Surin of Homewood

The Mrs. and I are big Thai food fans. Our first date was actually at Surin West almost five years ago. I’ve been itching to use the Coconut Milk that’s been sitting in our pantry for an embarrassingly too long amount of time (it had two months until expiration!!) and last week I did a bit of experimenting to create my first Thai Peanut Chicken Stir Fry. Here’s what I used:

Chicken breast
Green Pepper, Zucchini, Onion, Mushrooms
Coconut Milk
Peanut Butter
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Rice Vinegar
Honey
Salt/Pepper

In one skillet I heated about a tablespoon of sesame oil over medium high heat and cooked the chicken for a minute or two, before adding half a can of Coconut Milk and the Mushrooms. I didn’t want to have COMPLETELY raw chicken cooking in the coconut milk, but it may not have been necessary. I covered and cooked that on medium heat for maybe 10 minutes or so.

I decided to stir fry the other vegetables in a separate skillet before adding to the chicken and mushrooms (I wanted a little crunch left and didn’t want to “boil” them). While the peppers, zucchini and onions were cooking, I combined maybe a tablespoon each of Peanut Butter, Soy Sauce, and Rice Vinegar in a bowl and micro-waved for 30 seconds. Stir it around and it looks like this:

After the chicken looked good and cooked, I stirred in the peanut mixture and let it simmer for a few more minutes before adding the vegetables. At this point, I tasted it and realized it needed salt and something sweet (maybe a tablespoon of honey).

All in all, it was a pretty tasty dish, but I definitely could have used some extra ingredients to “tie” it up (get it??? Tie/Thai).

Things I would have liked to Add:
Lime
Mint
Ginger
Bean Sprouts
Jalapenos
Curry Powder
Garlic (duh, I totally should have added Garlic Powder)

Any blog stalkers out there have any suggestions for Thai Cooking at Home??

Happy Father's Day

In case you haven't seen the LOML or my FB status today, we're finally revealing to the internetz world we're PREGGERS!!!*

Baby TMF'H set to drop mid-January 2k10 (doesn't that look weird with two numerals after the k??)

Hope everyone had a GREAT weekend!!! I spent the afternoon FINALLY finishing the backyard patio (so fatherly, I know)!

* I knew I'd need an exciting topic for my 100th post!

Chillin' at the Hampton Inn

In addition to hanging out with Mimi & Op last weekend, the LOML and I also went to see Brad & Elle in the Big Apple!! We actually drove into NYC Saturday morning and then rode with BLEE to the Hamptons (cue P. Diddy). That’s right; we were rubbing elbows with Billy & Katie Lee (ooops!!) and rolling 26’s on the Bentley!!

Saturday we went to the Barefoot Contessa’s favorite Farmer’s Market (no lie), hung out at the pool, walked around downtown East Hampton, had $5 ice cream cones, and caught up on all our Condé Nast publications. BLEE is renting their house (in Amagansett) with another couple and the wife is a kitchen manager for Martha Stewart. We quickly tricked her into cooking dinner for us Saturday night. OMG, I could have eaten this Chimichurri sauce on my Top-Siders for dinner, it was that good (don’t worry; I’ll recreate it for yall later in the summer)!!!

Sunday we drove up to Montauk and had lunch at Lunch (while Lunch may be world famous for the Lobster Rolls, their website is HTML-lame!). When in Rome, I decided to do as the Hamptonians do and had one of their world famous Lobster Rolls.

Can I be honest?? The roll was the best part (hot, buttery and delicious) of the sandwich. Maybe I was expecting it to be the best food I ever put in my mouth, but the Lobster was really just alright for me, dawg. I mean, I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t get all the hype?? After lunch, we walked on the beach, took various awkward family photos, and then went for a drink and people watching at the Surf Lodge.

The thing that struck me about the Hamptons was how LUSH and GREEN everything was! It’s not like the usual beach towns you’re used to. Everything is covered in thick hedges and tall trees (no palm trees). It’s very New England-y and a bit Euro-rustic. We saw some crazy big houses (mostly covered in those thick 20 ft hedges), but I think everyone would be just as happy on the Florida or Carolina coast.

The LOML and I had a great time and loved hanging out with BLEE (along with Boston Rob and Alison!!). Thank yall again for having us and hopefully it won’t be 2 years before we fellowship again!!! OMK!!

Greetings from TMF'H

So last weekend, the LOML and I took a mini-vacation to the Tri-State Region. We haven’t been up to see my grandparents since their 50th Wedding Celebration (a little over two years ago) and really wanted to fly up to the Garden State for a visit. We had a FANTASTIC dinner at Reggiano’s Thursday night (I really want to recreate the prosciutto and fontina wrapped asparagus) and also went to my Aunt & Uncle’s Friday night for a cook-out with my cousins.

In addition to being two kind, generous, and loving people, Mimi & Op are both really hip and “with it” (Mim is an avid Facebooker (and Blog commenter!), and although Op can’t stand Conan or Dave, he thinks Craig Ferguson is pretty funny). Friday afternoon, Mimi took the LOML and me on a tour of NJ (Montclair, Glenn Ridge, Livingston, etc.) where we drove past my grandparents’ old homes, and also stopped at a Border’s (Mim said we could each pick out two items). I don’t care if you’re 7 or 27, it’s still exciting to pick out a toy (or book, rather) with your grandmother. I picked up When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg.

This was my first foray into David Sedaris, but I’m sure everyone else has been reading him for years (Did you know his sister was Amy Sedaris from Strangers with Candy??). I was walking through the store, contemplating my next choice, when I told the LOML I was thinking of getting this book, because I heard he was funny. One of the Border’s employees was like “OMG, he is hilarious, you have to get this book!” so I took the plunge and picked it up. He is known for his dry, self-depricating humour and reminds me a lot of Larry David. As a bonus, Mim also gave me her old copies of Barrel Fever, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Naked!!! (I told you she was “with it”)

Molly Wizenberg is the author of the popular Orangette food blog. I added her to my Google Reader last Fall, and although she’s taken a hiatus from blogging (as of 5/18/09), you should still poke around there for some good reading. I didn’t really know if this book was going to be a memoir or a cook book (it’s kind of both), but after the food blogging community was raving about it a few months ago, I thought I’d check it out. I read the first 4 or 5 recipes (each has a 2-3 page background story) and I’ll try and post some recipes here in the (near?) future. Also, if you’re (blog-stalkers) ever in Seattle, Molly and her husband are set to open a sweet pizza joint, Delancey, in the “late spring”??

Thanks again for everything, Mimi & Op!! We love you!!

Anybody Seen Michael Jordan??

Last night we went to a Birmingham Barons baseball game with our church small group. It was $.25 Hot Dog night, and the perfect example of “You get what you pay for” (I had three).

In addition to a rousing AA baseball game (the Barons lost 1-6), we also noticed a number of “old timers” in front of us scribbling down minor league stats in spiral notebooks. Having finished about 80% of Moneyball (I’ll finish it by July!) I assumed these sabermetrics were scouts (looking for the next Jeremy Brown???). Various members of the Baron’s staff came over throughout the game to discuss players, the MLB Draft (started last night), and one of the old guy’s sweet baseball card shirt!

There's a Magazine Called Sunset

Last night whilst the LOML was watching the Bachelorette (no, I was not paying attention), I was catching up on a magazine when it hit me . . . we subscribe to a TON of magazines!!

Runner's World

Real Simple

Cooking Light

Journal of Accountancy

Self

Inc.

Gourmet

Everyday Food

YOU'RE WELCOME, PRINT MEDIA INDUSTRY!!

I will point out that two of these were gift subscriptions, two were reward point subscriptions (expiring United sky miles), one comes free with membership in the AICPA, and one is a trial subscription that ends soon (?)

Anyways, just a boring nuance in the lives of TMF'H . . . thought I'd share since there's not too much else going on right now . . .

Sorry, Ladies

This weekend Handsome Rob is getting hitched. Tonight we'll be at Niffer's doing this:

The e-mail chain that started last week amongst his groomsmen has now topped over 400 (we are all very diligent employees). This weekend will be fun. I know a lot of ladies will be crying in their Pitu Saturday night . . .

On the Back Patio

Over the past couple years, most of the bushery (or shrubbery) in our back yard has gotten away from the LOML and I, leaving our flower beds dead and barren. We talked a few months ago about expanding the little patio area off our back deck (home of dead shrubbery), and this past weekend, we commenced the tackling of this DIY/HGTV/FLN/TLC project.

Our good buddy, Craiger, gave us a tip about Alabama Wholesale Stone Company, and we were able to pick up 3,200 POUNDS (that’s over a ton and a half!) of Blue Flagstone at a pretty reasonable price (at least I thought so). This picture doesn’t do it justice, but we were riding low (and dirty).

I also rented a 5 HP Tiller from Huffstutler’s Hardware to till out the area where we would lay the patio. This thing was a BEAST!! After tilling the Earth, JD came over and helped move 15 or so wheel barrow loads of dirt to the back of our yard. I kinda want a tiller now for my Birthday.

Most of the instructions I read online said you should lay an inch or so of sand before placing your flagstone. I picked up 8 bags of sand (.5 cu ft each) from Lowe’s which was not near enough. The Mrs. and I “sprinkled” what little sand we had, and then started to lay some of the stones to see how it looked (we came to the conclusion, that we really did need that extra sand). Here is what our patio looks like now:

Luckily, Cahaba Heights Hardware Store has a pretty good deal on bulk sand (wish I had known that early Saturday morning!), but it may be a week (or more) before we can finish this project. Don’t worry, we’ll have it ready for the 2nd annual 4th of July Bash. Here is what you missed last year!! (the slide that is)

Boom!!