Tag Archives: quarantine

FMD 1.15.21: A NU START

I think everyone is in agreement that this has been a 2 week buffer zone between 2020 and 2021. We had to quarantine 2020, and it couldn't be exposed to any other year for 2 weeks. But now that's over, and we can focus on a new start. So, let's have songs for beginning. Or beginning again. Or songs that begin again themselves, with multiple intros. Or whatever. Just start fresh. It'll feel good.

The Nation Has An Appetite: Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk

A few weeks ago, when I was planning for a long-term quarantine, I decided that at some point I'd make a red curry. But when I opened my fridge this past week I discovered that I didn't have enough curry paste and I needed to come up with a different plan. Glancing around the internet I found a few recipes that seemed like I could try for, but none for which I really had all the ingredients. And I wasn't going out for more. So here's what I came up with:

INGREDIENTS
Lots of jumbo shrimp. The bigger the better.
Olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 small onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
Salt
Crushed red pepper flakes
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can coconut milk
Juice of 1 lime
Basil (I used dried, since it was available)

Fry the garlic and ginger in hot oil, about 1 minute.
Slice the peppers and onion, add to the garlic, cook until soft - about 5 minutes.
Add the can of coconut milk* and tomatoes, salt, basil, 1/2 of lime juice, red pepper flakes, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
*I've seen it suggested that coconut milk should not be stirred up before adding it to the pan, and should be melted down and slowly mixed in as it cooks. That's what I did here and it worked really well, so it seems like that is true?
Add the shrimp, keep over heat until just cooked through.
Add the rest of the lime juice, and more red pepper flakes to taste.

I served over rice noodles and with a slice of toast (good toasted bread is perfect with this for soaking up the milk).

This definitely seemed like it could use some fresh herbs - One of the inspiring recipes called for cilantro. Maybe something with a little more crunch sprinkled over the top too, though I'm not sure what. Also, if anyone has suggestions for cooking process that would help improve this, I'd be happy to take those. I definitely plan on making this again - the shrimp came out perfect, the left-overs heated really well (no leftover shrimp... that should probably go without saying, right?), it came together really fast and easy, etc. So any improvements are appreciated!

FMD 4/17/2020: Pick Me Up

This quarantine thing got you down? Self isolation giving you the blues? Have you thought "hey, now's the time to try growing facial hair?" only to realize it looks pretty awful?

Don't worry. Be Happy!

There's always music to pick you up!

List or share your best pick-me-up songs, random 10's, musical thoughts, complaints about your hideous new goatee, or whatever!

FMD: WFH Week 1 (3-20-20)

Last year, Annika Norlin and Jens Lekman released Correspondence, an "epistolary album" where each song is a montly "letter" back to the other, over the course of 2018. I'm a huge fan of Ms. Norlin's work. She records in English as "Hello Saferide" and in Swedish as "Säkert!" (though there's an album by Säkert! in English... translations of some of her Swedish songs). As for Lekman... meh. So it's an alternatingly great/not album. Norlin's second-best song on it is "Hibernation" from April, fitting for the current moment of self-quarantine and social distancing. Except for the parts where she takes a train and talks to some youth [lyrics].

BTW, the best song is "'Silent Night'", maybe the best thing Norlin's written (at least in English) [lyrics].

Anyways, drop your lists of Random tens, or maybe point out some fitting songs for waiting out the rider of the white horse.