Kids

I like kids. I like fixing their teeth. However, I don’t like giving them shots. I had to give a 2 year old a shot the other day, and it broke my heart (and my eardrums). I didn’t know a human could make a noise that high pitched. Once the shot was done, she was great though! Who knows what will happen when she comes back.

Crazy Week

This has been one of the craziest weeks of my life, and it's only Tuesday! Someone I trusted proved she cannot be trusted, and everything came to the surface this week. Anyway, keep me in your prayers if you get a chance!

Pad Thai

Ever since we went to Thailand, I've been craving some Pad Thai. Sure, Pan Asia makes a great interpretation, but sometimes I don't want to go out and pay them to make it. After looking at several recipes online, I have mixed some up to get a very good likeness of what we ate (and loved) in Thailand. You do have to go to an Asian market to find some of the ingredients, but it is so worth it!

If it wasn't for Pad Thai and chicken fried rice, Justin would have starved. Those of you who've already heard our stories know I ate everything there, including crickets!

Anyway, onto the recipe!

Pad Thai Recipe - adapted from Chez Pim
Make the sauce first. If you don't, you will just end up with a mess. Trust me on this one! However, to make the sauce, you have to have tamarind paste. It also needs to only have the ingredients of tamarind and water. If you can only find "tamarind pulp" or "wet tamarind", you have to prepare the tamarind first. I could not find tamarind paste, so I had to prepare the paste from wet tamarind. If you don't know what you have, wet tamarind is in a block form, and paste is in a jar.

Preparing Tamarind Paste (this is the longest step)
- Soak 1/2 of the block in 2 cups hot water in a large bowl.
- Take a fork and mash up the tamarind to break it up.
- Once the mixture has reached room temperature, take your hands, squeeze the pulp and mix it all up. You have to use your hands on this one. I usually use gloves because I don't like stuff on my fingers. Work this together until it is a little runnier than room temperature ketchup. If it is too thick, add some more warm water.
- Now, strain the mixture over another bowl to get rid of the gunky pitty pieces. You will have to press this through the strainer.
- You will have more than you need for this recipe, but you can keep the leftovers in the fridge forever. I usually like having extras so I can make Pad Thai easier the next time.

Sauce
1/2 cup tamarind paste (I could only find tamarind in the Asian market)
1/2 cup fish sauce (grocery store on Asian aisle)
1/2 cup palm sugar (Asian market)
Paprika

- Palm sugar comes in hard disks, so to get 1/2 cup, I microwave it for 10-20 seconds on defrost, until the sugar can be broken up.
- Melt tamarind, fish sauce, and palm sugar in small pot over low heat. Stir occasionally.
- Add paprika 1 teaspoon at a time until it reaches your desired spiciness. Turn off pot and let rest.

Pad Thai - All of these ingredients are to taste. If you like more of one ingredient, add more!
Rice noodles (grocery store on Asian aisle)
- If they are dried, soak in hot water for 4-8 minutes to soften. You don't want this like pasta, but you just want it bendable.
Shrimp/Chicken
- Traditional Pad Thai uses shrimp. We like chicken better. Use 7 shrimp per person or 1/2 a chicken breast per person.
Firm Pressed Tofu - cut into thin bite size pieces
3-4 Tablespoons Oil
Pad Thai sauce (from above)
2 eggs
Unsalted roasted peanuts - chopped
Green onions - chopped
Bean sprouts
Garlic - chopped
Lime - sliced

1. Heat wok to smoking over high heat.
2. Add 3-4 tablespoons oil.
3. Add chicken (cut in bite sized pieces) and cook until halfway done (1-2 minutes). Then add tofu, few spoonfuls of sauce, and garlic. Cook till tofu is crisp and brown on the edges.
4. Add noodles and sauce to taste (1 cup sauce or more - I generally use all the sauce that is left over). Keep things moving! Cook noodles until soft. Break noodles up and don't let them lump together.
- If sauce evaporates, add some water and keep stirring.
- Add oil if noodles stick.
5. When noodle is soft enough to eat, push the ingredients up the side of the wok. Crack eggs and place in the middle. Let set 30 seconds to one minute and scramble. Then mix all together.
6. Add peanuts and bean sprouts to taste. Add shrimp now if you are using it.
7. When shrimp is done, add chopped green onions.
8. Plate it up with slices of lime. Enjoy!

Attack of the Killer Locust!

AHH! Somehow, when we were working on a window perch for Butter (more on that later), Justin let in a locust. Scariness and hilarity ensued. It started making this crazy high pitched noise, and Butter was trying to catch it while Bread was burying his head and Peanut was running far away.

I was okay with it until…it landed ON MY BACK. What’s worse is I didn’t even know it was there. I felt something, and went to scratch, and the crazy thing made this terrible noise, which was really nothing compared to the noises I was making. I freaked out, Darin was cracking up, and Justin was nowhere to be found. Peanut, Bread, and I ran and hid in the guest room. Once the coast was clear, Peanut was too scared to come out. He’s so funny sometimes.

Friday night fun

Hey guys! This is Justin taking control of this blog. I'm even putting it in my favorite font: Courier. I always liked this font because it makes term papers 1 to 2 pages longer per 5 pages of regular Times New Roman text. And, yet, the teachers can't decipher it from regular Times New Roman.

Well, anyway, we just got back from Adam Frazier's house. This was where we played our favorite Friday night game: Citadels. This game is a medieval time framed game of chance and strategery. Even though we went out earlier with Drs. Holly and Matthew deShazo at Bonefish, we still managed to make it over to Adam's house for our Friday night ritual.

By the way, while we were at Bonefish, I accidentally tried to go to the bathroom in the women's restroom. Luckily I recognized my mistake before dropping trow. It was sooo embarrassing...for my friends!

I'm so proud of Cristie for finally getting a blog. Seems that everyone these days has a blog to show everyone else their crafts, arts, and photography. Even though all you blogsters live in Memphrica, if you ever want to come to Jackfrica and hang out, let us know. We'd be happy to get a bite to eat and drive around in Cristie's new Lincoln MKZ.

I know this was kind of an aimless post, but I wanted to feel what it was like to be a true blogster. Welcome to Cristie's blog. I might drop in again; you never ever know!

Growing up

I tend to get down every 6 months or so. It generally has something to do with me realizing that all of my high school, college, and dental school friends are growing up, and we are all growing apart. It really hurts. Justin says I put my best friends in baskets, and then the baskets tend to move away.

As depressing as that is, he tried to cheer me up. He decided that all I needed was some girl talk. Here is his version of "girl talk":

J: Let's talk about that show that you like. You know it's the Hollywood Hills, or something like that.
C: It's The Hills. Don't talk about this if you are just going to make fun of me.
J: No, we are doing girl talk. I love The Hills! But man, that Lou is such a bitch to Miranda!
C: Miranda? That would be Sex and the City. And who is Lou? Thanks for trying!

The name of my blog

This is my first post ever on a blog. My husband thought this would be a good idea. I do enjoy reading other blogs, so maybe I will enjoy writing my own blog. We'll see.

As for the name of this blog, there are three beings in my life that mean the world to me (well, four if you count Justin, but I consider him a human and not just a being). They are two dogs and one cat. For those of you who don't know me, their names are pretty weird, but I find them cute. They are: (drumroll please) Peanut, Butter, and Bread. One day, we may get a Jelly. Maybe whenever we have a kid, we will name it Jelly. NOT! Side note: Every time I say "NOT" now, I think of Borat trying to learn a "not" joke. If you haven't seen it, it is hilarious!

Anyway, hopefully you will enjoy this venture in wasting time with me!