Thai me kangaroo down, sport

In honor of a blogger friend of mine from Yorkshire who is currently working in Bangkok, I present the following recipe for your edification:

Pud Thai

8 oz. rice sticks/noodles
6-8 prawns
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
water, as needed
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 lime, wedged

Put rice noodles in large bowl covered in warm water and soak for at least 20 minutes. Heat wok to medium-high temperature. Stir fry prawns. Scramble egg in wok and set aside. Heat oil in wok on high setting. Add garlic and curry paste. Stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Drain noodles and add to wok. Fry the noodles, constantly turning and stirring them so that they cook evenly. Add sugar and fish sauce. If the noodles remain tough after about 5 minutes of frying, add about 1/4 cup of water and stir, letting the water absorb and boil off. Repeat as necessary. To serve, put noodles in a bowl and top with prawns, egg, peanuts, green onions, and bean sprouts. Serve lime wedges on a side plate. Serves: 4

Mmmm, yummy!

Readers in Australia may wish to use kangaroo instead of prawns.

In my last post I showed you the graves of Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon. Here is a photo I found today of them together, alive, in the Oval Office, which will enlarge if you click on it (the photo, I mean, not the Oval Office):

A photograph of Richard Nixon is germane to this, my first recipe in more than five years of blogging, because it prompts me to tell you something important:

I am not a cook.

Gone but not forgotten

Yesterday (January 8th) was the birthday of Elvis Presley and today (January 9th -- it is still January 9th where I am) is the birthday of Richard Milhous Nixon.

Happy birthday to them both.

Posthumously, of course.

The former (if he had lived) would have been 78 and the latter (ditto) would have been 90.

I myself am a mere 71 and 3/4.

How time flies when you’re having fun.

Quote of the day

“The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died...Have you gathered here to mourn, or are you here to bring me comfort?...I’ve learned something about love that I never knew before. That I never knew before. You speak of love when it’s too late. Help should come to people when they need it. Why are we always so helpful to each other when it’s no longer any use?...This is my home. This is where I belong. Love was in this house once, and for me it will always be here, nowhere else...One should always listen closely when people say goodbye because sometimes they’re, they’re really saying farewell.”
..................-- Katherine Hepburn in Stage Door Canteen (1943)

(Click anywhere on the quotation for the full treatment.)

People around my age may spot Adolphe Menjou in the wings and Ginger Rogers in the audience.

Okay, so maybe it isn’t “Fourscore and seven years ago” or “Veni, vidi, vici” but it ranks right up there with “I am not a crook”....

It’s just my opinion, but that was one president who should have said farewell a little sooner.

A final thought: Katherine Hepburn’s emotion, though quite effective, was obviously artificial, but Mrs. Nixon’s was very real.