Littles Kitchen: raw-ish pad thai

My number one obsession is food blogs. I love perusing the endless pages of recipes, drooling over the plating of quinoa tacos, savory chickpea wraps, and just out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. When my favorite foods are combined with amazing plates and season specific napkins, I swoon! If it’s not clear, cooking and baking is my love- it’s how I made at college, how I show love to my friends, and bond with my sister. Food is the simplest way for me to express myself. It’s an art form and an act of love.

One of the aspects from my America life that I miss most frequently is trying new recipes from my favorite bloggers. Sadly, Saturday mornings of egg skillets, donut pans, and pancakes are behind me and replaced with Markets with Mina and eggs made in a steel wok. Not bad, just different.

I mean mind you I can still find amazing foods that are simple to make (hence this blog) and use ingredients that are both unique and new as well as easy for me to find! It seems that learning how to use spelt and chickpea flour is out of the question in the Littlest Kitchen but much to my surprise and joy, experimenting with kelp noodles are in!

I was “doing research” for work aka browsing Laura Miller’sblog who is one of my most favorite bloggers. Check her out- she’s real, hilarious, open, and defiantly someone I would love to meet some day! Last year, she posted a video for raw pad thai. As I’m living in Thailand and LOVE anything containing noodles, I clicked the video out of curiosity and watched her whip together this delicious, healthy, and raw dish that contained kelp noodles. I’ve never hear or seen these noodles before so imagine my glee when I found them in the grocery store that very day! Perks of living in an Asian country!

Kelp noodles are light, naturally gluten-free, and contain lots of iodine! It’s a perfect way to get your daily dose of salt without all the junky additives and oils. And they also soak up tons of flavor and bring a nice crunch to the dish!

So this quick meal is a perfect mid-week dinner or lunch as it is oh so simple to bring to work in a tubberware.  I’ve added a few extra veggies as well as baked tofu BUT FORGOT BEAN SPROUTS like a total goof and once I remembered this crucial ingredient, I was all too lazy to run downstairs and make the 30 step journey to my neighborhood fresh market. Laura would have been disappointed. I, however, was not.

Kelp noodles are a sintch to work with! Just soak them in hot water for like 20 minutes and you're good to go! In a jar, shake together the peanut butter-soy dressing and drizzle over the noodles so they can start the process of soaking up ALL the flavors. Then, chop up the tofu into squares and create a marinade using oil and your preferred spices. I like Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute! After the tofu has marinaded for, who knows-like 20 minutes, just  BAKE it in the oven. People who have an oven say to bake at 400 F for 25 minutes and those with a toaster oven (like ME) bake their tofu for 30-ish minutes This process adds an amazing golden color and wonderful firm texture while maintaining a soft, warm inside. Major yum!

Finally, slice up some yummy greens, like spinach or kale, and a nice red pepper! Toss all the ingredients together, add a nice slice of lime and pinch of black sesame seeds and you've created one power-house of a meal! 

Ingredients: 

1 package kelp noodles
1 red peper
1 bunch kale

Tofu:
1 8oz block tofu, pressed
Oil
Spices to taste

Sauce:
1 white onion, finely minced
1/4 cup peanut butter
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsb honey

Quite heavily inspired by mah girl Laura Miller. Watch the video here!

The gas cylinder situation

Having family in town is the BEST but also working a 40 hour work week and then staying up late for 6 days in a row and then somehow getting sick does take a toll on a person. At the market this weekend, Mina said, “Olivia your eyes look tired. Come to the market at 2 you need rest.” THANK YOU MINA. With this time off, I slept super late, almost read one book within the span of 2 hours, and ate chocolate covered pretzels for breakfast, and only left the flat in search of water and coffee, or as I like to call them Life’s Biggest Necessities. And heck, while I’m up and out, might as well to the responsible thing and get a new gas cylinder.

Our gas cylinder is the thing we use to boil water for coffee and make eggs- basically the two things Erin and I survive off of. And it’s been out for like 5 days. I try asking the apartment cleaning lady/gardener/knower-of all-the-things if the shop is open today since I’d called without getting an answer. But of course I don’t know the official work for ‘gas shop’ in Thai so she found a tenet who speaks English and I asked her and she said maybe. I thought I might as well walk there since it’s like oh maybe 3 minutes away. I’m strolling down the ally and see another lady who lives in the market, knows everyone and everything and seems to have like 184 jobs. She asks where I’m going, I tell her-still not knowing the Thai word for gas shop- she finds 2 school aged girls to translate, they don’t understand so the pair run inside their apartment and wake up their dad who then calls the shop only to discover they don't have my size of cylinder ( I can say this part well- lek, sii som aka small, orange color). Not to worry, the All-Knowing-Neighbor takes me and one of the school aged girls to another ally to consult with two vendors they know of another shop. They point to an advertisement on the wall with a near-by gas shop, which she calls only to find out that they too are out of my size of cylinder. She then instructs the gas shop to deliver a new gas cylinder in the size I need to her apartment tomorrow because I have work and won’t be around when they can deliver. Y’ALL. That literally 10 people that worked together to orchestrating this whole getting-Olivia-gas situation.

This makes me feel two things. One- a dire need to learn all the thai right now in this very instant. And second feeling is a deep sense of gratefulness for people’s ability to offer kindness, patience, and helpfulness to a person who is mostly a stranger. Though it took 10 people, which is kind of ridiculous let’s just say it, it means that on some level 10 people cared about my well-being. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into it and they had nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than to help a confused white girl. But I’m clinging to the optimistic thoughts mostly because it makes me feel like I belong here.  And that’s what every human needs to survive and begin to succeed. That’s what’s making me thrive here in Thailand- little glimpse of belonging. And it’s the biggest challenge that life is offering me right now; slow down enough to show people you want to belong to them, that you care for and about them, that you desire engagement and connectedness. So I will. I’ll create time in my schedule tomorrow to sit with the All-Knowing-Neighbor lady and to ask the school aged girls how their homework went and to thank the dad for calling the gas shop. Because once you feel like you belong, it’s only natural to make sure other people know you’re there to stay.

Littlest Kitchen, post one

 When it comes down to it, food is my number one passion in life. Food is a true representation of culture and tradition and it brings people together like almost nothing else can. Spices and rituals and methods of preparation may be distinct throughout the world but the purpose of food is always the same: to provide daily nutrients and give people a time to pause and be together during the day. Food is the ultimate act of love.

Ever since discovering food blogs back in freshman year of college, I’ve always dreamed of starting my own but the thing about being a food blogger is you have to like, make up your own recipes and I’m just not that kind of gal. I am, however, the kind of gal who loves to eat and share stories from the kitchen. And what a more perfect place to share stories from than Bangkok, a city teeming with street venders, stalls of fresh produces and my tiny kitchen.

Littlest Kitchen posts will to be weekly food related stories, sharing stories of meals eaten together, dished cooked on the wok on the back porch, smashing baby cockroaches as they climb out of the waffle maker, and mixing brownies while sitting on the floor. Your typical cooking experiences when you living in Bangkok and your kitchen just a sink, a tiny toaster over, and a gas cylinder.

Because food is love and love is meant to be shared.

Tonight’s feast features a veggie masala spice that Mina brought for me from Nepal. After a particularly social day, my body needed large amounts of vegetables so I chopped up a colorful array of yellows, oranges, and greens, tossed them with veggie masala and oil and roasted them in the toaster oven for 20 minutes. While the veggies cooked, I threw some lentils and farro into a pot and brought them to a boil. Once the grains and pulses are al dente, I mixed the combo with roughly chopped cilantro. Finally, I combined the grains and veggies and added a delicious and simple lime-yogurt sauce and sprinkled black sesame seeds on top. Simple. Delicious. Nourishing. Littlest Kitchen approved!

FOMO is a nono?

You know what sucks? Looking back.

Like it’s so stinking hard to be in the present especially when you’ve had such sweet memories and are scheming up exciting and compelling dreams and visions for your life. Man, living your best life can sometimes come with unintended consequences like missing your friends and endless reels of what-if’s and I-could-have’s.

So this last year I graduated college knowing I would move to Bangkok but not having a single clue what my time here would look like and I’ll be the first to say it’s nothing like I imagined. It’s hard and emotionally draining. The city is hot and crowded; work is hard and frustrating. Yet all the hardships can’t overshadow how much I’ve grown to enjoy (and even love) the overcrowded city, the humans I now have the privilege to call friends, and the job where I learn more about myself and Jesus on the daily.

Something I’ve struggled with since day one of being in Bangkok is FOMO (fear of missing out) syndrome. Y’all can relate. FOMO starts creeping in when you see someone post an IG photo of a party you weren’t invited to or your BFF starts hanging out with her new work crew. Well imagine that if you’re living overseas and your friends are getting married/having babies/moving/working awesome jobs, etc. It's the pits and it’s the prime opportunity for all the ‘should-have’s’ and ‘what-if’s’ to start taking root in my brain.

“I should have stayed at the Club and helped my kids graduate high school”

“I could have worked harder to find a full time job in the city.”

“What if I got the job? Would I be happier than I am? Why am I even here when I just want to be in Chicago?”

All of these are real thoughts I have like on the weekly. And get this, nothing positive in gained by these reoccurring playbacks. I can’t change the past, I’m not in Chicago, I don’t have the job I wanted. I’m here in Bangkok, working at an NGO, making new friends, eating noodles. Like this is my life. And wasting my time and energy thinking about and wishing to change the past robs me of the JOY that is this present moment. Life’s pretty stinking sweet once I stop focusing on what other people are doing and accomplishing and start giving myself permission to be fully invested and present where I’m placed.

The grass will always greener, right? Or maybe, to take the famous words of Justin Beiber or actually Big Sean, “the grass ain't always greener on the other side; it's greener where you water it.” From my experience, when I acknowledge my past peoples and experience for propelling me to where I am AND cherish the new friends and adventures of this present moment, I’m able to pay homage to the things of old and fully live in the present moment. It's like I get to bake my cake and eat it. The best of both worlds.

I may never beat FOMO but I can sure can live out a life worth remembering. 

The one time I tried rock climbing and cried

Man, so many things have happened since we’ve last chatted. It seems unreal that I was in the States 4 weeks ago! Re-immersion was a mess; I sort of just slept until my body got used to the heat. Then I skipped on over to Myanmar for a super awesome visa run! And then last weekend I rock climbed and it changed my life for forever.

The Gal Pals

Let me explain.

So, three pals and me drive to this wonderful climbing camp like 3 hours outside Bangkok and I climb for the first time in my life and y’all its like so tough like I consider myself to be an active, fit human but hot dang not fit enough to master the mountains. On my second climb I am on the struggle bus. I can see what my body needs to do but my foot refuses to stretch that way and I don’t trust my arm’s ability to pull my body up and I’m crying out of total frustration. Jodi, my trusty belay, is calmly encouraging me: “just take a rest, look at it from a different angle, you can get it.”

And then BAM it hits me. I’ve been working on re-grounding my identity in Christ which is hard work and, for me at least, brings up a ton of past gunk I don’t care to think about and my soul get weary from all the work and processing and thinking and I would rather not do that. My brain KNOWS what I need to do but my heart doesn’t trust that I have the strength to do the work. Just like my body on that rock. And, right when I was crying and frustrated on the rock climbing route, right as Jodi started encouraging me, God came along and whispered, “I too want you to rest and look at your life from a different angle. I’ve got you.”

Taken on the second day, crying was also involved on this route as well as a sloth like climb to the top.

Jodi’s and God’s encouragement propelled me upwards and I finished that route victoriously! Well, more like as slowly as a snail coupled with tons of rest and cursing but completed. And I intend to do that with my identity learning as well. God got me up the actual mountain and I know he can carry me up this metaphorical one as well.

Simplicity is discipline y'all

Okay, so much life has happened and I really got to crazy distracted to write about it. You know that feeling when you scroll though all your old pictures in iPhoto and suddenly 2 hours have passed? Or is that just something I do? Anyway, that’s what this past month has felt like. One moment I’m 3 days away from getting on a plane to America and suddenly it’s April 25^th and I’ve been back for more than a week and wow where has time gone.

So let’s catch up.

Alright, so I land in Omaha and I have the world’s CUTEST greeting party waiting for me at the gate. Becca, my grandparents, mother, father, and sibs showed up to engulf me in the most epic reunion hug. And, the next day, Elise flew in from Bloomington for Easter. Hashtag literally blessed. I’ll spare you the actual details of the trip (but if you want to know what I did, just message me and I’ll give you a play-by-play) so here’s the lowdown. Becca my life long friend got married and I was honored to stand in her wedding party as she pledged her love and life for the man of her dreams or whatever they are a cute couple and the dancing was amazing. And I got to spend 5 days in Chicago and it was the happiest and saddest time of my life and I wore a coat most of the time and saw all the marvelous friend and caught up with pals from high school and had Quality family time and I really am blessed to have such fantastic cheerleaders in my parents. Despite our differences, I love and respect mom and dad and that was definitely the highlight- being able to spend grown-up time with them and have quality conversations and like do day-to-day life alongside them.

But more than that, I learned that simplicity is a discipline.

Doing adult things.

The most perfect bride in all the land!

The gang is back together!

Right now I’m forced into a life of simplicity simply because my income is minuscule, my apartment is small, and we have like the world’s smallest pantry. But in the States, simplicity is a more intimidating challenge. It’s the drudgery of choosing to consciously live it out despite rubbing up against the norm of consumerism. Let’s just say I did not choose a simple life for those 3 weeks at home. I was busy all the time, on my iPod much more than necessary, and took hardly any time for personal and spiritual formation. I was chatting with a dear friend today about this- she wants to start being off her phone and social media more during the day- and I commented that being simple in the States is a whole other battle. Like no, you don’t have to be glued to your phone and answer every message immediately. You don’t have to watch TV every night and you can choose into having meaningful communication with those you’re living with. Simplicity in Thailand is easy, however, in my comfortable American life, it's an uphill battle- one I did not prepare for and fell victim to.

Now, I’m not saying that having things is bad and phones are the demise and I certainly love watching TV but isn’t time to stop numbing pains with excess? I know for me, when I feel inadequate, I numb the pain with TV, glorifying busyness, eat a little too much, and buying things I don't need. Cause if I feel I physically HAVE enough,  I don’t have to for a second face the fear of not BEING enough.

Facing my fear is scary. I don’t like it for its uncomfortable and messy and hard. But at some point your computer dies, the cloths get worn out, the friends return home and you have to face the human in the mirror. Why are you hiding?

Simplicity is the first step towards answering this question. It clears out all the outside noise and clutter and creates the space, literally and figuratively, to figure you out. I know I got caught off guard and ended up watching the entire 5^th season of New Girl in 2 weeks instead of having significant Jesus time or journaling or I don’t know just having silence to think and create and process the fact that I was back in America.

Now that I’m back in my slower pace of life, I’ve had ample space and time to think thought all the things and man I feel incredible centered and have an actual handle on life. I’m sober-minded, can actually hear my intuition and make a discerned decision.

I’m thankful to have learned this about myself; next time I fly over the Atlantic I’ll be better disciplined to the distractions. And know to bring my own food for the flight over.