Crispy Beef a la Sichuan

We made this last week and it was by far the best stir fry we'd ever made. I was trying to re-create a crispy beef dish I'd had years ago at the PF Chang's in Richmond and this is exactly what I was aiming for. I didn't follow much of a recipe and I don't know that I can remember everything that went in but I'll give it a try.

First, though, you have to make sure that you velvet the beef. For this dish I used an extremely simple technique. First, I used a skirt steak. Most recipes call for flank steak or sirloin but I used what I had and it was great. I cut it into strips with the grain and then tossed it with some cornstarch and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. Then I rinsed off the cornstarch and patted the beef with paper towels to get it as dry as I could. It's important for it to be dry so that you don't get splattered when you drop it in the oil.

Stir fry happens quickly so it's important to have all your chopping complete and all ingredients at hand before you start. While the beef was velveting Janelle made the sauce. The ingredients in the sauce were:

Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger dressing
Tamari soy sauce
Yellow mustard
Red pepper flakes
Red wine vinegar (not much)
Red curry paste
Wasabi powder
Brown sugar
Minced garlic

She made this up with the ingredients we had in the pantry and fridge. It was perfect. Just mix it up to taste.

Aside from the beef I'd chopped up a couple of hot peppers, a small eggplant, a couple of zucchini, some carrots, and some mushrooms. Again, stuff we had sitting in the house that night. Once all the chopping was done I started making the dish itself.

I put our wok on the burner and turned the heat up to high and let it sit for a good 5 minutes or so to get some intense heat going. When the wok was ready I put in an inch or so of canola oil and let that get all bubbly. Then I slid in the beef and stir fried that until it was glossy and very dark. You have to be patient here - you aren't making a medium rare steak. You have to give the beef time to become nice and crispy.

When the beef was done I pulled it out with the spider and put it to the side while I stir friend the vegetables. Starting with the crispest and working down to the mushrooms I just added the veg and kept stir frying. The oil that was left was mostly absorbed by the vegetables. When they were about done I tossed the beef back in, moved the wok off the heat and put in the sauce. Stirred that up and then brought it to a boil. Let it simmer for a minute or two and it was all ready.

Total kitchen time was about 45 minutes. We ate it all.

 

Rory Edwin

Yesterday we welcomed Rory Edwin into our family. He is, as Little C would say, "buck."
Some of the highlights:

- I arrived home from work around 4:30pm just as Janelle was finishing up her first contraction. I scurried around the house making sure all the bags were packed (they were, except for my stuff - I only packed a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt so I'm feeling a little... rough), making sure all the bills were paid, etc.

- Janelle labored at home, comfortably for the most part, while I recorded all the contractions (I highly recommend the Labor Mate iPhone app!) until we called the doctor at 9pm. The doctor said it sounded like it was time to head to the hospital so we packed up the car.

- Without speeding or running any lights (barely) we made it to the hospital in 4 minutes.

- The rest of the night is a blur of contractions, nursing shift changes, a bath tub, and a cinnamon pop tart.

- Around 2:45am Janelle decided that it was time for an epidural. After it was successfully set up she was able to rest and even sleep a bit. Me, not so much. (no bed)

- The doctor and nurses agreed it was time to push around 10am. Janelle is a magnificent pusher. Around 11:35am the doctor (who, by the way, said that I was so helpful that they should hire me!) showed me the head starting to poke out just a bit.

- At 11:40 the doctor asked the OB nurse to step out for something. The doctor, who was absolutely amazing, was sitting on the end of the bed encouraging Janelle to push. Which she did. Hard. So hard that the head went from barely there to over half-way out in one push. The Doctor forcefully instructed Janelle to stop pushing and then, in an absolutely ridiculous display of experience, panic, and aplomb did the following in less than 30 seconds:

• Hit the button for the nurses station and called for our nurse, a baby doctor, and a baby nurse
• Went from basic scrubs to her "delivery outfit"
• Set up her delivery table and tools and brought it over to the end of the bed
• Transformed the bed from labor to delivery (removed the bottom half, got Janelle's feet in the right position, etc.
• Delivered Rory

He was, of course, perfect, as you can see in the video above. The nurses did a great job of getting him cleaned up, weighed, and such in no time. They were all stellar.

Janelle was an absolute trooper given the stuff I saw happening at the business end. Trust me when I say she's been through the wringer.

So now we're hanging about in the hospital watching Rory squirm around. The local paper was delivered this morning with Janelle's breakfast. The horoscope had the following entries:

Aries (Janelle): "A partnership appears to be limiting. You must resolve any personal or professional issues you have with the people you deal with in order to advance in the new year." This seems to be off the mark, but who knows?

Pisces (Me): "Avoid overindulgence. You have so much going for you that it would be a shame to ruin your chance to achieve the goals most important to you." I'm pretty sure I won't be overindulging tonight in the maternity ward!

Capricorn (Rory): "You must mix the old with the new this New Year's Eve. A wide variety of people, both young and old, will give you a greater sense of what you can do." I'm relatively sure he's going to get a good sense that he can do anything he wants.
Happy New Year everyone!

Reboot

So it looks like it's been a while since I've updated the old blog. By a while I mean over a year- the last post was in November of 2009. A few things have happened since then so I thought I'd catch you up on what's going on in Worrisome-Heart-land, not to be confused with The Heartland which, as we all know, is Vegas.

A Quick Summary in list and photo format:

November 2009: Spent Thanksgiving in Aiken SC with the little Troups:

December 2009: Suffered through various blizzards and enjoyed Christmas in NC and MA

January 2010: Spent New Year's in Plymouth MA

March 2010: Took a trip to Chicago for Janelle's NASPA/ACPA conference

April 2010: Took a trip to Florida for Janelle's cousin Jenny's wedding

May 5, 2010: Discovered that we're GOING TO HAVE A BABY! OMG!

May 2010: Attended Janelle's graduation from UVA - PhD complete, people!

July 2010: Moved back to Charlottesville

October - November 2010: Attended three baby showers in our honor. Because we have the Best. Family and Friends. Ever.

November and December 2010: Thanksgiving and Christmas at home awaiting the arrival of Baby J

So it's been a rather eventful year, all things considered.

What does the future hold for the blog? I'm sure there will be commentary on being a first-time parent. Perhaps the baby will make a guest blogger appearance. Hopefully there will be a bit more consistency (hard to have less, honestly) going forward.

So, any topics you're itching for me to cover? Things you absolutely must know? Discuss in the comments!

 

Lessons Learned

Above you will find pictured a Japanese Mandolin with a ceramic blade. This particular version is made by Kyocera and can be purchased for around $20. It's very useful for slicing things very thinly, like potato chips.

You will notice that it comes with a handy plastic guard. This guard should be placed between your hand and the food you are slicing since the ceramic blade is quite sharp.

If you do not place the guard between your hand and the, say, potato, that you're slicing you may find yourself at the urgent care center. And the doctor may ask you if you brought the piece of your finger that you sliced off. And you may have to answer no, because it's amazing how much thinly sliced potatoes look like thinly sliced pinky fingers. The doctor may then give you a shot in the hip of some lovely pain killer along with a prescription for percocet.

Mom, I'm fine.

Saturday Bike Ride

Janelle had to work this weekend so I decided to do a longish bike ride. Longish for me anyway. It was chilly, in the 50s so I suited up in all of my cool weather gear - arm warmers and a wind vest and pedaled off for the beach road. I tend to stay along the beach because, well, it's mostly flat and being as heavy as I am doesn't mix well with hills.

I took a few pictures of the beach on my way around. I ended up doing just under 25 miles in about an hour and 35 minutes. I did end up passing three older guys on an uphill at one point, which was a good psychological boost.

This is the first beach I passed, Sasco Hill Beach in Southport, CT:

It was about 10am so and chilly so not many folks around. The second beach I stopped at was Compo Beach in Westport CT:

So, not the Tour De France, or even the Tour of Connecticut but fun and good exercise. Janelle's going to be at a conference most of next week so we'll see where I end up!

Fall's Coming!

So I went for a bike ride today down by the beach. Quick aside, it's kind of nice to be able to say that. Especially because the beach, she is flat. Not a big fan mixing the bike with hills at this weight. Maybe when I drop 50 pounds.

Anywho, I'm zipping along enjoying the sites when suddenly I see the pumpkin patch pictured above. I only had my iPhone with me so these are the best pictures I could get but can you see the size of these pumpkins? They're massive! Linus, I believe, would be impressed. The Great Pumpkin indeed.

Now the funny thing is, our next-next door neighbor has a pumpkin patch in their backyard with even larger pumpkins. I'm not sure what it is about Connecticut and massive pumpkins. Apparently it's the thing to do.

For those interested (I'm looking at you Mom and Dad) the bike ride was 13 miles. About 45 minutes. So I'm still exercising.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

One Year Ago Today

The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, 'Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home.' And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure. - Thornton Wilder

One year ago today a truck unloaded all of our worldly possessions here in Connecticut and left. Janelle was at work, as she is now, dealing with Fall Welcome and newly arrived Freshmen. It was me, Sonora, and everything we own strewn about in boxes, in a strange state, in a house with no cable and internet access.

That was a very stressful day. Surrounded by boxes I struggled to figure out what to do first. Setup some lights? Find the cups and plates? Get some groceries? I think I spent the first few hours wandering around pulling random things from boxes, trying to figure out if the boxes with yellow labels should be in the bedroom or the kitchen, and pretty much accomplishing very little.

It's been an adventure, that's for sure. I expect that we're only just in the middle of it now.

P.S. Sorry for the very extended absence. Been busy and/or uninspired. I'll try to do better.

P.P.S. The photo is a self-portrait from late spring on the back porch. It hasn't been all bad!