The Zombieslayer

As you all know, I love cooking.  I never use a recipe.  All my years of cooking, I’ve always just winged it.

This is a Thai dish I made.  I simply fried up some onions and garlic, then chicken, then put those aside.

Next, I cut up some potatoes and cooked them in coconut milk and Thai Green Curry, then threw in the other stuff.

After that, I added mushrooms and finally, sliced up some pineapples and threw in fresh spinach.

Served over rice, it was awesome.  Unfortunately, didn’t have any Singha beer to go with it.  Well, Guinness always works.

Have a good weekend everyone! I’ll be out and about and hopefully hit everyone’s blogs Sunday night.

Tweety’s latest blanket

If you like handmade blankets, check out Tweety’s latest creation. It’s a nice shade of blue with a darker blue ripple and it’s 45×57 inches. Tweety’s made two of our blankets and her quality is superb.

Chocolate Rum Balls

Lime and I are going to trade personal recipes. Hers, she’s doing later this week but I’ll just do mine now, since I’m not in a mood to write something serious.

Every Christmas, I made chocolate rum candies. They’re yummy. You’ll need a double boiler to make these and three days time.

Ingredients

1 stick of butter

1 pound of powdered sugar

half-pound of walnuts

Rum or your favorite liquor

8 to 12 ounces of baking chocolate

1 stick of edible wax (paraffin wax, make sure it’s up to standards for cooking with)

Day one - break up the nuts, whip out a tupperware, and soak the nuts in rum overnight

Day two - melt the butter and combine butter with powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the nut/liquor mix. Mix well. Put it in the fridge for an hour to cool it, but not too long or else it will be too cold to work with. Take it out and on a cookie sheet, roll the mixture into balls. When all the mixture are balls, put the cooking sheet into the fridge and leave it there overnight

Day Three - Take one stick of paraffin wax and melt it in a double boiler. I’m impatient so I cut the stick up or else it will take forever to melt. Add the chocolate. Stir it until it becomes a pretty, shiny chocolate mixture and it’s completely melted. They need to be blended together, no wax chunks.

When the chocolate is ready, dip the balls in the chocolate. When they’re all done, dip them for a second layer. Do at least two layers. I do three, because wasting fine chocolate is a sin against all that is good in the world.

When they cool off, they’re ready to eat.

Happy President’s Day

I’m not going to do anything today. I exercised yesterday, but today, I’m going to practice guitar all day long and I might take Mrs. Z out to a movie, or maybe just rent one.

Have a wonderful President’s Day! If you’re in another country and working today, well, don’t feel bad. Of the industrialized nations, us Americans barely get shit for holidays so we have to enjoy each one.

I was just thinking of what I won’t eat. I’m not talking about gross out competitions, but real food that you can buy at a market somewhere in the world.

brains - very bitter, yuck! Tried pig brains once at a Filipino party. Just take my word for it, brains don’t taste good.

jellyfish - was at a Chinese restaurant with my older brother and we ordered jellyfish just to try. They actually were kind of sweet, but took forever to chew, like chewing on a tire. Next time, I’ll pass.

gonads - I don’t care if they taste good or not, I’m not eating the gonads of an animal.

sea cucumber - I was at a Vietnamese wedding and they had sea cucumber as an appetizer. The rest of the food was delicious and there were some hot Vietnamese babes dancing. However, sea cucumber is horrible.

eyeballs (except for fish eyeballs which are quite good) - I don’t want to eat something that is looking at me.

liver - I hate the taste of liver. I know a lot of Germans swear by it and try to convince me to try their liver, but I kindly refuse. Maybe if I’m intoxicated enough and they have heavy gravy smeared on it, I might try it.

earthworms are gross. They were another thing at a Chinese restaurant just to try. Now that that’s out of the way, I won’t ever do that again.

human, monkey, dolphin, whale, or dog. I refuse to eat these out of sheer principle. Other than that, I’ll probably eat it.

You’re probably wondering about the human reference. One of my friends was an anthropologist studying stone age tribes and he actually lived with some for sometimes up to six months. One of the tribes he lived with practiced ritual cannibalism, i.e., eating of their dead relatives to have their bodies join with theirs, literally. No, nobody died when he was living with them, so he never ate human meat.

Humans in my lifetime were eaten in parts of Africa, and during famine in China during WWII, some ate the dead because there was nothing else to eat. I actually know someone’s grandmother who did it for survival purposes. Not at all singling out the Chinese, Americans have eaten human flesh for survival purposes (the Donner Party, for example), and that one soccer team (I think they were Chilean or Argentinian) in the Andes when their plane crashed.

Also, during the Cultural Revolution in China, 270 people were known to have been killed and eaten as enemies of the state. Well, that’s just communism for you. Communists do strange things like that.

Monkeys are eaten to this day in Africa and some parts of Asia. Dogs in many parts of Asia. Dolphins are slaughtered and eaten in some parts of Japan. Screw cultural relativity, this is WRONG. Dolphins shouldn’t be eaten by people. Screw cultural tolerance.

UPDATE - I told Badman about this post, so he sent me an email from that he won’t eat tripe, bile, or beef tongue. I happen to like tripe in Vietnamese Pho. Bile is ok, not something I like, but if done right, I’ll eat it to be polite. I love beef tongue, only having it once at a Jewish restaurant in L.A. I’d definitely have it again.

I am blessed. By my house, we have six supermarkets that carry milk free from rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone). Both Safeway’s and Trader Joe’s milk is 100% free from rBGH, as are Whole Foods and stores that carry certified Organic milk. Even Target has it, but the one by our house sells two milk products, one that may or may not have it, and one that is stamped that it doesn’t have it.

What is rBGH, you may ask? The Monsanto Corporation invented an artificial type of Bovine Growth Hormone that they market to farmers as POSILAC®. The drug successfully increases milk production by 10%. Sounds good, right? 10% more milk = more profits. The thing is, they have to include a stamp on their product that there’s a side effect - an increase in clinical mastisis for the cows. In addition, other studies have found a dramatic increase in lameness.

Now Monsanto wants you to believe there’s no health problems associated with you drinking the milk and getting health problems. The only thing they’ve found are some people are sensitive to milk that has it.

Like Mrs. Z for instance. She used to throw up when she drank milk, and she was under the impression she was allergic to milk. One day, I bought her Organic milk, and she not only held it down, she loved it. Years later, I bought her non-Organic milk that did not have rGBH. She held it down too, and now she enjoys a glass of milk daily plus milk with her morning cereal.

Is rGBH bad for you if you’re not sensitive to it? Who knows? POSILAC® is currently banned in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and every country in the EU. Weird, huh?

It’s legal in America though, where the Monsanto Corporation has a strong lobby. When Oakhurst Dairy put a label on their milk that stated they pledged their milk was free from Artificial Growth Hormone, Monsanto Corporation sued them. Coincidently, a few scientists felt pressured when they researched the affects of rGBH on humans. If you want to read more, read this:

Disturbing, huh?

Well, I’m not going to tell you what kind of milk to buy. All I’m saying is this family does not buy milk with rGBH. If you’d prefer not to as well, and if you live in America, buy your milk from Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Whole Foods, or buy it specifically labeled Organic. Also Chipotle Mexican Grill’s sour cream is free from rGBH. Other stores often sell it, but you have to look on the milk itself and look for a label that says specifically that it does not contain rGBH. If you know of any others, please let me know.

I know what I like. You can agree, disagree, or whatever. I’d love to hear it. Here’s the skinny on various cuisines…

Chinese - Was exotic two decades ago, but now that Americans have exposure to better Asian cuisines, it’s losing its appeal. Most Chinese food is crap, although there was a dang good one in Pasadena, California I used to frequent.

California Fusion - The future. Some are crap, some are decent, but the better ones are making some serious money.

Japanese - Splitting into 2: sushi - Mrs. Z’s fav food and one of mine. Everything else - the art of simplicity. Love it.

French - Overrated and overpriced. However, French make some of the world’s best desserts.

Ethiopian - Looks like dysentery and tastes like dirt. One exception - a place in Austin, Texas is absolutely delicious. Wish I remembered the name.

Thai - Was better a decade ago before everyone started doing it. The authentic Thai food is much better, the stuff that hasn’t been Americanized. One warning, if you see Chinese working there, it’s probably not authentic. Plus, the Chinese have none of the grace and warmth of the Thais.

Vietnamese - I don’t care what anyone says, Pho has healing powers. I’ve had both horrible flus and hangovers and Pho heals them both. Love those spring rolls and those fruity drinks with the pearls as well.  Best Pho I’ve ever had was Saigon City in Bellevue, Washington.  Gorgeous waitresses too.

Southern cuisine - Love it, but refuse to have a steady diet of it. If you eat Southern food your whole life, don’t be surprised if you’re 50 pounds overweight in your 30s, have your first heart attack or stroke in your 40s, and die in your 50s.

Cajun - Love the shrimp and crawdads. Gumbo’s good if you’re sick, and jambalaya is okay. People brag endlessly about Cajun food and I like it, but won’t put it in my favs list.

English food - If you look up oxymoron in the dictionary, they use English food as an example of an oxymoron.

Italian food - I love Italian food as much as I love hot Italian actresses. The trick is to weed out the good from the mediocre. Good Italian food I could have on a daily basis and not get sick of it.

Spanish food - The forgotten Mediterranean cuisine. It’s actually not bad, but it’s not as good as Italian.

Greek food - It’s fast. It’s fun. Not one of my favs though.

Indian food - Mushy yuck yuck. I guess it’s good for people who have no teeth. One exception - Kennedy’s in San Francisco, an Irish pub with Indian food. It’s absolutely awesome. But most Indian food is horrible.

Mongolian food - Not sure how authentic Mongolian bar-be-que places are, but if I want a lot of food for cheap, I’ll go to one. The reason I’ve never been kicked out of them is because I tip well. I’ve been back for fourths before.

German food - As French is the most overrated, German is the most underrated. Goes great with good beer and good company. You might even find yourself singing. Sober, it’s kind of on the bland side though.

Moroccan food - I remember liking it, but it’s more the experience. If they don’t have a belly dancer, I won’t go. Nothing like belly dancing right after your multi-course meal.

Mexican food - Like Southern food, it’s good, but it will kill you. Not one of my favs, but I’ll hit happy hour with friends, drink a margarita or two, and enjoy some fine food. One hole in the wall in Martinez, California stands out. Have their soup. It’s not only delicious, but you’ll be able to breathe after eating it, no matter how bad your allergies are.

Czech - I remember liking it, but I think I’ve only had it once or twice. Not great food though.

Korean Bar-Be-Que - Been to one restaurant in Oxnard, California. This is good food. I love KimChi too.

Dim Sum - I’m keeping this separate from Chinese because I actually enjoy Dim Sum.  Best I’ve ever had was in Seattle.

Russian food - One of the good things about vodka is it makes you forget just how bad the food was.