recipes by dr. mary

or 'cooking as therapy'.
i've been joking recently about how this blog has turned into 'things i cooked while in denial about my life.' whatever, i'm embracing it.
i think i had a peanut sauce breakthrough today. i was futzing around the other day attempting peanut sauce with a mixture of lime juice, peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil. it was fine, but nothing spectacular. i tried to marinate tofu in it and cook it up with some chinese noodles, but i was kind of rushing and really cooking more because i was in a bad mood, and it turned out kind of meh.
so today, i decided to spice it up with some green onions and shredded carrots, and maybe more peanut sauce. i thought i would make some over the stove this time. well, i heated up some oil, then added peanut butter, and was kind of all melting it together when i squeezed in some lime juice and all sorts of sizzling took place! i don't know what happened (should have paid more attention in orgo, less time running out the side door 2/2 hangover) but i think i caused some sort of carmelization? it turned all clumpy but smelled really good. kind of like the stuff that sometimes comes on top of your noodles. aha! so then i mashed in some ground ginger and brown sugar with a fork, and sprinkled it on top of the noodles i am packing up for overnight call.

oh, yes, i have suprise overnight call tomorrow. you knew i was cooking to avoid something, didn't you?

anyway, this is what it turned out to be in the end. i think it looks not too bad. certainly better than before. the tofu is totally in need of more crisping, i know. but i think the peanut topping was a breakthrough. certainly tasty.