Block Party

Tonight, Karen and I went to a neighborhood Block Party. My friend David and his family were co-hosting a block party at their home just a few miles from us. I thought it would be lots of fun to go and I'm glad we did. Karen made some delicious and spicy chicken wings and we also brought some fruit salad. When she was making the marinade for the chicken wings, even she was affected by the Jalapeno Chili Peppers! I wish I had a picture of her with her face all contorted--those things are stronger than onions and black pepper combined.


We had a great time, getting there a bit early to help set up tables and the food. There were lots of people there, from at least 8 houses in the area. Two propane grills were brought out for cooking and the tables were full of food.



The street was blocked off, allowing all the children to ride their bikes and draw with chalk on the streets without fear of cars. We met most of the people there. laughing and talking. They would ask us which house we lived in and I would tell them that we were friends of residents, but that we were also 'auditioning the neighborhood' since I know at some point we will be buying a home--maybe in this neighborhood? It reminded me of my own childhood in Salem, Oregon where kids could play in the streets without worrying about strangers, cars, or whatever, and everyone knew everyone else.




Thanks David and Susanne for inviting us!

Devil's Curry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Devil's curry (also known as curry debal in Kristang or curry devil) is a very spicy curry flavoured with candlenuts, galangal and vinegar from the Eurasian Kristang (Cristão) culinary tradition in Singapore and Malacca, Malaysia. "

My first, not so successful attempt at making some curry devil.
Way too spicy.
I could almost handle it but did not chance it on Chad.

Thank-you, Rhonda for getting my mom's recipe in the Family recipe book wedding gift and thank-you Mom, for the on-the-phone extra tips.

I did not think I could do it, but I did. I made some, just like my mom makes it. Well, perhaps not EXACTLY like my mom makes it, but close enough. And it only took two tries to get it 'close enough'!

My second attempt.

Lets explore!

Wednesday was such a fun day. Karen and I woke up early because we wanted to get out and explore the region on my day off. After a blueberry pancake breakfast, we headed up north. My plan was to show Karen the eastside of King County, where the smaller towns and berry fields are. She's seen a lot of Seattle already during her driving lessons and since we had all day, I wanted a road trip! We started up in Monroe and went south from there. Going through the cute towns of Duvall and Carnation, we stopped at Remlinger Farms for lunch. I also wanted pie, since I really enjoy their frozen pies at home. But, they didn't have any available to eat(just a huge warehouse of frozen pies!). We continued south to Snoqualmie, past Snoqualmie Falls. Entering in the town, there was a stand selling cherries. Big sweet cherries, two big boxes for $11. We got two boxes of Rainier cherries, which are not as common as other kinds.


After we got the cherries, we stopped at the Snoqualmie Train Museum. Walking around the trains, we ate cherries and spit the pits at each other, just like I used to do to to Mark, Scott and Linda when we were all children. We found out that on the weekends, there are train trips around the area--I wish I could have weekends off from work!



After enjoying the trains, we continued south when Karen said, "I'm thirsty. I want something cold." Well, I knew where to go!

Starbucks? Not this time! In Issaquah, there's an iconic restaurant called "XXX Drive In." I'd only been there once, but loved it. They make their own root beer, which may be the best I've ever had. Great burgers and the best onion rings. But, we actually weren't very hungry, just thirsty. What to have? Lets have a look at the menu, shall we?


Karen: "What's a XXX root beer float?"

Chad: "How about a milkshake? They make 'em big and good here."
Karen: "Which flavor? Chocolatecherryraspberryvanillaoreo...there's a million here! I think I'll just get a chocolate one this time and get a different kind every time we come here."


Chad: "You get a milkshake and I'll get a root beer float."



Karen: "I want both!"

We got a chocolate milkshake and a root beer float, both which were yummy! We shared them, and also shared the sugar buzz afterward.



After a stop at Gilman Village to explore the cute shops, we headed home. How can a whole day have gone by already?

Forward!

It was yesterday. An email update from USCIS. These two lines caught my attention:

Application Type: I-485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

In 30 days, I expect to have that green card in hand. This means that, I can travel without an Advance Parole, visit Canada and not need a Visa, settle what needs to be settled in Singapore so I can do my Masters, and the to join the workforce.

The waiting period has been like being in a state of limbo in some aspects for me. Especially in terms of education, job and career. Not being able to go forward or backward. All we could do was wait. Not knowing for sure how long. The wait is almost over.

Where do I go from here?

Forward!

10.5 lbs

Chad and I woke up early this morning so that I could go strawberry picking with his mom, Maeve and brother, Scott. Chad had to work so he drove me to his mom's house before heading back home and then to work in the early afternoon.

After a 45-minute drive in Chad's mom's car (Scott drove), we were at the strawberry fields. The strawberries were smaller than I imagined they would be- a result of a June which is uncharacteristically dry and sunny. The bad news: Lots more picking to fill up the box. The good news: They MUST be concentrated with flavour.
It was a wonderful morning. There were many mothers with their young children there. The kids' were excited and every other word I heard from them was "Strawberry". For many of them, it could have been their first time picking strawberry picking. Like it was for me.

The mild weather helped make it relatively easy first time strawberry-picking for me. Extrapolating from my experience with it for a mere hour or so, however, I could tell that that doing it all day would be back-breaking.

After about 75 minutes, I had about filled my strawberry box/basket and decided I had enough of berry-picking and enough strawberries to satisfy both Chad and me. Aunty Maeve and Scott were already on their second box and continued picking for another 20 minutes.

My box of strawberries

The weigh-in for our day's pickin' : Aunty Maeve: 16 lbs, Scott: 25 lbs and me :10.5 lbs

In an 'Experimenting' Mood

I've been in the mood for experimenting in the kitchen lately. Here's the dinner I prepared and packed for Chad, chicken tandoori skewers with saffron rice pilaf. Packed dinner is not always this elaborate. I usually prepare them in the morning BEFORE Chad makes breakfast for us. Sometimes, all I do is assemble a sandwich using store-bought cold-cuts, but lately it's been briyani or poached and roasted soy chicken or split whole tandoori chicken or saffron rice pilaf or chicken tandoori skewers or chocolate lava cake. As it is with any experiment, there are successes and failures. The briyani was a disaster, the chocolate lava cake was a bit too much 'lava' and a bit too little 'cake' and when I made the saffron rice pilaf the FIRST time (SECOND attempt shown in photo above), it did not look 'saffrony' enough and it had so much cardamon, it smelled a bit like cheap perfume! Lots of cheap perfume!

The poached and roasted soy chicken was really good. It tasted like the roasted chicken you find at chicken rice stalls in Singapore. So the next thing I want to try is to make the rice and chilly sauce so we can have something akin to Singapore chicken rice right here in Seattle. The tandoori chicken was so good the first time I made it using split whole chiken, I decided to tweek the recipe and make the chiken skewers using boneless, skinless chicken thighs we already had in the fridge. I also tweeked the recipe for the saffron rice pilaf by reducing the cardamon and including golden raisins and cashews.

Chad loves the Sichuan chicken we had at a restaurant in Singapore and the Portuguese Curry Devil ('Debil') my mom made while we were in Malacca. These are among my favourites too. Looks like I'll be taking further advantage of this 'experimenting mood' of mine this week. I've had lots of fun doing these experiments. It would be even better if I could find someone willing to clean up AFTER me (*wink* Yes, I'm looking at you, Chad).