Recipe of the Week: Singapore-style Glutinous Rice "Nuo Mi Fan"

For this week's recipe, I convinced my mom to share something that is uniquely Singaporean in flavor, easy to prepare, and with ingredients that are fairly easy to locate in the US. 

She decided that she'd cook some glutinous rice. This dish is a true Singaporean classic. It's also a one-dish wonder that you can have for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In Chinese, this dish is called "nuo mi fan."

Ingredients
16oz glutinous rice (also known as sweet rice or sticky rice)
3 cups water
5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked to rehydrate and then sliced thinly
1/4 cup of dried shrimps (you can find these at Asian grocery stores)
1/4 cup raw peanuts
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 of a shallot, sliced thinly
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Soak rice overnight; rinse and drain well.
Deep fry shallots until crispy (watch your heat!); remove and set aside.
Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry mushrooms, dried shrimps, and peanuts; remove and set aside.
Mix drained rice with 3 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sugar, and some salt.
Bring 3 cups of water to a boil, add rice and bring it back to a gentle simmer.
Cover the pot and turn the heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until rice is soft.
Combine rice, mushroom mixture, and fried shallots.
Serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. When in Singapore, eat as the Singaporeans eat, and cook as the Singaporeans do! :)

A Mini Update on Small Spaces: Lafayette

Did you catch the segment about Small Spaces on the news last Friday night? If you missed it, check out this short clip! 

Original link and article can be found here.

Tomato Stem Primodia

Yesterday, when the cat and I were out in the garden, I spotted something strange on the tomato plants ...

I freaked out, crossed my fingers, and hoped that our tomatoes weren't diseased.

Turns out, this condition, known as tomato stem primodia, is pretty harmless and brought on by excessive moisture and/or high humidity. The little nodes are actually the start of new root systems. It makes perfect sense since it's been raining a lot the past couple of days.

Button Box Zinnia

I always get anxious before I leave for a long trip overseas. I find I start worrying about everything, I sweat the smallest stuff, and I get overwhelmed by some crazy need to clean the entire house. This afternoon, I took a much needed break in the garden. It had finally stopped raining, the humidity was subsiding, the temperature was comfortable, and Zach was out teaching his class. So it was just the cat and I. We hung out under the grey clouds and snacked freely on the strawberries (for me) and cat grass (for him).

The button box zinnias are giving me a cheerful, colorful send-off before I leave for Singapore tomorrow!

Aren't they beautiful? I honestly wasn't expecting a 2-foot tall plant when we started growing these! "Button box" sounds small to me. But I am glad we have them in the garden. They are so carefree, so happy looking, and so easy to grow!

Recipe of the Week: Coffee-Glazed Chicken

This week, for something a little different, we present you: Coffee-glazed chicken!

This is a fairly simple meal to prepare. It is flavorful and hearty, and the longer you marinate the chicken, the better!

Ingredients
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
5 tbsp water
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp orange peel
1 tbsp ground coffee
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cocoa
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of allspice
salt, to taste
scallions/cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions

Mix together all the ingredients, then use to marinate chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

In a saute pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat.

Brown chicken on both sides, with all the marinate in the pan, about 5 mins each side.

Turn heat to low, and reduce liquid to a thick sauce, stirring occasionally.

Stir in scallions or cilantro.

Serve hot over rice.

Mom's summer garden

we went to visit my folks yesterday. we wanted some time to hang out with everyone before mindy jets to singapore. i made fish tacos for dinner, and we got to play in my mom's garden for a bit. 

my mom's garden that we helped plant, is doing well.  she's been battling rabbits and chipmunks, and those clever bastards seem to be getting the best of her, but hopefully not for long.  she's got a few live traps to try out.  she's also been dealing with a drainage issue from all the rain we've had here the past few weeks.  overall, things are looking good.  we've got several different types of beans, more sauce tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, raspberries, strawberries, and all kinds of other stuff growing out there. 

hope you have a good weekend in the garden!

Garden Update: First Day of Summer (June 2014)

it's the first day of summer, and our garden is already getting out of hand.  mindy leaves on wednesday to visit family back in singapore for a few weeks, so we thought today would be a good day to kind of take stock of where we are at.

9 different kinds of peppers for roasting, pickling, and eating!

4 varieties of eggplants

6 different kinds of tomatoes, all for making sauce and paste

minibel tomato, for snacking

we've harvested out all of our spring beets and carrots, radishes and turnips and made room for all the summer goodies.  our sauce/paste tomatoes have already grown over the tops of their cages, and look like they are going to be pretty heavy producers.  our peppers all have little flower buds on them that look like they are ready to start blooming any day now.  the eggplants are coming along nicely after an early fight-to-the-death with a batch of flea beetles.  glad to say the eggplants (and i) won that battle.

mindy seems to be leaving just in time for me to enjoy all of the raspberries and the blueberries on our plants.  there's not many, but we're getting better at understanding how to prune and manage the plants, so hopefully next year we will have a stronger crop.

our 'wild' and everbearing strawberries are still producing and sending out flowers, while our classic indiana berries have finished up.  most all of the herbs have outgrown their pots, and i've already dried two rounds of oregano.

here's some pictures of some of the other plants ...

Empress of India nastutium 

Moonlight nasturtium

clemson spineless okra

patchouli

washington navel orange

button box zinnias

New on Etsy!

We listed a bunch of new items on Etsy (that we took to INDIEana Handicraft), so if you weren't able to be at the show, you still have the opportunity to browse and shop online!

After Dark

Check out the new series of "night" cards we just listed on Etsy! 

As usual, all the images are hand-printed and collaged from original linocut blocks. Each card depicts the same quiet, solemn atmosphere but in a vastly different landscape: skyscrapers with a starlit sky, open fields with a big harvest moon, and a woodland night scene.

The garden this June morning ...

Last week to see "New Ideas"

The show "New Ideas" by Foam City artists Esteban Garcia, Aaron Molden, Aaron Zernack, Andres Arizaga, and Zach, comes down this weekend.

This show has injected a youthful and vibrant vibe into this community, and it is definitely different from the exhibits you would usually otherwise see at Artists' Own. So go see it if you haven't already done so!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who came out to see us at INDIEana Handicraft this past Saturday. It was a long day with a non-stop crowd. We smiled, we chatted, and we sold work to some really interesting people. 

Zach's shelves were awesome. The space was tight but we managed to fit a lot in our booth. We even squeezed in one chair that we took turns to sit on!

If you didn't make it to the show, don't worry. We are planning to list a couple new pieces on Etsy this week. Or if there's a piece that caught your eye, you can also email us or send us a message on Facebook.

Recipe of the Week: Rhubarb Mustard

a couple of weeks ago my friend kathleen gave us a big batch of rhubarb from her garden.  i've always been a fan rhubarb.  but i've also only ever eaten it boiled down with sugar.  then with a bit more sugar stirred in.  maybe top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  so i wanted to come up with something else to do with it.  and its sourness seemed like something i could use as a complementary flavor.  mustard seemed like a good thing to want to make and with summer coming on, sandwiches will be eaten.

it's summer and for me that's means a no-heat kitchen.  i hate turning on the AC, so i try to not turn on things that heat up the house, like the oven or the stove top.  so in the name of sandwiches, here's a great recipe to use up a bit of rhubarb and make a delicious spicy mustard for your summer sandwich condiment selection.

ingredients

directions

boil down the rhubarb in the sugar and water.  cook until it is more or less mush.  grind your mustard seed in a spice grinder or (cleaned) coffee grinder.  your grind coarseness is up to you; i tend to keep it pretty coarse.

in a glass or ceramic bowl mix together the ground mustard seed, vinegar, 1/3c of the boiled down rhubarb, the spices and salt.  mix together and refrigerate over night.  let it rest at least 12 hours.  eat the rest of the rhubarb in the pan with a little dash of sugar.  the mustard will develop in the fridge and will keep for a couple of months in a sealed container in the fridge.  it's got a great mustard heat and that is balanced out by the sourness of the rhubarb.  if you choose to add a pinch of fenugreek, you'll be adding a slight bitter to pull it all together.