Pad Thai

I’ve tried making similar Thai noodle dishes a few times, and this is definitely the best.  The shape of the noodles is not very important, thin or thick ones are fine, just make sure they’re made of rice or bean starch.  The spiciness can also be adjusted by adding more curry paste or peppers.  I made this recipe rather mild so that most Americans can eat it!  Thai food can be really spicy.  In Laos, we have Thai ramen noodles and I can’t eat them if I add more than half of the flavor packet.  I had the same problem when I got Thai curry soups in Thailand, but that problem can be solved by mixing it with a lot of rice.  It’s important to add the lime juice at the end because if you add it too early, some of the flavor will cook off.

Tomato Pasta Sauce (the better one)

After talking with my friend Meghan, who loves tomatoes, I’ve changed how I make pasta sauce. Pureeing the tomatoes before cooking them wasn’t a great idea because it ended up with a strange consistency. So this time, I only halved some cherry tomatoes and they became soft very quickly. You don’t need to use cherry tomatoes, it’s just what I had. I liked this sauce better. Like the other sauce recipe, you can add 1/4 C red wine and let the sauce cook a little longer.

Oatmeal Sesame Bread

I’ve been working on this bread for a while now and I think I’ve got the recipe just right.  It’s very similar to my recipe for whole wheat bread.   Even though there aren’t a lot of sesame seeds, they add a significant amount of flavor

Zucchini Stir-fry

2 T oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 C zucchini, chopped

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1 t bullion

1 T soy sauce

1 T oyster sauce

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 C cilantro, chopped

1. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until they are softened.
2. Add the zucchini and saute briefly.
3. Add the cayenne, bullion, and sauces.  Stir-fry until the zucchini is cooked through, but not mushy.
4. Top with green onions and cilantro before serving.

serves 4

Akha Village

Our organization is doing some new work in a remote province in Laos, so we went to check it out.  The work hasn’t really started yet.  Right now they’re working on building an office and staff house there, but that’s going slowly because the trucks carrying the construction supplies can’t make it on the really bad road which is really really bad during the rainy season.  The rainy season lasts 2 more month at least, so it’ll be a while.  We did get to visit some of the villages that they will be working in though.  It was amazing because I’ve never been to a village of this ethnic group.  The Akha people live in remote villages in Northern Laos and have kept a lot of their cultural traditions while living there.  There is a lot of work that needs to be done and I’m excited about the potential difference our organization can make.  In one village, a wedding was happening, so we were invited to part of it.  They had this hot drink I’d never had before and I found out that it was a tea made from the roots of the cardomom plant – delicious! A man in another village served us popcorn cooked in pork fat and salted.  Possibly the best popcorn I’ve ever had.  If might have tasted extra good because we were tired and hungry from walking.