Sunday, August 17, 2008

Reliving a little of my childhood

I was super surprised to run across some of my childhood favorites at the local Meijer super mega mart. I also bought an Aerobar, which didn't make it to the photo shoot because I promptly ate on the way home from the store.
The Ovaltine isn't unusual, but Ribena?! Surprising because I can't even get something as generic as sesame oil, but dang I was amazed to find Ribena! (remember I live in NWI!)

Next time I make it to the Asian grocers I'll have to stock up on my favorite Asian snacks, like dried cuttle fish, shrimp chips, Botan candy, dried sugary coconut, these dried prunes, coconut cookies. Mmm, I hope there is a trip to Chinatown in my future!

For dinner I made a deconstructed Vietnamese shrimp and noodle roll - which basically becomes a noodle salad. The truth? I can't roll those summer rolls. I am super sloppy and they always fall apart (remember I am only half Vietnamese!). Here is a great post about Vietnamese Bun, aka noodle salads.

My recipe was from Food & Wine Magazine, September 2005 issue. Yeah, I'm a dork and save all my old food magazines. I altered the preparation a bit by cooking the shrimp in the sauce (after it had thickened up).
I added extra Sriracha on mine, it needed some oomph. A humble salad, but so nice and light, fresh, bright and healthy. The perfect dish for a warm summer evening.

2 comments:

dp said...

Ribena! I was introduced to this when I lived in DK. I didn't really drink it much, but we used to put some in our braised red cabbage to add some sweetness and tanginess. Strange huh?

QGIRL said...

DP - I have never cooked with Ribena. But I might try that!
We lived in places where you had to boil water for drinking so Tang and Ribena were staples in our house. Anything to make the water take a little better. Days before readily available bottle water. Yeah, I am ancient.
p.s. to this day I can't stand the taste of Tang!