CheckOn.Us

Costa Rica Trip Report

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:16:00 +0000

The Gilberts went to

Costa Rica

this year and had a trip of a life time. We spent 2 week from August 15 - 28, 2009 traveling the country and getting off the beaten path. Our grand Eco-Adventure took us to 4 different locations around

Costa Rica

. We went to Sarapiqui – the lowlands, Arenal Volcano – La Fortuna, The Beach - Manual Antonio and the City - San Jose / Alajuela. Each location had something unique to do and see. Here is the Slide Show

We hired Nicole Engle of Absolute Cost Rica Experts to personally guide during our adventure. Nicole helped us plan the trip itinerary including, hotels, routs and tours. She took care of all the hotel reservations, booked the best local guides in each location, rented a Toyota Landcruiser and hired a driver, Alberto. Nicole and Alberto really took great care of us from the moment they picked us up at the airport to the time they delivered us back to the airport. Nicole truly took us off the beaten path and we were able to really get a good feel of the real Costa Rica. She seemed to know everybody in every location and knew all the non tourist spots. What was really nice was that Nicole was available day and night to take us any where we wanted to go. She provided truly customized service and was very professional.

On our first stop in Sarapiqui we did a 3 hours Nature hike at the La Selva Biological Station. We saw an incredible amount of wild life including: 3 toed sloths, poison dart frogs, several kinds of monkeys, Lot so of exotic birds including Toucans, giant crickets, butterflies and it go on. We were invited to eat lunch with two local families, aka Anthony Bourdain style. Our hosts were incredibly friendly and the food was great. This was a truly a unique experience.

At Trimbina we walked across Costa Rica’s longest hanging Foot Bridge on our way to see how the Coco trees are grown and the old style of turning the coco beans it into chocolate. Late the same day we hiked 40 minutes into the jungle to remote water fall and swimming hole called Pozo Azul. See the Video

It was an unspoiled oasis in the middle of now where. We swam and Ryan jumped off the 30 foot waterfall.

Our next stop was Aernal Volcano and the town of La Fortune. We stayed at Hotel Arenal Springs and our room directly faced the volcano. We took a guided hike to the base of the Volcano. Our guide Danny also know as the “Son of the Volcano.” While at the base we saw rocks erupting from the top and were able to hear the mountain breathing. At night we saw the red hot lava flowing from the top of the volcano. To relax we spent a few hours at Eco Termales Hot Springs. The hot springs are cascading wading pools that are feed by the heated river. Dinner was also included at the springs. It was a perfect way to end the day.

While in the rainforest we had to take advantage of high adventure activities. We went zip lining thru the rainforest canopy. The tour took us on 10 high wire cables thru and above the rainforest canopy. One of the cables was ¾ miles long and we zip at ~ 50 miles an hour! (Check it the video).

We also went White water rafting down the Balsa River. Since our driver, Alberto is an expert river guide, we rented the raft and all the safety equipment and put it on top of our Lancruiser. We rafted ¾ down the river and we pick up Pam for the lower part of the river. Alberto has his own White Water rafting company called Liquid Descent Costa Rica (CR phone 8361-2993 rogerstsm@Hotmail.com) and knows all of the Rivers in

Costa Rica

. I am sure he will help you plan an unbelievable What water trip

As planned we drove 5 hours from La Fortuna to Manual Antonio. We traveled down the Pan American highway stopped in a few local towns along the way to eat and site see. We stopped at the famous Tarcoles River to see the crocodiles and snapped a few photos.

After a long day of driving we finally arrived at our Hotel Tulemar. We were pretty tired and decide to relax at the pool. There was a 3 toed sloth hanging right above the pool, the kids name him Sole Joe. Nicole delivered Pizza for dinner.

Early the next morning, 7 am, meet a local nature guide Manual Antonio Park. We went on a 2.5 hour hike and saw the most amazing wild like. Our guide knew everything about all the animals. We saw Howler monkeys, spider monkeys, 2 – 3 toed sloths, butterflies, crabs, several kinds of toucans, dear, frogs, Caymans etc. Towards the end of our tour my wife heard a loud scream and wondered what was going on! The guided tour ended at Manual Antonio beach where Nicole had already set up a picnic lunch, beach chairs and a blanket. It was perfect. It turns out that Alberto heard the same loud scream and ran into the water to save a screaming woman. As he approached her a large crocodile surface behind the woman. The Crocodile was biting her back side. He rescued her and she was taken to the hospital.

Costa Rica, Quepos is world famous for fishing. Ryan and I charted a small boat to try our luck at inshore Rooster fishing. We had to be at the boat at 7am so Nicole picked us up and delivered us to the Pier. We did not catch a Rooster but check out what we did catch.

While the boys were fishing Pam and Natalie had a girl’s day out and got massages at Serenity Spa. Later that night they went on a Jungle night tour. They saw all of the night creatures including: snakes, bats, frogs etc.

One afternoon we drove down to the local Manual Antonio local beach and parked the truck on the beach. The waves were big and we did some body surfing and boogie boarding.

Our last destination was Alajuela, a small town outside San Jose near the airport. On the 5 hour drive we stopped at a small artist town called Sarchí . They are famous for the colorful painted ox carts. We did the required stop and the giant tourists gift shop and picked up a few things. We stayed in a small hotel in the mountains which over looked the city. The view from hour hotel room was amazing.

On our last day Nicole took us on a walking tour off San Jose. We went to the heart of the city explored the Mercado Central which is the biggest market in Costa Rica. We walked and thru the Artistes street market where they had all kinds of hand crafted gifts. In the center of the city we went to the Famous Museo de Oro - Gold Museum . So much gold in one place! Later that evening the kids wanted some fast food so we went to the Local Taco Bell. It was the only air condition restaurant we eat in during our entire trip.

The next day we up early and Nicole and Alberto took us to the airport.

Here is our Itinerary

Day			Destination	Hotel	Activities
1	Sat	8/15	Fly to San Jose	Hotel Ara Ambigua	Fly Dulles – Miami – San Jose about 5 hours Arrive at 11:15 am Drive about 2.5 hours to Sarapiqui which is in the Northern Lowland region
2	Sun	8/16	Sarapiqui		Breakfast at a local - Dona Minerva Hike forest with a guide at the La Selva Biological Station (about La Selva) Hike Pozo Azul
3	M	8/17	Sarapiqui		Chocolate Tour at Tirimbina rain forest Lunch at Local Home Drive to La Fortuna next to Arenal Volcano which is then Northern Lowlands
4	Tu	8/18	Arenal Volcano	Hotel Arenal Springs	Hike of Arenal Volcano National Park Relax at the Eco Termales Hot Springs and had a great dinner
5	W	8/19			La Fortuna Local Swim hole White Water Rafting on the Balsa river See Lava at night
6	Th	8/20			La Fortuna Local Swim hole Canopy Tour - Zip line
7	F	8/21	Manuel Antonio the Beach	Tulemar	Drive to Manual Antonio which is in the Central Pacific region - 5 hours Stopped at La Iguana Restaurant
8	Sat	8/22			Tour Manuel Antonio National Park Picnic at the beach
9	Sun	8/23			Hung out the Tulemar private Beach
10	M	8/24			Off road to Manual Antonio local beach Shop for local handy crafts Jungle Night tour Fincas Naturales
11	Tu	8/25			Half day fishing Inshore fishing Pool Massages for the girls at Serenity Spa
12	W	8/26	Alajuela Central Valley	Hotel Buena Vista CR	Drive to Alajuela which is in the Central Valley very close to San Jose and the Airport Visited a small artist town called Sarchí which is in the central valley.
13	Th	8/27			Walking tour of Mercado Central and San Jose Visited the Museo de Oro - Gold Museum Lunch in the Oldest Soda in Costa Rica Dinner At Taco Bell
14	F	8/28	Fly Home		Fly Home from San Jose – Dallas – Dulles Fly Home

Lemongrass Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:39:00 +0000

This is a really simple recipe and only takes a few minutes to prepare. The Lemongrass gives the dish a nice light aromatic flavor that goes good with jasmine rice. As with most cooking you can add what ever you like to the dish but don’t add ingredients that will overpower the Lemongrass. This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite YouTube chefs Kai .

From Lemongrass Chicken

Ingredients

1 lb Boneless chicken
1-2 Garlic cloves
2 Lemongrass
2 Kaffir lime leaves

¼ Red pepper

1 medium onion

Sauce
½ - 1 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp Fish sauce
1 tbsp Oyster sauce
1 tsp Brown sugar

Method

Gather your ingredients
Chop the Garlic, Ginger and Green onions
Peel off the husk ( first couple of layers) of the lemongrass stalks Chop Lemongrass into large pieces
Chop onions and red peppers
Cop the chicken into large bite size chunks. Try to keep then the same size for even cooking
Get everything ready to cook
Quickly fry garlic
Add chicken for a few minutes and cook until brown
Add your vegetables and cook for 1 -2 minutes
Add Chicken stock and simmer Add Lemongrass and Kaffir lime leaves
Cover and bring to a low simmer for 8-10 minutes until chicken is cooked
Its so good

Pork Butts

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:13:00 +0000

Just a couple of Boston pork butts I smoked this weekend.

Butt Statistics:
Size: 15 lbs - 71/2 lbs each <- We like Big Butts
Smoke Time: 11 1/2 Hours, Turn and Mop 4 times
Temperature: 225 - 250 degrees, Low and Slow
Wood: Mesquite chunks - used only during the first 3 hours

You can fine the recipe here

Thai Street Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Thai Street noodles, Pad see ew - no matter how you say it means stir-fried with soy sauce.

This is a standard lunch fare among Thais and is found on many street carts in Bangkok. It takes approximately 20 minutes to make. You can find many variations of this receipt in most any Thai cook book. This receipt can was based on one from Quick & easy Thai Cuisine - Lemon Grass Cookbook

Main Ingredients

½ - 1 lb of Chicken or Beef

1 bag of rice flake noodles

1 cup of broccoli or small head

Marinade

1 clove of garlic

1 egg

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp rice wine

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

½ tsp white pepper

Sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp sweet soy sauce

Method

Gather Batter ingredients
Soak rice noodles in hot water for a 15 -20 minutes until soft
Slice the chicken into bite size pieces
Chop the broccoli
Make the marinade First mince the garlic Combine all Marinade ingredients in bowl and mix
Combine Chicken with marinate and let stand for 10 -20 minutes
Get ready to make the magic happen Gather all your ingredients next to your wok Heat 2 tbsp of oil
Fry Chicken until done
Add rice noodles
Add Broccoli
Add Sauce and fry until evenly coated. Be gentle to avoid mashing the noodles
Oo its so good

The Bacon Bomb

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:48:00 +0000

Call the doctor I am having a heart attack just looking at this!

Ingredients

2 lbs of bacon

2 lbs of pork Sausage

1 lb of Mozzarella Cheese

1 Onion

½ cup your favorite BBQ rub / Seasoning

Method

Gather your ingredients

Crispy Fry a pound a bacon

Crumble into small pieces

Mince up the onion

Make the Bacon weave

Sprinkle with the BBQ rub

Spread out the sausage

Add a little more Seasoning

Layer on the cheese

I can feel my arteries hardening

Now Lay down the Crispy bacon

Sprinkle the onions on

Lets Roll

Carefully roll up the Sausage with out the Bacon weave

Now Roll the Bacon weave over the Sausage roll.

Try to neatly tuck in the sides

Add a little bit more rub on top

Fire up the gill and set it up for indirect cooking.

Notice the coal are on the left and meat is to the right

Add a few Misquet chip for that smoky flavor.

Cook for approximately 1 hour until internal temperature is 180 degrees

Slice into 1 inch slices

Notice the red smoke ring

Take your cholesterol medicine and enjoy

Pulled Pork

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:47:00 +0000

I love Big Butts!

Spring has sprung and it time to get out doors. I love to cook on my gas Lynx grill. There is nothing like eating grilled chicken or ribs on a nice cool evening. I also have a Weber kettle which I have been using to smoke ribs.

This year I wanted to learn how to cook perfect ribs and pulled pork. So I purchased a smoker with the intent of learning the art of Smokology. For a great over view of Smoking see Smoking 101. I did my research and decided to by a water smoker, the Pro-Q Excel 20 Smoker from Fred’s Music & BBQ Supply . I learned that a critical part of smoking is cooking and maintaining the temperature so I had to buy a Maverick Smoker Thermometer . You got to have the gadgets.

Let get down to Cooking

The Rub - Southern Succor Rub

1/4 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup Brown sugar
2 Tablespoons table salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

The Mop

2 Cup Apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp dark brown sugar

2 Tsp crushed red pepper

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 Tbsp kosher salt

2 Tsp black pepper

Carolina BBQ Sauce by Chef Richard McPeake

(This recipe is not shown)

¼ cup oil

2 Tbsp Shallots

6 cloves fresh garlic

1 cup Apple cider vinegar

1 Tsp Celery Seed

1 Tbsp Dry Mustard

1 Tsp Chili power

3/4 Brown Sugar

1 ½ Ketchup

½ cup Water

1 Tsp crushed red pepper

Method

Gather your ingredients for the Rub
Mix all Rub ingredients
Prepare your Boston Pork Butt This is 2 Butts weighing 14.59 pounds purchased from Costco
Carve off the excess fat from the top
Prepare the Butt the night before 8 -12 hours. Coat the Butts in yellow Mustard Sprinkle the Rub on top and coat evenly. Make sure you cover all sides Refrigerate over night
Prepare your Smoker Fill your smoker with Briquettes and several large chunks of Hickory Chips Fill water pan with hot water Place Butts on grill and place in top rack Wait until Smoker reaches temperature 225 – 250 degrees
This is the easy part You need a lot of beer because you have a lot of time to cook No Peaking If your Looken your not Cooking Keep the lid closed Keep your smoker between 225 and 250 degrees Add coals as needed Cook ~ 1.5 hours per pound The butts will be done when the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees
Butts after 4 hours Notice the Bark starting to form Notice the digital probes at grill level and inserted into butt
Mopping Mopping is done to keep the meat moist There are many formulas as to when to mop. Here is what I like to did. It called the 50/50 method Start to Mop you Butt At the half way point. Then mop at every half way point going forward. So if the total cook time is 12 Hours 6 hours – Mop 9 hours – Mop 11.5 hours - Mop
The perfect cooking temperature between 225 – 250 degrees
The Butts are done
Remove from grill and cover with tin foil and let the meat rest for at lease a ½ hour
Start to pull the pork apart Notice the red smoke ring around the edges
Shred into small pieces. Make sure to chop up the barks and mix it throughout the pork

Southern Yellow Chicken Curry – Kang Kai Kole

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Ingredients

3 lbs of Skinless boneless chicken thighs

2 19oz cans of Coconut milk – Mae Ploy brand

4 Extra large carrots

3 Large Potatoes

2 Tbsp Tamarind juice

Seasoning

5 Tbsp Tamarind juice

4 Tbsp Fish sauce

3 Tbsp Thai palm sugar

1 tsp salt

Curry Paste

Yellow Curry Paste

Method

Gather your ingredients
Grate the palm sugar and set aside
Make the Tamarind Juice Cut a nice size chunk of the Seedless Tamarind and soak in water fir 15 minutes Squeeze pulp to extract juices Repeat until Juice has a full consistency
Chop Potatoes and Carrots into medium bite size pieces
Technique: Cut carrots on a 45 degree angle and then roll the carrot ¼ turn cut again. This creates techniques creates unique shaped pieces
Cut potato into bites size pieces
Chop chicken into bite size pieces It is easy to chop the chicken when it is slightly for frozen
Gather everything next to your pot
Simmer 1 can of Coconut milk until the oils rise to the surface Then stir in the curry paste Add chicken and simmer of about 10 minutes Add Carrots and potatoes and second can of Coconut milk Simmer for approximately 45 minutes stirring constantly
When the chicken is almost done add all the Seasoning
Your done
Server with jasmine rice
I always make a extra for Lunch

Yellow Curry Paste

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:14:00 +0000

This is the Curry pasted used in Southern Yellow Chicken Curry - Kang Kai Sole.

It is very easy to make. I typically make a double batch so I can freeze it.

Ingredients

7 Dried Red Chilies
1/2 Cup shallots
10 Cloves Garlic
1tsp cinnamon power
1 tsp coriander seed powder
1 tsp Cumin power
1 tsp Powered Turmeric or Fresh Turmeric
2 t Shrimp paste

Method

Gather your ingredients
Soak the Dried Red Chiles in water for 30 minutes until soft
Peel and mince the Turmeric Use the power turmeric if you don’t have fresh
Skin the Garlic and Shallots
Slowly blend Chilies Garlic and shallots Add as much of the left over Chile water to blend the ingredients
Add Shrimp past and add remaining dry ingredients
Blend until Past until takes ona very thick consistency. Slowly add additional chili water to get the correct consistency
Your done

Red Curry Chicken - Dutch oven

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Going Camping does not mean Hamburgers and Hot dogs. Preparing a great meal requires a little bit of planning and perpetration. This is a very easy receipt to prepare at your camp site because you only need a Dutch oven, knife and cutting board. All the ingredients are canned with the exception of the Fresh frozen and chicken, carrots, Chili peppers and Lime leaves.

The day before steam Jasmine Rice and put in gallon zip-loc bags

This receipt will serve 14 – 16 Hungry adults

Ingredients

8 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 Can of Red Curry Paste (any brand will do)

4 16 oz cans of Coconut Milk – Use Mae Ploy if your find it

2 Cans Baby Corn

2 Cans Bamboo Shoots – strips or slices

1 Can Chicken Broth

16 Fresh Kaffir Lime leafs

8 Extra large carrots

15 Cups Jasmine Rice

Seasoning

3- 4 Thai Red or Green Chili Peppers or as many of you like

Several shakes of Fish Sauce (nam pla) – prefer Three Crabs Brand

Crushed peanuts

Method

Gather Your ingredients
Get your Chuck box and Stove setup Start a large pile of Charcoals
Cut up Chicken into bite size chunks Cut up Carrots
Cook 1 can of Coconut milk until oils of milk rise to the top. Combine 1 can of Red Curry and mix together.
This is the Easy part Since we are using 2 - 14 Dutch Add cooked curry milk Add raw chicken Add remaining coconut milk Add Baby corn Add Bamboo Shoots Add Chicken Broth
Place ~ 10 coals on Dutch oven lid Simmer for about 1 hour. Keep stirring every 10 minutes. Seasoning is added at the end of the cook Add 10 Kaffir Lime leaves Add 5 – 7 shakes of Fish sauce Add a large hand full of crushed peanuts Let simmer for another 10 minutes Once you see the oils rise to the top your done
Plate over Jasmine Rice. Oooo so good

BBQ Baby Back Ribs - Kansas City Style

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:08:00 +0000

Barbecue is the world's oldest cooking method and people have been gnawing on ribs since the beginning of time. Whether you prefer pork baby back ribs or spare ribs or St. Louis cut, whether you prefer sticky Kansas City style red sauces, savory South Carolina mustard sauces, pungent Lexington vinegar sauces, or just plain Memphis style dry rub, whether you spell it BBQ, barbecue, barbeque, or Bar-B-Que, or even if you like your ribs Chinese style. You will be amazed how easy they are to cook and how finger licking good they are.

The Rub

¼ Cup of firmly packed brown sugar

¼ cup of Sweet Paprika

3 Tbsp Black pepper

3 Tbsp Kosher salt

2 Tsp Garlic power

2 Tsp Onion power

2 Tsp Celery Seeds

1 Tsp Chipotle Chile power or Cayenne pepper

Sauce

1 Bottle of your favorite BBQ Sauce - Doctor it up any way you like

Ribs

1 – 2 Full racks of Pork Baby Back Ribs

Smoke

Hickory Chips or Mesquite Chips

Method

Gather your ingredients

Mix all the Dry Rub ingredients in a bowl

Give it a taste and add what every you think it needs there are no rules if you like it put it in

Remove the silver skin from the bottom side of the Rack

Place Ribs on Plastic rap

Rub your Ribs until they are evenly coated

Wrap the Rubbed Ribs and put in refrigerator for at least an hour.

You can let the ribs marinate for as long as you like. I like let them marinate over night

Soak your favorite wood chips for at least an hour

Prepare your Grill

Pile the coals to one side of the grill and let the coals get completely white.

Your want to cook at 225 degrees. Get a thermometer.

Place the wood chips on the coals and the Ribs to the side

This is called cooking on In-direct Heat

Low and Slow - Low temperature and Slow cooking

Make sure the vents at the bottom are closed and the vents on the top are ½ way open. Use the top vent to regulate the cooking temperature

This is the Fun Part

Get a six pack of your favorite Beer sit back and drink for 2 ½ - 3 hours

Check the ribs every ½ hour and add a few briquettes and chips as necessary

Turn your rib after the first hour and then every ½ hours

After 1 ½ hours of cooking and 2-3 beers

The Ribs will done when the meat pulls back from the bone tips

After approximately 2 – 2:15 hours slap on your favorite BBQ sauce. Coat both sides.

Let smoke for 15 minutes and reapply more BBQ sauce.

When the sauce caramelizes your done

Cut up the Ribs

Notice the Red smoke ring on the edge of the Rib

Enjoy

Chinese Beef Broccoli

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Beef broccoli is very easy dish to make it consists of sliced stake, fresh broccoli and any vegetables you like all stir fired in a delicious sauce. It can be found in almost all Chinese restaurants and take-out places. Now you can make it at home.

First cut the steak into bite size pieces and then marinated in a soy sauce, corn starch and sherry cooking wine. After marinating the steak for at lease 15 minutes fry it up with a little garlic. Then stir fry the broccoli, carrot, and green onions. Mix in the fried beef and you’re done! It’s really that easy. If you want to take on a more authentic approach try and find some Chinese broccoli to use in this recipe. Serve with white rice.

Ingredients

1 lb Beef

Marinade

2 Tbsp Corn Starch

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sherry cooking wine (optional)

Vegetables

3 Cloves Garlic

¾ lb Broccoli

3 Green onions

1 Carrot

1 – 2 Thai Chile Peppers

2 Tbsp vegetable cooking oil

2 Tbsp Sesame Oil

3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 Tbsp Sugar

Method

Gather your Ingredients
Slice the Beef into small pieces
Add Corn Starch and Soy Sauce
Mix and let Marinate for at least ½ hour
Chop the Garlic
Cut up the Broccoli
Chop the Green Onions
Thinly slice the Carrots on a diagonal
Slice the Chile Peppers (Use as many as you like)
Gather your prepared ingredients – Now you’re ready to Cook!
Set your Wok in high Quickly fry the Garlic in oil
Add Marinated Beef and cook until almost done and set aside
Quickly Fry Broccoli Carrots and Green onions in Sesame oil. Cook until desired tenderness
Add Cooked Beef and toss until Vegetables are been combined. Add Oyster Sauce Add Chiles at the time
Your Done. Serve and eat
Plate with your favorite rice

Sesame Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:13:00 +0000

Every time I take my family out to eat Chinese we always order Sesame Chicken. It one of the most popular dishes served in Chinese restaurants. After all fried chicken chunks with a tasty sauce and a few vegetables to make you think it’s healthy! I think McDonald's has its own version of this minus the vegetables.

This recipe is the real deal once you have perfected the technique you many never order it again at the restaurant.

Batter
1 cup flower
1 cup cold water
¼ cup corn Starch
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking power

Sauce
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp corn starch

Chicken & Broccoli
2-3 chicken Breasts
1 head of broccoli
1 small thumb size piece of ginger
1 clove Garlic

Method

Gather Batter ingredients
Mix ingredient until it is a slightly thick consistency. Set aside and let stand for approximately 1 hour
Gather Sauce ingredients and combine in a bowel
Gather Main Ingredients
Chop chicken into bit size pieces
Put Chicken in batter and set aside
Chop Broccoli
Mince Ginger
Mince Garlic
Now you are ready to cook
Heat oil to 380 degrees. Individually place each piece of battered chicken into hot oil. Gently stir and flip chicken so pieces don’t stick together. Fry until golden brown. Remove and set aside cook remaining chicken
Add sauce and Broccoli to a clean wok. Cook at medium heat until sauce gets thick. Add fried chicken and toss until everything is evenly coated.
Plate and sprinkle sesame seeds on top
Its so Good
I always make extra. Since I had the hot oil going, I fried a few Spring rolls and Crab Rangoon. Just toss it in the freezer and you good for another meal

There are many version of this recipe. One of my favorite Asian YouTube Cooking series is Cooking with Kai . Check him out.

Larb Gai Summer Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Larb Gai is a very common dish served throughout Thailand and in most American Thai restaurants. It is typically eaten by its self or with lettuce. This receipt combines the convenience of Vietnamese spring rolls and Larb Gai. This is an easy receipt but there are several steps and takes about 1 hour to prepare. It can be made the day before and stored covered in saran wrap in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

Larb Gai

2 pound of ground chicken (Boneless skinless thighs)
2 spring onions
1 small red onion
10-15 mint leaves
1 carrot
3 juice of fresh limes
1 red leaf lettuce
2 T. roasted rice powder
2 T dried chili flakes
1 pack of Vietnamese spring roll rappers

Sweet Chile Dipping Sauce

¼ cup of rice wine vinegar
2 T of fish sauce
¼ hot water
2 T sugar
1 lime juiced
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp of Chile paste like Sambal Oelek
2 cloves of fresh garlic

Method

Gather you ingredients
Chop the Mint
Chop the green Onions
Shred the Carrots
Chopt the red Onions
Remove the hard core of the red leaf lettuce. Then cut the leaf in smaller ( quarters) pieces to ft in the roll
Mince the chicken use a food processer.
Dry fry the minced chicken. Squeeze out the juice and pore out. Continue squeezing until the chicken is completely cooked . Do not use any oil when frying. Place chicken in a large mixing bowl and let cool. You can stick it in the refrigerator to speed the cooling
Mix Onions, Mint, Shallots Rice power and Chile flakes. Squeeze in fresh lime juice and Fish Sauce The Larb Gai is now ready. You can serve this by its self or with the Red leaf lettuce for rolling
Lets roll Its important to gather all the rolling ingredients and lay tem out in rolling order
Soak the Vietnamese rapper in very hot tap water. The wrapper will get soft in 15 seconds. I usually hold on to it when soaking
Lay the wapper out. Place the lettuce and a table spoon of Larb Gai on the Lettuce. Add Carrots
Gently fold the wrapper over the ingredients. After the first roll tuck in both sides of the roll. Continue rolling and create a tight roll
Get a cold bear and get comfortable Roll the reaming ingredients.

Lets make the Dipping sauce

Gather your ingredients
Crush the garlic
Squeeze the lime, add the fish sauce, rice vinigar and chile sauce

Thai Chicken with Holy Basil (Gai Pad Graprow)

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Chicken with holy basil is on of my favorite dishes. It is easy to prepare and only requires a wok. The addition of fresh chilies makes the dish spicy, but you may adjust the recipe to taste by adding fewer chilies.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (more garlic is always better)
2-3 shallots thinly sliced (or substitute with 1/2 cup sliced onion)
4-5 Mushrooms Sliced or quarterred
1 – 2 Thai chillies (prik kee noo), sliced big enough to remove if you want
1 – 2 cups of fresh Thai holy basil (bai gka-prow) (Don’t use regular Basil)
1-2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam bplah)
1- 2 shakes from the bottle of Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp of sugar use palm sugar if you have it
2-3 tbsp peanut oil for stir-frying

Method

Gather your ingredients
Remove the Leaves from the Holly basil
Chop the Garlic, Mushrooms and slice the chilies
Chop chicken into bite size pieces
Gather everything next to your wok
Heat a wok until the surface is smoking hot. Swirl in the oil to coat the wok surface. Fry garlic, followed a few seconds later add shallots and chilies
Add chicken and stir until cooked. towards the end of cooking add fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar and stir well
Reduce heat and add the holly Basil and toss until wilted
Server immediately
Here is Basil chicken served with jasmine rice, Crab Rangoon and Spring roll
I always make extra serving so that I can freeze them. Looks pretty professional!

Notes and Pointers
This is a good and easy stir-fried dish and one of the favorites among Thai people. It is served over rice as a one-dish meal, for breakfast or for lunch, often topped with a crispy fried egg.

The smaller the chicken is cut, the greater the surface area to coat with the flavors of the aromatic herbs and sauces, and the more flavorful the stir-fry will be. In Thailand, this dish is often made with chopped pork, or bird meat, especially in fast-food, curry-rice shops (rahn kao gkaeng)

Try the above recipe also with fresh seafood - shrimps, scallops, mussels, clams, crab and firm-flesh fish, such as fresh halibut and salmon.

Crab Rangoon

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:15:00 +0000

This is a super easy appetizer prepare. It takes about 3o minutes to and can be done in advance. The wontons can be frozen and then fried.

Ingredients
1 package won ton wrappers
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
12 oz of imitation crabmeat (use the real stuff if you want)
1or 2 Green onions
Black pepper to taste
Oil for frying

Directions

In a bowl, mix together cream cheese, crab meat, chopped green onions, and a few shakes of black pepper.

Place 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into the center of each wonton wrapper. Fold the won ton wrapper over the stuffing to make a triangle or a half moon, depending on the shape of the won ton wrappers you have purchased. Moisten the edges with a little water, and seal.

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet or deep fryer to 375 degrees F (Medium).

Add 3 or 4 wontons to the hot oil, and cook until golden brown, turning once. Set aside on paper towels to drain. Repeat until all wontons have been fried. Serve hot.

This is how it’s done.

Get your ingredients

From Crab Rangoon

Chop up the crab and green onions

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Put all ingredients in a large bowl

From Crab Rangoon

Mix well

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Place a spoon full of the mixture in a wrapper

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Fold
There are many ways to fold them up. I found that this is the simplest and quickest.

Mix up the whites of 1 egg. Dip your finger in a s run it around the edge to seal

From Crab Rangoon

This is another folding technique

From Crab Rangoon

Make as many as you can

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Heat your oil to 375 and fry until golden brown. Keep moving them around.

If your oil is to hot the skin will burn before the mixture melts

From Crab Rangoon

Serve and eat immediately

From Crab Rangoon

What do Old Goats Eat?

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:59:00 +0000

Not Hamburgers or Hot dogs. If you think going camping with 50 boy scouts’ means that you’re going to eat Spam or freeze dried stuff in a pouch think again. The Assistant Scout Masters (ASM's) of BSA Troop 55, aka The Old Goats Patrol, do not go hungry.

After a long day of herding scouts we like to enjoy fine cuisine. Over the past several years we have taken our daily nourishment to the next level. Our very own Scout Master, Iron chef Mr. Lu, has inspired an Asian cooking theme.

Cooking on a camp out is not an easy task. Since we lead by example our chuck box is stocked with the same basic equipment as the boys. Our Chuck Box contains the following:

Chuck Box
1 set of Nested pots and pans
1 set of cooking utensils: Paring knife, serrated knife, slotted spoon, paring tool and soap ladle
1 small cutting board
2 coffee pots (the only thing that is really needed)
1 Pitcher
1 salt & pepper shaker
1 6oz of cooking oil
3 tub for the 3 pot cleaning method

Equipment available from the Troop trailer
Woks – what Boy Scout doesn’t have a Wok!!
Charcoal
Coleman Stove

Cooking for 14 hungry adults is definitely a challenge with the equipment but we mange every time.

In addition we have to adhere to the same menu budget as the boys: $3 for Breakfast, $3 for Lunch and $5 Dinner per person. During this trip we had an additional factor extreme cold weather. It was below freezing the entire time.

We had a 4 course meal which everyone really enjoyed.
Dutch oven Oriental Soap
Black Rice with Shrimp and Vegetables
Stir Fried Chicken

Dutch oven Oriental Soap
6 cube of beef bouillon
2 packages of tofu (frozen and cut into small cubes)
1 Bunch of baby Bock Choy washed and cleaned
1 Bunch of Green onions finely chopped
4 dried and crushed chilies
Method:
Dig a hole in the ground and get the coals white hot
Boil water: Place on coals and put a few coals on the lid.
Dump every thing in except the dried chilies
Cook for about 2 hours
Add chilies in 20 minutes before serving

Black Rice with Shrimp and Vegetables
1 gallon plastic bag of cooked Black Rice, and oriental long grain white
1 bunch of chopped green onions
1 bag of frozen oriental vegetables
1 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp (20-25 size)
A few shakes of Korean soy sauce

Method:
Super heat a few table spoons of oil until it starts to smoke
Flash fry the Green onions
Slowly mix in all the ingredients (They will all fit in a large Wok)
Add soy sauce
Keep mixing until done

Stir Fried Chicken
6 lbs of boneless skinless thigh meat (available from Costco)
3 cloves of fresh garlic
2 – 3 fresh Thai Chiles
1 small piece of fresh ginger
1 bunch of chopped green onions
6 cubes of Chicken bouillon
A few shakes of Korean soy sauce

Method:
Chop everything into bit size pieces
Super heat a few table spoons of oil until it starts to smoke
Flash fry the Green onions and chilies
Slowly add all the chicken
Add bouillon cubes and a few shakes Soy sauce
Stir until done

Braised Salmon
1 Filet of Salmon
Salt and pepper

Method:
Heat a few table spoons of oil to Medium to high heat
Fry Salmon until done

Pork and Spring Onion Dumplings (Giew Num )

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:43:00 +0000

These are boiled dumplings with pork and spring onion, the strongest taste is the fresh onion taste. They can be served as a starter or as a snack and can be frozen if needed. If you freeze them, they should be cooked from frozen, simply cook them a minute or two longer to allow them to defrost.
Original receipt from khiewchanta.com

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Oil
150 Pork Mince
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Pepper
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Sprigs Coriander Leaves
2 Spring Onions

Preparation
1. Whip the egg, put into the flour and add the oil.
2. Mix these together and knead them a little to form a dough.
3. Leave the dough for 5 minutes to rest it, this makes it easier to work with.
4. Into a food process, put the pork, add the garlic, the spring onion, the light soy sauce, the salt, pepper, and coriander leaves.
5. Blend until the filling is well mixed.
6. Pinch off small pieces of dough, and roll them on a flat oiled surface into small circles (approx 6cms diameter).
7. Put the meat filling into the middle of the pastry, and fold the pastry over and crimp the edges to form a closed dumpling.
8. Boil a pan of water, drop the dumplings into the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes.

Seafood Salad (Yum Talay)

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:42:00 +0000

This is a great receipt that is pretty easy to make. The dish can be prepared ahead of time and you can let the seafood marinate in the dressing. You can use any type of seafood you like. I my version I used Shrimp and scallops. This is a very common disk and can be prepared in many variation I found this on Receipt from ThaifoodTonight.com

Ingredients for 4 people
10 cups of water

½ lb. big frozen Shelled Prawns (thawed)
½ lb. frozen calamari (thawed and already cut and cleaned)
½ lb. medium or big fresh or frozen scallop (thawed)
add ¼ medium red onion (sliced)
½ cup of mixed celantro leaves
2 stalks green onions (sliced)
¼ cup of mint leaves

Ingredients for Dressing
4 cloves garlic
2 red and green Thai chili peppers or 1-2 red and green Serrano peppers
3 tbsp cilantro roots (or cilantro stems if you can’t find them with roots)
2 teaspoons of salt
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp white vinegar

Preparing the Dressing

Smash the garlic, peppers , and cilantro in a mortar and pestle (or use a cutting board and chop them into fine pieces)

Put the smashed paste in a bowl
Add salt, sugar, lime juice and vinegar and mix until the sugar and salt are dissolved

Preparation

Boil water in a pot over medium high heat
Boil Calamari and place in a large bowl
Boil Scallops and place in the bowl
Boil prawns and place in the bowl
Now add the dressing to the bowl and mix it in with the seafood
Add the red onions, celantro leave , mint and green onions and toss.
Garnish with a few left over mint leaves , a lime wedge and chili pepper
Receipt from ThaifoodTonight.com

Cooking at the Chiang Mai Cookery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:08:00 +0000

Here I am learning to cook real Thai food at the Chiang Mai Cookery School

Amazing Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Reed) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:08:00 +0000

This is our Amazing trip to Thailand.

We went in August 2007 16 days and visited Bangkok, Chang Mai and Phuket. I Planned and organized the entire trip my self using Trip Advisor.com. The Forums provide great information. We hired private guides in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. In Bangkok we stayed at Bangkok-Marriott-Resort-and-Spa and toured with Tong. In Chiang Mai we stayed at Kata Beach Hotel and toured with Sergent Kai. Our guides took great care of us and showed us sights that you would not find if you went on a commercial tour. In Phuket we stayed at Kata Beach Hotel and did not get a guide. I booked the hotels directly using Sawdee.com and had no problems. Sawdee.com also has lot of great information. I booked the in country flights using AirAsia. It was so cheap! It cost $250. for 4 roun trip tickets Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Bangkok to Phuket.

I created a video slide show of our trip that highlights the our journey and gives you a taste of our trip of a life time

This was our basic Itinerary. I have list the major sights that we visited. there were some many places and things It was hard to keep track of every thing.

Day	Date	Activity
Saturday	11	Fly to Thailand
Sunday	22	Arrive in Bangkok - 11PM
Monday	13	Bangkok - Grand Palace, Canal Tour, Reclining Buda, Suan Lumpini Night Bazaar
Tuesday	14	Bangkok - Floating Market-Damnoen Saduak , Tiger Temple
Wednesday	15	Bangkok - Fisherman’s Village
Thursday	16	Bangkok - Shopping MBK
Friday	17	Bangkok / Chiang Mai - Fly- Lost village tour & Market, Night Bazaar
Saturday	18	Chiang Mai - Mesa Elephant Camp, Bamboo Rafting,
Sunday	19	Chiang Mai - Elephant Jungle Ride, Handicraft Highway - San Kamphaeng and Umbrella Village
Monday	20	Chiang Mai - Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, Kids stayed at Hotel
Tuesday	21	Chiang Mai / Phuket - Kata Beach Resort -Beach - Pool
Wednesday	22	Phuket - Day on the Beach
Thursday	23	Phuket - Scuba Diving
Friday	24	Phuket - Pool Beach Fire Show
Saturday	25	Phuket/Bangkok - Fly- JJ Market
Sunday	26	Fly Home - Tokyo - Dulles

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to taste all types of Thai food. We eat everything we saw. We stopped in several street markets, road side vendors, local restaurants, floating vendors and Thai snack food at 7 -11. They say in Thailand there are 3,000 Temples, 4,000 message parlors and 5,000 7-11’s they are every where! The kids tried everything but they could not live with out Mc Donald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

You thought they only had Tigers at the Tiger Temple. We were so lucky that our tour guide Tong got us a private showing to see Bam Bam the Bear. I was so scared, you have to see this to believe it …On our last day in Bangkok we went to the weekend market and we finally found deep fried Crickets. They are so crunch!

Spicy Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:03:00 +0000

We can get pretty creative on scout campouts. Our very own Iron chef Mr. Lu typically prepares a Chinese dish. Here the Iron Chef and his Jr Iron
chef ASM Gilbert prepared spicy Chinese chicken with fried rice. It pretty amazing what you can cook on a camping stove!

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Crab Rangoon

What do Old Goats Eat?

Pork and Spring Onion Dumplings (Giew Num )

Seafood Salad (Yum Talay)

Cooking at the Chiang Mai Cookery

Amazing Thailand

Spicy Chicken