Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, galtine1.

Peanut Sauce

Somebody doesn't like peanut sauce, and I assumed it was because it has fish sauce in it. In the long ago, I asked Quang's for their recipe, but my desk seems to have eaten it. Today I googled, and found three with no fish sauce. It appears that my original assumption may be wrong and that somebody does not like peanut sauce may be a simpler and more easily defended hypothesis.

Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce
Peanut Sauce Recipe
Goi Cuon (Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls) with Hoisin Peanut Dipping Sauce Recipe (From the heretical open-ended spring roll school)
------
One herb I like:
Vietnamese Herb Primer
Diep Ca ~ "Zip Kah"
Dap Ca ~ "Zahp Kah"

Vap ca, Fish mint, fishscale mint
Botanical name Houttuynia cordata
The heart-shaped leaves of this herb have an unusual slightly sour, fishy flavor. Some folks love rau diep ca's tangy qualities and others focus on its unusual fishiness. For this reason, it's not commonly found at the Viet table. I enjoy it with boldly flavored grilled meat. Interestingly, a variegated form of this herb is often planted for decorative purposes.
Availability At Viet markets mostly since it's not widely eaten.

It seems to go by a variety of names...
"Oh, you've had all those in Viet Nam."

Buttermilk syrup?

Buttermilk Syrup Recipe

Recipe provided by the wonderful people at Thermador. As they mention, don’t let the use of buttermilk give you preconceived notions. It completely metamorphoses during the recipe. Use anytime in replacement of maple syrup, such as on pancakes and waffles, to top french toast, or drizzled on ice cream.

1 1/2 c (340 g) Butter
1 1/2 c (355 ml) Buttermilk
3 c (575 g) Sugar
1 t (5 ml) Vanilla
1 T (15ml) Baking Soda

1. In large saucepan (make sure it is big enough to accommodate the syrup foaming when the baking soda is added), combine butter, buttermilk, and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring regularly.

2. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and baking soda (it will foam up at this point.) It is now ready to serve.

Keeps for at least a couple weeks if you can manage to not use it all up quicker. Link

Not Only Immortal, G.E. Pays No Taxes

G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: March 24, 2011

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. More

The Medium Lobster Sez

You may ask, what makes getting killed by the United States any better than getting killed by Qaddafi? Because we are America, killing for a great American cause, in the name of Americanness, and our murder victims, in their last moments, as their houses are burnt and their schools destroyed and their neighbors incinerated and their families turned into hamburger, will come to know our American values: of freedom, of liberty, of toxic pig shit. More

My Perestroika (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

Olga Durikova, a subject of the documentary “My Perestroika,” in her kitchen in Moscow.
Through the Looking Glass of History
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: March 22, 2011

“I can’t say I wanted to be like everybody else — I simply was like everybody else, completely satisfied with my beautiful Soviet reality,” says Lyuba Meyerson, a public school teacher in her 40s, recalling her childhood in Robin Hessman’s enthralling documentary “My Perestroika.” More

One Hundred Mornings (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

Ciaran McMenamin and Alex Reid in "One Hundred Mornings."
Conor Horgan’s ‘One Hundred Mornings’
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: March 24, 2011

Playing like balm to the soul of anyone quivering from too many overworked, over-agitated multiplex experiences, Conor Horgan’s “One Hundred Mornings” uses an apocalyptic event as a springboard into the human psyche. More

Bal (Honey) (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

A Son’s Quest, With Nature as a Guide
By ANDY WEBSTER
Published: March 24, 2011

It’s the rare director who can imbue the outdoors with a soul of its own. Sure, John Ford made Monument Valley, in Utah, an indispensable co-star for John Wayne. But Nicolas Roeg, in 1971, made the Australian outback almost sentient in “Walkabout.” With “Bal” (“Honey”), the Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu enables the lush mountain forests of Rize Province, near the Black Sea, to express what its young protagonist cannot. More

WoW! Datarific!

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map?hp