A couple of hours ago, I was watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations I had taped earlier, when I began to feel inspired by what I saw.

This happens often when I watch culinary shows.

In this episode, he went to Malaysia. He had a "breakfast" that sounded like it could taste quite interesting. Before I get into the details, I think I should mention:

(a) I usually eat only one "meal" a day - though I may nibble a little at other times.

(b) I am a night person, so "what" one is expected to eat, and "when" one is expected to eat it have little or no effect on me.

(c) I had just counted all my dry spices, and found that (including salt and peppercorns) I have 50 of them - so I can get creative if and when the urge takes hold.

(d) Most important of all: Cooking is therapy. (Besides, over the years, I've realized that few things compare with the looks on friends' faces when they're served something they really like by folks who actually give a damn. In other words, few things beat home cooking.)

But, tonight, it was just me and the cat. And I am reasonably certain he would not have liked what I made.

I used some flat Asian rice noodles (almost like fettucine), cooked them in boiling water, then transferred them to a bowl. There was about one cup of cooked noodles altogether.

Then I heated 2/3 cup of beef broth (I probably should have used vegetable stock; hindsight is always 20/20 - but it was quite nice, regardless.), added 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of Asian fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of mild curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon of powdered coriander and 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder. When it was all quite hot, I dumped in seven nice-sized shrimp I had previously shelled and deveined. When the shrimp were just cooked through, I added them (and the broth) to the bowl with the rice noodles. Stirred everything together, then broke out a pair of chopsticks - something I hardly ever do.

Quite spicy - the inside of my mouth is still tingling - but very enjoyable.

I think the beers helped, though. ;\)

Signor V.


"For me, there's only my wife..."

"Sure I cook with wine - sometimes I even add it to the food!"

"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?"

"It was a grass harp... And we listened."

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"

"No. Saints and poets, maybe... they do some."