Meals for the King.

Elyse hasn't felt like writing recently about meals that she had made in the last month. So I'm just going to post some pictures, maybe later she'll get around to postings recipes, or additional comments about their preparation. I was only involved in the consumption.

This little guy to the right was a beautiful crab that we examined live at the grocery store earlier that day. They even offered to send it home live! I don't know what the plan there was, its one thing to wrap a lobster's claws, but crabs are fairly strong.

I don't know of the dish was, but I think that in Thailand this dish is always served in the presence of a King, so its a very special dish. It was presented beautifully, in fact, I always always always love it when a chef presents the head or face of the animal you are eating as a decoration. We omnivores are a sick, sick crowd. Well, while this little beasties ghost was watching I devoured his scrumptious flesh. I mean really, how can a species survive that tastes so good? We eat every single one of these things that swims on by, and they keep coming. The skunk, now that's a smart animal. That's what I would want to smell like if were an Earthling who wasn't a human.

By the way, I asked Elyse what was in the sauce? (besides the crab meat, ginger and scallions) She listed off a bunch of sauces in Chinese, who-wa sauce, moy chin bayye, Choom ma. I have no idea what goes into all those sauces but we have like 10 bottles of Chinese sauce around here that Elyse picks up from her trips to the People's Republic, apparently, because I wouldn't know where to buy them. Anyway, this was a memorable meal, for sure.


Here was another one that she threw together fast, but it was incredibly good.

First of all those are homemade dumplings, not frozen, and they were great. We have a package of those dumpling-wraps in the fridge, and inside was, I believe, ground pork and scallions, and some awesome Chinese sauce. Then she shredded carrots and garlic, and added some snap peas. The broth is our homemade stock along with some of the several times previously aforementioned Chinese sauces. It was transcendent. The dumplings were a nice meaty mush, and the texture of the peas was crisp and fresh as a contrast, and the carrot was rather hard, as opposed to crisp. It was a great collection of textures, and tasted great, too!


This one was quite simple, especially considering how good it was. You could probably make it based on the picture! You just need to stir fry the shrimp in a spicy red sauce. Whatever you like. Remember to sauté your shrimp with the shells on, it adds a lot of flavor! Its always tastiest - and messiest - to cook a shellfish in its shell, and pick the shells off at the table. We ate this on a very hot summer night with a nice Chablis. The slices of avocado are key.

Yes, that's the same head of lettuce from the last one. We're so economical. With heads of lettuce.

This meal is a standout in our memory because these are the first crêpes that Elyse had ever made in her life. Just last month! You know, I have never made crêpes. But I do own a crêpe pan. I have had it for 2 years! I have never made crêpes in it, and I bought it because I like it for frying eggs because the low sides make it really easy to get the egg out without breaking the yolk. But I knew that, simply by owning a crêpe pan, that I had dramatically increased the likelihood that, one day, I would eat homemade crêpes. It took 2 years, and marriage to an LI girl who made me crêpes with turmeric in them! Great crêpes. Great crêpe pan, too.

Here is another of Elyse's hobbies. This is not edible, it is made from femo clay. I don't know what they are going to be. My hope is for a series of psychedelic models of the Starship Enterprise, but she doesn't seem to be in a Sci-Fi phase, really.