The poor stove.  It takes such a beating day-in-and-day-out.  As do the ovens.  We just cleaned the ovens and already there’s a spill causing billowing clouds of smoke in the kitchen.

We are just destined to never having a pristine kitchen.

Oh well.

We eat well – and that’s really all that matters.

And speaking of eating well… the backyard pepper plants are still producing peppers.  It’s amazing.

And they’re really good, too!  The bell peppers are sweet, crisp, and full of flavor.  Unfortunately, while they have nice flavor, the red peppers have absolutely no heat, at all.  None.  Zero.  Zip.

I’m thinking they just needed more heat, less water, and less humidity to really develop, but flavor-wise, they’re okay.

With still more peppers growing, a pepper steak stir-fry seemed to be in order.

I marinated strips from a couple of sirloin steaks in 2 tbsp sriracha sauce (Thai hot sauce), 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp rice wine, and 1 tsp ground ginger.  Into the hot skillet they went with a bit of sesame oil.  Onions and peppers followed.  I drizzled in a bit of the marinade, brought it all to a boil, and served over the red rice.

I really, really like the whole grain red rice I get from Lundberg.  Actually, I get several of their rices and blends.  Since our local stores stopped carrying it, I now buy it online.  Helping to keep the United States Postal Service in operation, one package at a time!

It had just enough heat to be interesting, and the rice added a great textural balance.

And there’s even more peppers to come!