Pad Thai is love

After two failed attempts at making Thai food (the pad prik was inedible and the burgers made me sick), I was a little reluctant to try again.

The pad Thai I just made was delicious, which I'm sure is because I didn't bother making my own sauce this time. Instead, I got a package that came with noodles and sauce at Trader Joe's.

This is so easy. Anyone can make pad Thai -- just buy the sauce. Is it cheating? Maybe. But you can make up for that by adding fresh veggies. Just check out the international aisle at the grocery store. Thai Kitchen sells rice noodles and pad Thai sauce. Then get yourself over to the produce department, 'cause most of what you're gonna need is fresh veggies:

Ingredients

• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 Thai chiles (if you can't find them, get serrano chiles instead)
• 3 green onions
• 1 Roma tomato
• a handful of snow peas
• 1/4 cup crushed peanuts (just put unsalted peanuts in a baggie, seal it, and release your aggression)
  
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 4oz chicken, meat, shrimp, or tofu
  
• thin rice noodles
• pad Thai sauce
  

Directions

1. Cook the noodles according to package instructions (mine said to boil water, turn off the heat, add the 9-oz package of noodles, and let sit for 3-5 minutes or until soft but firm).
2. Drain the noodles, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
3. Heat 1T oil in a skillet and scramble the egg. Set the egg aside for later.
4. Heat the remaining 2T oil and stir-fry your meat or tofu, chiles, and snow peas for about 2 minutes.
   
5. Add the noodles, pad Thai sauce, and bean sprouts. Stir-fry for another 3-5 minutes, until the bean sprouts are cooked and the mixture is heated through.
6. Turn off the heat. Add the tomato, egg, onion, and peanuts; stir until well combined. Garnish with the lime wedges, (pssst -- encourage everyone to squeeze the limes over the noodles. Yum!).

I'm telling you, you can't mess this up!

I found a new candy!

The Mr. and I went out for Thai food last night. We've eaten there regularly for several months, but this was the first time that they gave us candy with the check!

It was subtly sweet with a mild fruit flavor. I'd never had anything like it before, so I couldn't describe the taste.

I examined the wrapper for any English print, and I finally found, written in print in a color that nearly blended in with the background, the words TAMARIND CANDY.

Aha! So this strange new flavor had a name!

...but what's a tamarind?!

Turns out it's a kind of tree whose pods are filled with pulp that you can cook with. It's also said to have medicinal effects.

Ooo, look, you can buy them online!

But I wanted to make gai pad bai gaprow!

What is up with basil?

I've been to four different grocery stores in my town and haven't found any. At all. None. Not even among the horrendously overpriced organic herbs sealed in little plastic package containers that scream, "Look at me! I am a healthy, eco-friendly sprig of herbs in a plastic box that will sit in a landfill until the end of freakin' time!"

I'm beginning to think that it would be easier for me to find certain black market plants.

I had a hydroponic basil plant last summer. I had to hunt all over, but I finally found him in the Giant near my mother's house. I adopted him and took him home and my mom named him Basil (you know, with the short "a"). Basil was a loyal friend, always giving of himself and asking nothing in return, just so that I could make bruschetta, or margherita pizza, or pasta salad. And he grew so big and tall!

Unfortunately, I left poor Bas behind when I moved out of my mother's house.

I have never missed him more than I did on Sunday night, which I decided was a fine night to make gai pad bai gaprow. Neither the big-box grocery store nor the Trader Joe's had any basil. Monday night, I looked at the Giant across from the university. Tuesday night, I looked at the Safeway in Old Town. By then, I was fed up and grabbed a bunch of cilantro. The chicken was already thawed and would have gone bad by the next night anyway, so I figured I'd use cilantro and see what happened.

So, what happened? It was disgusting, or at least I thought so. The Mr. at all of his, and then he ate the rest of mine. The sauce tasted nothing like that at the Thai restaurant where we always eat (and where we ate the following evening, because I wanted my gai pad bai gaprow and, by damn, I was going to have it).

But that's neither here nor there.

I would love to make bruschetta for the movie night I'm having tomorrow.

Oh. Yeah. I can't.