The last time I sent out a proper monthly newsletter for both paid and free subscribers was August 2023, but I haven't kept up with the routine since then. Guilt had been buzzing about my head like a fruit fly, but, annoying as it was, it hadn’t motivated to get me off my backside to rectify the situation. And I think the reason is that I felt that my life was both too boring and too scattered to summarize into coherent—let alone helpful—monthly updates with, you know, themes.
It wasn’t until recently did I come to realize that random thoughts might offer some value even when they don’t fit neatly under a unifying theme.
Hence a new monthly series: Random Things in which random things are presented in a really random manner.
The first random thing is the mistake—my apologies—on the link to my 2019 interview with Francis Lam on NPR’s The Splendid Table which I recently shared in the post on khao chae. You can listen to it here. (Correction has also been made to the web version of the post, which is still unarchived and accessible to free subscribers for the time being.)
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the bacon-wrapped scallops at the top of the post. While I typically opt for cereal or toast for breakfast, I've found that a protein-only breakfast helps improve my focus, stabilize my blood sugar throughout the day, and make my workouts more effective. So, lately I’ve been front-loading my daily protein allotment at the start of the day. To break out of the egg, sausage, and bacon routine, I've expanded my breakfast repertoire to include less traditional choices like bacon-wrapped scallops—sometimes with a touch of Thai sweet chile sauce. All you need are large sea scallops, about 7 or 8 per pound (make sure they’re the so-called “dry scallops;” otherwise, they won’t caramelize) and fully cooked bacon strips, which can be found at any supermarket. Wrap a strip of bacon around each scallop and secure it with a toothpick. Then, cook the bacon-wrapped scallops in a very hot skillet (in batches, if necessary, to avoid crowding the pan) until they form a light golden crust on both sides and become somewhat firm and bouncy, about 2 minutes per side (the bacon will heat through and crisp up during cooking). Finish with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper, and your breakfast is ready.
(For a summer appetizer or light lunch, try my grilled scallops with peach chile sauce on Bon Appétit.)
Come to think of it, having fish or seafood for breakfast has never been considered “weird” in Asia. In fact, one of my favorite activities when visiting a beach town in Thailand is to wake up before sunrise and find fishermen returning from their early morning catch. Many of them allow you to select your desired seafood, which they then cook for you as breakfast—right on the beach.
In Chicago, fresh—like just caught—seafood requires quite a bit of work (and money) on my part to source. But I love this city, and with everything else it has to offer, I can’t really complain about that. Besides, I’ve learned to keep my “canned fish drawer” well stocked. As long as I have canned fish, a great meal is never more than a few minutes away—or a few seconds if you eat it straight out of the can without any additional preparation. Canned fish makes a quick and delicious protein-rich breakfast, and I can say now that I prefer canned fish in the morning than oatmeal—as odd as that may sound.
Sardines in tomato sauce is always a favorite of mine. You can make a quick meal out of it by simply spooning it right out of the can over a bowl of steaming hot jasmine rice. Or you can doctor it up a little with fish sauce, lime juice, sliced shallots, fresh or dried chiles, and cilantro. (For more ideas, paid subscribers can read Doctor Up Those Canned Fish.)
The mango season is approaching in North America. And you know that means it's almost time for mango and sticky rice (my recipe is in Simple Thai Food).
I’ve said this many times, and I’ll continue to repeat it until you get sick of me saying it (if you haven’t already): the mango is the more important element in this duo.
Ideally, you’ll have well-prepared coconut sticky rice (complete with the essential salted coconut cream topping) paired with fully ripe, soft, non-fibrous, and sweet-as-honey mango. However, it’s the quality of the mango that makes or breaks the dish. You see, less-than-perfect sticky rice is as long as it’s paired with a really good mango, but when you have a hard, fibrous, sour or bland mango in the picture, even expertly prepared sticky rice won’t save it. That combo is bereft of life. It has kicked the bucket. It has joined the choir invisible. There’s no way back.
So, choose your rice and mango—especially the mango—well.
Let’s begin with the rice. It’s important that you use the right type of rice. Not all "sticky" Asian rice varieties are suitable for this dish. Amidst the array of options in the store, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by labels like "sweet rice" or "sticky rice." To ensure you choose the right one, look specifically for Thai khao niao, glutinous white rice. These grains are opaque-white and medium-length. If in doubt, check for an indication of the rice having been imported from Thailand and the presence of the word ข้าวเหนียว on the label. This combination will embrace you with its protective arms, making sure you never walk out of a store with anything other than the right type of rice.
You also want to choose your mango well. Opting for the bland Tommy Atkins mango, aka the “red mango” or supermarket mango, would be to choose poorly (the consequence is nowhere near as catastrophic as this, but still). In the US, we don’t have many other options. Fortunately, the one common non-Tommy Atkins type we have, which is ataulfo mango (the type many supermarkets have recently labeled “yellow mango”), works beautifully.
That being said, for the plump, sweet premium-grade ataulfo mangoes, consider purchasing them at most Asian supermarkets during this time of year. They tend to be sweeter than their mainstream-supermarket counterparts and, for some reason, are less likely to come with spongy, white spots and mushy, semi-rotten flesh inside, which are downstream effects of premature harvesting.
When buying mangoes, especially by the case, I like to select ones at varying stages of ripeness. This ensures that I can enjoy one or two fully ripe mangoes each day without worrying about them all ripening simultaneously, leaving me with an excess of overly ripe fruit to consume before they become too soft and mushy (not the worse problem to have, but you know what I mean).
This time of year is also when plants in the allium family are in full bloom. You see, my house is in a wooded area, which means all sorts of critters roam my yard. This has placed a limit to what I can grow. Once you eliminate plants that aren’t going to be eaten by deer, squirrels, chipmunks, Japanese beetles, etc., the list of what I can grow becomes pretty short. And since I avoid pesticides that could harm pollinators, only the hardiest, low-maintenance plants will do. And few plants fit that description better than alliums.
After losing an entire hedge of White Knockout roses two years ago, I licked my wound by planting common chives and Chinese garlic chives in its place. Not only are they naturally pest-resistant, they’re Zone 5-friendly and can withstand Chicago’s harsh weather. It turned out to be a fantastic decision. The chives are now growing beautifully, displaying lovely blooms. Before long, I'll have freshly snipped chives to sprinkle over scrambled eggs for my protein-packed breakfast, as well as plenty of garlic chives for my pad thai (my recipe is also in Simple Thai Food).
The best part? These chives come back and continue to spread every year. At the end of this summer, I will trim down their blades close to the roots and divide them. If all goes as planned, next year, I will have four times the number of chives I do now.
Chive dumplings, here I come.1
That’s it for this month’s random things. I’ll see you back here with more randomness next month!
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The recipe is coming soon for paid subscribers.