Black Beans and Travel Plans?

Slow start to the week - especially because my plans for Monday night adventures were rather ruined by the efficiency of my fridge. On discovering that the key ingredients were still frozen, I gave up and ate boil in the bag Indian. Not nearly as much fun as it used to be. Tuesday night was spent at s.i.l.'s parents for a very pleasant meal and viewing of the wedding slide show. A.D. gave me a miniature herb garden for my kitchen! As soon as I replace my camera batteries I will include a photo... my mission is now to avoid killing said miniature herb garden...

Tonight, finally, I got back into it: a recipe from an article in the New York Times praising the joys of fermented black beans. It's kinda pathetic, but my first thought on tasting the end result was "Hey! This tastes like takeaway!! In a good way!" The fermented black beans (very cheap from a chinese grocery store) were soaked in sherry, the prawns marinated in soy, sesame oil, garlic, sugar and salt and then it was bok choy, more garlic, ginger, minced eschallots, more soy sauce, more sesame oil and, bizarrely (in a good way, once again) white wine. A lot more moisture than I would have associated with stir-fry but it rocked. 

If any important calls came through while I was cooking I missed them completely in the crackling of the pan and the roaring of the exhaust fan. Noisy, very involving cooking - lots of fun.

Meanwhile, I'm currently working out whether I can afford an impromptu trip to Europe in July... if so, the next few months might be exercises in budget cookery...