January 12, 2017 Lunch - Vinaigrette Dinner - Thai Chicken Massaman Curry

January 12, 2017 Lunch – Vinaigrette,  Dinner – Thai Chicken Massaman Curry

I ate the last of the PPI Ham Pot Pie made by The Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery at the Center for Ageless Living with two fried eggs for breakfast.

I called Willy and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch and he suggested we meet at Vinaigrette because it was such a pleasant day he wanted to stretch his legs by taking the easy 10 block walk from his office at 9th at Copper to Vinaigrette at 1828 Central.  I, not being so young and athletic, chose to drive the 10 blocks from my house to Vinaigrette, I took a magazine and arrived before him and was offered the last two top in the filled restaurant and read the menu and my magazine for ten minutes until Willy arrived.

When Willy arrived I ordered my favorite, the French Frisée Salad with fried lardons, a poached egg, and a Seeded Mustard Dijonnaise dressing on a bed of brilliantly fresh frisée.  Willy ordered the seasonal specialty Harvest Moon Salad with chopped kale and sliced apples and a fizzy drink made with club soda, ginger and carrot juice.

We discussed the news of the day including the new revelations that there was an ongoing investigation by the FBI regarding communications between the Trump campaign staff and the Russians that the FBI did not disclose to the public when they did disclose the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails to the public that has now triggered an FBI Chief Counsel into Dir. Comey’s public announcements and that Dir. Comey of the FBI told Trump at the Security briefing on Friday, January 6, 2017 that MI-6 had made allegations that the Russians have a dossier with information that could be used to compromise Trump into doing what they want.

I told Willy this is how Watergate scandal started, by a relatively simple investigation of a burglary of January 12, 2017 Lunch – Vinaigrette,  Dinner – Thai Chicken Massaman Curry

I ate the last of the PPI Ham Pot Pie made by The Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery at the Center for Ageless Living with two fried eggs for breakfast.

I called Willy and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch and he suggested we meet at Vinaigrette because it was such a pleasant day he wanted to stretch his legs by taking the easy 10 block walk from his office at 9th at Copper to Vinaigrette at 1828 Central.  I, not being so young and athletic, chose to drive the 10 blocks from my house to Vinaigrette, I took a magazine and arrived before him and was offered the last two top in the filled restaurant and read the menu and my magazine for ten minutes until Willy arrived.

When Willy arrived I ordered my favorite, the French Frisée Salad with fried lardons, a poached egg, and a Seeded Mustard Dijonnaise dressing on a bed of brilliantly fresh frisée.  Willy ordered the seasonal specialty Harvest Moon Salad with chopped kale and sliced apples and a fizzy drink made with club soda, ginger and carrot juice.

We discussed the news of the day including the new revelations that there was an ongoing investigation by the FBI regarding communications between the Trump campaign staff and the Russians that the FBI did not disclose to the public when they did disclose the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails to the public that has now triggered an FBI Chief Counsel into Dir. Comey’s public announcements and that Dir. Comey of the FBI told Trump at the Security briefing on Friday, January 6, 2017 that MI-6 had made allegations that the Russians have a dossier with information that could be used to compromise Trump into doing what they want.









I told Willy this is how Watergate scandal started, by a relatively simple investigation of a burglary of the DNC offices at The Watergate Apartment Building and later the break in of the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s Psychologists’ office that led to a Congressional select Committee investigation that led to imprisonment of those in the Republican Party officials who planned and covered up the facts and the impeachment and resignation of Richard Nixon and resulted in stopping government action for a year.

After lunch I went to the bank and Sprouts.  At Sprouts I bought green beans for $.88/lb., three Bratwurst for $2.99/lb., a head of Romaine lettuce, green onions, two 32 oz. yogurts for $5.00, and an eggplant for $.88.

After I returned home and unloaded, I rode 5 miles south and back in the relatively warm afternoon sunlight.

I then worked until after 6:00 when Suzette arrived tired from a busy day.  She wanted to cook an easy dinner using the PPI roasted chicken from last night and I mentioned cooking Thai chicken curry, so while I was finishing my telephone conference Suzette gathered cans of Massaman curry paste, baby corn, and water chestnuts, chopped the two breasts from the chicken and simmered the rest of the chicken into a large pot filed with about a gallon of water to make chicken stock.

   When I finally arrived in the kitchen at 6:15 I fetched a can of julienned bamboo shots and sliced ½ onion and three cloves of garlic.  We started by making rice with 2 cups of chicken stock and 15 oz. of coconut milk and 2 cups of basmati rice simmered for 30 minutes at the lowest setting on a small burner.

Chicken Massaman Curry
I then sautéed the onion and garlic in a four quart sauce pan in peanut oil.  We then added about 1/3 cup of peanut butter and ½ of the 6 oz. can of Massaman curry paste (3 T.).  We then added about 2 quarts of chicken stock, a can of coconut milk, and approximately 1 ¼ lb. of diced chicken and tasted the curry.  It did not taste right, so I went to the internet and found a recipe at allrecipes.com.

Here it is:

We then added all the additional ingredients except the tamarind paste.

I then chopped 1 T. of ginger and added it and Suzette added the 3 T. of fish sauce and 3 T. of brown sugar and I added the 3 T. of lime juice.

I cut the 14 oz. can of ears of baby corn into 1 inch sections, and added the large can of julienned bamboo shoots and water chestnuts in lieu of the 3 cups of cubed potatoes and we cooked the mixture for about 20 minutes until it thickened slightly.

Suzette de-stemmed the last cup of sugar snap peas and steamed them and put 2 oz. of shredded coconut and ½ cup of sliced almonds in a small cast iron skillet and I browned them and I then fetched a can of beer from the fridge in the garage.

When the sugar snap peas were cooked we served dinner with glasses of beer.

I loved the dish as a rare departure from our normal range of dishes but Suzette did not enjoy the dish and left most of it.

This recipe made enough curry to feed 10, so there is almost a gallon of curry and three cups of rice left.

Bon Appetit