Finishing Painting

My mom recently finished one of her paintings. Unfortunately, this one is already taken.

Day/Night out in Miami

We begin at the succulents section of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. It was the annual Chocolate Festival, where they explain how chocolate is made, feed it to you in various forms, and sell cacao trees as well as the rare Oncidium "Sharry Baby" Chocolate Orchid. As you can see, we met up with Marcia and her two sons, Nasir and Ramesh Sandino (Sushma's Godson). The whole crew also included: Purvi, Jospeh, Tony, Rashmi, and special guests Krupal and Mira from Durham. The evening before we took a trip to Miami Beach and took pictures of Downtown Miami from the Bridge to Key Biscayne.

HNA 2009!

Happy New Administration!

january flowers

These just bloomed in our backyard. I guess worrying and taking care of plants pays off after a while.

Recipes from this past week that you may have missed

Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins

3 c. cornbread mix
2 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. salad oil
3 beaten eggs
1 lg. onion, grated
1 c. canned cream style corn
1 1/2 c. Colby cheese,
grated1/2 c. jalapeno peppers

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, or longer. This is a very moist bread. Serve with any soup. Serves 6 to 8.

Veg. Vietnamese Pho

for the broth ...
1 onion, quartered
2 shallots halved
8 garlic cloves halved
2" piece of ginger, coarsely sliced
2 whole star anise
1 cinnimon stick
4 cloves
8 cups clear veg. stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
salt

To make the broth, heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves and dry-roast or "char", stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to char. Add the stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes. Strain into a clean pot and discard the solids. Taste the broth and add salt if necessary. Keep warm over low heat.

for the soup ...
1 pound rice noodles
8 ounces seitan or fried tofu, sliced
6 scallions, thinly sliced (both green and white parts)
2 carrots -julienned
1-1/2 cups bean sprouts
handful of basil/cilantro leaves, whole 1 lime, cut into wedges
hoisin sauce
sriracha chili paste

While the broth is simmering, prepare the rice noodles. Place the noodles in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over the noodles to cover and soak for 20 minutes.

When you are ready to assemble the soup, add the seitan or tofu, carrots to the warm broth and allow to heat through. Drain the soaked rice noodles and divide evenly among 4 to 6 large bowls. Using a slotted spoon, scoop the seitan or tofu out of the broth and distribute among the bowls. Ladle the hot broth over the noodles. Serve the bowls of pho with the scallions, bean sprouts, herbs, lime wedges, hoisin sauce and chili sauce on a seperate platter so that everyone can season their own soup as they wish.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Pictures from the Boston March against Israel's Attack on Gaza

Breakfast with Rohan

My sister and I spent last week in Jersey City, NJ. We got to celebrate the holidays with our beloved nephew Rohan. Here he is eating breakfast with us and explaining his thoughts on life.