Meet Carrie!

Hi! I'm Carrie Mason, a home cook from the Philadelphia 'burbs. I have 4 men in my life:

· My husband AKA Bob or Buhbah

· My grandfather AKA the Old Man

· My son JR AKA Poobah, Poobear, The Grand One, and BooBah

· My cat NeepNeep, AKA Mr Feecock or Fatty Boombotz

I love these guys more than pie.

Some facts about me:

I am close enough to Jersey to have fist pumped with the best of 'em and not be ashamed of that. I am not even ashamed of some of my more questionable wardrobe selections...It was Jersey...in the 90s, the world was my oyster.

Three years ago, I hung up my dancing shoes, gave up the life of a bartender and became addicted to gardening, cooking, and entertaining. There is nothing I like to do more than to have friends and family over for a nice meal, and maybe a few more cocktails than necessary.

Here are some things you should know about me:

I am the designated picture hanger in my house, but that is only because my husband has never looked behind any of the pictures to see the 5 others holes I have pounded into the walls.

I have never learned how to drive a car, because they scare the crap out of me. I am working on that.

I am loud. I have been told more times than I care to admit to "keep it down" Well nope, I won't, no one puts baby in a corner.

As fun as that grand life of mine sounds, my most favorite thing to do in the whole wide world, every day of the week and twice on Sundays, is to just sit. Sit on my deck with Buhbah and JR and watch the day go by. This life is short, so you have to take in all in sometimes...it's important to be an active participant, but it’s important to be a very sharp observer as well...it's IMPORTANT.

My cooking style is pretty loosey goosey, which means, if it sounds good, I will throw it into the pot. I read cookbooks for fun, and don't really use them for recipes as much as I do for inspiration. This poses a problem for me when it comes to baking. MANY of my baking projects have ended in failure due to my proclivity for "throwing things in". But hey man...that's how you learn.

I am gonna share with you one of my favorite "throw it all in the pot" recipes, and it's not even a recipe per se, but it IS something we Masons eat probably once a week. It's healthy, filling, and you can change it with the seasons...which means no strange panicky trips to the produce place, just use what yah got and call it a day...or call it dinner...or call it a STIR-FRY!

Stir-fried Veggies in Spicy Garlic Sauce

Peanut oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
1 hot pepper, seeded and diced, I used a Scotch Bonnet
Juice and zest of 1 lime
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Veggies: Use what you want!

(In this one, I used par cooked baby carrots, yellow wax beans, green beans, Vidalia onion and baby spinach.)

Cooked brown or white rice

Get a wok or stir-fry skillet scorching hot, I mean HOT BABY! (This would roughly be the time to turn on the fans, open the windows and perhaps don a gas mask of some sort.) When your wok is hot, add the oil, garlic, and hot pepper, swirl around for just a moment to get that oil nice and spicy/garlicky, add your veggies and toss until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes or so, depending on what kind of veg you got. Add the lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil; toss to coat, top with the lime zest and sesame seeds if you want 'em, and pile it on over your rice. That's it! If you were eating this in a movie you would of course eat it with chopsticks, but since you're probably hanging in your kitchen, just go ahead and grab a fork.