Herbal Rice Noodle Salad With Broccoli Rabe

It's finally spring! With the snowstorm that came through last week, it doesn't quite feel like it yet but I'm hoping today's recipe will help usher us into the season of renewal. This rice noodle salad is all about bright, fresh flavors that will make you feel energized and ready to come out of winter hibernation and into the sun again.

We start off with a base of cool rice noodles, then add broccoli rabe that has been quickly blanched to mellow the spiciness but keep a slight crunch. Mix that with some garlic and dried shrimp which has been pan fried in oil, a few other veggies, and a medley of fresh herbs. And finally top it off with a salty, slightly sweet, brightly acidic dressing made from coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice, and lemongrass. You can serve it as a side or add your favorite protein and make it a main meal, it's no less delicious either way.

Hope you guys enjoy this refreshing recipe. Do you have any fun spring plans? Phillip and I are jetting off to Tokyo for a week and a half at the end of march, so if y'all have any good recommendations please send them along. Our main goal is to eat as much as possible so I'm hoping to come back with a lot of food inspiration and new recipe ideas to share here. See you when I get back!

The Long Hope

The great thing about most food recipes is they're easy to name. A simple description of its constituent parts: arctic char rice bowl, mozzarella pluot salad, bacon cinnamon rolls. But drinks, drinks are a different story. The name "honeydew cucumber gin cocktail" just doesn't roll off the tongue. It doesn't sound as graceful as an Old Fashioned, or Aviation, or Manhattan. I think for drinks, a name is almost as important as the way it tastes.

I don't really believe in throwing out a series of random words until something sticks. Memories are a much stronger place to pull names from. Even if it evokes no particular feelings for anyone else besides myself and and a few others. For us, it's important enough.

Eons ago, when we were studying abroad in London, we stayed in these cookie cutter private dorms by Kings Cross. The closest bar was a place called The Long Hope, right across the intersection. It was an average bar, nothing about it particularly stood out, but it was a place that forever engrained itself into our memories, a symbol of the summer we spent abroad in a city that made a profound impact on the rest of our lives. So this drink is named after that bar, a summery drink to commemorate a bygone summer from years ago.

Mozzarella & Pluot Salad

Guys, I think I have found it. The salad. The salad above all other salads, if you could even call it such. It doesn't contain any lettuce, spinach, or other leafy greens, but it is perfect. Gasp! Did I just say perfect? I mean, nothing in this world is really ever 100% perfect, but this salad is as close to perfection as you can get.

Unfortunately it's something you can only make in the few short months that is the stone fruit season (unless you somehow find pluots in February, but who knows where they came from and how long they traveled to get to you). Since we only have a few weeks left at best, I think I shall be making this darling salad every week until it's over.

Watermelon Agua Fresca

My favorite fruit of all time is watermelon. They are one of the reasons I love summer so much. I always make a royal mess when I eat them in slices. I usually get it all over my shirt, the juice drips everywhere, I'm spitting seeds on the ground. Ever since I had to start doing my own laundry, I'm not too inclined make that kind of mess anymore. My new favorite thing during the summer is making watermelon juice, watermelon cocktails, and watermelon agua frescas.