South Padre Island. Papa Balli knew what he was doing when he said “Yeah, I’ll make my legacy here.” Crystal-green waves, clean, white (ish) sand. Home to sea turtles, spring break memories of hedonism and sunshine, and the closest thing to tropical Tejas you’ll find. Aside from Boca Chica a few miles south, but we didn’t make it down there. It was just too nice on Padre.
I first visited the Texas coast when Fletch was two or three. We camped on Mustang Island with a lot of loved ones, spotlighted crabs at night and tried to pin ‘em with blow darts. Fletch fell asleep in his uncle’s arms by the campfire (shout out to B, N & J as well). It was great, rustic, wild, dirty.
Port A trips followed, each one a picture of the progression of decline. More tar, more car greases in the sand, more jellyfish, more Trumpies. Port A will always, always hold a special place in my heart, for many reasons. I was buried there, I hunted jellyfish with Leigh, held Fletcher deep in the waves, spent wonderful weekends with family and forever friends. Kissed my Kira for the very first time.
But Port A can suck it. South Padre is literally one million times better. It’s cleaner, quieter, prettier, classier, and more remote. For the first time in ages, we swam deep, past the waves, confident in the glimmering, emerald surf. Truly a revelation, for a Texas beach. And Laguna Madre on the other side, was the most pleasant of surprises, with its jeweled and swirly shallows.
Not to say that SPI didn’t have any danger or wildness. We did see a gator kill and eat a duck. The nature center there was a lot of fun, and we also burnt our soles dodging dunes near the end of the road, finding that wildness wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
I shouldn’t leave out that we were celebrating our one-year anniversary. I can only hope and pray that you, dear reader, can experience a relationship this close, this healthy, this supportive, this pure.
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In other news, I made something new this week! I took inspiration from a Thai fried rice recipe I saw on reddit, mixed in some Indo goodness and improvised just the right amount. Turned out so good: crunchy, savory, just a little sweet and a little spicy. Here’s how it goes:
Veggie Fried Rice
1.5 Tbsp. oil
3 garlic cloves
1 small white onion
1.5 C cooked rice (sesame seasoned)
1 tsp red pepper flakes (could also use chili powder or diced chilis, in addition or in place of)
1 egg
.5 C cashews
1 Tbsp. minced Thai basil leaves (or more!)
1 C mixed veggies (baby corn, carrots, peas, bell peppers)
Sauce:
1 Tbsp. kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 tsp tamarind paste
.5 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
.5 Tbsp. sriracha
Start by getting the oil nice and hot. I used refined avocado but of course feel free to use sesame, peanut, olive, etc. Just be careful not to overheat the oil because you don’t want smoke and burnt-oil taste. Pay attention to the smoke point. That’s a good band name, by the way: Smoke Point. Feel free to use that if you’re starting and/or renaming a band.
Once your oil is in the pan, nice and shimmery, add the chopped onions. Follow that with the garlic. I like to add about a third of my basil and red pepper or chili at this point too. Once the onions are starting to turn translucent, drop your mixed veggies in. You can really use anything you want -- green onions could work, bok choi, broccoli, etc. I just went with what I had on hand. Drop in the cashews here too (could also use peanuts!), along with the rest of your chili/pepper and basil (hold a few leaves back for garnish). Let the veggies fry for a while -- some of my veggies were frozen so I waited a good 10 minutes, but if everything is fresh you might be good at five.
Next, add roughly half your sauce, mix it up good and cook for a minute or two. Then plop your rice right on top, add the rest of your sauce, and mix it all up. Cook for at least another 5-10 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the sauce and your veggies are a desired consistency (I like my veggies a little crispy, but if that’s not you then cook it a bit longer).
Finally, mix in your egg. I pre-scrambled mine, but you can also just clear a space in the middle of your hot pan, pour in the beaten egg and once it solidifies, mix it in. You can also fry it over-easy and serve it on top of your rice. Other great variations to this would be to include shredded chicken, shrimp, etc. as your taste dictates. I found this pretty filling with the cashews, peas, and eggs, but if you need more protein you could also use soy curls, beans, tempeh, etc.
That’s it! In Indo tradition we call this nasi goreng, but I modified it with enough Thai influences that I feel wrong calling it that. So we’ll just call it Veggie Fried Rice for now. Good luck!
Enjoy with someone you love!
p.s. no NBA notes today because nothing is really happening. The draft doesn’t move me, I cannot be bothered until the games start to count. And all of this Kyrie/KD/Dame/Lakers stuff is just too stupid and pointless to follow (wake me when it all shakes out and the rosters are set for opening night).