Singapore Noodle Bowls

Stirfrying is definitely a mise-en-place sport.
And yes, it is a sport. If breaking a sweat is the main qualifier for a sport, then it fits the bill. Furthermore, my old favorite motto, "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt - then it's a sport," certainly applies when you're cooking with hot oil.

Anyone care to guess what I made for dinner tonight??

Pinterest, the dearest light of my life, directed me to this shining beacon of delight - a veritable jackpot of noodlebowl recipes. My culinary tastes have not yet been honed to the asian spices and flavors, so I'm not comfortable 'whipping up' an asian sauce without a recipe. This website that I found had, not only tonight's Singapore Noodle Bowl recipe, but also the incredible Teriyaki Meatball Bowl recipe from a couple of weeks ago. This blogger is 2 for 2 on the amazing-recipe front people; I'm feeling encouraged enough to try some more of her recipes! (Me thinks I'll use her pot sticker recipe when I try those for the first time, perhaps?)

Tonight's dinner came together in 20 minutes. And it was superb. There were a couple of contributing factors to the speed of the recipe. First, was the dish itself. A stirfry using rice vermicelli will always be quick. Not to mention I did it meatless, so there was less prep and cooking time for that. Second, was a handy dandy tool I have from Pampered Chef: my Julienne Peeler. Shameless plug? Not really - I'm honestly in love with this thing. You use it like a regular vegetable peeler, but it peels the carrot/pepper/whatever into thin little matchsticks! My sister had one before I did and she convinced me to get it when she relayed how easy it was for her to make rice paper rolls; instead of peeling carrots and then using a load of skill and patience to chop them into matchsticks, she whips out her peeler and bam. It's done. I love it.

The recipe I used is really very sound - I didn't contrive to alter it much because I didn't feel like it needed any change. The only tweek I made a preferential. The recipe calls for marinating your rice noodles in a bit of curry powder, but I'm already all curried-out this week, so I used chicken bouillon instead. All in all, this was a great, simple recipe that makes a great, fresh-tasting dish.

I went grocery shopping today and loaded up on unusual items - mostly ones that I need for rather specific dishes: fish sauce, bean sprouts, Jim Beam Pancake Syrup... but I also got two flats of strawberries for $5! What can one do with two flats of strawberries? Well, for starters, I can freeze them! Perhaps I'll make smoothie packets?

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)