Calling All Cooks

[WarpGirl]

If it wasn't so hot I'd be cooking right now. I always thought DC is really great, for a city. I've always found it beautiful. And I admit the most of Detroit I've seen is the airport, but it was nice. Very bright, and cheery, unlike JFK.

[Aquarius]

Well the "real" DC isn't Capital Hill. Go a block away any direction and you've got lots of crime and poverty...and some of the best food ever.

And Detroit's airport...don't get me started. My aunt retired from Northwest and from the way she tells it, that terminal is the stupidest thing ever. Any way, since you've never been to the city, all I can tell you is that you can look at parts of it and tell it was beautiful...once.

[WarpGirl]

Well DC is about 2 hours from me, and I wasn't really referring to Capital Hill. I don't remember the terminal in Detroit being so bad. Canada is much, much, worse than anything I have ever seen. I wish I remembered which airport I was in with the AWESOME steak-house I got lobster there, and a good martini.

[Alelou]

? Canada is much much worse than anything you've ever seen?

Where the heck were you in Canada?

[WarpGirl]

Halifax, is annoying... But Montreal is a nightmare. Hey my sister and her husband live in PEI, you have to land in Montreal than fly to Halifax, it is really awful. Can you believe they live where you get the BEST mussels and seafood in the world and they NEVER eat it. He doesn't like it at all, I think they are absolute freaks. It's dirt cheap.

[Alelou]

I conclude that you must be talking about food, not bad neighborhoods and cursing?

I don't know about Halifax, but I'm sure there's excellent dining to be had in Montreal.

(Alelou thinks nostalgically of a fiet of salmon in raspberry vinegar sauce she ate over 20 years ago in Quebec City... )

[WarpGirl]

No I meant airports. The ones in Halifax and Montreal are awful. I had slamon and blueberry sauce in Quebec City 9 years ago. I wonder if it was tame place. Was it really dark with candles and mirrors everywhere? That trip AWSOME food, lousy teenaged I love him, no I love him, angst with my sister and her friends. Good thing I was on so many anti-depressents I had no hormones at all, thank God for immunity. But the food... Oh I miss that.

[Alelou]

I have no idea. That city is crammed full of romantic little French restaurants. Such a beautiful place.

How did we end up talking about airports? Do they even count when you talk about a place? I don't know any that are actually close to the downtown of the city they serve, with the possible exception of National and La Guardia, both of which suffer from frighteningly short runways IMO.

[WarpGirl]

To be technical I was trying to remember an awesome steakhouse in an airport. Problem is I can't remember where it was, hence Aquarius and I traded airport stories. And I count airports as places, A. They're on the ground in a place you may have never been, so I can say I've been in California. B. You can learn a lot about different areas by the airports and the resterants in the airports. For example in LA EVERYTHING is overpriced to the extreme, San Fransisco everything is hip and hippyish. Detroit, sleek metal, efficiant, yet surprisingly warm people. Oh and practical food. See I have a freakish love of airports. Except in Canada. Although I heard Toronto is really nice.

[Alelou]

Well, I've been in Shannon Airport, but I wouldn't say I've really been to Ireland. I did a lot of traveling on business for awhile and to my mind there was virtually no correlation between airport and city except perhaps in the personalities of the people you dealt with. Most airports built during the same era are pretty much the same, if you ask me.

The only thing I remember about the Toronto airport is that I was pulled aside and almost didn't make it into the country until I was interviewed and they decided I wasn't a security risk or illegal immigrant or whatever. (I forgot my proof of citizenship. We used to drive across the border often enough that it didn't occur to me I'd need one when I flew in.)

[WarpGirl]

My sister and her husband have problems going across the boarder because she's American and he isn't. It takes a very long time to get your citizanship changed, I'm mean they just celebrated 3 years. Really I find airports and more importantly the food in them are very reflective of their location. There are like 20 sushi places in LAX. And I would claim being in Ireland even if I never left the jet. But then Mama always says I'd make a good lawyer.

[Alelou]

Hey, JustTripn, remember the spicy chicken and eggplant you had at the Chinese restaurant the night of the con? (Which wasn't spicy enough for you.) My eggplants are finally producing like gangbusters, so I gave it my best shot. Wasn't exactly the same, but it was damned good. Yay, Asian eggplant!

[WarpGirl]

Cool I'm making Pasta Carbonara tonight. I'd love the recipy though I love eggplant and I LOVE heat!

[Alelou]

I didn't measure, but I basically stir-fried three very thinly-sliced chicken breasts and then added in about a third of a cup of sauce made up mostly of hoisin sauce plus a long squeeze of tomato paste, about a teaspoon of Thai chili sauce (from JT!), some squirts of fish sauce, and some toasted sesame oil, plus some sugar. Then I put the chicken aside, towel-cleaned the wok, and stir-fried a couple of chopped cloves of garlic and two chopped up sweet banana peppers (I imagine any will do -- I took out the seeds since I prefer mild heat) with three chopped up eggplants, adding a little of the sauce from the chicken and toasted sesame oil when it got dry. Then I put it all together, cooked it a little more and served it over rice.

We were out of soy sauce, but it was salty enough as it was. But you could probably substitute that for fish sauce, and probably ketchup for tomato paste. I also suspect oyster sauce might have given me something closer to what Ann had than hoisin did.

Please note that the eggplants I grow are Asian eggplants -- Ping Tung is the variety, but any long, thin eggplant does the trick. Regular eggplant does something nasty to my tongue, so I prefer these. If you're using a regular eggplant, you probably only need one and you might want to salt it first or whatever it is people do to draw the bitterness out. Just make sure you dry it before stir-frying.

[WarpGirl]

Thanks I'll probably turn up the heat, if only to watch daddy squirm. And believe it or not I can actually get asian eggplants here, which is amazing. I can't eat ketchup though, onion powder is in all of the major brands. I get really sick. I'll have to try it.