Looking good! I love those sweet peas (is that the correct word for those flat peas?) in stir fries. They also grow like crazy and actually improve your soil (they create nitrogen buds in your soil) if you can get your hands on it, plant some 'Carouby de Mausanne' sweet peas.. they are the best for stir fries.. They are quite sweet, strong flavour and crispy.
In the US there is a lot of vietnamese, chinese and thai influence.. but don't rule out indonesian and caribbean (surinam) food. Not necessarily far east.. but wel, if you fly east long enough you end up back home right?
Some nice dishes to try;
Roti.. - A wrap with chicken (with garam massala spices), madame jeanette pepper and beans (kouseband/katjan pandjang)
Babi Pangang - Roasted/fried pork in sweet/sour sauce
Babi Kecap (can be spelled dutch as Babi Ketjap) - A pork in thickened soy sauce stew with onions.
Sajoer - Spicy stir fried vegetables
Rendang - Spicy beef stew
Gado Gado - Spiced vegetables with peanut sauce
Rempah Goreng Pedis - Spicy pork meatballs
A great source for dishes is the Dutch navy cookbook, just run it through google translate and devide by factor 250 if you're only cooking for you and D.
http://www.kvmo.nl/pdf/indonesischkookboekselamatmakankoninklijkmarine1269977934.pdf
It also contains ~40 recipes to make different Sambal (indonesian chili paste - great for cooking and shelf stable!)
If the translating thing doesn't work out, just google the dishes. I bet there is an indonesian cook hidden somewhere on the english interwebs.
Sambal = spicy
babi = pork
ajam/ayam = chicken
Sajoer = cabbage
Pedis = shit your bowels out hot..