves or quarters. Wash and set aside.

2. Heat a large wok or saute pan over high heat. Add oil, minced garlic and chicken breast. Saute until chicken is cooked.

3. Add water spinach, chilies, MSG, fish sauce and oyster sauce. Quickly stir-fry until water spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and finish with lime juice. Serve with steamed rice.

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Khao Piak Sien (Laotian Fresh Rice Noodle Soup)

It's been awhile but I hope this recipe was worth the wait.

I was craving some good Laotian Khao Piak Sien and then I remembered the stewing hens in my freezer. My dad sent me home with a few stewing hens and cocks during one of my visits home. I also asked my mom to pick up some homemade pho meatballs, som moo and isaan sausage from her lady. My grandpa packed a cardboard box for me. It was inspected by TSA. I wonder what they were thinking when they searched the box.

This is one of those dishes that really benefits from a tougher old chicken although, my mom has made it with regular old whole fryers because my sister didn’t want to eat her pets.

Khao Piak Sien is a great dish to serve a crowd. We took turns cooking the meals during our snowboard/ski trip back in February. My friend was in charge of dinner day 2 and was undecided between Khao Piak Sien or Pho. She decided on the Khao Piak Sien. Everyone was glad to have a steaming bowl of Khao Piak Sien after a day on the slopes.

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Thai-Style Roast Chicken (Gai Yang)

I eat a lot of chicken. I went through a long semi-vegetarian phase and just started eating red meat not too long ago. I still have an aversion to red meat that tastes like meat. Because I eat a lot of chicken, I am always looking for new ways to prepare it. I usually like my chicken marinated with lemongrass but the bf hates lemongrass. I still wanted an Asian marinade so I decided on Thai gai yang.

Authentic Thai gai yang is usually made with a whole bird that has been spatchcocked or flattened and cooked over a charcoal grill. I looked in the freezer and found a tray of chicken leg quarters. I marinated the leg quarters in a Thai-style marinade and then I roasted them in the oven.

Thai Style Roast Chicken

3 pounds chicken leg quarters or whole chicken
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons coriander root, minced
2 tablespoon fish sauce
½ cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon ground tumeric
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon maggi sauce
MSG
black pepper

1. Marinate chicken in marinade at least 6 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange chicken in a single layer on baking sheet. Cook until chicken is golden.

We visited the Paint Mines Interpretive Park last weekend. It is located east of Colorado Springs. It was beautiful out.

These structures are called hoodoos and are the inspiration for Big Thunder Mountain ride at Disney.

Who can resist taking pictures of wild flowers?

A close up of one of the clay-like rocks.

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Stir-Fried Rice Cakes (Chao Nian Gao)

The first time I had rice cake ovals (Nian Gao) was at Luong Hai Ky Restaurant on Convoy in San Diego. It is simply called pan-fried rice cake on the menu. My brother and his fiancée ordered it as our appetizer. I didn’t know what to expect but I ended up really liking the chewy texture of the cakes. I forgot about the cakes until the last time I went to Mr. Dumpling with them. They ordered it again. This time, the rice cake ovals were stir-fried like chow fun noodles. The char flavor from the hot wok and the sweetness of the cabbage and onions made the dish really tasty.

I bought a huge bag of the rice cakes from the Korean market. (Apparently, there isn’t much difference in the Chinese and the Korean versions.) I had a huge bag but I really didn’t know much about them. I did some reading online but there is very little information on these tasty little morsels of goodness. To further confuse things, they are called Nian Gao, the same name for other types of sweet and savory rice cakes. Most of the blogs I found simply had pictures of Chao Nian Gao ordered at a restaurant. I couldn’t find a recipe for the version I had at Mr. Dumpling so I looked at the picture I took and attempted to recreate it. How difficult could it be? Isn't it basically chow fun?

I think it was a success. The bf took a few bites, looked at me and asked, "how much of these noodles do we have left?" He wanted to make sure we had more rice cakes for another meal. I assured him that I only used 4 cups and we still had quite a bit left.

Stir-Fried Rice Cakes (Chao Nian Gao)

4 cups rice cakes (rice ovals or ovalettes)
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chicken breast, thinly sliced (or pork or beef)
½ onion, sliced
½ head green cabbage , shredded
1 carrot, shredded
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Shao Xing wine
1 tablespoon sugar
MSG, to taste
Salt , to taste
Pepper, to taste
Green onions
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (or other seafood)

1. Prep rice cake according to package directions. (It may take some advance planning if using dried rice cakes.) I’m using semi-dried refrigerated rice cakes. The directions on the package is for soup so I just went ahead and boiled them for about a minute, drained and set aside.

2. Prep the rest of the ingredients. This goes really quickly so mise en place is everything.

3. Heat a large wok or stir-fry pan on high heat and add oil. When oil is hot, add garlic and onions. Sauté a few minutes.

4. Add chicken breast and sauté until cooked through. Add cabbage and carrots. Cook until moisture has evaporated. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, sugar, MSG, salt and pepper. Toss everything together and taste. Adjust seasoning.

5. Add boiled rice cakes, green onions and shrimp. Toss to coat. Cook a few minutes until heated through. If the pan gets too dry, add a little water or chicken broth.

Feel free to use less meat and seafood. My version is protein-heavy since the bf likes a lot of chicken and shrimp.

I love it when I take pictures of food and capture the steam from the food. Someone once asked how to take pictures of steaming food and not fog up the camera's lens. The answer is simple: stand back and zoom in.

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