Momo (i.e. Nepali Dumplings)

Mmmmm....I want some mo' momo!  At least that is what my husband always says.  He's so punny!

I once spent a summer in San Francisco.  It was the summer after my freshman year of college.  And it was amazing!  I credit that summer with making me much of who I am today.  I spent a lot of time wandering the city and soul searching.  Spending most of my free time alone or with my 6 month old niece (who I was a nanny too).  I think I wrote lots of poetry sitting on the beach.  You know, being artsy and all that.

But you know what was the most life changing part of that summer?

Learning how to make momo!

My brother-in-law is from Nepal.  Much of the food we ate that summer was rice and dahl (lentils).  He also had an amazing ability to make the most delicious vegetable pasta dishes--I'm not sure where that come from.  But one day we went to some friends' house for momo.  I had no idea what a treat I was in for.

Key West Grilled Chicken

What's your favorite flavor?

Is that a weird question to ask?

I don't mean flavor of ice cream or anything quite that specific.  I mean, what is your favorite flavor in general.  What flavor do you think magically enhances almost every type of dish?

Do you even have one?

I do, it's lime.  I love limes so much that I once dressed up for Halloween as a superhero whose weapons was the incredible lime.

Think about it, lime makes everything taste better.  Lime sherbet, limeade, guacamole, lime salt.  Seriously, I don't think there can be more than a dozen things that wouldn't taste better with a bit of lime juice spritzed on.  In fact, at the moment I'm having a hard time thinking of one.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Fritters

I really like cooking.  I would think that is pretty obvious by now. Putting aside all modesty, I'd say I'm pretty good at it.  But there is one aspect of cooking that I struggle with.  And that is timing all the components of a meal in such a way that they all arrive on the table, steaming hot, at roughly the same time.  

Seriously, it's a challenge.  4:00 p.m. rolls around and I stare at my mostly immaculately clean kitchen and I make a plan.  I calculate the cooking times of the pasta/rice/quinoa and how long the recipe says to saute the onions/peppers/meat.  My steaming chart says it takes some quantity of minutes to steam broccoli/carrots/insert-healthy-sounding-food-here.  With this data I should be able to figure out how to get everything done by five and all at the same time.  It is, after all, basic math.  I taught math, this shouldn't be hard.