Spring Rolls and Pad Tai

Yesterday I went to the oriental/mexican market with a friend.  Can  you say a foodie's cornucopia?!?  I had to practically hold my jaw up off the floor with all the amazing foods that I've read about but never had the pleasure to behold in person!


Baby Bok Choy, Coconut Cream, Palm Sugar, Lemon Grass, Curries of every color of the rainbow, Fresh Tofu, a whole isle dedicated to sauces.  Rice noodles, udon noodles, spring roll wrappers, rice, rice and more rice.  There was even a whole shelf of vegetarian 'meats'--chicken, duck, fish, chop suey.  It was laughable, and yet I bought a mock chicken for kicks.  Of course there was plenty that tickled Phil's fancy (we went back as a family today)--fresh shrimp and fish, frog legs, crab legs.

After enjoying perusing the isles, the adults settled on ingredients for tofu spring rolls, pad tai, and coconut ice cream.  The children got to try Japanese Udon noodles, peach nectar, and fried plantain chips.

I am glad that Phil and I tag teamed in the kitchen, as it ended up being a very laborious process.  Phil cooked the tofu (I know, rub your eyes again, but he really did!), and the shrimp.  Did I mention that the shrimp were intact and in full uniform?  Pretty disgusting little buggers, and once again, I'm grateful to be a vegetarian.  I chopped the greens for the rolls and made the pad tai.

Of course I realized that ice cream didn't get its face on film.  But just imagine a small bowl of creamy white goodness and you know what we had :)

Here's the recipe that I found somewhere on the internet (sorry to the inventor that I didn't take note of where I found your creamy delight when I wrote it down) .  I love, love, love the fact that it is just a mix and make.  I'm very impromptu about ice cream.   All of the sudden a craving hits, and I don't want to cook up and cool down a mixture and wait.  I'm a 'want it now' ice cream kinda girl.  And this fit the bill quite nicely.


3 cups coconut cream (two 13.5oz cans works fine)
1 scant cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped OR 2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp liqueur or rum (your favorite variety)


This is veeeeeeeerrrry rich, so a teensy dish will do you juuuust fine.  Well there you have it, our little Vietnamese feast, and delish it was!

Food Styling and Photo Credits to my honey Phil