Domestication

I was craving satay sauce the other night, so made some tonight for dinner. (Yes, the satay sauce is for dinner. The vegetables and rice are merely vehicles for the sauce.) My first batch came out weird. Maybe my fish sauce (no expiration date, and it's made of fermented stuff to start with, right) was off, or maybe adding the lime juice that I've never had on hand before made the difference. I put the first batch in a bowl to cool and will let it sit in the fridge for a couple days to mellow, then see if it's any good. It smelled nasty when it was hot. My second batch of sauce came out perfectly (soy sauce instead of fish sauce as I was out of fish sauce, 1/2 the amount of lime juice the recipe calls for).

As I was cooking, the spices smelled really good. I was suddenly seized by a desire to make hazelnut pumpkin soup, and this great ice cream dessert involving pralines and gingersnaps. (Please note: as a rule, I am not seized by the desire to cook, merely by the need.) I scared myself a little there...

And since I'll have spent two hours on this "making dinner" endeavor by the time it's ready to serve, I get to claim double XP on Chore Wars. That bastard overachiever dimfuture is ahead of me by 270 XP this week. I'm all out of dishes to wash, and running low on laundry. Damn you, Swensen! I'm going to have to study for those overdue certifications to catch up to him.

Edit: omg SO yummy. Mmmmm.

Edit 2:
Recipes from the First Nations: Pumpkin Soup
Thai Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Ravioli with Hazelnut Cream Sauce
ROASTED HAZELNUT AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH
SOUP
Creamy hazelnut soup