Apr 12, 2014 I wish I had exciting stories about what I’ve been up to in the last ten days, but if I may be honest… I’ve just been so tired. We recently got notice that we needed to leave our apartment because the owner wants to move in. It’s never fun to be uprooted, but we had an exceptionally hard time finding a new place to live. We looked at dozens of places, and nothing felt right – any unit that allowed dogs was either insanely expensive (even by Vancouver standards) or dark, small and in the middle of nowhere, usually with an abundance of stairs (strollers with babies in them are not stair-friendly). It got to the point that we were packing to leave, and had nowhere to go… Thankfully we found something last week, and I’m actually excited about our next chapter. But I’m tired. Mentally, from being unsettled over the housing situation, and physically, because my 11-month-old has been in a cold –> teething –> cold cycle for the past 6 weeks which means he thinks 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. are all excellent times for snuggles. I just was about to apologize for complaining and make a joke about my first world problems… but truth is, things aren’t always easy, especially as a new mom, and yes, I’m abundantly grateful that my “problems” are minuscule by the world’s standards, but they’re still challenges and I don’t think we should always put on our “Facebook facade” of everything-is-easy-and-perfect-in-my-life because then, how can we possibly relate to and support one another? Amiright? Well, that got heavier than I intended for a Summer Rolls post. Whoops. Ok, SUMMER ROLLS. They’re one of my favourite foods. All the textures, all the flavours. The peanut sauce, oh lordy, the peanut sauce. If there were a food I could swim in, this would be it. I did a healthy, springtime spin on the typical vietnamese summer roll with the addition of asparagus, swiss chard and soba noodles. So yummy! It takes a fair bit of time to wrap up all the rolls, so my advice is to throw a little dinner party and put all the ingredients on the table, asking guests to roll their own. Or even just with your own family – like taco night! It’s more fun, and you get to linger longer over the meal. Rice paper wrappers might seem finicky at first, but you’ll get the hang of it after a couple. If you’re struggling with stickiness or tearing, just wet your fingers to keep the wrappers pliable and fight the urge to overstuff them. You will likely have leftover peanut sauce – it is DELICIOUS on grilled lime-marinated chicken skewers, in a pita with shredded carrots, cucumber, sprouts, etc., tossed with cold noodles for a salad… possibilities are endless.
Ingredients
For Summer Rolls:
12 asparagus stalks, tough ends trimmed 6 large chard leaves, stems removed and roughly torn 36 medium peeled, deveined shrimp, tails removed 6 oz soba noodles 12 small rice paper wrappers 1/4 cup packed mint leaves
For Peanut Sauce:
½ cup peanut butter 1 clove garlic 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp brown sugar 3 tbsp lime juice 1 ½ tbsp sambal olek (asian chili paste) or red chili flakes Hot water as needed to thin
Preparation
For Peanut Sauce:
