February 15th, 2012: Sechuan Beef

So, I eased into cooking again. I made Chex-mix for Super Bowl Sunday, Jalapeno Burgers for Burger Friday, Tacos and Alfredo Pasta. Time for something a little more... real, shall we say.

So, I busted out my mom's Chinese Cookbook (cause, we can't not have any ethnicity of cook book in this house) and found a nice recipe for what I had on hand. Sechuan Beef.

Ten minutes later I had some thawed steak tips and started going to town. I've always been a big admirer of Chinese food. Well, any Asian cuisine, actually. Let me broaden that a little... Middle Eastern, Indian and Asian Cuisine. Wait, no, it great broader, still: Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Indian and... hold up, does Spanish count as Mediterranean? What about Ethiopian? Also, German, French and English food. Don't forget Irish. Did I just describe the entire Eurasian continent? Oh, and American food. And Hispanic. Wait a second! Is there a food I don't like? Nah, there isn't.

In anycase, I tried my hand at Chinese again, having successfully made Sweet & Sour and General Tso's chicken in the past, this should be a breeze. I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand, so I used dried ginger powder. Same for garlic. Turned out fine, though. I'd go further than fine, considering I ate three helpings of it over the course of the night.

I, truly, was impressed with this meal. I found it very bright in flavor with a touch of bite to it, without being hot at all. I did take a shortcut with the rise and eggrolls. I used Chang's brand frozen eggrolls and left over white rice from when I ordered Chinese food earlier in the week. I didn't mind. I gobbled it up pretty fast.

After this, I didn't stop cooking, although I did stop taking pictures. The 5th (sixth meal, if you count my Valentine's Day Eggos) I made was actually a Saturday evening meal I made for my parents. My Drunk Ass Fajitas, which I've never properly documented for this blog. (Actually, I was mistaken: he's a perfectly good waste of tequila) I could have sworn that I had before. I marinate my skirt steak in a mixture of garlic, crushed red peppers, jalapenos and cumin in about a half bottle of tequila for around 6 hours and then cook it up with peppers and onions. It's delicious. Described as having a "bite" to it. I served that with some Spanish Rice from a recipe I got in high-school Home Ec. The meal was delicious. Being back into cooking again, I've found a sort of new energy that I'm very much loving. I'm hoping to keep this going again and keep up with this blog, still.

And for good measure, here's Toki Wartooth trying to chew his way out of an open cage... weird rabbit.