My UNL friends took me to a very enjoyable meal at Nissara, a local Thai favorite. The atmosphere is elegant and relaxed. A large liquor collection climbs the wall behind the bar.
We started with this chicken satay, a savory treat. I mixed the two sauces: hot and peanut.
My main course was something that I haven't seen elsewhere, eggplant with peanut sauce. The result was another savory treat: nicely balanced sweetness and savoriness; great balance of textures.
For dessert we shared this wonderful coconut cake. The fresh coconut flavor stood out; its texture nicely complicated the soft, delicate cake.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...




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