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If you are wondering, it is New Year’s Eve cookout at my dad’s house. My oldest sister got in at the beginning of last week and my GI Joe sister got in right before the cookout. My sisters came to visit and also tum boun (merit making) for my mom on New Year’s Day.
Lao style barbecue, which has no barbecue sauce but seasoned with salt, sugar, garlic, and lemongrass.
My GI Joe sister makes good tum mak houng (spicy papaya salad), I will post her recipe in my next food post.
It is served with sticky rice this time. We only eat sticky rice on special occasion and this was definitely a special occasion for us.
My GI Joe sister and my younger sister Bee in the picture below. We built a campfire and roasted marshmallows that night, I have to say that it was more festive than our real camping trip last week.
Most campsites in our area either closed for the holiday or for the season so it has been difficult finding a place to camp the last week of December. I finally found one close to home and only 20 minutes drive from our house. It’s overlooking Lake Norman and the place looks fairly new.
My oldest is visiting from NYC and we thought it would be nice for her to go camping with us. It is quiet a challenge to live in a small space and the weather was mild during the day and freezing cold at night. We woke up one morning without running water. The water line froze during the night and it was late in the morning before it started running again.
The closest town is Moorsville and Bo took Lee to get pizza one evening.
Max loves going with us, I’m sure he will like it better once the weather gets warmer.
Even though it is by the lake there is not a lot to do. My niece also went with us this time. The weather was too cold and the girls tried their luck fishing. I’m glad they didn’t try to catch dinner.
They played pool during the day. The place was empty and I’m not sure if it were because it was during the week and not the weekend.
Max waited patiently while they shoot pool.
The restaurant/bar area was closed for the winter. I’m sure it will be busy once it is opened for business. It does have a beautiful view overlooking the lake.
The morning was peaceful and calm. We survived living in a small living quarter and hope our next trip will be by the creek or mountain area.
My oldest sister is visiting my dad for the holiday and made Awe Gai for us. She didn’t have all the ingredients and had to substitute some of the ingredients.
She used chicken drumstick since it has some fat and wouldn’t be as dry as chicken breast when cook. There’s chili peppers, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir Lime leaves, shrimp paste (you can also use padek), and cook on high heat.
She added Knorr for flavor. I think she uses Knorr in many of her dishes.
Stir well while cook.
She used crushed roasted rice.
Mixed well with chicken stock broth and add this to the pot.
Then add beans and green onion
Stir well and cover lid
She didn’t have dill and used frozen lemon basil from my dad’s garden instead, add this at the very end.
Also add the green onion leaves and more kaffir lime leaves at the end before turning off the stove. Notice that my sister torn the kaffir lime leaves to bring out the aroma and flavor.
My mom used to make this for us when I was growing up, she called it Om Gai and I think it is the same dish as Awe Gai in Lao.
You can serve this with white rice or sticky rice. Lao foods are very healthy and I hope to cook more in the future.
Christmas morning is an exciting time at our house, this year Lee didn’t get everything on her list since Santa and Mrs Clause had a hard time locating them but she did get some unexpected gifts that made her morning. I normally shoot my indoor photo in high ISO3200 or 6400, which have some digital noise that I learned to live with. This time I took Scott’s advice and use a tripod instead. Lee had to freeze her smile for me in this image below.
Canon T2i, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, AV, f/4, 1/8sec, ISO 400, 24mm, exposure bias -0.3step, evaluative metering, tripod mounted
This one is from FullMetalPhotos.com, it is so neat to have picture printed on metal and this is a picture that I took for Lee with her favorite author Debrorah Wiles. I don’t have enough printing experience to give a full review, and not sure if partly it is my image also that contribute to the quality of the image. I think the overall quality is okay, a little pixelate on the facial area which I didn’t see in my original image that I submitted in. This is a good learning experience for me. It is also my first time learning how to Photoshop the background image, and made Bo and the lady blurry.
This is not on her list either, and it came with a little note that said “to be shared with Bo”. It is so nice that Santa is looking out for Bo also.
I think this is a sign of growing up for Lee, all smelling stuffs on her list.
PJ on her list, Lee even cut out the picture to make sure that Santa will get her the right one.
Max received gifts also.
Bo got the custom towing mirrors for his truck.
Mine is the best present ever, I plan to learn how to cook more next year and these gifts will come in handy.
This one was stuffed in my stocking, it is one tall coffee mug and I loved the art work of Thomas Kinkade winter scenery.
And Lee actually opened this one last night. It is a portable DVD player that Bo had to fight the Black Friday crowd to get it. My sister is in town and hopefully I can share some Lao food photos with you in the next few days.
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