Asian Recipe #1

Although the Texas BBQ, Tex-Mex, and countless other temptations have been pretty exciting to try lately, Justin and I have been craving some Asian.  So....I decided to flip open my new cookbook for the first time!

I decided to go with something easy, but also delicious.  Thai Green Chicken Curry might possibly be one of my most favourite dishes of all time.  It's creamy, it's spicy, and full of fantastic vegetables.  In fact, I have made green curry before, but never outside of Singapore and also this was a slightly altered recipe that I hadn't used before.

Obviously, I had to make a few modifications to the recipe.  I wasn't going to find Kaffir Lime at the local grocery store, or pea-eggplants either.  However, it is on my list of to-do's to find an Asian supermarket in Houston, which I'm sure exists somewhere.  Then I am going to go TO TOWN on these recipes.

The curry turned out good, however I wasn't overly pleased with the curry paste that I had purchased at the grocery store.  It wasn't nearly spicy enough, and was missing some essential flavours.  NOTE - if you come visit me from Singapore, please bring me some Dancing Chef curry paste!!! That stuff is the best!

I had a great time making this recipe, and it also made me think of my friend Philippa who bought me the book, as well as Rob Sparrow and Ada Wood who signed the page.

Easiest Birthday Cake

Hello again!

Thank you all so much for all the lovely comments about our new condo.  We are really enjoying it and feel very settled already.

In other news, today is Justin's birthday!!  I won't tell you how old he is but you can always check out his profile page to find out - hehe.

Unfortunately, Justin had to leave last night for a business trip to Las Vegas.  Wait, is that unfortunate?  Sounds like a sweet deal to me!  Anyways, because I won't see him today we decided to celebrate his birthday last Friday instead.

Thanks to a new oven, flour and climate, I completely ruined my home made pizza dinner.  I was so disappointed with myself but what can you do?  Luckily, I was able to make an amazing birthday cake - everyone's favourite - Ice Cream Cake!

I can't believe how easy this was.  I bought myself a chocolate pie crust, 2 pints of ice cream, some hot fudge sauce, and one of those small gel frosting tubes so I could write Happy Birthday on top.

First, I allowed the ice cream to soften a bit so that I could smooth the first flavour, cookies and cream, into the bottom of the pie shell.  For the record, I was considering making a homemade Oreo pie crust, but the thought of having a leftover bag of Oreos in the house sounded too dangerous!

After sticking the 1st layer in the freezer for a few minutes to harden, I then added dollops of the hot fudge sauce for a chocolatey centre.  I wasn't able to smooth it out into a perfectly even layer, but you couldn't really tell when eating it!

I used Vanilla for the top layer so that the top would be smooth and light-coloured so that I could write Happy Birthday on top.  My "cake writing" is horrible, so I don't have a picture of it.  Once it was finished, I let it firm up in the freezer for about 4 hours, but overnight would have been better I think.

It was super delicious, sooooo easy to make, and I got to try out the "made in Texas" Blue Bell Ice Cream.  They have some amazing flavours including...RED VELVET CAKE!!! WHAT?!?!  Unfortunately it wasn't my birthday so I had to stick with Justin's favourite, Cookies and Cream.

Mostly Moved In

Hello!

Justin left for Calgary yesterday morning so I'm missing you all a little bit extra today :)

Despite all the travel and crazy appointments we have had over the last few days, I've been able to unpack almost all of our condo and set things up nicely, which means that I'm finally comfortable with showing you all pictures of our new home.

Walking through the front door, this is what you'll see - Kitchen is on the left.

We are currently living in the Montrose area of Houston (which is the 4th largest city in the US).  We are within walking distance of a couple of restaurants and a Whole Foods (yay!) but most other things are driving distance.  Our condo is an 8 story building and we are on the 7th floor, facing into the complex, which means we have a great view of the pool.

Living room with Justin's long awaited TV

Our balcony, with pool below.  Hopefully I can keep some plants alive out here!

So far in Houston we have been getting beautiful blue skies and the temperature max's out at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit or about 20 degrees Celsius.  There is usually a cool breeze, which means I'm always packing a light sweater whenever I leave the house.  Don't worry, the temperature is slowly starting to climb where it will peak around July.  I've heard the summer months can be pretty unbearable.  Maybe I should get a part-time job at an ice cream store or something!

Kitchen - with Island and granite counters.  It has lots of space for all my gadgets!

Office Nook with Laundry on the right

Our Master Bedroom has great space, but I have no idea what to do with it all!  Any suggestions would be great.  We're also in the market for a bed frame and headboard.  I'm thinking upholstery, but any suggestions on that too would be great!!

Master Bedroom - right now, a little boring!

But loving the twin sinks and walk-in closet!

I'm really enjoying our new place.  We have signed a 6 month contract and can renew as long as we like.  I imagine we'll be living here for about a year before we'll be able to buy a house.  However, the place we've got now is pretty great and I'm not really in any hurry to pack up all our stuff again!

Still working on the spare room - don't worry, it will be ready for your visit!

PS - That's Justin in the bow-tie!