Drinks by the Pool in Phomn Penh

Tomorrow I fly back to Canada for a triumphant reunion with my schmoopie and very cute family. The only thing that is keeping me sane right now after a very successful, although ridiculously hot and sweaty, 3 weeks in Cambodia is sipping refreshing cocktails beside the pool at my favourite hotel in the entire world. Today's current favorite beverage (I've had 3 so far) is essentially a mojito slurpee. Here is my rough guess of the recipe just like they whip it up here at the Billabong Hotel, deep in the heart of Phomn Penh.

The Mojito Slurpee

1 cup ice cubes

juice of one lime

2 oz rum

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 fist of fresh mint

Combine, blend the crap out of it, and sip beside the pool. Kampai!

jo hijacks the blog

Greeting! It's Joanna and I am highjacking the blog. I thought all you dj dread fans would want another update, so here are some excerpts from Wade's email today:

I am in Siem Reap (tourist town closest to
Angkor Wat temples) and my net connection is awesome
but my keyboard sucks. It's like playing a really old
piano where you need to hammer each individual key
down really hard just for it to do anything.

phil, l. and dj dread at angkor watt

Yesterday we had lunch at a great Thai place.
In the afternoon we prepared for our time in
S'ville. I taught my usual balloon ninja skills.
Then we gave all the balloons away to the
neighbourhood kids so of course in a few minutes their
was a small riot in front of the house. It was
pretty funny.

This morning we left at 6 am for Siem Reap. The bus
was air conned but no leg room. Our driver is also the
slowest driver in all of Cambodia, which i think is
rather ironic. We stopped at a 'rest stop' and Phil
bought a bag of toasted crickets for everyone to try.
I ate a BBQ'd tarantula again. It was a lot bigger
than the one i had last year, and was honestly tastier
and way better than the crickets.

last year's tarantula

We had about 3 1/2 hours to see the temples. we saw
Angkor Watt ( the biggest one) and ta phrom (the jungle
one) everyone really loved it. Phil took a bunch of
pictures of me in [my utili] kilt so I can try and win a free
one. because we are in a tourist town We took
everyone out for pizza for supper and we are going to
a breakfast buffet before we leave tomorrow. We are
definitely in everyone's good books right now.

Soph, dj dread & the utilikilt

Tomorrow we go to Sianookville and we will be in the
bus for at least 11hrs, maybe 15 the way our driver
seems to take his time. There is no leg room so
please pray that I don't go insane.

The dread sensei probably will be out of touch for the rest of the trip, but returns home on the 20th...stay tuned! Love Joanna

Tuk Tuk Lunch Adventures

Well I am in Cambodia and so far loving every minute of it. Yesterday Phil (most of this text is lifted directly from his blog), Rachel and I spent the day with Darah, our tuk tuk driver that we hired for the day. He took us all around the city of Phnom Penh showing us all the non-touristy places. It was so cool just to hang with him and hear about his family, his job, and his life.

We wanted to go for lunch at a local, non-tourist, Cambodian place so he took us to Mekong Island. And so the adventure begins...

We thought that it was going to be totally touristy and developed by the pictures that we saw on a billboard, but it turns out that the guy who took the picture is a liar and also a ninja master at Photoshop. When we got there we hopped on the ferry (less glamorous that it sounds, imagine a rusty, diesel belching, floating hunk of scrap steel) and headed across the Mekong to the island. The island paradise was a bunch of sketchy 6 foot high bamboo huts, mostly under water with grass roofs on them. We walked along the littered beach to the huts all the while being mobbed by sweet people asking us to buy their scarfs that they made. When we got to the huts the 4 of us sat down in confusion for lunch.

People were surrounding us the whole time asking us to buy stuff and we almost fell into the Mekong as the bamboo floor we were sitting on broke through. We waited for a while for lunch (they needed to kill the chicken and catch the fish), still not knowing what was going on, but having a great time talking and hanging out with Darah, and all our new friends trying to sell us their stuff. When lunch came we were not let down.

A whole fried fish, ungutted, served with fresh chili sauce: the scrawniest, most pathetic (although organic) chicken I have ever seen, served with lime rock salt; a mango chili salad finished with fish sauce; and a huge pot a of rice. All washed down with bottled water and weak beer served over ice. We ate until we were full and also shared our food with 3 kids and a one-eyed dog wading in the river. We all agreed that this was the best Asian lunch we have EVER had, even though a few times we were seriously wondering what we were getting into. Good times in Cambodia.

Airplane Pork Congee (with 1000 year old egg)

I may not be able to post many recipes over the next few weeks because I am currently in Cambodia sampling the amazing food over here (and doing a bunch of other stuff as well.) On the flight over here I had my first ever congee. It was so delicious and warm and gingery and smooth and soul satisfyingly tasty (even though I have no idea what a 1000 year old egg is, and I'm not sure I want to know). Even though I can't guarantee it's yumminess, here is a recipe I found for pork congee. I mean if EVA Airlines can make a great congee, how hard can it really be?

INGREDIENTS
1 cup long grain white rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
5 cups water
1/2 pound boneless pork loin roast
1 1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 salted (hard-cooked) duck egg, chopped
1 hundred-year egg, minced
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped green onion
ground black pepper to taste
soy sauce to taste
DIRECTIONS
Rinse and drain the rice, and place in a large pot. Stir in the salt and oil, and let stand for 5 minutes.
Add the pork to the rice, and stir in the water. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. Remove the pork from the pot with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Continue to simmer the rice for 20 minutes. Chop the pork into small cubes, and mix with the salted egg and hundred-year egg.
After the 20 minutes are up, stir the pork and egg mixture back into the congee along with the oyster sauce. Serve in bowls, and garnish with ginger and green onion. Have soy sauce and pepper on the side for seasoning.

Ultimate Mega Extreme Wings of Death

My brother-in-law is staying with us and he is a hockey fan. Quite frankly, I could care less about hockey but I love Matt and tonight I made him hot wings to enjoy while watching the game. I personally think that these are THE BEST FREAKIN' HOT WINGS I HAVE EVER MADE! ...and believe me, I know my way around raw meat and hot fat.

Coating
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon powdered smoke
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 batch of chicken wings

Sauce
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons whiskey
1 cup of your choice of hot sauce
(I suggest 1/2 cup Tabasco Chipotle, 1/4 cup Tabasco Habanero, 1/4 cup SriRacha Rooster)

Mix dry coating ingredients together in a large plastic bag. Add wings and shake to coat. Deep fry in small batches for 8-10 min. Meanwhile add all sauce ingredients to saucepan mix and heat. Pour sauce over wings and toss to coat.

If you want wimpier wings, use a lame hot sauce or just go to Earls with your tail between your legs and never read my blog ever again. If you want hotter wings, then you are my kind of people and you should use more Habanero and / or add 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper to the coating.

The Best Waffle Recipe, EVER!

Now I am a man who appreciates a fine waffle. I even convinced and won over my wife to my bacon waffles (yum!) So when I found a waffle blog I was a little skeptical about their recipe for amazing crispy waffles. Long story short, this morning I made easy crispy waffles and the scales fell off my eyes and I saw the light. What makes this recipe amazing and easy is that it is a yeast batter that you make the night before and then it rises overnight in the fridge. When you get up you stir to deflate it and I added just a tiny splash of milk to get it a bit thinner (it thickens up a bit overnight). Pour it into your waffle maker and prepare to receive a divine revelation.


Easy Crispy Waffles
2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 stick melted butter (1/2 cup)
2 cups warm milk (heated to about 110 degrees)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

The night before:
Combine and whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Combine the melted butter and milk. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Whisk eggs and vanilla together in a separate small bowl. Add the egg-vanilla mixture to the other mixture, and whisk until well-combined. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until tomorrow morning.

The next morning:
Prepare waffle iron as usual. Stir the batter to deflate it (it should be puffy and frothy). Add to waffle iron the same way you would other batter, keeping in mind that this batter will rise more than batters that use baking powder instead of yeast.

Random Recipe Generator

Do you ever stare into your fridge which is jam-packed with stuff, but nothing edible, and wonder... "What am I going to eat?" Are you ever so tired, or so hungry, or so overwhelmed with life that you have no idea what you are going to make for supper? Well friends, the answer is here! Introducing the... Random Recipe Generator.

Lately I have been at a loss to try to think of amazing recipes and finding the luxury of time to blog amongst the daily duties of fatherhood has been difficult. Yesterday, our friend Puff (one of my most faithful blog readers) called to chat and mentioned that although she has enjoyed my endless ranting about the Godless, Evil Coffee Empire, she does really miss the good recipes.
Sorry Puff, 'cuz you're still out of luck. Although it is humourous, I certainly wouldn't call the following recipe any good...

Apples Supreme
Serves 1

You will need:

• 80ml vinegar
• 150ml tomato ketchup
• 150ml water
• 110g anchovies
• 5 apples

Preparation:

• pre-heat the oven to 310 C
• fry the apples
• add the apples
• sauté the anchovies
• defrost the water
• fry the anchovies
• fry the water
• eat the water
• fry the apples
• fry the vinegar
• heat the apples
• mix the anchovies in
• simmer the anchovies gently for 20 minutes
• put the tomato ketchup in the saucepan
• bake for 30 minutes and serve hot

What? You don't like the recipe? No worries, just click on the Random Recipe Generator for a new recipe. Let's try it right now. Ta dah!

Mushrooms Creme Brulee

Serves 3

You will need:

• 40g mushrooms
• 10ml soy sauce
• 120ml coffee
• 70ml essence of vanilla

Preparation:

• fry the essence of vanilla
• microwave the essence of vanilla
• microwave the mushrooms
• fry the coffee until browned
• grill the soy sauce
• order out

Yum. I think the last step in the preparations of this one is the way to go. Well, there you have it friends. Play with the Random Recipe Generator as much as you want until I can post something that is actually edible. Have fun and remember, if the Random Recipe Generator actually spits out something resembling food, I'm sure it is only a coincidence. DIYGourmet assumes no liability or responsibility for any harm or medical conditions resulting from eating ANYTHING generated by the Random Recipe Generator.