Tax Day! What Are You Cooking To Celebrate?

Gyros at the diner. I have under 3 hours to figure out how to file for an extension online. And I really need to get my state refund that was escheated a few years back...

Some clarification and amplification needed, I suppose.

The title of this thread is neither ironic nor bitter. I paid my taxes today, and while I wasn't eager to do it, I was grateful. Paying taxes means that I had income. When you think about all that has gone on in the last five years, that is cause for celebration. It has been a difficult half-decade, and many things that we once took for granted, aren't.

Anyway, I was starting to slap together another dietetic salad, but decided against. So the menu for tonight is

- Bulgolgi (Korean BBQ type) grilled chicken strips
- Rainbow carrots roasted in duck fat and truffle salt
- Dry cooked sesame green beans with candied walnuts
- These weird tofu things that I'm not going to describe unless they succeed, otherwise we'll call them "elaborate compost."

I'll show pictures of the results, after I have some (results). I hope it will be successful but regardless, I'm not going to suffer any whining by the family - I've just paid the taxes for goodness sake!

I'd like to see or hear described what you are having, or had, on Tax Day 2013. And was it with effervescent champagne, or sullen whisky?

Leftovers....

Frittata made with FREE-range eggs :) To celebrate as you say...I agree whole-heartedly with your sentiments. We are very lucky.

A friend gave me 2 dozen beautiful eggs on Sunday at church. The yolks were the most wonderful dark gold. I beat four of them with a whisk. I diced 4 small white boiling potatoes and sauteed red and yellow peppers with a purple onion in EVOO along with the potatoes. I added some lovely green beans that had been blanched first. Dumped the beaten eggs over the sauteed mixture after the potatoes were tender. All was salted and peppered. Covered till eggs began to set. Topped with grated aged Cabot cheddar and placed under the broiler till bubbly. Thick slices of my homemade sourdough in the toaster and topped with local buckwheat honey and butter. That was it. We don't have alcohol anymore so nothing bubbly. Oh...we each had a lovely navel orange..something cold and sweet to remind us of how lucky we are.

Very nice thread John....

Raspberry chicken, green beans with garlic & bacon, brown rice pilaf, lettuce salad and banana chocolate chip cake.

Lean Cuisine Beef and Macaroni. Sorry about that. I filed a month ago.

I filed back in February. With Elery's lump sum retirement buy out as income, it wasn't pretty. I understand that reimbursement/credit for health care premiums under the Affordable Health Care Act will be determined by this year's income, so that's going to be ugly too. (sigh)

I took my stepmother out for lunch, her 81st birthday was the 11th. Her restaurant of choice would not have been mine, she wanted to go to Applebee's. We had fish and chips. Elery spent the day replacing fence posts and repairing electric fence and had pizza for supper.

Annie

Ok, I "think" I filed my extension. I'd feel better if I got an email or something. Oh well.

My original plan was to make some Bangladeshi beef curry to celebrate the new year with dcarch, but the day didn't go as planned, at all, and right now John your suggestion of sullen whisky sounds good. Macallan is poured, in a Glenlivet glass, LOL.

Pics. This is bulgogi chicken strips. Marinade of mashed pear, garlic, onion, shallot, soy sauce, brown sugar, pepper. Boneless chicken thighs, roughly cut up, it wasn't pretty. Marinate then "grill" in one of those cast iron pans with raised ribs. Then deep fry to get the pieces really brown and crusty.

Dry cooked sesame green beans. Blanch beans, fry in plenty of oil until blistered (the beans, not your fingers). Cook up a mixture of garlic, ginger, Serrano pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, and pepper. When the mixture is cooked but before it is evaporated, toss the beans in it, then sprinkle on sesame seeds.

Rainbow carrots, split in quarters, wrapped in foil with plenty of duck fat and truffle salt, lemon slices, and some rosemary. Bake 15 minutes. Unwrap, and keep baking until done.

And the tofu thing, that needs - refinement. Large tofu cubes, marinated in simple syrup and vanilla, and injected with more of that (always take the excuse to play with a syringe). Then egg wash, panko with lots of salt and paprika and white pepper, and deep fry. The idea was sweet and soft inside, crunchy and salty outside. Problem is, the tofu was too firm, and didn't absorb enough simple syrup. I need to find a way to get more sugar into the tofu cubes. But it was okay.

Good idea - I'll join you (in the scotch) as soon as I finish the washing up. Lot of oily surfaces now.

John, you are doing great with your cooking and plating.

----------------------------
Income tax! Audits! Deadline! Extension!

I always feel like I am swimming upstream, and I feel like being roasted by the IRS.

Kind of like a salmon, swimming upstream, does itâÂÂs thing and dies right after.
------------------------------------
I made I.R.S. for dinner.

Infusion Roasted Salmon.

dcarch

Hmm, this thread is giving me lots of ideas for accompaniments for the ribs I bought today which I'll grill Korean style tomorrow. That tofu looks fantastic, John, we always have extra firm on hand as dh loves it, but my typical dishes are apathetic.

Looks like some good eating at the Liu house. That reminds me I haven't made bulgogi in quite some time. I've never made it with chicken; will have to give that a try. Nor have I deep fried them at the end.

Coincidentally I came across Chinese long beans the other day and looked up jkom's comments about how they should be prepared. She has some strong opinions about what's traditional or not, and in her book ginger, garlic and onions are not. I'll take a look at some other recipes, too, and decide what sounds good to me. No one in this house will know if they're "authentic."

Here is a link that might be useful: Bean thread

John, Thanks for the inspiration. I have been chasing bulgogi since I had in at, of all places, a sports bar in Alabama.

DC, Be still my heart...that salmon looks fabulous.

*IRS--the HG does do the taxes every year (personal and our non-profit) and we are not adverse to paying our share. We got a huge surprise last week when I opened the envelope from the IRS with shaking hands only to see a check for $X,XXX! I called the IRS to verify that it was legitimate. The HG had overpaid 2010 taxes and made the same error for 2011 so we are to receive another refund. Needless to say he went to a pro this year.

Filed my taxes a couple of months ago and got a nice return. Treated myself to diver scallops at the time - pan seared in butter. :-)

Teresa

Cake. As in "let them eat cake"?

There is a final, icing-on-cake step to the bulgogi which I omitted last night because I was lazy. Boil down the used marinade to a thick sauce, after deep frying the meat, toss it in the sauce to coat and reheat.

This has become my go-to method for many rib-like things. 1. marinate. 2. cook. 3. deep fry. 4. coat in sauce.

The way you cooked the green beans sounds really good to me, and I will try that the next time I buy beans - I do like all the flavors you used.

I did my taxes early in February and did not owe much - the state of California gave me a refund on the state part. Next year will be difficult and traumatic because I will have to include inheritance, and so I will go back to the accountant that I used before. We still have not divided up the bulk of the inheritance, and the thought of it makes me very sad, but I know we will have to do it at some point. Right now we are renting out the land and house, but I do not want to do that for more than a year, I think.

I made deviled turkey salad for dinner last night, using turkey breast that I had smoked last week. We had it on toast. I still have leftover garbanzos, although Kevin had some of those yesterday for lunch. He went back to work today, even though I told him not to, as he still has a cold. I generally stay out for three days when I have a cold, but then I get sicker than he does.

Roasted salmon looks great also, but then salmon is one of my all-time favorites.

There were years when I did not make enough money to pay income tax, and so I am definitely happier on years that I am able to pay something.

Lars

I just read jkom's post - I think her recipe for dry cooked string beans sounds great and would be similar to the dish in restaurants. I'll try it next time.

This post was edited by johnliu on Tue, Apr 16, 13 at 11:53

We use the preserved vegetable also. We also never rinse. DH uses it in his stir-fry pork dish w/o green beans also. I will link to the brand that we buy.

As jkom says you don't use any ginger etc in this traditional dish. In the book The Good Food of Szechwan by Delfts there is a traditional recipe . It is Gan-bian Si-ji-dou. The beans are called "four season beans" and are longer than our traditional beans. You do first deep fry the beans. There is no sauce to speak of. Here is his recipe:

1 1/2 # four season or regular green beans
3-4 dried shrimp
2 Tbsp finely chopped Szechwan vegetable
1/4 # pork
2 Tbsp. finely chopped green onion
Wash and dry beans and cut into 2-3 " lengths. Chop shrimp finely. Chop vegetable, pork and green onion.

In a bowl mix seasoning:
2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp rice wine
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp water
2-3 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 to 1 c oil for deep frying

Heat oil in wok and deep fry beans in batches and allow oil to get back to heat in between batches. Beans should be wrinkled, crackled and soft and dark. Remove all but 2-3 Tbsp oil when beans done. Heat over high heat and stir fry pork til beginning to brown. Add the chopped vegetable, and shrimp. Heat throughly. Add the beans now cont to toss and all all seasoning mix. Stir. Add the green onion now. Cont .to cook til all liquid gone. Serve hot.

Please post pics when you make this ! When DH next makes it I will also. Will be fun to compare notes. c

Here is a link that might be useful: Preserved vegetable.

Thanks trailrunner, veggies are ordered! I see you don't use much in the recipe; can they be frozen? I'm going to have a hard time leaving out the ginger. But I might accidentally forget the shrimp.

Hey foas...we don't use the shrimp either...stinky devils LOL !! The vegetable keeps forever ! I mean it...you can open the can and put the extra in a box and it keeps and keeps..if it does get a wee bit of mold...just trim it up and use the rest..it is impervious to all things :) Have fun and you better post pics ! c

I use fish sauce in place of the dried shrimp.

Woowee I bought them once for pad thai... A d made the mistake of using them!

BB I was having that same thought - thanks.

I mailed check in February, our filing date, no reason to celebrate. Get money back,,,,,what is that! I send a check monthly, but never enough!

I'd like to see pics of everyone's dry cooked beans. Maybe someone can start a new thread when they've done some, and the rest of us can add on? I will probably make it again in the near future.

We don't have to have our taxes done till the end of April in Canada. I filed early however and we celebrated by paying down debt.

John, I couldn't agree with you more. I didn't end up doing anything for tax day, other than pulling my hair out in confusion and hoping I got it right. So, I didn't cook. Actually, I completed my taxes and filed my return on Sunday. I used the internet for the first time. I'm computer literate, but I've never done taxes on line before.

I think we just snacked away our supper that day. I've blotted it out of my memory at this point. I also did major housework/spring cleaning, including the garage, so I was bushed and didn't feel like cooking. I think we just snacked away our supper that day.

Sally