Pad Thai Saturday!

So I found this amazing Pad Thai Recipe on Bon Appetit. So naturally, my boyfriend and I headed 35 minutes the opposite direction to the Asian Market to get all our ingredients to make this for dinner. It's my first time making Pad Thai but this is an excellent base recipe. We added basil, snow peas, etc.... just because we love extra veggies... and subbed in chicken instead of shrimp. You add more spice like us or just keep it simple! We used chili paste.

Update: We realized we had the Pok Pok Cookbook which we purchased earlier this year during our Memorial Day trip to NYC. There is actually a Pok Pok near the NYU campus which has amazing pad thai and drinking vinegar! (Don't knock it till you try it). If you live around the area or are visiting and enjoy thai food, I highly recommend it! Reasonable price and fantastic food!! We ended up cooking up a Pok Pok Bon Appetit Hybrid recipe.

Farah's Top 5: Ramen Joints

I am addicted to Ramen Noodle Bars. I'm a huge advocate for immense flavors that ramen noodle delivers! Regretfully, there are no ramen nooodle bars in Charlotte. Fortunately for me, I travel a lot so I make sure I stop by a bar at every city I hit. I think I have tried about 15-20 different places throughout the US, but I am going to share my top 5.



1. Slurping Turtle - Chicago, IL (top choice - spicy ramen) - this ranks #1 one in my list because the flavor of the ramen is something I can not find anywhere else. Not only that, but the restaurant itself is very trendy and has other menu items that taste just as great (the spicy tuna sushi is my fave) Slurping Turtle


2. Ki No Spoon - Rockville, MD (top choice - spicy ramen) - located at a strip mall in Rockville, MD which may seen sketchy but is completely safe. The seaweed and corn makes this ramen what it is. It's a little spicy but you can also get non-spicy at these places too. Very authentic. Ki No Spoon


3. Uncle - Denver, CO (top choice - spicy chicken ramen or prawn ramen with corn) - this was my first time trying chicken ramen and I have to say that I was not disappointed. It's a very hipster location and Uncle offers traditional and non traditional ramen. Chicken and Prawn are probably my favorite. I'm a huge fan of non traditional ramen. Uncle


4. Tatsu Ramen- Los Angeles, CA (top choice - spicy chicken ramen) - the best thing about this place is the Ipad ordering system. You can basically customize any ramen base with any toppings! Not only that, but I am a huge fan of corn and it's free here! They don't arbitrarily charge you for common add-on items. Once you get your food, there is complimentary seaweed and garlic (with your very own garlic crusher) so you can add it to your ramen! I am a picky eater, so I really love that I can customize what I want and how I want it. The taste lives up to expectation as well. Tatsu Ramen


5. Totto Ramen - New York City (top choice - basic tonkotsu ramen) - first ramen I have ever tried! My boyfriend and I stumbled upon the Hells Kitchen location about 2-3 years ago and fell in love. The ramen is very authentic and probably as close to the real thing as you can get. They also offer fresh tuna charred with a blow torch that is just divine! Totto Ramen



Hope you all start trying ramen in your city now! Unfortunately it isn't offered in every city, but I am hoping this trend and taste gains momentum and becomes popular. (Still hoping for a Charlotte, NC location)

Images courtesy of google.com