Connections
Feb
13
(What)er Ches(nuts)
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An example, today is my day for salad. My collegue across the hall makes salad on Tuesdays and I have Thursdays. This is perfect. At least two days a week, I eat salad. Plus, and I love this part, she and I sometimes get creative, find new recipes, and discover the offerings of vegetable Korea.
I’ve learned from her salads. Did you know that beets don’t just come from a can? You need the top and bottom to make them turn purple when boiled, and this information seems magical.
I have learned to make a cranberry and walnut salad that is fantastic. But tomorrow’s creation is new. I’ll see how it turns out. It calls for water chesnuts (or water chestnuts however it is spelled). I know what water chesnuts look like in the can: it has a picture of sliced white things layered on each other. Just a reminder: I’m in Korea. I am absolutely positive they have this item. I am absolutely positive I cannot communicate my needed item to the grocery store staff.
So I look and look. I find chestnuts in syrup. Is this the same? I decide no.
But now I realize that I don’t know what chesnuts are. 
Are they cooked chestnuts? Are they something else? So yes, the internet is my friend and I looked it up. If you want to know, they actually grow on small, bush like trees. They are different. Ninety percent of the water chestnuts found in the stores are imported from China.
Now I need a substitution because frankly this angst was too much and I’ve given up on water chestnuts. This is where I can cook fine, but not good. What is the purpose of the water chestnuts in the recipe? Probably the crunch. Would broccoli work just as well? Broccoli replaces mushrooms fine. Maybe the taste, but I can’t remember the taste, besides does this substitution matter when I’ve already discarded brown sugar and coconut from the recipe? And the macadamia nuts? Will it be okay if I use walnuts instead? And the iceberg lettuce . . . will romaine work fine?
The salad should be interesting and hopefully edible.
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3 Responses to “(What)er Ches(nuts)”
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Reading about cooking and salads makes me crave food. (At 11 PM?! Oh dear, how am I supposed to sleep…)
Wow, and I always thought water chestnuts were part of the chestnut family. My mom makes this delicious shrimp dish using diced water chestnuts, and when I first tried the dish, I wondered what the funny, crunchy stuffs were in the sauce. Turns out, they were water chestnuts. About replacing water chestnuts with broccoli, it might work, but broccoli will most likely get soggy faster than the chestnuts. Experimenting with different ingredients remind me of a cooking show I watched sometimes in U.S. The lady was saying how she loved cooking because unlike baking, which requires exact measurements, she could freely adjust the amount of the ingredients according to her taste.
P.S. I hope the salad turned out all right.
Okay, I really love the play on words in your title, Lori.
I have some friends who are remodelling their house for one purpose: the perfect kitchen. It’s an older home that had an attached one car garage. They’ve removed the garage and added a kitchen. The other night my husband and I went to visit and catch up on progress. I find it difficult to describe exactly what I’ve seen. Amazing.
First off, the stove. The husband is, amongst many other things, a chef. And the stove he picked out is a restaurant style contraption complete with high-tech exhaust fan, a grilling surface, oven and stovetop. This thing is just huge, and he cannot wait to get it in and try it out. They basically built the kitchen around the stove.
Second, the bar. They’ve built a bar along the front of the kitchen that captures the sun and it’s glorious light, as well as disguising in the most wonderful way that this was ever a garage. I say bar, not as in drinking bar, but as in eating bar.
Third, the floor. The floor is concrete with heating pipes running throughout. Can’t have cold tootsies while cooking, right? They have this fabulous plan for staining the concrete once they reach that point. I had no idea such things could be done with concrete. Amazing.
Fourth, the ceiling. They have skylights, but then they are finishing it with corrugated steel. Super cool.
This project is amazing. I’ve marvelled at this couple’s ability to envision and design such an artful eating and dining space. He’s the chef, she’s the designer. I’m looking forward to dining with them in this beautiful kitchen they’ve created.
You guys are so funny. I loved your blog about the waterchestnuts. I did not know they came from a bush or China.
And speaking of kitchens like your friend Rhonda wrote about,ours is getting there. The yellow color I am not sure about, but the blue is superb.
Chickens will play an important part in this semi-French Country kitchen.
I can hardly wait for you to see it. Tease, tease.