What's for Dinner? ~ Saturday ~ January 11th
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I'm making a big bowl of Chinese noodles (curly kind) and vegetables. The broth is sort of like Asian brown sauce, which I love in my stir-fry vegetables.
Now, snacks. Very important on a Saturday. Hummus with chipotle. Then sliced celery, carrots, and yellow, red, and green peppers for dipping. Toasted wheat crackers, too.
That's my modest plan, but loving my vegetarian cookbooks like I do, I may be finding other endeavors.
Want to mention the Vietnamese Pineapple Chicken Soup from last night. WOW! Callalilly posted this on the soup thread and since she'd mentioned how good it was, I wanted to try it.
This soup is so unusual and if you want something really different, this is the ticket. The fish sauce and the pineapple combined with tomato in a chicken soup is what makes it really different, IMHO. I'm asking RG to look at the recipe and remark. I will be interested in what he has to say, as he is such an expert on blending flavors.
It is also a very pretty soup--good for when entertaining.
Cher
This will be a "go to" soup for me.
I asked the RG about it and he didn't have much to say other than sweet and spicy he likes in a soup but not just sweet. He said the important thing is whether I liked it.
It is a Vietnamese soup, so thus the difference in that and the usual soup we might make here in the U.S.
So now I have two terrific recipes from my fellow WFD colleagues--the other is the radish salad you recommended.
Cher
Response: I hate tamarind.
Sorry! 
Cher
I can understand why. It's a mess to work with.
But now that I've made it into the puree, it's looking pretty good.
It has a very interesting taste that I recognize from some thai dishes I have had.
I'll be interested on how the chicken dish turns out.
Thanks for asking!
Tamarind is a whole new thing for me. I bought it yesterday and had no idea what to expect.
It's a fruit and I didn't even know that.
I took off the outer shell and have soaked it over night. It looks totally disgusting at this point.
In a bit, I am going to remove the strings and seeds and push the rest through a sieve.
This is supposed to make a tamarind concentrate which I can sweeten and use for sauces and even for a drink.
I have not yet brought myself to taste it, as I can't get past how it looks.
I have seen tamarind in recipes, but have never found it in the store to try it. Hope it tastes much better than it looks. 
Much better.
I am trying to steel myself to get my hands in there and remove the seeds and strings.
Wish me luck!
My friend, she comes from central Mexico, adds a bit in her coffee. 
I made the beverage last night and will try it today. It seems a little goes a long way.
On my list of things I want to learn to make is horchata!..
