Noodle blitz

I am all noodled out.  Saturday I showed my Girl Scouts how to make spaghetti and meat sauce.  We were away and didn't have a lot of seasonings so we bought a jar of sauce and despite their initial protests we sauteed an onion, two heads of garlic, and a red pepper and let that simmer with the meat in the sauce for 10 minutes or so; needless to say they were quite pleased with the results. 

Sunday I tried Vietnam Cafe with my daughter.  I suppose the proximity of Vietnam to Thailand explains the similarity of the ingredients, but the taste is different.  The menu is 75% pork and I wasn't keen on farm raised shrimp so our pickings were slim.  The Muc Nuong Xa (grilled squid) was absolutely delicious and although the Cha Gio Chay (spring rolls) were more flaky than crispy, they were a bit disappointing.  The Hu Tieu Cai Thap Cam was a rice noodle soup with a clear broth was very good with the jalapenos, bean sprouts, and lime served as condiments.  The Ga Chanh was essentially a general tso's chicken and broccoli; totally disappointing - the server admitted that it was an Americanized version of the authentic dish.

For lunch Monday I went to Lemon Grass and had my regular - pad kee mao...I'm starting to wonder if I should add tamarind to my sauce so that I can reproduce the flavor at home.  I was able to pull off a $7 dinner last night of spaghetti topped with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and peas that I simmered in an arrabiata sauce - absolutely delicious and no one seemed to mind the missing meat because they were preoccupied with the missing dessert. 

Finally today I went to Thai Kuu with a friend, and as I suspected it was Americanized cuisine despite the claims on their website.  The tell tale sign was the duck sauce that accompanied the spring rolls.  Of course I had tom kha and pad kee mao and it was good but not bursting with authenticity.

I think I've had enough noodles to last for awhile.  Tonight dinner will be a bit of a scavenger hunt...I plan to finish off the piece of seaside cheddar that I picked up this afternoon.