A Fusion of Sorts...

It's always tricky trying a new recipe. It can be a little scary, but taking the leap can also be very rewarding. I had planned to make a curry noodle recipe using a number of my CSA veggies along with a porcini mushroom fettuccine that I picked up from Annona Gourmet (the place where I bought that fabulous cherry balsamic vinegar). This I had planned for Sunday and so, I also picked up a baguette from the Eastside Coop. But Sunday ended up being filled by lots of gardening and hauling of mulch so I was too tired to get going in the kitchen.

Plans for that curry noodle dish was shifted to Monday. But, I had forgotten about that baguette, which was hard as a rock by dinner time on Monday. I had always wondered what a bread salad was all about, so I did it. The Big D was a little freaked out. Bread? In the salad? Somehow it all worked for me in my mind. I had planned to make a salad, and since the bread was hard, I just thought I would make a bread salad. Thoughts about how to use that bread to soak up the curry sauce with the noodles, I figured, would just work it's way out when it came time to eat.

Fusion number one: Italian bread salad with Asian Curry Noodles
Fusion number two: Curry Noodles.

The dish ultimately tasted to me like a Malaysian dish: a blend of Indian curry flavors with Thai-type noodles. I'd only had Malaysian food once - loved it! - and the memory of it was of all those great Indian flavors but none of that fried heavy taste. Why Thai? Well there was a lot of lime in this dish and a can of coconut milk, which I associate with the Thai curries I've cooked at home.

Here are the results:

Looks good, no? Tastes good? No. Hey, but it looks pretty!

The first bite was much better than the last. The Big D ate it all, but I disliked mine so much near the end that I decided not to share with my neighbor. The fusion of Italian and Asian didn't work either. All in all, it was not a good experiment. That's why I haven't shared the recipe. I know I added too much cumin, too much turmeric, too much of everything.

The only great satisfaction I got from this was using up a ton of my CSA veggies, but what good is that if we don't eat the left-overs. Arrgghhh....

A word on mulching before I go: Every year I buy a bag or four of mulch. I try to wait for the sales and by the time those roll around the weeds have gone nuts so there is alot of time pulling weeds before the mulch goes on. That's hard work, annoying, and rather expensive. Especially now when we are trying to rid ourselves of a lawn.

This year, I finally figured out why city parks have those big piles of mulch! Duh! Actually, I've known for a while, just never figured how to transport the large amount that I needed. Finally, I bought a big plastic tub for $5 and made several trips to a local park. This experience really makes me wonder why people by the dyed stuff. Especially since there is so much available for free. It looks "natural" in my yard. And that's because it was mulched from the trees that grow in my neighborhood. I was so happy about this experience that the food disaster could be easily forgotten!