Recipe: Szechuan Chicken & Potatoes

I honestly have no idea what this recipe is really called.

When I was in college, my favorite math professor married a woman from Chengdu, in China. Wow that lady can cook. She is also very sweet and kind. My professor picked good. :)

When I was fortunate enough to be invited over for dinner, she would make the most fantastic dishes. I saw her cook once and tried to pay attention so I could replicate the dishes later. This was one of the most delicious she made. Warning: this totally clears your sinuses.

Skinless, boneless chicken, cubed (I use about 1/2 - 1 chicken breast per serving)
Potato, cubed (about a 1:1 ratio of potato to chicken)
Salt to taste
Szechuan red pepper to taste
Chopped green onion (just the greens, and I don't know how much. Maybe 1/2 stalk per serving)
Chopped cilantro (I have no idea exactly how much, but it's a lot. Maybe a half bunch for two servings.)

Boil a small amount of water and boil the potato cubes until they are cooked, about 5 to 10 minutes. Drain.
Heat up a wok and put some oil in it.
Stir fry the chicken until cooked, then add the cooked potato, salt and red pepper.
Stir fry a minute or two to get the flavors to mingle, then add the chopped green onion and cilantro and stir fry some more. The cilantro will wilt a bit, and then you will know it's done.

Eat with rice.

Here is a hint; if you have kitchen shears you can just hold the stalks of cilantro over the wok and snip away.

Restaurant Review: Bonjour French Pastry

This is a "Japanese French" -style bakery, so they have lots of delicious pastries in traditional and traditionally Asian flavors (like green tea and red bean).

The servers there were really nice, and the decor is very "Asian cute" in a French style. If you have some better term for Asian-French fusion please let me know.

The cakes are pretty yummy and normally sized (as opposed to the steroid-sized anything you might find at an American bakery), and the ingredients tasted fresh.

They don't accept credit cards here, so make sure to bring cash.

Bonjour French Pastry
18222 S. Western Ave.
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 323-1468

The Women Men Don't See

I have a deep love for really good science fiction. The kind that makes you look at our world in a new perspective and say, "huh." (As opposed to "huh?") I have a deep love for the spirit of Star Trek because of this (which is now a mere shade of what it once was).

I read Slashdot fairly regularly. One story posted quite a while ago was a question asking the Slashdot readers what would be appropriate and belong in a high school-level science fiction literature class. I can't seem to find the link now, but someone posted a link to a syllabus of a college-level course which included the James Tiptree short story "The Women Men Don't See". The title alone fascinated me and I was compelled to search it out. You can buy a James Tiptree anthology on B&N here or read the story online here. (If you get the anthology I recommend looking up "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?")

Go read it. It's not long. I could spoil the pivotal scene for you, as several bloggers have done, but you should have the joy and delight of reading it yourself.

I've asked several men if they would go on a one-way mission to colonize Mars, to be a part of history. Almost all of them have said no. The one exception that I can remember said that if the mission was something like Total Recall he would go. Why not? Men are happy here. Comfy. There's nothing to compel most men to find a new life.

And women? If I could go to Mars to start life on a new world why not? Why not try for something better than what we have today, and have a pivotal role in building it? Why not give the world a reason to remember my name (3:15 in this clip)?

Rose Parade Preview

Happy New Year!

Tonight my boyfriend and I wandered around the staging area for the Rose Parade floats.

My favorite floats were sponsored by the city of Torrance and the Ronald McDonald house.

The Ronald McDonald House float was space-themed.

City of Torrance float. I really liked it because of all the birds and the "greenhouse look" to it.

I can't remember who sponsored this float, but it's a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII.

Honda float. It's a ship piloted by their Asimov robot.

Taiwan's float, sponsored by China Airlines

Here's a start to a brand new year!