Quick Stir-Fry Sauce

I don't have any photos for this post, or a nice story to go along with it. I'm just trying to get into the habit of updating a little more regularly, plus I wanted to log this before I forget.

The other day I was craving some stir-fried pork and tofu with veggies, and I wanted to pick up this "House of Tsang" spicy Sichuan stir-fry sauce I used to use for a similar dish in college. This stuff really delivered the heat, and had a really nice consistency to it, from what I remember. But I realized I'd have to stop by the store on the way home from work to pick some up. But then I figured I roughly know how to make my own stir-fry sauce and I have a lot of chili-sesame oil, to hell with the store-bought sauce.

So for 1 standard block of firm tofu, 2 large peeled and sliced carrots, and 1 small crown of broccoli, I made my stir-fry sauce out of the following:

- 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce

- 2 Tbsp rice wine (shao xing)

- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 or 1.5 Tbsp hot chili-sesame oil

- 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp water

- 2 tsp minced fresh garlic

- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger

- 2 stalks of scallion, finely sliced

1. Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch mixture in a bowl, and whisk it well.

2. In the clean pan on medium-high heat, fry the ginger, garlic, and scallion in 1 or 1.5 Tbsp of cooking oil for about 30 seconds (enough time for it to get fragrant but not burn).

3. Pour the soy sauce mixture from Step 1 into the pan on medium-high heat. Keep stirring while the sauce begins to thicken from the cornstarch.

Crepes in Strawberry Syrup with Whipped Cream

Holy sh-t, I need to update more often. Work and miscellaneous travel has had me really busy for the past few months, and my cooking has slowed down noticeably. But things are easing up a little, thank God, and I'm starting to try some new dishes out. This one is from mid-June. My then girlfriend offered to make me dinner, as long as I made a sufficiently sweet dessert. Bear in mind a couple of things:

1. Growing up, my family didn't really do dessert very often. We'd have the occasional Haitian sweet potato pudding at a big family dinner, or store-bought desserts at parties. But the concept of "I just finished dinner on a regular weeknight. I need dessert!" is just foreign to me.

2. I don't like really sweet foods. I go as far as sweet fresh fruit, but anything with loads of refined sugar is just too much for me. The smell inside a Krispy Kreme shop makes my stomach turn. Not exaggerating.

Hence, I don't make dessert often... or ever, actually. But I have made crepes in the past, relying on fruit and fresh handmade whipped cream to provide the sweetness. To kick up the sweetness, I figured you can't get much sweeter than syrup. The end product was considered a success. Continue reading for the crepe, syrup, and whipped cream recipes.