Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Update Wed Oct 23 11:58:08 CDT 2013

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ANNOUNCEMENT I will be writing a new article sometime this month, or the first two weeks of November. It will be about a traditional bread-making technique. This technique breaks down gluten for those who are sensitive to it; then this bread develops a sour taste to it. And this bread has an extended shelf life. What am I talking about? I am talking about the wonders of sourdough bread!

This will actually be a two-part article about sour-dough and non-kneaded dough techniques. After I make such a dough I will start writing an article about it. What this means is that you can make dough without ever kneading it. This is nice to know because sour-dough is a pain for me to handle.

On Wikipedia it says that bread can be risen without any kneading. I intend on doing further research into this subject. So to summarize, here are the two main subjects of my next article on John's Corner: sour-dough and bread without kneading.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Recipe: Rice porridge

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  I got into Real Food Wednesday today and wanted to add a recipe I had done this morning. It's not much, just some rice porridge with sprouted lentils. I also added pieces of mushroom, as well as green onions. Here is the recipe and how I made it.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Basil article update

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My newest article on Basil is up!

Tuesday October 15 12:30:02am Central, YEAR 2013

I have finished my Basil article! The link is above, but you probably knew that already. In any case, this Basil article will be my last for a while. I do not make articles very often because I'm not naturally driven. I need inspiration before I am willing to put out the time and effort. The next time I write an article, it will have nothing to do with herbs. It's time to branch out! I also want you to check out my homepage. Every post I write on this blog has a link to my central website on Angelfire. The changes I've made might surprise you.

In other news, I have an exciting announcement to make. I have come up with a central theme to my website: the sharing of practical and fun knowledge! My index page's introduction will fill you in. Basically I will teach things from gardening to cooking and even non-related topics such as speed reading and study techniques. But these are just a few examples.


Lastly, I have something to say to a friend of mine whom I talked to the other day. I told her I was going to make Thai green curry. This is how it turned out: I made a homemade chicken stock using only turmeric, onion powder, and garlic powder. I then cooked up some chicken to put in my curry, and steamed some vegetables to go along with it, as well as slices of a portabella mushroom.

In a quart-size stainless steal pan I made a 1/4 cup Jasmine rice. First I parboiled it, dumped the water, then cooked it as if to make it sticky. I made the stock in this same pan before doing the rice, so the turmeric powder ended up colouring my rice yellow. For those who don't know, turmeric has a lot of health benefits, and it can even help you with various health issues. So that was a good occurence for me.

A word of advice: don't use a lot of turmeric, if any, when you want your curry anything but yellow. When I made the actual green curry, I took a homemade green curry paste--really just a bunch of cut up green chili peppers--and fried it in a wok for several seconds. That was a horrible experience for my lungs and larynx. *Cough*

I then poured the stock into the outrageously hot carbon steel wok--that might have been a bad idea. It's generally not good to thermal shock any cookware, even if it's metal; in which case, at least it doesn't crack. It just warps instead, as I have had the pleasure of finding out. I added powdered sassafras leaf and coconut flour because they are natural and healthy sauce thickeners. I also added some of my home-grown sweet Basil leaves. As I mentioned in my previous post, I failed to germinate some lemon basil seeds, so I can only use sweet basil--not that this plant is bad or anything...

I put all the chicken, vegetables and mushroom slices inside the wok, along with some coconut milk I bought from Fox Farms. I somehow managed to take what was previously yellow in colour and make it look closer to green, instead. Probably because I had a butt-load of green vegetables, basil leaves, and sassafras leaf powder in it. I forgot to mention, I even added kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass, since they are a staple in Thai cuisine.

What people may not know is that Thai cooking is not just mindlessly throwing in different ingredients together and chancing upon a tasty dish. Acknowledged Thai food expert David Thompson even said that the dishes are a deceptively simple combination of flavors. Thai food specializes in a well-balanced combination of three or four basic flavors: spicy, salty, sweet, and sour.

I combined the sweetness of the creamy coconut milk and coconut flour, the saltiness of Tamari soy sauce I bought(brand is San-J), the sourness of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and two laco-fermented carrots, along with the spiciness of the chili peppers. And even though I was not exactly scientific about it, I still managed to come up with a pretty decent menu. I am not as precise as the Thai cooks, but I am experienced in home cooking.

But I ultimately want to make a dish as good as the ones I've tasted in restaurants twice. Man, that was good. I had only red curry both times. They really know their food well!





That's the end of this post. When I have anything else to tell you I will do so. Until then...!

If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment form below! As long as it has value, and it doesn't make parents cringe, I will allow it.

Friday, October 11, 2013

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UPDATE Friday October 11, TIME 10:14:46pm Central, YEAR 2013
I am currently working on an article about Basil. It is nearing completion and I eagerly await its publication! Even though I use a lot of stiff language here, my article uses more casual language, and it is very easy to understand! It is truly an article worthy of your consideration!

In other news, my Lemon Basil seeds failed. When I am able to germinate some more I will give you all an update as to its progress. I've decided that, at least for the moment, this blog will serve to enlighten you all on gardening!

Changing the subject, I germinated some lettuce seeds. They are packaged by Seeds of Change and I got a variety where you don't know what you're going to get. They grow in at most a month and I will get free lettuce for quite a while!

In conclusion, I have also propagated my Sweet Basil, but it is progressing rather slow. Basil is a plant that needs some sort of boost, so that may have something to do with it. Or maybe it's because of the cooling climate--whichever comes first. When I see progress in one or more of my plants, I will come back. Until then...