(113) A good but somewhat unexpected day

I have been enjoying cinnamon raisin  toast with PB 

lately... and hot tea...always hot tea...

I finally ordered my Christmas photo cards! 

I went to a lovely Asian Restaurant today and had lunch 

with a friend!

This clear noodle dish / soup hit all of my culinary

happy buttons... you should know, however, that for some it will be 

very spicy.  They use a lot of chili oil in it! 

It was so warming; the noodles were so good...

Clear glass noodles... this version was vegetarian from what

I understand... it was really good... we had scallion pancakes with it,

the best ones I have ever had... 

I had to use lots of napkins to blow my nose and had 3 or 4 glasses of water...

which will not help with the heat by the way....

if something is too spicy for you ... you need milk or yogurt or bread or plain rice.

It was such a flavourful noodle soup.

I did not have tons of the broth... my friend was amazed that I was able to eat it...

both she (she is Chinese) and the server did not think I would be able to eat it or that I

would like it...but I eat lots of ethnic food (a big change from when I was 18 or 19 I admit!) and

like heat in food.  That said... I had it again tonight...

the noodles had soaked up most of the broth...

and it was much hotter, so much that my lips felt that they were burning...

and I did eat more and I did enjoy it but could tell that it was a bit much even for me...

that said, I would get this soup again, it really hit all of my 

culinary comfort buttons, especially in winter when it is colder out... 

so warming, clears the sinuses in such a good way, so fun to eat,

such good noodles...a wonderful broth...

(my friend showed me how to eat it with chopsticks and was graceful

when I realized that I was holding them wrong, as in I had the bigger part of them 

in the soup instead of in my hands!)...

the restaurant was so incredibly attentive...

at one point I accidentally dropped my chopsticks, which I had resting on top of the bowl, 

onto the table.  The table, mind you, not the floor.  Within seconds I was handed a new 

set of chopsticks wrapped in a clean napkin and I gave the other ones to the server.

It was really nice to catch up with my friend and was a real highlight in my day!

Here are some recipes that are similar (but not vegetarian) that give a sense

of how it was made... hot and sour glass soup noodle soup  or 

Ants Climbing a Tree-vermicelli recipe

It was such a wonderful soup and the scallion pancakes paired so well with it!

I felt like it was akin to the North American affinity for Chicken Noodle Soup for

warmth and comfort.... I love how different cultures give us the same thing

in such different (taste, ingredients, spice level) but similar way (soup, noodles)!

***

So that was that... I got another Asian cookbook at a book sale recently... 

I am already excited about it! I was reading some of it to Mr Husband...

I like Asian cookbooks esp for fast days and fast periods... and I have a lot of 

noodles from the Chinese store near us...so making something like this

(though being careful with the amount of spice) would be great... 

I need to look up my Asian cookbooks and think about making a new

dish sometime soon...

***

So the unexpected... 

well... we were all geared up to go to my Husband's holiday party...

but!... we found out that all of the ones we would know are not able to go...

and that was our biggest draw to it...

and it's going to be high of 37F and RAIN all day.  It's raining already actually...

and with the fact that we have St Nicholas vigil on Wednesday

(on the 'old calendar' of our far away church) and liturgy on Thursday... and I have 

to pack all of the baked goods for it tomorrow...so... super busy...

so we decided NOT to go to the party tomorrow...

I am relieved, given everything else.

***

Well, tomorrow is clean house day + St Nicholas cookies prep.

***

So many are struggling with sickness or loss or other great struggles.

May God help us and have mercy!