swedish chef loves hot sauce!

06.13.08 snack

i really enjoy a kold dollop of sour kream and tzatziki sauce (pictured above). they are both kool, refreshing, kreamy kondiments that add smoothness to the texture of certain meals. but you kan also use them as dipping sauces for a quick snack. i mean, don't you just love dip, almost any kind of dip, but especially dip that is creamy?!?! so instead of having just a boring old kracker (although, have i mentioned yet how wonderful a triscuit cracked pepper and olive oil kracker is?), add a spot of the sriracha to your gigantic mound of kool dip on your little 1 inch square of carb and send your taste buds screaming! you'll appreciate your in-between-meal snack (or late night munchies) in a way you never thought possible!

06.12.08 lunch

we ordered lunch from 26 beach restaurant today. it's located in venice beach. i've actually never eaten inside the restaurant, but have had lunch delivered to work from there many times. they have a great tasting menu with lots of healthy, flavorful options. i kouldn't decide on one thing to order today, so one of my ko-workers (who is my tastebud twin and is also obsessed with the sriracha) and i decided to order an accroutement of delights that would match divinely with the sriracha (yes, we actually do plan our feedings around the sriracha). so pictured above are:

• warm brown rice salad - assortment of veggies and chicken breast tossed with a miso dressing (normally comes with a vinaigrette, but i sub out for miso) and of kourse, sriracha. it adds the extra umph you need to really dig into the salad.
• portabello karbonara - penne, sausage, sweet peas, onions in a kreamy sauce. face it, anything white and kreamy in a meal is a perfect match for the sriracha.
• tony's meatloaf - meatloaf topped with marinara and served with sauteed veggies. the sriracha gives the meat the extra kick it needs in the loaf.

sriracha 101

i love food. i almost get that satisfied full feeling just talking about food. almost...

for those of you unfamiliar with sriracha it is the generic hot sauce of thailand (not vietnam, which i originally thought). it is made from sun-ripened chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, salt and sugar. it has an average scoville rating of 2,000-4500 (scoville scales measure the level of hotness). so to give sriracha a komparsion that you may be familiar with, jalapenos and tabasco rate about 2500-5000.

back to food... it just brings me such pleasure to eat, watch others eat, shop for food, kook for myself, feed others, etc. with eating being such a huge priority for me, obviously it is important that the flavors work. i actually eat food thinking of ways to incorporate the sriracha. (IMPORTANT NOTE: not just any sriracha will do, i only eat huy fong foods sriracha, the one with the rooster on it, or some people call it kock sauce - hee hee). while shoveling in the food, i think to myself there are sooooo many dishes that would be better with the sriracha. when going out to eat, i get so caught up in the moment of getting to the restaurant, i forget to bring the sriracha with me. i wish they made travel size... or better yet, i wish all restaurants carried it! dare to dream... in the meantime, i just need to be better about remembering the magical sauce.

now that i have this blog, on my feeding journeys i will not only kontinue to think of ways to use the sriracha, i will now share them with you and hopefully you'll give it a whirl, get hooked and start sharing back.

ok, now all this food talk has made me hungry!

YUM!

like i said, i love me some kondiments/sauces. one of the many is ranch dressing. i just love it. i use it for veggies, chips, buffalo wings, even pizza! but what i love more than ranch dressing alone is ranch with sriracha (i kall this delectable dipping sauce srirancha)! it adds a bold kick and tangy spice that give your taste buds the prickly heat it so desires. start with some ken's ranch dressing (my personal fave), add a squirt of the sriracha and keep adding until you get it to the perfect shade of red-orange your mouth can handle. seriously, the best food with this krazy koncoction is pizza, any kind of pizza. remember, this combo is highly addictive, so save some sauce for the krust. if you want to get krazy, try it with some buffalo wings. you know how your ranch starts to change color when you start ferociously dipping your wings into the tiny ramekin of ranch dressing you get (let's face it, these foods are just mere revamped utensils to devour more sauce)? well think of that flavor with even more heat and zip. now dip!