(Never Been to) Brooklyn Pad Thai

If the food there's like what I created from Isa's Brooklyn Pad Thai, book my flight, 'm totaly there! Thai food was always easily my favorite cuisine until I realized that shrimp paste is so often found in authentic dishes. Between this killer recipe and the Thai Style soup from Vegan Planet, I have hope that not only will Thai food be back on my plate again, but I'll get to be the one to make it!

The only thing I changed was to add about 2 tablesppons of cruncy organic peanut butter to my sauce. I just couldn't see making it without it. Not sure that it even made too much of a difference overall, maybe thickened the sauce a bit, but that's totally unnecessary. This stuff is sooooooo good!

We enjoyed it with just a shared salad plate of sliced cucumber, some Ugly tomato wedges (yup, that's a type of tomato around here...the tomato that tastes like a tomato!), and our favorite, easy Mikoto Ginger Dressing with a sprinkle of remaining cilantro. We ended dinner with a little sliced fresh mango (sigh....i cannot wait for summer and all the soft and sweet mangoes that come with it!). YUM!

The pad thai came together in a snap. The tip of making it in two batches reads like it's a pain but it's actually super fast and very efficient to do so (thank you, Isa!!! This meant that i didn't have to make the mistake of trying to get it all stirred together perfectly at once, which would have surely resulted in utter failure and a crazy mess...and i don't think i was up for another one in this meal preparation..not with having just seen myself thru the peanut oil incident*).

My little brother, the rock star (mlbtrs) called, as he often does, while he was making his own dinner and I was whipping up ours. (We're Italian, we can't help but to gab while busy in the kitchen). hehe. Halfway thru our conversation he had to cut it short as he had taken some parmesan out of the fridge (I come from, as many of you do, a loooong line of omni's), began to shake it and found the lid not to be closed, causing a snowfall of cheesy bits all over him, his floor, and likely his dogs and appliances. I laughed and we hung up. Not five seconds later, he recieved this call from me:

DGMGV: dude, I totally win.
MLBTRS: oh yeah? why's that?
DGMGV: you're little kitchen mishap that got you off the phone in a hurry?
MLBTRS: yeah, still cleaning that up.
DGMGV: well, i was laughing at you after hangin up and reached for the peanut oil, whose cap i'd already removed, and promptly knocked it over, glug-glug-glugging slippery puddles of peanut oil aaaaaall over the stovetop, down the oven, and to pool on the floor. why the hell do they make wood floors in kitchens, again? grrrrrrrr.
MLBTRS: *laughing maniacle laugh that's reserved only by little brothers for directing at their older sisters whenever they do something particularly dumb* dude, you're right. you totally win. have fun cleaning that up. *still laughing*
DGMGV: mmm hmm, thx. told ya!

too funny. and speaking of my little brother, the rock star....He is the front man for a really rockin band based in VA, Full Moon Circle. (mlbtrs is the one in the middle)They're currently working to release their new album and (yipee!) heading down to the sunshine state to play in April. If you like rock music (as in, this stuff totally rocks) check 'em out on their myspace http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=68763003&MyToken=c7b14833-7fd6-4036-a0b8-987962587830 and show 'em some love.

Better yet, should you live near Gainesville, Orlando, or Daytona Beach, keep an eye on their myspace for the upcoming show dates and venues. ok, 'm done with my shameless plug for MLBTRS. back to the food! ;)