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Welcome to my chili-obsessed world!

on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 15:21

So, I recently came to terms with being insanely addicted to chilies and before I delve into this realization I want to point out that chili can be spelled chile or chilli, and some people go so far as to spell it chili with one L (yep, that's what I just did). So, back to the addiction I am referring to in which I likely indulge in two if not three times a day. While I do appreciate subtle and beautiful cuisines such as the French (and being married to a half Frenchie I have to even more so!), I miss my chilies when I am there...

Matilda the Chili Plant

on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 01:56

Matilda is my first attempt to grow chilies at home. She is a Thai chili plant of the C. Frutescens variety (C standing for Capiscum which is the plant genus under which the chili falls). She was born in Indianapolis and spent most of her summer in 2008 outside on our back porch, but due to moving to chilly Chicago and being kept indoors next to a heater as well as being left a few times for 2 weeks at a go, she eventually lost all her leaves. She did produce many chilies.....

Beef Noodle Soup - good for your blood & digestion!

on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 02:07

I owe the inspiration to cook this at home to my friend Enisha - before this I always enjoyed eating Thai beef noodles, but I had never made them at home and I loved making a plethora of other noodles. Now beef noodle soup is at the top of my noodle dishes when having a noodle attack! Since the weather is still slightly cool and it's very important to eat warm foods when it's cold outside to protect your digestion, I am still making soups. In the middle of winter I'll tend towards a more hearty stew, but Thai beef noodles can be eaten in warm and/or cool weather because while they keep you warm they don't weigh you down.......

Beef Noodle Soup - The Final Product

on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 03:30

Here are the pictures of the lovely spicy, aromatic, deeeeelicious beef noodle soup (with broth made from scratch and cooked for 3 hours). I have added a picture of an amazing product I found in the store the other day for those of you that don't have the time or inclination to cook the broth from scratch: Gia Vi Nau Pho (in Vietnamese), "Instant Beef Flavor Paste", the brand is Por Kwan and you can find it in most Asian groceries.....

Keeping a Cold Away

on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 04:30

While I was in school studying for my masters in TCM, one of my favorite medicinal recipes that came straight out of the Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica was something almost all of you have probably had: miso soup. Yep, it's that simple. In fact all the ingredients in miso soup are in the materia medica! I'm going to get a little technical here because I find it rather exciting that something so tasty can be found in a medical reference book, and I need to add here that most of the Chinese herbs are rather pungent and not super yummy like this particular combo.

Mochi Munchers

on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 06:45

Ahhh, mochi! Just the name is enough to make you want it! Well, I've created many a mochi muncher in those that I have introduced to mochi - and I thank the person who enlightened me to it's existence. Mochi, for those that aren't privy to it's wonderful world, is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous sweet rice pounded into a paste. There are many ways in which mochi presents itself to it's ardent fans:blood tonic, medicinal cooking, mochi, TCM, TCM chef, TCM cooking

Putting the Tittle in the Middle : TV Cooking Show

on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 03:30

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the afternoon with the lovely and incredibly fun La Donna Tittle from Chicago's channel 19 cooking show "Cooking With Tittle". She came by our apartment to assess the kitchen for the shoot tomorrow.

Cabbage - Anti Inflammatory Ruffage

on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 04:30

First off, you might wonder why is there a cabbage next to a pint size glass in the picture? Wellll, if you must wonder, it's because it's a MASSIVE cabbage and that's to help you understand how beautiful and large this cabbage is.

The Place Where It All Happens

on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 08:30

La Donna Tittle is coming today to tape the chile episode for her show, I thought I'd post some pictures of the kitchen beforehand.

The pantry filled with my hunted down products from all over.

My Mongolian garlic crushing rock (more on this later,

Spicy Show

on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 08:30

Wow! I had no clue that taping a cooking show would be this labor intensive. We taped from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. for a 30 min segment! As La Donna Tittle said, it was a labor of love and it was well worth it as I had an incredible amount of Tittleacious fun.

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