Category Archives: pad thai

by | November 3, 2010 · 8:30 am

Pancakes and German Presents!

     I stocked up on canned pumpkin today! I’ve tried Trader Joe’s brand and I’ve tried Libby’s, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Libby’s trumps all! It smells and tastes the most fresh, and made my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pancakes incredible!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pancakes
Dry Ingredients
1/3 cup whole rolled oats
1/3 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin spice
Pinch of salt
Handful of chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened soymilk
     1. In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix well.
     2. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix well.
     3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry.
     4. Pour a heaping tablespoon of batter onto a greased skillet and cook over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes, or until the edges look dry and bubbles on top have popped.
     5. Flip the pancakes and cook on the other side for another two minutes.
     6. Plate the pancakes and top with honey and extra chocolate chips. There’s no such thing as too much chocolate!
Adoration. Yum!
     I had to head to the airport on Halloween around 6pm to pick up the roommates and visited the creepiest haunt of them all: LAX! I’ve never seen so much traffic! It took about an hour to find and pick up the roommates from the international terminal. Luckily, I got lots of presents when they returned, so the trip was worth it ;-)!
Wasabi chocolate, kashmir-chilli chocolate, indische chocolate, lavender chocolate, wild garlic and a candle from Munchen (aka Munich, Germany)!
     Yesterday we celebrated with a trip to the local Indian buffet:
Chicken tikka masala, ridiculously spicy vegetables, daal and chana masala. I had a few pieces of chicken and massively regretted it later. After two weeks of no meat, I had a stomachache for the rest of the day!
     Back to hiking!
Ahhh, I love the trails! I’m itching to go camping again!
     Today the roommates were finally starting to feel a little more conscious after recovering from jet lag, so we went out to rediscover the town.
I had a lunch special of pad thai. I didn’t eat any of the chicken after yesterday’s pain! Thai tea helped as well!
I went to the grocery store to pick up my latest freebie: I got a coupon for a free Cottonelle sample in the mail yesterday and picked it up today. I love free stuff!!!
     I went over to the local plaza and read a little of “The Girl Who Played with Fire” before discovering that there was a new bakery!
OH MY GEEZ, CUPCAKES!
This was my first time visiting Crumbs, and definitely not my last!
I’ve tried Sprinkles which tastes exactly like Bisquik with frosting,vand these trump those by far! I had the Boston Cream Pie cupcake that tasted like heaven in a wrapper. No regrets!
Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE where I live?
Red wine at sunset…
…and cumin-scented German chocolate.
It’s a rough life.

I’ll be going to Carefree, Arizona for the Carefree Fine Art and Wine Festival on Thursday! If there are any Arizon-ites who would like to meet up, meet me on the corner of Easy Street and Ho Hum Street (no joke, those are the actual names of the streets) from Friday, November 5th through Sunday, November 7th!

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Filed under chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes, Cottonelle, Crumbs, cupcakes, free sample, Germany, hike, hiking, Indian Food, Munich, pad thai, presents, red wine, thai food

by | July 23, 2010 · 9:10 am

Back to Reality

     I am officially back! I had an amazing few days hanging with my cousin and having an extended vacation, but today sent me straight back to reality – work, Paciugo and sore feet.

     I woke up early this morning and had two massive cups of coffee, and reheated the rest of my amazing gnocchi dinner. I haven’t had a Green Monster since Tuesday morning! It’s awful! SAVE ME! I sped off to work full of carbohydrates and caffeine, ready to work!

     However, there was no work to be done. It’s very hard to work when everything is clean and there is nobody around. I wandered, visited See’s, and stared at the clock until I could finally escape for lunch.

Another mini-spicy tuna roll with brown rice? I need to expand my repertoire.
     I went to my couch and read my current book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett for forty minutes, and desperately tried to keep my eyes open. Doing nothing can be very, very tiring! I really recommend this book – I spent the whole day staring longingly at the book in my little cubby, wishing I could take it out to read.
     After lunch, I went with my friend, Michael to get some gelato and had a small with chocolate peanut butter, butter pecan and amaretto chocolate chip, and Michael had a small of apple pie. There is no picture because I couldn’t be bothered with waiting before I devoured it! 
     The day finally finished and I raced home to heat up some leftover pad thai for dinner. Pardon the picture – it tastes much better than it looks!
I LOVE THAI FOOD!!!
     After dinner, I went down to the train station to pick up my roommate who has been in San Diego at the opening day of races at Del Mar. Tomorrow I’ll post a picture of her hat that she made just for the occasion!
     That basically sums up my day. I was kind of lame with the pictures, so I’ll add some to the end of this so you don’t feel totally robbed… 
Magners with a view!
What is this? 
This be some crazy caveman stuff!
What is one food you could eat forever and be happy? Mine’s a tie between thai/indian/sushi/anything edible…

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Filed under cassette, Del Mar, gelato, Paciugo, pad thai, sushi, train station, VHS, work

by | July 3, 2010 · 9:07 am

The Big Reveal

     I know you’ve all been on the edge of your seats wondering (okay, maybe not, but let’s just pretend), so prepare yourselves for way too many pictures of the day!

     I started the day off with a gigantic GM.

I also made some for the roommates 🙂
     My friends and I hopped in the car and headed up north to Carpinteria for the day! Our first stop was Chamomile Cafe for some organic breakfast.
We got the best seat in the house – seriously, the waitress told us that people wait in line for this booth.
We got there around 11am. The regulars had already left. No waiting here!
I got the pumpkin-pecan pancakes. Holy Heavens, these were amazing! Crunchy granola, sweetened pecans and a light-as-air pancake filled with lush pumpkin flavor: all organic ingredients and those strawberries on the side melted in my mouth!
My friend got the quiche – organic eggs, broccoli, tomatoes and cheese floating on a flaky crust, with an applesauce-covered potato pancake on the side. I may have stolen half of her quiche…
We spent over an hour lounging around enjoying the ambiance, and LOTS of coffee with soy creamer!
     The day was spent perusing through different shops. First was Porch, a whimsical little store with lots of driftwood.
 
An artist was dropping of her driftwood mirrors when we stopped by.
 My favorite: A BP-Free-Tree – I named it myself! I’m such a nerd…

     We wandered down the main road to check out the campground (I told you there’d be tents! I’m wishing we’d gotten a site there now, but it was really packed for the 4th of July weekend).
They ended up having an outdoor movie screen there for all the vacationers. What an awesome way to spend a weekend! Not that I’m jealous: I’m glad to be working Saturday and Sunday :P.
     Have you stopped to visit your local museum lately? We did! Well, it’s not quite local, but we found the Carpinteria History Museum, and stopped in to check it out. 
This is a record player from one of the first houses EVER in Carpinteria. The gentleman who worked there turned the crank and showed us that it actually works! It was absolutely amazing to listen to the music while looking at the school room:
Everything in here was donated from an actual schoolhouse in the 1940’s!
The kitchen was stocked full with old cans and furniture that were taken from that first house which was sadly torn down to make way for new construction.
This is a dollhouse that was made by a high school class as a group project in 1936 (forgive me if the dates are a little off). It was so intricate and beautiful! Of course it was updated with a little electricity so museum-goers could enjoy all the minute details.
This place has no government funding, so we all chipped in a little cash to help keep it alive. I’ve always been a sucker for museums. I find it fascinating to look at things from the past and envision the people that used, cared for, and enjoyed them – like this carriage that probably carried entire families through the town, up on the cliffs that overlook the beautiful Pacific.
     We let the history soak into us a bit, wandered around, and found a really cool little art gallery on a side street: Anderson Art Collective. My favorite pieces there were the Sexy Skulls <– You’ll want to click there :). One of the artists was there in the studio working, and happens to be incredibly gorgeous. Ladies, beware, his smile can melt you, AND the wax. Here’s some of his work. 
     Before we headed to the main attraction, we hit up Siam Thai for some fuel.
Pad Kee Mao with beef (I’m really failing on this Flexitarian thing…).
Pad Thai with chicken.
     Next comes the main event of the day: Something I’ve been wanting to do for a looooong time!
Island Brewing Company in Carpinteria!!!
We all started off with a sampler. Paradise Pale Ale – not a fan: too bland and bitter. Island Pale Ale: much smoother and a little more depth. Jubilee: Love in a glass – sweet and silky and smooth, with a nice caramel aftertaste. Blackbird Porter: smelled a little nail-polishy, but tasted good! And finally, the Holiday Cask Ale: Smelled strongly of molasses and was very rich, and the roommates thought it smelled and tasted a bit like brandy (I wouldn’t know, never having tried brandy), but definitely was an unexpected punch to the face (9% ABV).
We went with the Jubilee and the Weiss (the brewery’s Hefeweisen, in case you didn’t get that 🙂 ).
     After spilling half of the Jubilee (I was a total idiot and spilled the glass all over my friends while telling a story with excessive hand motions – did that after only having the sampler, thank you very much), we finished the dregs of the glass and I apologized to the staff excessively while hiding my face behind my hands. My friend kindly and generously bought me an Islands Brewery sweatshirt to make me feel better :). Okay, all better!
     Dinner was next! We stopped at Giovanni’s and split a mini pizza between the three of us.
This pizza was delicious, and REAL! The sauce had tons of oregano and rosemary sprinkled throughout. I had two slices with ham, pepperoni, mushrooms (which I picked off), olives (which I picked off), green peppers and sausage. I was serious when I said I was failing the Flexitarianism!
     After wandering around the town, we stopped at the beach to watch the waves and the sunset.
 
A beautiful ending to an amazing day!
     Now it’s only 10pm, and I have to go crash because I’ve got a full day of work starting at 8:30am. Woohoo. Can’t wait. Oh! And I get to watch the LBM (Little Blurry Monster for all you new readers) again, so my post tomorrey will be a little late, or it might have to wait until Sunday – my bike has been calling me from its stand in the garage. I can’t ignore it for too much longer!
All you normal people, enjoy your weekends and be blessed!!!
  

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Filed under beach, beer, Carpinteria, Chamomile Cafe, Islands Brewing Company, organic, pad kee mow, pad thai, vegan

by | June 10, 2010 · 7:40 am

Three Day Weekend!

Have I ever mentioned how much I adore days off? I’m guessing I haven’t, since I’ve been blogging for less than two weeks, but I LOVE days off! I try to cram as much activity as I can into my free days, because when I work my day job, I basically stand around and pace. And yes, this Wednesday is the middle of my three day weekend – all the better to avoid the crowds.
I started the morning with a GM (Are you sick of these pics yet? Too bad!). At least I switched up the glass it’s in:

This one had 2 cups of spinach, banana, soy milk, blueberries and ice. I used the remains of the spinach which tasted about half a day past its prime, and forgot the lemon. This drink definitely needs the lemon juice to cut any spinach flavor! Remember that!
After that Monsta came a long hike. The June Gloom has taken over! I loves me the June Gloom! Any morning I wake up to an overcast sky, I do a little happy dance inside. I’m weird: get used to it.
Half an hour into the hike my stomach started rumbling, so it was time to start planning my next meal. I had a coupon to “buy one, get one free” at The Counter, a build-your-own-burger bar. I was psyched for this and then did something incredibly stupid: I looked at the nutritional facts online. A warning to anyone who wants to enjoy this place guilt-free, DON’T LOOK! Instead of a big, juicy burger topped with fresh guacamole, goat cheese and mixed greens, I had two slices of my dense homemade oatmeal-walnut bread with a tablespoon of flaxseed peanut butter.

These were chilling in the freezer, just waiting to be devoured.
The bread kept me satisfied during a trip to Barnes and Noble, and I got hungry just in time to go to my favorite Thai restaurant. We got there with ten minutes to spare before the lunch special deals ended. Phew! Nine bucks nabbed a starter salad with citrus dressing, chicken pad thai and panang beef.

Have you ever gotten so hungry you just devoured without thinking?
I did. That’s why I had to borrow someone else’s pictures. Oops!
The lovely chef sent out complimentary sweet rice and mango! We used to frequent this restaurant every other week and know the owner quite well. I find that when you become a regular at any restaurant, a relationship develops that is profitable for both the owners and the customers :).
I was zoning out from hunger before lunch, then ended up eating so much that I went into a food coma. The only thing that could bring me out is the elixir of life.

I spent a good year looking for a big, ugly rooster mug! I really wanted one where the rooster head protruded in 3D, but I’m pretty happy with this giant.

Next stop was my all-time favorite place: THE LIBRARY!!! I went a little crazy…

Any guesses as to what my current interests are?
I saw the trailer for the new movie, Charlie St. Cloud, last night and found out that it’s based off of a book. I’m obsessed with reading books before they come out on the big, or small, screen. I’ve most recently read Dear John (haven’t seen the movie yet), The Last Song (also haven’t seen the movie), and Julie and Julia (loved the movie, the book is getting better). I read a book a week when I get the time, more if possible! My name is Bexter and I’m addicted to reading.
Dinner was reheated Thai food and a cup of Trader Joe’s kettle corn. Now I’m sitting back watching The Next Food Network Star and craving some of the salmon that Brad Sorenson made. Ummm, I might have a bit of a crush… No, I definitely do. So cute! And now I want to do some funky pushups. Is anyone else watching this or do I just sound like a crazy person?
Happy midweek weekend!

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Filed under Barnes and Noble, Charlie St. Cloud, FOOD, green monster, hike, kettle corn, lemons, oatmeal bread, pad thai, panang curry, thai food