A Teacherin'

Yesterday, I had my first Montana teaching interview.  The day before I was near tears after spending 2.5 hours in the Missoula Dillard's trying to find just the right outfit.  I left bound and determined to find something that Said: Hey-Lookit-I'm-A-Dignified-Perfect-For-This-Small-Town-Teacher.  This is what I found:

A Teacherin' by Ambu on Polyvore.com

Kevin said it was perfect.  Actually he said it was "parochial", but I took that as a good thing.  I was anxious to get the interview over and done with.  I think it went well.  The people were great, and the school reminded me very much of Ponder.  It was kind of weird, but I think Broadview, the town, would be a great place to get back into teaching.  It has everything I liked about teaching in Aubrey.  So we will see. Finger's crossed. 

Greek Mythology

In my college literary classes, I learned that the Greek Gods were beautiful, strong, sometimes grumpy and often at war with one another; but they lived on Mt. Olympus and ate Ambrosia. We were led to believe that ambrosia was divinely delicious made only for those who reside in the heavens.  While teaching The Lightening Thief, I learned that for each God or demigod the flavor of ambrosia was personal. For Percy, the main character, it was the flavor of his mother’s homemade cookies.

No matter what ambrosia may be I know it’s not Greek Gods Greek Yogurt, because that stuff tastes like sour cream. I’ve read many different articles touting the benefits of Greek yogurt over regular yogurt. I read the label and saw for myself it only had 60 calories and 0 fat with 6 grams of protein. The label even read “Thick and creamy yogurt, full of body, and rich in taste.” HMM…Well, that is true enough if you like the flavor of sour cream.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing I love more than a dollop of daisy on my tacos, tamales or carnitas, but with bananas or blue berries.. I think not. I’m eating it for the sake of my health, but just so other consumers out there know. The ambrosial flavor of Greek yogurt is yet another classical myth.

Just Learning

I'm trying to figure out how to blog away from my blogger. I've attempted several times to post from my cell, but I must be doing it wrong. So here is attempt one at email posting. We'll see.

New Noodles

I've not only been lazy about blogging I've been lazy bones in the kitchen too.  Sometimes it seems as if we eat the same thing over and over.  We've been in a rut here lately with weekly servings of spaghetti, roasted chicken and potatoes, red meat with garlic salad, pizza and more chicken.  Granted all of that is homemade, with the exception of the pizza. Kevin has been great about cooking while I was working late and on weekends, but now that my summer hiatus has officially begun I've decided it's time to get back to what I do best...experimenting in the kitchen.

I wanted to make Asian food last night, but I don't have a large repertoire of Asian recipes floating around in my head.  I grabbed an issue of Fine Cooking hoping for a great new recipe.  I found an article entitled Use Your Noodle which listed recipes using a range of Asian style noodles.  I have limited knowledge of cooking with Asian noodles, Top Ramen being my only real experience; however, I decided to try something new because the recipe for rice noodles with shrimp and cilantro was exactly what I had in mind for dinner.

Kevin loves spicy and this dish called for red bell pepper and jalapeno.  I knew he could fire it up with some chicken death sauce, and I could be content with the limey, fresh cilantro summer sun flavor of the sauce.

I kept a close eye on my sauce whenever Kevin was near for fear he would sabotage it with Tabasco.  It turned out great the peppers gave it a nice flavor without being HOT and Kevin enjoyed the additional hellfire he placed in his own bowl. 

I had a little trouble with the noodles.  I cooked them according to the directions below, but some of the noodles were still hard.   The package read that you should soak them in hot water for 45 minutes, but mentioned nothing of the boiling that was called for in the recipe.  Since the recipe didn't turn out the results I wanted, I soaked the parboiled noodles in hot water while I finished the rest of the dish.  This was sufficient to finish the noodles and keep them from getting cold.

Here is the recipe from Fine Cooking.  I didn't do anything different other than use 11/2 limes instead of just 1 in the sauce and I used ponzu instead of regular soy.I like to boost the citrus flavor paired with the fish sauce, and I used a pound of the smaller shrimp.  Ete Schmakalik!

Ingredients for 3-4 servings, but Kevin and I ate it all :)

6oz pad thai noodles
2 medium limes, i juiced and 1sliced in wedges for serving
11/2 tbs. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fish sauce
3/4 lb. peeled and deveined large shrimp
3 tbs. canola or peanut oil - i used vegetable
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 medium bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely diced - I used the entire pepper.
1 medium jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
1 large shallot, finely diced - I used 2 medium
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro - I used a handful

For the noodles- Bring a medium pot of well-salted water to a boil.  Add the noodles, lower the heat to gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, (HUH, maybe that's why it didn't work so well for me I don't think I actually read ALL the directions. I definitely didn't stir or reduce to simmer.) until the noodles are just tender, 5 - 7 minutes.  Transfer to a colander and run under cold water to cool slightly. Drain well.

For the sauce- combine the lime juice, sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce, set aside.

For the shrimp- toss with 1tbs. oil, coriander and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Took Cook- heat 2 tbs. oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering hot.  Add the red pepper, jalapeno, and shallot, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt, and cook stirring, for 1 minute.  Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until it turns pink and is almost cooked through, about 2 minutes.  Add the lime juice mixture and cook, stirring, until the shrimp is cooked through, about 1 minute more.  Add the noodles and half of the cilantro: toss until the noodles heat through and pick up the sauce, 1 to 2 minutes.

To Serve- sprinkle with remaining cilantro and the lime wedges.

Law Abiding

Today I’ve updated my status from “Card Carrying Resident” to “Law Abiding Citizen”. I finally registered mi coche to the great state of Montana and now have a blue license plate reading Treasure State.

And of course license plates makes me think of one of my all time favorite Hayes Carll songs. Can you guess which one?

It's Official

I'm a resident, a card carrying Montananan.  I finally went today to get my driver's license.  I put on makeup did my hair and smiled nice for the camera, but they asked me how much I weighed, geez.  I wanted to lie but didn't.

It was so easy to transfer from being a Texas driver to Montana.  I made an appointment online, showed up at the right time, filled out a paper, showed some documents, had my foto taken, and bing bang boom I was licensed to drive in Montana all in under 5 minutes. AMAZING.  I was expecting to be there much longer, but they've got it down here in Billings.  I can say it was a very efficient, dang near pleasant, DMV experience.