To Fondly Remember Being Hungover: Congee.

There was this one time, a couple summers ago, when I might have had too much to drink on a Saturday night, and woke up on a Sunday and decided to go to yoga, but first I would stop at the Farmer's Market, you see, but SOMEHOW time had flown by (surely nothing to do with my bleary eyes or slowed down brain), and I was impossibly late for yoga, and therefore the only thing I could reasonably do was to forsake exercising for brunch at the Thai food restaurant that was fatefully by my side at the exact witching hour I should have been anchoring into my sits bones, settling into my breath and joining my thumb and first finger. Despite the fact that it was 900 degrees and muggy at 11am in the beautiful summer that DC provides us, I ordered hot congee on that hot day and realized that hangover was the best thing that ever happened to me, because, it resulted in this steaming, salty, mushy bowl of mostly colorless broken rice which enveloped my whole innards with a big, welcome, and sultry hug.

ANYWAY. I wanted to make my own damn congee. I chose a recipe that had sausage and corn. I didn't have ginger on hand, and I wish I had used chicken or vegetable stock. I poached an egg and drizzled it with soy sauce. Yolk, as it does with everything, enriched the broth. IDK, this could have used more flavor. Or maybe I should have been hungover? It was good. I'll do better next time.

PRO TIP: Put your scallions in a jar with some water and watch them grow and re-grow as you use them!

To FINALLY Try That Recipe: Filipino-Style Chicken Adobo

 

Sometimes, I hear about recipes and put them in my noggin to try and then it takes me forever to actually get around to making them. That's what happened with chicken adobo. So, maybe it was all the hype I had built up in my head, or maybe it's the fact that I didn't care to find palm vinegar like I was told to do. But, eh.

My hopes remained high when I was making this marinade. The tomatoes, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and vinegar gave my nose a savory salty rich smell to inhale. 24 hours later the chicken was ready.

Then, we served it over coconut-ginger rice. And, I was so thankful for the sweetness of the rice because otherwise this was an acidic, sharp, almost sour sort of chicken. It wasn't horrible, but duuuude unless I'm eating salt & vinegar chips, I'd rather not have my tongue react to the amount of vinegar in a dish.

Oh well. I wonder if it's me -- did I do it wrong? Am I vinegar wuss? Maybe someday I'll try it in a Filipino restaurant.