Vegas Vacation Part 3

We really enjoyed the casual restaurant The Henry in the Cosmopolitan, and visited it for breakfast four times.  I loved their massive coffee cups, which rarely had to be re-filled.  I don't know why more restaurants don't have larger coffee cups, as it would save time for servers.

The first day we went to The Henry was Tuesday, and I had smoked salmon avocado toasts, which were soooooo good.

Herb cream cheese, smooth avocado, smoked salmon, shallots, radish, and pea shoots over chewy toasted harvest bread - a delicious combination.

After breakfast we had some pool time!  It was blistering hot out, so we only lasted about an hour before we couldn't take it anymore.

Lunch was at Holsteins, a burger and shake joint in our hotel.  They brought us popcorn right when we sat down:

And then we shared one appetizer (ahi poke tostadas), and a kobe beef burger with rings:

In the evening we went to our favourite restaurant of all time, Lotus of Siam.  This restaurant is off the strip (about a $15-$20 cab ride from our hotel), and the amazing chef Saipin is a James Beard award winner.  If you visit this restaurant, you have to order from the Northern section, or from the chef's choice section.  Well you don't haaaaave to, but if you don't you will be making a mistake.  Take it from me, Anthony Bourdain, and anyone else who knows this restaurant, the Northern Thai food is their specialty.

We ordered four dishes to share, which was a lot of food, but we knew we had a fridge and microwave, so we wanted enough for leftovers.

Our favourite appetizer is nam kao tod, which is the only thing we ordered that is not on the Northern or special section, but that's because the appies are in their own section.  It is amazing.

It is crispy rice with sour cubed pork sausage (wow), cilantro, green onions, ground chili, ginger, peanut, and lime.  It's sour and salty, and crispy, and absolutely phenomenal.

We tried something new to us from the Northern section called thum ka noon, and it knocked our socks off.  It was made with shredded young jack fruit, ground pork, tomatoes and spices.  From the description I would never have thought to order this, but Christopher insisted, and am I ever glad I trusted him.  This will be a must-order for us from now on.  I have no idea what jack fruit tastes like, and although it was in this dish, I couldn't pick it out or tell that there was fruit in it (I guess because I don't know what it's supposed to taste like), but whatever it was that I was tasting was amazing.  The texture was like pulled pork, and we ate it with sticky rice.

The last two dishes are also mind-blowingly good.

They were both from the chef's choice section, and included crispy duck panang:

And khao soi braised short rib:

Ahhhh, I wish I were eating this food again right now.

If you go to Lotus of Siam, just do yourself a favour and order all four of these dishes.  You can thank me later.

This restaurant is in a strip mall, and isn't in the best area, but it's more than worth the cab ride.  You absolutely need reservations, as it's always packed, even thought it's huge.

Fast forwarding to today ...

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday!   
Happy birthday beautiful!  We love you!

There is also a solar eclipse today; it is slowly getting dimmer here, and we should reach 75-80% coverage in about 15 minutes.  Are you checking the eclipse out where you are? 

What is your favourite restaurant?  Do you like Thai food?

Bright, Sunny Weekend

Getting up in the morning lately has been so nice, as the sun is shining brightly through all the windows, making the sky happy, and me even happier.  Breakfasts all week looked like this:

I had a couple of pieces of toasted homemade bread (loaded with butter), melon with Greek yogurt & PB, and ruby-red grapefruit juice to drink.

On Thursday evening we made Thai laab moo, and ate it in lettuce wraps.  You make basically a Thai version of pico de gallo, toast and grind some rice to add for crunch, add an insane amount of lime, and mix that with ground pork.  It's so flavourful, and was perfect wrapped up in the large lettuce leaves.

 

 

 

 

We've made this pork salad before, but served it with rice.  When it comes to a recipe for this dish, we just wing it, adding shallot, cilantro, limes, red chilies, green onion, and salt to taste.  In a dry saucepan, we add about 5 T of Jasmine rice, and toast that up for about 15 minutes on low-med/low, then process it into a powder, and add that to the meat for crunch.  We like it served warm.

Yesterday evening we picked up a few groceries, and then made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  I could eat this dinner once a week; it's so satisfying.

This morning Christopher is making breakfast, as he usually does on the weekends.  He's so cute though; he brought the skillets over to me where I'm blogging, so I could see how good they look before they go into the oven.

Mmmm, can't wait to eat 'em!

It's going to be an absolutely beautiful weekend, and we have nothin' to do but visit (and eat) with family, and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

What are you up to this weekend?

Vegetarian Meal #6 of 10 and Introducing ...

For the first time on EverydayFoodie ... Oats in a Jar!

This is definitely a favourite in the blogosphere ... and I finally tried it for breakfast today! I used what was left of my almond butter, and threw in 1 T unsweetened coconut, and 1 tsp mini chocolate chips. It was excellent.

Lunch was leftover Pad Thai of course:

And also the perfect pair:

No pun intended :-)

After a great day at work, and coaching a v-ball game, I came home famished! I snacked on the 2nd fresh roll from last night while whipping up Vegetarian Meal #6 of 10.

Zucchini Lasagna (sans noodles):

In this dish, the zucchini takes the place of the noodles. I found this recipe in a book, but altered it a bit to make it more protein rich, and awesome.

Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 lbs zucchini, cut into thin strips lengthwise
- 1 3/4 cups bread crumbs
- 2 T butter
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 5 shallots, chopped coarsely
- 2 carrots, diced
- 8 oz chopped asparagus
- 3/4 cup cream
- sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup or more of hemp seeds (for protein)

Directions:

- Put some oil in a pan and sautee the zucchini for a couple minutes, then set aside
- Heat 1 T of butter and brown the garlic and then add the bread crumbs and brown a bit, then set aside

- Saute the shallots and carrots in the remaining oil until lightly browned. Add the asparagus and cream and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt. Dump in 1/2 cup hemp seeds and stir.

- Line the baking dish with 1 layer of zucchini, then a layer of the asparagus mixture, then some bread crumbs. Repeat, ending with breadcrumbs. Toss a little parm on top.

- Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

- Gobble down

After dinner I made a run to the post office to pick this up!

A FREE popcorn maker! I won this in a contest on Gareth's blog: Stumptown Savoury. Sawwweeeet!

I also made a run to Wal-Mart to buy a bunch of big tupperware for organizing our basement!
It is almost done. Before and after pictures will be within the next couple weeks.

I am headed to bed peeps.
G'night!

Thoughts on Whole Living

This evening neither the hubby nor I felt like cooking, so we ordered in Thai food! We rarely order in, but I am not feeling up to going out.

I ordered shrimp and pork fresh roles:

(I only ate one of them).

I also had the chicken Pad Thai (minus MSG)
(I had half the order, and will take the other half for lunch tomorrow):

After dinner I had a bath with Epsom salts, and a drizzle of thyme serum.
I soaked with a cup of tea and a magazine - "Body and Soul."

I would like to share "10 Thoughts on Whole Living" that I read in Body and Soul:

1) Find a few minutes each day to unplug.

2) Giving to others is the most powerful thing we can do for ourselves.

3) See physical fitness as a practice, not a goal.

4) This fall, make it a point to heed your need for solitude.

5) The secret to beautiful skin starts with what you put inside your body.

6) Try doing even the most menial tasks mindfully and with grace.

7) The quality of your connections with other people will carry you further than you think.

8) Just because a no-frills home remedy is simple doesn't mean it won't work.

9) If you want to eat healthier, try giving yourself the benefit of better choices.

10) Home isn't a place. It is a state of mind.

I think I need to work on #1, 3, 4 and 6. What about you?

My own personal whole living philosophy includes the following:

1) The amount of time you spend on doing things you WANT to do should outweigh the time spent on doing things that you HAVE to do. (I really need to work on this).

2) You should not put anything on your body that you can't eat. I am very picky when it comes to putting things on my skin in terms of creams/ lotions/ sunscreen. I have a big problem with putting chemicals and ingredients I don't recognize on my largest organ. Our skin is full of pores, and all things that you put onto yours skin soak into your skin. Where do you think they go? I DO use products, but I choose ones that are 100% organic, paraban, artificial ingredient and completely SLS free.

3) Do not put garbage into your body. As you may have noticed, I don't eat a lot of "junk" including soft drinks, candy, fast food, artificial sweeteners, and highly processed food. I am not saying that I never have these things, but I do my best to avoid them - and I definitely do not miss them at all. I enjoy putting foods that have only 1 ingredient into my body (spinach, nuts, chicken, beans, rice, etc.) I do this as much as I can, but I still enjoy life and will indulge in French fries, or potato chips here and there too :-)

What do you include in your whole living philosophy?