Review: Goi Cuon & Happy July 4th!

Before I go on... I just have to say that I'm a little depressed. Why? I dunno... July 4th was ehh. I expected fireworks, craziness, fun! OK I'm lying haha. I had it all.

I'm sitting here on July 5th watching Friends and relaxing after a great night. No work, because I took today and Friday off because I knew I needed a vacation. Work hasn't been going all that great and honestly, I'm just sick of all the bullshit.

Anyway, yesterday I woke up due to all the thoughts in my head. What am I going to make for the party? I was stressing in a major type of way. I thought of all the contents in the box that Wandering Chopsticks sent to me. Oh snap! I have ingrediants to work with here. So, as I woke up, I started thinking... what can I make? What's good for a summer evening that involves appetizers? Goi Cuon, salad rolls as Wandering Chopsticks said. Alright! I leaped out of bed, put on some clothes and went to the grocery store to gather ingrediants. Lime, peanuts, meat and other stuff for the dipping sauce. My misadventure starts with the meat. Althought Albertsons had all the things I needed, Lee's Sandwiches did not. I did get pork, but not the shrimp. They were out. Lee's Sandwiches?? Yes... the one near our house has a shrimp soup kinda thing and I wanted to use those for the rolls. Whatever, I'll just make pork rolls this time around.

I washed my basil, mint and lettuce. Sliced my pork thinly (ate a few pieces too hehe) and boiled some water for the rice paper. I also boiled some water in a pot for my noodles which I thought would be opaque, but ended up being clear. Weiiird. All the noodles that I've had in these rolls were white. Oh well, it would work in the end anyway.




PS - I actually seasoned the noodles with a dash of vinegar, sesame seed oil, soy sauce and Srirachi. I tasted the noodles and thought they were a bit bland, so that's why they look discolored.

I then made some peanut dipping sauce by chopping up some Thai bird chilis that I had leftover from TigerFishy's pork rib recipe. I used my microplane to grate up some garlic and ginger as well. I sauteed that until it was fragrant, added some ground unsalted roasted peanuts and let that release some of its oil. Then I added some chicken stock, coconut milk, sugar, and hoisin sauce. I was going to blend it to make the mixture smoother, but I was lazy. Hehe. Go fig.




Next, I attempted to assemble. Yes, read attempt. Clearly, I did not read Wandering Chopstick's post on doing it the right way. OK, I suck at reading. First I mess up Teczcape's pork ribs and now this? God I really need to start paying attention. Anyway, so I'm soaking my rice paper in warm water like the recipe states... from google.com. I soaked it so much that the paper started tearing and became loose. My wraps were absolute disasters. I was angry! I called Justyn who was at work at the time to have him come home and help me. When he got home, he dipped the rice paper in cold water and left it just pliable enough to work with. His rolls, on the other hand, came out nice and tight.



As I showered, he finished up assembling.. Yeah I know, I love the man. My perfect hubby :). I had him arrange everything on a aluminum pizza pan with dipping sauce in tow. Donoho also arrived while I was getting ready.

Then we were all on our way to the party. I had to keep the rolls in my lap to prevent spillage. I told everyone I made these from scratch and they dove in. OK, not really. I had to advertise. I wanted my food devoured before anyone else's as an ego boost. And they did. They were gone in the first 15 minutes of my arrival. Sweet! Everyone gave my compliments. In fact, the best one I heard was "Wow! These are AWESOME!" - Grunz. I loved it!


After I was done advertising my stuff, I poured myself a drink and socialized until the wee hours of the night. OK, not really. Everyone had to work the next day so the party ended at 10pm. Fair enough, I'll just enjoy myself the next couple of days. WOOOOO for vacation! Hehe... Alright, I'm done gloating.

Oh wait, a picture of my new dress. I love it! It was perfect for the hot weather.