Diva's use large wok!

My son, Little Paw has been begging us to eat frog. He has also requested snail and monkey brain. In fact he has requested just about every kind of animal/insect you can think of that does NOT exist on your supermarket shopping list. But who could blame him? I mean how many frozen pizza rolls, french fries and cheeses sandwiches can he eat? And I have not done such a tremendi-oso job with dinner either - it's chicken or chicken! Well, I through in a steak every now and then.

So what's a Broke Diva to do? Chinese take-out? That costs us just under $50.00 to feed the brood. Pizza? We are not residing in NYC anymore so the watered down, doughy substitutes of the franchises are cheap, yes - but not desireable. And don't get me started on why we are not eating out every night at the nearest chic, L.A. restaurant. Where we live now, we spend  more money filling the tank than to get to the nearest place with food!  So when my inquisitive and daring little 6 year old started to actually cry over it - off we went to find "new, exciting and different foods!"

The husband got the address to Lee Lee's Oriental Market in Tucson and off we went on an adventure that turned into a history lesson of sorts as well. I found that the best way to feed the family and offer them something great to eat every night was to visit Asia. We walked into the largest supermarket in all of Arizona that catered to all of Asia - including the Middle East. We bought something from every region. We bought some spices, sauces, breads, jasmine rice, cat fish, weird fruit (that tasted as weird as they looked), whole octopus, large frog legs (yes, we did), lamb, goat (for curry), a variety of other stuff and did not skimp on the curry! We even invested in a REAL hand-hammered, gianormous wok. It's a bi-otch to "season" - but worth it. We had one from Target in storage - but this was serious cooking at only $16 bucks. All in all we spent just over $200 - that's 4 nights of Chinese take-out. And while in the store I schooled the kids on the Buddhas they were seeing all over the place and even took some of those free booklets - "Heart of a Buddha."

It has been about 3 weeks and we are STILL dipping into the spices and frozen dumplings. It was a great way to keep costs down - but to also introduce new foods to the kids. We love West Indian dishes and Asian dishes so this was a treat for the husband and I too cook the dishes we enjoy that the kids don't get a chance to eat. I mean where is the nearest West Indian restaurant in Arizona? As far as I am concerned - it's on Flatbush Ave, in Brooklyn! My girl, Candice would be proud.

And that octopus did take a minute to get tender - but was AWESOME! Little Paw was so ecstatic - he still is because we have not gone through our Asiatic food stash. This was luxury for the Broke Diva all the way out here in West Bubble... And I even started using our beautiful serving dishes at our vintage dinning table (found a great one on craigslist that can seat up to 8 people). The husband bought a very nice center piece with candles (we have NOT lit them yet). Leotie thought it was a very nice piece and good for " - kissing Daddy" - too much TV. The whole experience took us out of the living room and into the kitchen and saved us tons of money as a result.

I know that this is a  hood cliche that if you don't have money and you're hungry - go to the Chinese Food Spot. However this is slightly different because you are making the dishes yourself - but pretty much the same! I remember going to the Chinese Food Spot and bringing home my $3.00 chicken wings with fried rice and egg roll and eating from one of my mother's occasion dishes than out of the Styrofoam plate it came in. Always had to be fabulous in some way. When I got older I had it with white wine. Now I use my totally official wok from Taiwan and through down like my name was, Nadira Assam.

Anyway - a great idea to brush up on your culinary Diva-ness and stay sassy and classy with no dough!

tg