Posted on | January 25, 2010 | 15 Comments
or those of you who have been around the ol’ haps for a while, you already know that i have a mild obsession with phó and Vietnamese noodle salads. if you are a new reader, then HI and you should know, i’m obsessed with phó and Vietnamese noodle salads.
a while back, i made chicken phó at home, and it was awesome. i vowed that my next endeavor would be a noodle bowl of epic proportions and well my friends, here we are. if you’re reading and don’t know what the hee-haw i’m talking about, then it’s really important you listen and then either make said noodle bowl or run to your nearest pho/vietnamese restaurant and order one up. this is not a joke.
here is your shopping list for a delightful pork and egg roll noodle bowl:
- 2 cups washed and shredded romaine, red, or green leaf lettuce
- 2 cups fresh, crisp bean sprouts
- 8 oz. dried rice vermicelli
- fresh cilantro
- fresh basil and mint (optional)
- 1-1/2 lb. pork loin or sirloin, sliced into large pieces about 1/4-inch thick
- frozen egg rolls (i don’t have all day people)
for nuoc cham dressing:
- 8 Tbsp fish sauce
- 4 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 6 Tsp rice vinegar
- 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
- chili paste (to your liking)
so while Harper had her afternoon nap, i prepped the greens and the pork so it could marinate until dinner time. the thing about these bowls is how yummy it is to have really cold lettuce, sprouts, cilantro, and then warm noodles, pork and egg rolls. it’s just…so yummy (trying not to swear, and YEAH i like this stuff that much). so anywho, julienne the cukes, and chop up the cilantro and lettuce (and mint & basil if you so choose).
then i cut up the pork and made my own little marinade using sriracha, hoisin, soy sauce and garlic. nothing scientific, just threw those together and poured it over the meat.
pop all your greens and the pork in the fridge until it’s time to get your eat on. now for the dressing.
in my opinion, the dressing is key. it makes or breaks the whole dang thing. which is why i almost cried when i made a batch according to a recipe i found on fine cooking, only to almost vomit when i tested it (pregnant ladies and moms – that immediate 1st tri feeling of “omg, toilet! TRASH CAN! vrblghard!”). it tasted like licking a fish covered in salt. it was repulsive. fine cooking it was not. so i found another one (the one i listed above) and it was great. the thing is, you can add more of each ingredient to make you happy. the scary part? the fine cooking recipe was all the same ingredients, but at really wacky proportions. be careful, i’m fairly certain it was way too much fish sauce.
prepare the noodles according to the package, the ones i use need to be soaked in cold water for 10 minutes and then boiled for 10 minutes. drain those and let them sit at room temp whilst you finish the rest. i cooked the pork in some oil in a pan, but in the summer i plan to kebab those bad boys and grill them up (or um, make scot do that). prepare egg rolls according to package.
pile all them goodies in a big bowl! we each had two helpings because a) it was that good and b) we need bigger bowls! the sauce is great for dipping the egg rolls and dumping all over your happy little salad.
oh and my plan for next time? julienne some carrots and grill up some lemongrass prawns. my favorite place to eat these serves up a prawn, pork and egg roll combo bowl that has me needing a wheelchair to cart me out of the joint. so good!
i want to hear from you guys if you make this! and i hope you do. i wouldn’t steer you wrong my lovely friends!
Posted on | January 22, 2010 | 17 Comments
also see folder “my gaydar is way off” (which also contains my crush from 7th grade and the character Tyler Briggs from nbc’s ‘trauma’). today my tweeps delivered the sad news to me that one of my biggest celebrity crushes would never give me a second glance. the following is a play by play. try not to drown in my tears as the scene progresses. and please watch your step, those are pieces of my broken silver fox-loving heart.
i mean, right?
hold the phone.
(see i’m not the only one)
(crying in my coffee here, watching the Coopster on Ellen and trying not to scream “why Andy, WHY?”)
(he was after johnny depp but before josh duhamel) (obv)
hours later, still sad:
seriously, not gonna.
(another one bites the dust. love the capitals, shows the true sadness i share)
this was the photo attached, my super up-to-date board on our fridge.
all of which led to my current board on our fridge:
LE SIGH. i mean, he just saved a little boy in haiti from looters. i’m all giving him yet another gold silver(fox) star for hotness and he’s all not liking chicks. and don’t go feeling bad for my husband that i have a huge crush (on the apparently gay) anderson cooper, because someone likes looking at heather graham and natalie portman (not that i can blame him. well on the NP front, HG? meh). this one is going to take me a while to get over. apparently the rest of world already did, back in ’08 when this was discovered. i’m blaming it on a mommy haze, and will be sulking if you need me.
Posted on | January 21, 2010 | 102 Comments
this giveaway is now closed. the winner was Becca, comment number 77!
i tend to get really excited about giveaways. true, true, i’ve only had a few, but i still really enjoy getting a chance to give my readers something cool and fun. this is no exception. you may have already seen the Spunky Stork button on my blog, and hopefully you’ve already clicked on it and checked out all the cute, fun, 100% organic cotton clothing.
they were kind enough to send Harper the adorable lavender “love” long sleeved onesie (someday the little nugget will graduate to toddler tees…). it’s not only cute, but super soft and environmentally conscious. and with tons of other fun colors and sayings, you may find it hard to choose which one(s) to buy. next up on my list is the joint production onesie. so clever!
to add insult to injury (the injury being the hurting you’ll want to put on your wallet, and the insult being the cool thing i’m going to say next that will help you justify it), the shipping is free on all orders (to the US). and if you’re giving your purchase as a gift, please don’t even get me started on the cute options for gift wrapping (because seriously? the crib? i die).
the Spunky Stork has graciously offered a $27 gift certificate (the price of almost every onesie and t-shirt, and herro! shipping is free!) to one HH reader. squee!
to enter, leave a comment on this post.
for additional entries, do the following and come back and leave another comment for each. (that part is super important so each comment counts as an entry):
winner will be chosen at random on Monday, February 1st. get to gettin’ friends, ’cause this one’s a goodie!
p.s. try not to squee as loud as i did when i noticed Harper is the baby model pictured for the lavender long sleeved onesie.
Posted on | January 19, 2010 | 18 Comments
goal is better than a resolution, is it not? i feel like resolutions must begin january 1st, and usually end around january 13th or 14th, once you realize that doing that resolution sucks and that is why you weren’t doing it in the first place. so while i did resolve to make my blog better and succeeded, a more important goal for this year is to become what i’ve been sort of claiming* to be for a while now : an adult.
*not like by my mature actions or anything, just by being a certain age (that cannot be helped), being married, having a kid and paying bills and the whatnot.
our goal this year is to buy our first home. being a blog-stalker extraordinaire, i am well aware that most people my age reading have already taken that step. the thing is, we love our townhouse. it’s cozy and holds all of our important memories. scot proposed to me in our bedroom the day we moved in (note to self, tell this story someday), we erm, created Harper in this house and brought her home to it. many a get-together has happened here in the past 4 years and these walls have seen more laughter and love than i could ever put here. it is all we know as our little family of three.
last year at this time, there was no way i would have wanted to leave it. however, now that it’s my house and my workplace, and we have a toddler, i see that it’s time to go. if we ever want to move forward with our family, we need more space. the dogs need a yard to run in and Harper needs to chase after them. if we had another baby now, it would have to sleep somewhere amongst the piles of paper, crafts and lord knows what else is on the bed in the guestroom/office/firey depths of “catch-all-room” hell. and i have a hunch that cps wouldn’t back that.
so this year we are focused. we don’t have much credit card debt, so paying that off will not be hard. our issues lie in our car payments, and fact that we have 2 of them . i know how much getting rid of those can positively impact the amount of house you can buy, and you guys? i do not want to leave this town. unfortunately that means dollar dollar bills y’all when it comes to real estate. which is why this goal will take all year, and possibly well into next. the good news is, finding an agent will be no problem, in fact i have no idea how i will even choose between all the rad ones i know. also budget-inhibiting is the fact that i don’t work and we’d like to keep it that way.
this is the part where i ask you for advice, or at least a comment telling me it will all be ok, not scary at all, and that my hair looks pretty. ok, not that last part, because lets be honest, mama needs a dye job and trim like no ones business. but about the home-buying part? yes. i need help. any tips, tricks or websites that helped you when you were attempting to be an adult, too. not the basics really, because i did work in real estate before i had Harper, but more like things that helped you better understand home-buying, or helped you plan better for it, etc.
and lastly, this post brought to you by hour number FOUR of the neighbors dog barking (which commences the second she leaves in the morning) and by the [profanity here] neighbor kids who find it hi-lar-ee-us to sit on a skateboard and roll down the hill screaming bloody murder, coming to rest on our tiny patch of front lawn (causing neighbor dog to bark even louder).
« go back —
keep looking »
