Sweet, Spicy and Vain - The Perfect Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Unless you already ate all the candy your mom gave you and now you have to go home and feel sick while watching the Notebook for the 17th time and imagining how awesome it is going to be when Ryan Gosling FINALLY wakes up and realizes you're the one.

No? Yeah, that never happened to me either. Moving on...

Sweet: The mass amounts of candy consumed around the world makes me happy today. Not least because of what we have at home. Ali sent me a package that I got in the mail last night and while I pretended to have a secret admirer in front of hubby I finally broke down and admitted the new man in my life was a toddler in Canada. I'm pretty sure Tim is cool with it now.

Spicy: A few people asked me for the recipe for the Thai chicken satays I made for Tim's birthday so I wanted to share the recipe on here. I'll be honest here and say that while the recipe itself is EASY, the ingredients aren't necessarily typical pantry items for everyone. I say make the marinade with what you have on hand and it will be fine as long as you include some sweet/spicy elements to the mix.

Start by making a marinade at least a few hours before you plan to cook (I usually try for overnight if possible). I made a pretty traditional marinade but STILL didn't have all the ingredients from the recipe here. If you have galangal and fish paste at home, you're a better person than I. Here's what went into my marinade:

 

Soy Sauce

Chili Pepper Flakes

Ground Coriander

Diced Lemongrass

Diced Pickled Ginger

Diced Garlic

Black Pepper

Olive Oil

Honey

Rice Wine Vinegar

Black Pepper

Technically you're supposed to measure everything out perfectly but it's a marinade. Pour a little of everything in and use common sense. Love spicy? Load up the chili pepper flakes. Hate garlic? Maybe don't use that, hey? Mix it up with a spoon and toss in your chicken breasts or thighs that have been sliced or diced. Let it soak for a few hours in the fridge.

Then all you do is load up the marinated chicken onto skewers. Toss them onto the barbecue if it's seasonally appropriate or just put them into the oven set to broil while on the highest rack. (Note! If you broil them in the oven soak the skewers in water first so they don't catch on fire.) They cook in about 15 minutes, flipping them over once.

Voila! Dip them in a homemade peanut sauce if you feel super into it, or be lazy like me and buy a pre-made Thai peanut sauce. They're definitely ideal for a cocktail party with finger foods, but tonight we had them over rice with some broccoli and it was perfect.

Vain: I have a confession to make. Until a few days ago, I rarely admired myself in the mirror. We didn't have a full length mirror and the bathroom (where there is a little mirror) is cold. Then on Sunday we bought a full length mirror and hung it up. It's completely defective because it kind of curves UP at the bottom. Know what that means? It means that I look like a freaking runway model in the mirror. It's seriously a funhouse mirror that stretches you out and makes you look six feet tall.
 I'M IN LOVE. <3

I'm pretty proud of the fact that I have avoided talking about how awesome Tim is and how much I love him, especially because I genuinely do enjoy Valentine's Day and I'm a sucker for romance. So here you go:

Source

 

 

Do you get discouraged at a recipe with a LONG list of ingredients?
Not usually. Mostly because I rarely follow a recipe exactly, so I kind of just ignore the ingredients I don't have. Probably not the culinary mastermind response I was supposed to give. 

Valentine's Day - love or hate?
Love. I like candy. I like sappy movies. I like attention.