I don’t think I can survive without rice. I can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
Rice goes with anything and I’m always learning new ways to enjoy this personal food staple. My cousin and hubby gave us “Seductions of Rice” for Christmas. It’s a big cookbook with beautiful pictures on how rice is used around the world. I love trying out the book’s tasty recipes for rice and other dishes. A few weeks ago, I whipped up this Low-Country Pulao with Chicken and Bacon.
I have Easter bunnies and festivities on the brain. Earlier this week, I produced the Noon show and we had Thumper on as a guest. This SPCA bunny was a little sick and it couldn’t stop throwing up on our mall set. Thankfully, we had an Easter Bunny (dude in a costume) to wave at the camera and distract the viewers.
My weather gal says we’ll have beautiful weather for this morning’s Easter egg hunts. My co-workers are decorating eggs and hiding them from their kids.
Last month, I met my cousin’s dog Kai. He likes to bounce like a bunny. He’s also super nice and so wonderful with kids.
Meet Kai from Kris Vera-Phillips on Vimeo.
Then there’s my Daisy. She loved hunting bunnies back in Topeka. She loves running around the backyard.
And she’s not great with kids, but she’s getting better.
One Big Yard from Kris Vera-Phillips on Vimeo.
Maybe I can strap some bunny ears on Daisy. I wonder how long they’d last.
So, Happy Easter!
I try to find new recipes to try out on my weekends. I’m thrilled with the huge kitchen space in our Vacaville home. There’s plenty of room to spread out my herbs, veggies, meat and cutting areas. Sometimes I have my PowerBook open to a tasty online recipe. When I’m prepping meals, sometimes I stare out at the backyard and watch my Daisy defend the house against blue jays, squirrels and pedestrians.
After almost a decade of cooking, I still feel like a novice in the kitchen. I think that’s cool because I’ll always find something new and challenging to tickle my taste buds. My love of culinary adventures goes back to my family. I’m happy we had a chance to return to some good home cooking for the P-Day Weekend.
I loved my dad’s home cooking: fish, laarb, fried rice and more. He’s the first one to teach me how to cook. During my 2nd year at Cal, he showed me how to make chicken adobo in the our tiny dorm kitchen. Little by little, I got more daring in the kitchen. Sometimes I had misses when it came to my cooking. Other times, one bite showed me that it was all worth the time and prep invested in the dish.
I’ve been thinking about Balut. I think it’s time I try this Filipino delicacy. Hell, Mark already sampled it.
I wonder if this is a good price for the half-hatched duck eggs. We found this vendor at the Fremont Farmers Market last September. Sadly, I had to catch a plane to Kansas that day…so we passed on the Balut.
This week, I stumbled on this informational blog entry on Balut aka Hot Vit Lon.
I remember eating them with my siblings, tapping on the egg shell with a spoon and then breaking the membrane underneath to sip at the flavorful liquid, which was broth like. Then we ate the solid stuff, which basically was the embryo. I don’t recall beak, bones or feathers, but they can be in there, depending on the age of the egg. We didn’t eat the hard white albumen. It was a kind of weird dare and that was it.
OK — some day I will try Balut. Maybe on my next trip home to LA…we’re thinking about doing a quick visit on President’s Day weekend. I know that falls in the middle of sweeps, but I happen to have that holiday off. Neato.
We got a late start to the weekend. We spent Friday night toasting one of my co-workers who’s moving on to bigger and better things. The farewell party involved lots of people, alcohol and dancing. It was the first time I went dancing in a while. Granted, it was in somebody’s living room and the music was tuned to the greatest hits channel from Digital Cable. Still, it was dancing and I had fun boogieing with co-workers and new people.
We didn’t get home until 4:00 AM. I remember taking Daisy out to do her business and that’s about it. Mark said I passed out and he had to put me to bed.
What a good hubby! I’d do the same for him.
After waking up with a little hangover, we slowly started up our Saturday morning with homemade french toast and bacon.
My honey is brilliant when it comes to breakfast. So he took whipped up the tasty French Toast. He had a batter of eggs, cinnamon and milk…I think. He coated sourdough bread slices with the batter and fried them up over the stove. I took care of the coffee and bacon. The apartment was covered in bacon smoke for a bit. Thankfully, I didn’t burn too many slices.
It was a yummy breakfast and it helped us recover from the heavy night of drinking.
I’ve known Mark for more than six years and our relationship still feels young. We enjoy exploring new places and new flavors. We open up our minds to new sounds and new ideas. It’s been like that since our first date on a thrift store scavenger hunt in San Francisco.
Moving to Kansas was like moving to another planet. Thank God I had Mark with me for this adventure.
Well, our little weather adventure lasted about an hour. It looked like dusk at about 3:00 pm - yesterday. Then the rains died down and the sun popped out. We saw a rainbow over I-70.
On Thanksgiving - we spent part of the afternoon on the phone with our families in Cali and NY. Folks sounded like they were having a good time. My mom said my Ate Ludett made a yummy mango cake - with fresh mangos. I’m happy to hear Nate got our postcards from Mexico. I figured Mexican donkeys were carrying our mail across the border.
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Mark and I hosted an engagement cocktail hour at Quark’s - last Saturday. A few folks couldn’t get over the geekiness of the Star Trek-themed bar.
My maid of honor made it her mission to show me a good time and to get drunk without passing out. Yeah, I hate when I do that. I reminded her to take all electronic equipment out of my pockets if she felt the need to toss my clothing into the washer…one more time.
My matron of honor decked me out in a Bachelorette veil, scepter and tatoo. Oh, I got inked :0
Jennie, my favorite bridesmaid cousin, took on photographer duties with this snazzy Bachelorette camera - complete with captions. Good grief, when was the last time I developed pix that were from film and not a digital camera?
BERKELEY — Working on my resume tapes at Haas. The lab is closed for the weekend. We saw people walking to graduation ceremonies. I thought they didn’t have those on Sunday, but they do.
Yesterday - we ate a lot. Each time we spent time with friends - it was either for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
In any event - the Bay Area is a great place for eating.
I’m picking up my running habit when we get back to LA. Before we left - I ran/walked/panted about three times a week. It’s flat in Covina and that made it easier to get from point A to point B.
It’s still sunny and beautiful up here. We picked a fab weekend to visit Berkeley, Oakland and SF.
And yesterday - we also did coffee on College Ave. Sunny days include people wearing tank tops. Girls wearing tank tops. Girls who don’t shave and wear tank tops. I think you get the picture. Sure, I know it’s their choice and lord knows, I should be used to it after living in the Bay Area for 7 years. But I’m not.
damn, my spring break breezed through and i didn’t get a chance to rest up….it’s ok - i’d rather be awake and enjoying my time with mark and my family and friends, then sleeping.
it was too short.
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During the dinner, we had a cute little girl to entertain us - flopping on the ground and wiggling her toes. I played peek-a-boo with the kid as her mom gave us advice about what to do with our families when you go into labor. Ouch. Sounds painful. The kid also tickled me. Then she lifted up my shirt. Wow. Little girls are funny, sometimes.
in the last few days. Dude, I weighed myself after my workout, this afternoon - gained about 4 lbs back 
grrr…..I got away from Chicago to avoid bad weather! it’s not suppose to follow me to my paradise in CA. grrrrrr……
