Obviously, in case you weren’t aware, we are home. Yes, we made it through Texas, down to New Mexico, and then back across to Maryland. There was almost no internet connection in New Mexico, and the three day trip back home was way draining, but never fear, I now have both a connection and energy. Naturally, since everything else is in my favor, the pictures aren’t on my computer yet; although, my dad, who was with us only in spirit, has all of them on his. When we finagle a way to get one thousand pictures to transfer painlessly, I’ll up date the travel blog.

Until then I thought I’d share a little culinary advice: Let loose!

One of my lifetime friends came over yesterday and we invented our own green curry (mostly thanks to my brother, who went out to the store and got us coconut milk, basil, tofu, and a curry kit). Inspired  by this no-recipe approach ( inspired again, that is, both of my parents cook this way too, now that I think about it), I used one of the extra tofu packets to make fried tofu. And then I made a dipping sauce out of honey, lime, and rice wine vinegar. Then I photographed it like I was mad. And ate it ALL.

The coolest thing about this event was the contraption I stumbled upon for frying: a wire mesh strainer, placed inside the pot. The strainer had a loop on it, so when the tofu was done the strainer could be quickly drawn out of the oil, the tofu dumped out, and the strainer replaced, ready for the next batch. usually I spend half my time fishing bits of broken food matter out of the oil so it wont burn, but not today. It was the easiest bit of frying I’ve ever performed, and I’m looking forward to using this method on other foods.

Quick, what cool concoction can you create?