beef and beans stiry fry

• brown rice (I used Chinese take out)
• pre-cut stir-fry beef (that's a lot of hyphens)
• Chinese 5 spice (optional)
• 1 bag of green beans and carrots
• soy sauce
• mirin
• sesame oil
• rice vinegar

Combine equal parts soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and vinegar together, set aside. Sprinkle beef with a little Chinese 5 spice and brown in a little wok oil over high heat. Once cooked set aside and drain wok of any residue. In a little more wok oil cook veggies for about 5 minutes or until bright green. Turn heat off and add beef and sauce. Serve immediately over brown rice.

The dish: This an easy dish that can be made with a few instant ingredients and some stuff from your well equipped Asian pantry, we talked about that already, remember? We also went over some basic wok skills a while back, so you should be an old hand at this point. If you don't own a wok, go get one. There's no need to spend a lot of money, I have a cheap one and it's held up quite nicely throughout the years. Stir-frying is a great way to whip up a healthy (in spite of the name) dinner that can be ready in less time than most "instant" meals require.

mixed fruit platter

• assorted fruit in season

Chop fruit into bite sized pieces, I used cantaloupe, honeydew melon and mango. Arrange on platter with toothpicks and serve.

The dish: This is it folks: crass commercialism has entered the red room. There's really no magic behind "chop fruit and arrange on a platter", but I felt the need to show off the cool toothpick holder I've got. You too can own one as well simply by visiting the what on earth catalog. The box he came in said "Fred", but depending on the day or week I've had he (or she) can take on any number of names. Foodies can go out and spend hundreds (thousands?) of dollars on cast iron cookware, aluminum pans and designer knives, but the one piece of kitchen equipment sure to elicit a response from most everyone is the four dollar toothpick holder. Of course, if you come over to our home and fail to notice our porous friend, you can pretty much count on him taking your name for awhile. You've been forewarned!