Alivias in Durham

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Shredded chicken with baked tofu and hot peppers

We had this dish at Red Lutus, our favorite chinese restaurant and fell in love instantly. Its hot, its clean, its simple! Broke down the taste and created the formula in my head. Here is my version.

1/2 lb Chicken tenders/ breast (boneless)
6 Jalapenos
1/4 lb Spicy tofu
1 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
1 tsp Sesame oil
1 tbspn Rice Wine vinegar
Small pinch of brown sugar
Green scallion tops

Cut the chicken and tofu in thin strips about (3-4 cm by 0.5 cm to be precise). Remove seeds from 4 out of the 6 jalapenos, make sure to remove the ribs completely since thats where the heat lives. Halve them lengthwise and cut into thin stripes. Without deseeding, prep the other two jalapenos in the same way. Depending on your heat tolerance, you can change the number of seeded vs deseeded peppers. That takes care of the prep work, now on to the actual cooking.

Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a saute pan, as it heats up, add a tsp of sesame oil. Once the oil is hot, add the jalapeno peppers with seeds intact. Saute for 30 sec and add the chicken. Since the chicken is in thin long pieces, it should cook up fairly quickly - in about 3-4 minutes. Follow it with tofu and the rest of the jalapeno peppers and mix well. After another 4 minutes and making sure that the chicken is completely cooked, add soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and green scallion tops and take it off the heat.

Best served with a steaming bowl of plain white or brown rice.
(Post by Avani)

Fish in chili bean sauce

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Sashimi roll

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Course 1

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Kanki tonight

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Long time no post - Wine

Its been a long time since we posted anything. Past few weeks have been great - we've cooked quite a bit, since most of the cooking has been by Avani here haven't been any posts.
To get back into blogging I am going to start by a Wine review.  We had a wine tasting party last weekend - a great time for everyone.  Food flowing out of the kitchen, bottles being uncorked and the conversation getting louder until late in the night when the volume slowly goes down... 
Larry taught me to think about wine similar to the way I think about investments.  If I can get two wine bottles for the same price, I dont want to settle for the good one, I want the great one!
Here's a few of the wines in the recycle bin
1) 2008 Alamos - the wines of Catena, Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina (Harris Teeter) - Review good but not great, tannic, not worth other wines at a similar price.
2) 2007 Pillar Box Red, Blended red, Australia (The Fresh Market) - Review good, will buy again.
3) 2008 Horse Heaven Hills Columbia Crest, Chardonnay, Patterson, Washington State (The Fresh Market) - Review  very good, good white, crisp not-too-sweet, comparable to Robert Mondavi (next).
4) 2008 Robert Mondavi Private selection, Chardonnay, California (Harris Teeter) - Review great! We like it!
5) 2008 Deakin Estate, Shiraz, Australia (Whole Foods) - Review good, not too spicy/ peppery. I like that in a shiraz.
6) 2007 Spanish Sons,  Tempranillo, Vino De La Tierra of Castilla Y Leon, Spain (The Fresh Market) - Review great, among the best of the evening - will definitely buy again.
7) 2008 St Donatus Estate Balatonboglari, Merlot, Hungary (? store) - review very good.
8) 2006 Pine & Post, Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington state - review very good, had most of it the next day and glad that we got so much of this one left over as it was one of the last couple of bottles opened.
9) 2009 Cristalino Metodo Tradicional, Rose Brut, Spain (? store), sparkling wine fermented in the bottle - review good, standard Rose!
10) 2009 Childress Vineyards, Starbound Blueberry Dessert Wine, North Carolina (? store) - Review good.  A sweet ending with a tar heel special!