The Best Pad Thai Recipe

Measurements aren't exact. Merely for style only. Refer to the recipe for exactness. Also refer to the recipe for all ingredients. Not everything needed is included in the picture above.

I did some raking this morning, and boy, does yard work build character. I'm not a particularly good raker so it's a bit splotchy, and I'm sure Brandon will come home and point that out to me. However, in my book, it was a great success. It was an impromptu date with myself after my battle with Mason for his morning nap. We went back and forth, until finally I stuck him in his pack and play, and walked away. Cruel and unusual? I think not. But the stories of his naps are for another day.

Because this time, it's about pad thai. One of my friends and I are doing this thing where each week she and I take turns making a dish, and then we split it. I've been having a hankering for some pad thai. It's probably my favorite dish, but I never order it. I usually order panang curry. Why? Because it's safe. 

Pad thai has been one of those dishes that wherever I go, it's different. Every time. And that is very annoying. I like consistency, and if I'm going to spend my hard-earned (or should I say Brandon's?) money, I want to walk away satisfied. And I've never been. So thus the search for the recipe begins, and ended right here.

The google search was the least fascinating, but I went with my gut and took the recipe that spoke truest to me. A few tips and tricks when making this dish:

1. Go to your Asian store. They should have everything you need. Ask an employee for help with the recipe. And if he decides to tell you to use a packet instead, nod, smile and keep on getting your fresh ingredients.

2. When soaking the noodles, let it get pliable. The recipe allows you to add water later on when cooking the noodles, but I don't recommend it. The noodles starts to get a tad mushy rather than being fried.

3. You don't need banana flower. Or preserved turnip. I didn't use either and it turned out good.

4. You can substitute chicken or whatever meat you want for the shrimp in the recipe. Make sure you let the meat cook through, or rather, cook it separately since the meat won't get cooked consistently when mixed in with the noodles.

5. Get the tofu that is dried and refrigerated, not the ones in water. The store employee told me which tofu to get, and for that I am grateful. Otherwise, the tofu I was going to get would have made my pad thai a mush.

6. I have cooked this dish now twice with a child on my hips, but because of everything that goes on with this dish, child on hip is not recommended.

Recipe HERE

Good luck, and if you rather I make it for you, send me some flowers and I'll make it for you the next time I see you.

Happy Friday!

Jerusalem Cafe

On Friday night, we went out to dinner with the sister missionaries at Jerusalem Cafe in downtown Vancouver. Since we aren't living within our current ward boundaries, we've just gone out to eat with the sisters. I can't wait to actually be within the boundaries so I can just have the sister missionaries over. I really enjoy cooking so it's fun to try different dishes, and let others try it as well.

We love mediterranean food, and when the sisters told me that they like this place, I knew we had to try it. I ordered the Kofta Kabob which was absolutely delicious. However, the portions were smaller then I had hoped for. Brandon wasn't as impressed with his dish. I'm going to look up some recipes for some mediterranean dishes for us to try.

Kaolee

Gangnam Korean BBQ

We finally got a chance to go to Gangam Korean BBQ in Hillsboro, Oregon. It opened about 4 weeks ago. We are both so excited as our friends live close to there, and we visit our friends often.

The restaurant was very clean, and the meat was plentiful. We ordered two types of BBQ meat, and also a combo of seafood tofu soup and bulgogi. The side dishes were all so yummy. The tofu soup could use an egg (they didn't put one in mine, but I'm going to ask for it next time). We're excited to have found a Korean restaurant and can't wait to go again!

Breakers Korean BBQ & Grill

Before I left Georgia, I went with two of my best girlfriends to a new Korean BBQ restaurant in town, Breakers. I had seen the billboard on my way home from work, and was very interested. I knew I wouldn't get some Korean BBQ for a while so I was very excited to go. The restaurant is inside the same shopping center as David's Bridal. One of my girlfriends got her dress from there, so I had been in that plaza before.

Inside, the restaurant is a lot fancier than most Korean BBQ restaurants. We were told that the BBQ grill have vents that pull the smoke in so that you won't smell like cooked meats afterward. If you've ever gone to Honey Pig, you know what I mean! Our waiter was very pleasant. He said that he had worked at Honey Pig, and most of the employees came from other local Korean restaurants.

We put in one chicken and two beef orders. There is pork, and scallops, and tofu as well. They fancied up the tofu by calling it tofu steak. Sneaky huh?

 They started us with a squash soup, which seems very random for what we were about to eat. Also, this is more fall than winter in my opinion.

The soup was followed by the salad, which is more of a summer salad to me, and also a bit inappropriate at a Korean restaurant. But maybe that is just me??? 

I've seen more side dishes but these were nice with our meal.

Korean salad.

The chicken was amazing! I have never had chicken this delicious. It was seasoned perfectly so if you go, I definitely recommend the chicken. The beef was a little too chewy, but I love beef so I won't complain too much.

Overall, this place was very good! It doesn't have the typical Korean BBQ feel though if you are looking for that. Definitely order the chicken! Looking back at these pictures makes me miss Georgia so much!

Kaolee

Pizza Night

One night, our friends invited us for homemade pizzas. I loved the idea so much that we made pizzas at home last week. We bought the dough from Publix and stole some of our friend's ideas for the toppings, and made a few of our own.

A standard pepperoni pizza.

Chicken barbeque.

Sausage and bell peppers.

Dessert pizza! Chocolate caramel as base, with marshmallows, chocolate fudge, and oreos.

Our friends had made a potato pizza, and we tried to replicate it. Theirs tasted a lot better, but ours wasn't bad!

Have you ever made your own pizzas, and what toppings are your favorites?

Kaolee

Dim Sum Fun

I went with some girlfriends to Golden BBQ in Chamblee for dim sum. This had only been my second time going out for dim sum so I was excited to try a different place. The place itself was a bit dirty looking for my taste. You order dim sum off the menu so there is no cart going around showing off the goods. One of our friends ordered for us which we all greatly appreciated!

I loved the greens! Simple, but delicious!

Sesame balls with red beans. This was yummy.

This has shrimps inside.

This is almost the same as the one above, but with bbq meat. I wasn't a fan of the flavor, although the meat by itself would be good. But together, somehow, I didn't feel like they went together.

Chicken feet. Yeah, you heard that right. And my favorite!!! Not kidding. Where's Brandon for that kiss?

I don't remember trying this dish.

Or this.

Or this.

Or this.

So, in summary, I don't remember tasting some of these things. But I will say, the chicken feet was awesome!!! 

If you ever get the chance, you should totally grab some adventurous friends, head to Buford Highway, and get some dim sum!

Thanks for reading!

Kaolee

Happy 9 Years!

For our anniversary, I asked friends where we should go, and everyone praised the Sun Dial Restaurant so we decided to go there for this year's anniversary dinner. The Sun Dial Restaurant is on top of the Westin Hotel in Downtown Atlanta. You can get free valet with your $75 food purchase. 

When we got there, the hostess said that she had to count in order to remember where our seats were. I didn't quite understand what she meant until we got to our table. The interior of the restaurant spins around so that you can see all of Atlanta which was so cool. I didn't realize that it actually spins around. And of course, when I say spin, I mean, very very slowly. It won't make you dizzy unless you look down at the floor where it is moving. We were at dinner for about two hours, and I believe were had two whole rotation of Atlanta. We missed the sunset which would have been nice, but it was still amazing to see all of Atlanta.

Our waitress had been working there since December of 1983!!! She was a bit chatty, and we didn't get water/soda refills very much but she was nonetheless very pleasant. At the end, she offered to take our pictures standing in front of the glass which I was surprised at since I feel like at some places, people are not as receptive to picture taking, but I was glad she offered.

Overall, I enjoyed this place, and I'm so glad we got a babysitter, and had some time to ourselves.

Braised Oxtail - This is so delicious!!! We also ordered the Spicy Garlic Shrimp, but ate that before I remembered to take a picture. Both were superb, but the Braised Oxtail was definitely my type of dish.

Raspberry Lacquered Duck Breast - This was served medium, and totally melted in my mouth. So delicious! The zucchini bread french toast (it's a bit hidden in the picture above) was a little drier, but with the sauce, I think it was perfect. The french toast was very good though.  

Brandon got the Wood Roasted Salmon. It came with sweet gnocchi which I had never tried before, and this was very, very good. The salmon was cooked perfectly and all the flavors together were so, so yummy. 

I saw the creme brulee on the menu, and knew right away that was what I wanted. Brandon wanted the molten cake, but that was vetoed. Sorry Brandon! The creme brulee did not disappoint. Just thinking about it now makes me want some so bad!

Selfies! We so need a selfie stick! 

What a brilliant idea! I thought it was so cool that I could look down right at the streets, and see everyone walking around. 

Here's to another year of us!

Thanks for reading!

-Kaolee

on eating more organic

we've been trying to eat a lot more organic and fresh these last couple of months. between realizing that this body isn't quite just mine, i've been really into finding fresher ingredients and selecting food that are more fresh and natural.

we've also been into watching documentaries, such as food, inc and fat, sick & nearly dead. there is so much information out there and some that we both agree with and some that we still need to further research. however, as one of my girlfriend says, start small and make the change slowly. and that's exactly what we have been trying to do.

tonight's menu was tacos. and it was delicious. here's to investing in our health.

also, i've been contemplating between cross fit, pure barre, flywheel, and tone it up. which should i try to tone up after the babe comes? or is there another program that i should consider other than the ones i listed? i haven't been working out for the past 9 months, so i will have a lot of work ahead of me, but i want to be proactive and get that pre-baby body back ;)

-kaolee

a quick minnesota trip

we were able to sneak in a very quick trip to minnesota to visit my grandma, stepmom, stepbrother and son and my brother. my grandma has been in and out of the hospital so it was nice to spend some time with her and talk with her. due to our short trip, we didn't get a whole bunch of sight seeing in, but rather just hung out with family which was perfect, given my situation. we did get to see hmong village and mall of america.

 

my stepbrother and his son waiting for some bubble tea. we don't get to see my nephew a lot so it was a real treat to spend some time with him. he is so cute and such a funny guy. he's super talkative and loves showing us what he's doing on his ipad.

of course we had to walk through the foodcourt. there were so many vendors with all sorts of goodies laid out and ready to go. pho and papaya salad. 

i think these are papaya salad. i can't tell from looking at this picture now whether this is papaya or noodles. looks yummy though.

broiled fish in herbs. 

super colorful rice cakes. 

baked eggs.

 



all the asian skincare a girl could only dream of. 

super cute traditional hmong clothes for kids. 

 

a modern take on a traditional outfit. 

 

harem style pants with a hint of traditional style.

 

anyone missing a headpiece?

 

super cute.

 

the aisles remind me of a storage unit. each vendor has a space where they can sell all sorts of goodies, including clothes, movies, toys, etc.

 

bd checking out this vendor.

 

i spotted this bright outfit. super cute.

all the hmong movies and music you can dream of. 

herbs, medicines and so much more. 

 

 there's even a produce section in hmong village.

 

it was good to see my grandma smiling. she's lost a lot of beautiful long hair, but that smile is always continuous. 

 

us with my stepmom. she was an absolutely fabulous hostess and cooked me so many yummy food and also baked us some of her yummy rolls. best tasting rolls ever.

 

-kaolee