Soy Sauce Chicken (Chinese Noodle Soup/Vietnamese Pho?)

Yesterday I tried another new recipe that I found on userealbutter.

Soy Sauce Chicken
4-6 chicken drums (organic is preferable) (I used 4)
4-5 stalks green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 slices ginger root, peeled
2-3 whole star anise
2/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
enough water to cover the chicken
 
1)  Place all ingredients in a pan with a tight lid (or use a crockpot). Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer so that when you cover the pot, the liquid will not boil over. Simmer for 2 hours.

2)  I like to remove the bone and skin from the chicken and serve the meat with the broth over Chinese noodles with bok choy, napa cabbage, or spinach for a Chinese noodle soup.

I didn't have the ingredients for step 2, so instead... I removed the meat from the bone/skin/fat.  I let the broth cool and the fat congeal and skimmed off the fat and and also removed the chunks of ginger and anise (the anise is a HAVE to - it wouldn't be the same without it.  I found it in the Mexican aisle at Wal-mart.  It was about $1 for 20 or so anise stars)  Then I sauteed the few Chinese-type ingredients I had (celery, snowpeas, mushrooms, and two more green onions) until they were slightly cooked, but still crunchy.  I put the vegetables and meat back in the broth and served with some rice noodles I purchased at the Asian market.

The verdict?  It was delicious.  It actually wasn't salty at all (I thought it would be with all the soy sauce), but I also didn't drink the broth, I just ate what was inside of it.  It had flavor, it was fresh tasting, and the chicken was super tender and not bland like most boiled chicken is.

I will admit though, that it smelled a little gross while it was cooking (you'll understand what I mean if you make it).  I thought I was going to hate it. But... thankfully, its smell and taste were completely different.

On a scale of -5 through 5, Jesse said it was between at 3 and a 4.  I'm guessing that's a 3.5.

If Jesse liked it that much and he doesn't usually like Oriental food, you know it must be good. ;-)

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Oh.  I also made cookies on Monday.  They were scrumptious.

6/14

I am thankful for art/creative expression.

I'm not much of an "artist" myself, but I am totally mesmerized by the things people can create with their hands; drawings, charcoals, acrylics, watercolors, anime, oil paintings, metal sculptures, pottery/ceramics, clothing, blankets, calligraphy, wall hangings, statues, ornaments, glassware, jewelry, graphics, movies, etc.

I think it's fantastic, the resources we have to use our talent to express ourselves, our beliefs, our emotions, our stage in life.  Art has such power.

I also think art goes past what I mentioned above, into the fields of music, photography, and writing, and probably more things I'm missing.  I attempt to use photography and writing to express myself.  I try to paint pictures with words.

Clothing are especially awesome, because people have their own unique style that says something special about them.  Clothing style is definitely an artistic way of expressing yourself and your individuality.

 So yes.  I'm totally a thankful for this!

5/14

I just got back from the Asian market.  I was buying some ingredients for dinner tonight that I couldn't find anywhere else in town.

It made me think about something else I'm thankful for. . .

Culture!  Not my culture, not the American culture, and not Texan culture (in fact, these are my least favorite cultures), just culture in general.

I really appreciate how different people from varying geographical areas look, physically, how they each have their own unique style of dress, sometimes their own language, their own cuisine, their own traditions, their own humor, their own style of art, their own smells. . . I could go on and on, but I just love culture!

I also love how it varies in different regions of a country too.  It's phenomenal.  There's so much variety in the world... no two people groups are alike, just as no two people are alike.  Even with in the different regions, each family sometimes has slightly different traditions.  Wow wow wow.

Sometimes too, when you get a look at someone else's culture, it causes you to be more thankful (and less complaining) for your own culture and gifts.  On the other hand, being exposed to these things can also cause you to apply new traditions, beliefs, etc., to your own life/culture in order to grow and change in unique ways and be a better and more loving person.

So in that sense, the more globalized the world becomes, the more the cultures might change, which means you've got more to keep up with!

Someday I'd like to experience some of these cultures first hand.  It's one of my goals in life.

So yes.  I thankful for cultures and their awesome variety.

4/14

I'm thankful for language and books.

Language is so cool, how we get to communicate through different pitches from our throats and control how they come out with our mouths/lips/tongues.  And how somebody transferred those sounds into somewhat organized, logical characters/marks on paper.

I think it's stupendous.

I love being able to communicate with people and trying to grasp what they're feeling and experiencing.

I love that God can communicate to us through language and gave us a book to learn through.

I love that people can document their work/research/creativity on paper now and make it easily accessible to the public... so we all don't have to travel around to listen to orators.

Books provide such a wealth of information for understand and loving people and also understanding and loving God better.

I'm so thankful for this!

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

I made a delicious soup I found on cooksister.com.  It was scrumptious.  Oh, and did I mention it was easy?

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

2 large potatoes, diced (I used 5 smallish red potatoes)
2 large leeks, thinly sliced (make sure you rinse them well in a colander, as they're pretty dirty)
1 clove garlic, crushed (I used 4 cloves)
2-3 cups chicken stock (I used about 3 1/2, you just want enough to cover the potatoes, plus a little to make up for evaporation loss)
100 ml cream or milk (I used about 2/3 a cup half and half)
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Method:
1) Heat about 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add the garlic and the sliced leeks, reserving about 4 Tbsp of leek slices for the garnish.  Add the potato cubes and sautee until the leeks begin to colour.

2) Add 2-3 cups of chicken stock (depending on how thick you like your soup) and bring to a simmer.  Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes until the potato cubes are soft enough to mash.
Remove from the heat, mash with a potato masher to break up the largest chunks, then add the milk or cream and blend with a wand blender until smooth enough for your liking.  (I just used a regular blender and poured it back into the pot when I was finished).

3) Add the dried thyme, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  If the soup is too thick, add a little more water.  Return to low heat.

4)  Devour.

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We started a rating system, -5 thru 5, 0 being neutral.

Jesse's rating: 3.