Browse Month: August 2020

Five Months of SIP

It’s 8/16/2020 and what a summer we have had. We just completed our 5th month of SIP and the pandemic is still going.

I flew back down to SoCal one last time and then we drove back up with a minivan filled to the brim with stuff we had bought from Costco down there along with the bike, 5 crates of old documents, and our belongings.

The family is back together again and we are just under two weeks away from the first day of school. The first day of school was supposed to be tomorrow (8/17) and I had taken the day off. I kept the day off and plan to get the house and family situated.

As of last month, California has to start school online because our numbers are not good enough. KK will start 3rd grade and Peanut starts Kindergarten. We don’t know what the schedule will look like and it’s hard to make any plans without that information. In the coming week, we will be picking up supplies from school and getting their yearbook photos taken from the car. It’s weird but that’s how they’re doing it this year.

It’s been nice to have the kids and husband back. The house feels “alive” again. Unfortunately, there are wildfires burning in at least 5 counties around us and the air quality is so bad that the kids can’t go outside to play. However, it seems they are happy to be back at home with their own toys and sleeping in their own beds too. As soon as they got back, they went straight upstairs to their rooms and started setting up.

Work has been the usual but I’m getting a little stressed about how I’m going to manage remote learning and keep my job. We will just have to wait until I have more information before I can make any decisions.

 

Thai Peanut Sauce

Being home alone on the weekend is weird. I got bored so I made my mom’s Thai peanut sauce. Luckily I had all the ingredients! They include: smooth peanut butter, peanuts, sugar, lime juice, salt (not pictured), coconut milk, and yellow masaman curry paste.

Start by heating the 13.5 oz can of coconut milk, a little water, and a 4 oz can of curry paste. My mom puts in about 3/4 of the can but I put the whole thing in. It just makes it a little spicier.

While that mixture heated up, I crushed the peanuts.

Once the mixture turns an orange color and has heated up, I added two spoonfuls of peanut butter to thicken it.

Once the peanut butter is dissolved and the mixture is smooth and heated, add the crushed peanuts, 2 tablespoons of sugar, stir, and taste. Then add salt to taste.

Add some lime juice to taste. It was about one giant juicy lime wedge. The mixture should have sweet, salty, and a hint of sour.

Mix it up some more and allow it to simmer on low heat until you see it bubble up and pools of oil are visible.

It should get a little darker and you can add more crushed peanuts and sugar if it needs more.

I usually eat it as a dip with toasted french bread … or just toast of any kind. Of course, it can be used with chicken or pork satay but I don’t know how to make that yet. Haha.