Nicholas took a r-e-a-l-l-y great nap this afternoon, not waking up until almost 6 pm, so that kind of skewed the rest of the evening’s plans a bit. We had decided to go to buy new bikes for The Husband and me, using a gift certificate he got as part of a bonus from work (nice, huh?). Made the mistake of going there first before dinner, and since we didn’t get out of there until after 7:30, motivation was waning for actually cooking dinner, so we ended up stopping at Chilis.
Haven’t been to Chilis in awhile and always forget about it. With figured with it being later, we’d be fortunate enough to miss the weekend crowd and we were right. I had their Asian-Style Lettuce Wraps – delicious. I’d love to try making something like that at home. Served with Boston Bibb Lettuce leaves on the side, you load up the lettuce leaf with a spicy mix of seasoned chicken, julienned carrots and fresh herbs, and then top it with a soy-based sauce or a peanut sauce (my favorite). The chicken was a little too spicy for my taste, but I managed. It also had those crispy thin Japanese noodle things – you know, the ones that are used as toppings sometimes. Anyone know what they’re called? I was all set for a Mudslide with dinner, and was disappointed with theirs and sent it back. It wasn’t frozen and was lukewarm at best. Maybe I’ll try my hand at making some at home this week – anyone have a tried-and-true recipe they’d like to share?
Had dinner all planned to cook for tonight, so that’s shifted to tomorrow. My Strawberry Sangria (perfect for this crazy heat we’re still in the grips of), a Cheesy Beer and Spinach Dip to start and then homemade pizzas. The pizzas are going to be a Buffalo Chicken one and a Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato one, so tune in for those recipes tomorrow. I’m hoping with the Cheesy Beer and Spinach Dip, I might be able to sneak a few green veggies into the, ahem, boys in the house.
Until then…
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Small and crunchy noodle type things? Chow mein noodles is what comes to my mind. My mom used to make Haystacks out of them with butterscotch chips and peanuts! The lettuce wraps sounds great!
What a deal with at the nursery – landscaping can really get expensive!
No, silly, chow mein is Chinese. :) They come on one of The Cheesecake Factory salads too, in a huge white puff on the top… ring any bells, yet?
That cheese Beer and Spinach Dip sounds great, I look forward to the recipe.
They are bean threads (cellophane noodles) that are thrown into hot oil. They’ll puff up almost immediately, but remain white.
Yum! I love Chilis but no Asian Lettuce Wraps here. I think annoymous is correct as that’s deep fried bean thread noodles. The lettuce wrap sounds a bit like a sang choy bow which Barbara from Tigers and Strawberries did once.
Thanks, Anon – I’ll have to pick some up this weekend. I remember seeing them puff up when watching a cooking show … pretty cool how big they get.
Boo – I’ll have to check out T&S site to see what she made — sounds like some taste-testing is in order. :)