This is one of my favorite dishes to order in a Chinese restaurant, so I decided I should learn to prepare this myself. Tofu is not one of my favorite foods, but I like the spicy sauce. I typically don’t have a lot of pre-pared seasoning mixes, but I make exception for this black-bean chili sauce that I get from the Asian store. It makes everything come together quickly. This version has ground turkey or pork, but you can omit this or use Boca crumbles for a vegetarian version.
Ma Po Tofu
1 pound tofu, extra firm, pressed and drained
1/4 pound ground turkey, browned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
1 small red pepper, seeded and diced
1 heaping t black-bean chili sauce
2 t soy sauce (to taste)
2 scallions, sliced
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock (optional)
In a saute pan or wok set to fairly high heat, saute the garlic, ginger and red pepper for about 1 minute. Add the cooked ground turkey, then add the tofu cubes. Add the black-bean chili sauce and soy sauce. Stir gently to mix without breaking up the tofu cubes. If the mixture is very dry and you prefer more of a sauce, add up to 1/2 cup of stock. Turn heat down and simmer for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with scallions before serving over hot cooked rice. and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
My colleague Debbie, who is in her mid-twenties, has decided postponed graduate school for a year. Part of her concern is accumulating even more debt from graduate school to accompany her already high undergraduate debt. In chatting with her, another colleague Jeanine was curious about what financial and life I might have for her. Jeanine is in her mid-30’s, has already completed an MBA, has a 401(k) and mutual fund account, and is contemplating buying a townhouse. Unlike Debbie, part of Jeanine’s contemplation is whether to take a year off of work and travel or volunteer for a year. I didn’t feel comfortable “offering advice” to someone who is less than 10 years younger than me, but these were some main points from our discussion:
–Prioritize eliminating most debt — Jeanine was able to payoff her student loans about 3 years after finishing her MBA, the accelerated repayment schedule gave her some flexibility once the loans were paid and allowed her to put money aside each month for saving and investment once she no longer had loan payments.
–Have a larger emergency fund — Jeanine experienced the dotcom boom and bust and has had many friends who have experienced prolonged layoffs. As a more experienced person who wants to choose her career transitions wisely, Jeanine has more than 6 months of expenditures set aside.
–Be serious with your career — Jeanine’s first few years out of college were spent bouncing around from one un-serious job to another. However, after completing her graduate degree and honing in on her area of expertise, she has moved up the career ladder in recent years. If you are seriously career minded, this decade is an important one.
–Save and invest for future flexibility — Jeanine would like to take some time off in the near future and travel for a bit. She has been saving furiously to allow for this. Most of her friends are planning to have children in the next few years and are trying to integrate this into their financial planning.
–Take care of your health — when I was Jeanine’s age, I started experiencing lower back pain that didn’t seem to go away. Turned out almost everyone in my office had lower back pain, a consequence of too much sitting, too little exercise during the day, stress and (for me) high heels. Although my situation was not too serious, it led me to understand that I would not be happy to work in a high stress corporate environment indefinitely and helped me to focus my priorities.
I spent much of today trying to gather all of the records from 2009 to expedite the filing of taxes. while I’m still waiting on several pieces of info (like 1099’s), I find that breaking up the gathering and collating of tax info helps to make it a bit less onerous. I used to outsource my taxes until I found several errors in a return prepared by someone else, and have been doing my own (which includes schedule C’s for self-employment income) for several years. Here are some tips to help organize and make sure that your taking advantage of the deductions or refunds owed to you:
–Good software helps to simplify things — I use Turbo Tax, although my understanding is that among the top software brands, most are fairly similar from an ease of use standpoint. The software helps to demystify the arcane language of the tax form, but it maintains the information and creates a nice finished copy.
–If you use external help, ask questions – a good accountant should review the return with you and help you to understand various things including deductions (like IRA contributions) that you’re eligible for and thresholds like the amount of estimated tax you need to pay to avoid penalties. Turbo Tax also has a community board where you can post questions as well.
–Use tools to help organize your info and receipts — I rely on credit card annual summaries and downloadable excel files. There are now a number of free sites that help you to organize your financial activity into categories. Not only is this good for taxes, but it is also helpful for budgeting and planning.
–Don’t put off filing until the last minute — once you receive all of your statements and information, it’s better to try to break down the task into multiple parts and take on a bit at a time. This will help to alleviate the panic with tax deadline approaching.
I enjoy making and eating tasty, spicy food. I also have no problem changing up a dish to diverge from the original, as long as the results are good. I have posted in the past on speedy red beans and rice, a version of the dish that comes together quickly, takes advantage of canned ingredients, but still has great flavor. Here’s another slightly modified treat, based on New Orleans cuisine: seafood gumbo. I started making gumbo this way when I forgot to make the roux to start and discovered the results were different, but very tasty. For people who are gluten free or wanting to lower the calorie count, skipping the roux is a good choice. I like to add lots of tasty andouille sausage and okra. I serve this over steamed brown rice.
Cheaters Seafood Gumbo
1 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, de-stringed and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (16 oz.) fire roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 pound spicy sausage, sliced (I use andouille style chicken)
1/2 pound shrimp
2-4 cups of chicken stock
2 cups frozen okra
1/2 t dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Cayenne pepper to taste.
In a large soup pot, saute the onion, celery, bell pepper until onions are translucent. Add sausage and garlic and saute for another 5 minutes. Add spices, fire roasted tomatoes, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, add okra and simmer for another 15 minutes. Add shrimp and simmer until shrimp is just done, but not overcooked.
My 
I spent much of today trying to gather all of the records from 2009 to expedite the filing of taxes. while I’m still waiting on several pieces of info (like 1099’s), I find that breaking up the gathering and collating of tax info helps to make it a bit less onerous. I used to outsource my taxes until I found several errors in a return prepared by someone else, and have been doing my own (which includes schedule C’s for self-employment income) for several years. Here are some tips to help organize and make sure that your taking advantage of the deductions or refunds owed to you:
I enjoy making and eating tasty, spicy food. I also have no problem changing up a dish to diverge from the original, as long as the results are good. I have posted in the past on